Wedding Crunch Time

I've been putting off doing "wedding stuff" until the holidays were over. Honestly I don't think I could've handled trying to do both Christmas and Wedding planning at the same time. The unfortunate part of my plan is now I only have 3 months left to plan everything. Thank goodness I already have my dress and the bridesmaids dresses picked out or else I'd be losing my mind right now.



NOT this color

This color is correct

Sangria. Not my original color. I was going for a lovely shade of green, however seeing the sangria on my little sister blew me away. It was a gorgeous color on her. So Sangria it is.

Check.

We have invites, menus, RSVP cards, and labels, ordered and on their way to be mailed out to guest in the next 2 weeks. Check that off my to-do list as well.

Venue booked, menu created, room booked, and guest list done.
Checkity, check, check, check!
We have a DJ lined up thanks to my wonderful Aunt and cousin and table centerpieces purchased.

Check. Check.

But before I can get to the fun part, namely buying shoes and jewelry, and figuring out my hair and accessories, I need to order the cake and flowers.

Yeah I know, I know. I'm a little late with this. Most places want 6 months or more notice. Oh well. It's not like I need to feed an elaborately decorated, gold and diamond encrusted cake to 400 people. A simple 2 tier confection to feed 65 is all we require. Surely 3 months is plenty of time for someone to bake me a cake. And flowers...really? How hard can it be to tie a bundle of flowers together right?

So that is what is on my to-do list this weekend. Cake and flowers. I hope Fiancé is ready for a fun filled weekend of cake tasting :)

 

Here are some of my ideas:



Obviously NOT the ugly orange and yellow.
I like the White on White look



Not the dress, The Flowers silly!
They are Ranunculus's. Very soft and pretty

Procrastination (part 2): Persevere and Prevail

December 19th, 2012: A lesson in Perseverance   

     A couple of weeks ago I told you I was not going to give up. That failure was NOT an option when it came to creating a painting for my in-laws. This week I came to the realization that Christmas is less then a week away and the "big one" was still sitting in my bedroom untouched. I have had zero motivation to paint these past few weeks but I NEEDED to get off my lazy butt and get it done because if I didn't start this week it wasn't going to get done at all (I'm already nervous it wont dry in time for our gift exchange). So reluctantly I pulled out my oils, sketched on canvas and reference material, turned on the holiday music (hoping it would put me in a merrier mood), and got to work.

1) Painting is substantially more difficult when one has to stop every few minuets to keep tabs on a very mobile baby. Lil E decided yesterday that he was going to be a handful and get into EVERYTHING. So the first half of the work, which was the most difficult part, took almost twice as long to complete.

2) Painting is substantially more difficult when there is a lack of motivation to do any sort of art project.

3) Painting is substantially more difficult where there is a Law & Order: SVU marathon on T.V.

 After 3 hours this is what I had accomplished:

If I never paint another rock in my life it'll be too soon

 

At this point Lil E went down for a nap and I got significantly more accomplished. After a few more hours I breathed a sigh of relief. I could officially say I was DONE.

I stood back and took a nice long look and decided it wasn't full of crap. Like, not at all. I was actually PROUD of what I had just accomplished. My hope is that Fiancé's parents like it and will be equally as proud to hang it on their wall.

 

The Finished Product- Chimney Rock, Priest Lake, ID:

 

The color is just a touch off because of the poor lighting in the house and the stupidness of my camera flash

 

Now everyone cross your fingers it dries in time for me to frame it for Christmas!!

 





Procrastination and failure

Monday, December 3rd: A Lesson In Failure

I am a procrastinator. I have gotten every other art project done for Christmas gifts except one. The one I've been dreading. Logic would suggest to do the "big one" first and get it out of the way. Logic and I have been battling for the past 3 months. So instead of sitting down with my oils and brushes to do the "big one,"  I did all the fun, little holiday projects instead. Before I get too far ahead of myself, Let me start from the beginning...

Last year my soon-to-be mother-in-law commissioned me to do a painting for her. It is to be a painting of  Chimney Rock large enough to fit over the fireplace at the family cabin. I reluctantly said yes and have been putting it off for over a year now. I have 2 main issues with this piece of artwork. 1) it is large. I have never painted anything bigger then 11x14 so to look at a canvas that is 16x20 or large is daunting. That is a lot of white space to cover up.
2) Painting mountains is not a difficult task compared to other types of landscapes...painting Chimney Rock however is a challenge. I don't normally like to paint from photographs because I feel artistically restricted and obligated to make my painting look exactly like the picture. It NEVER turns out looking like the picture...ever. However, to make the Chimney Rock Painting look like Chimney Rock I have to paint Chimney Rock. I know that didn't make a whole lot of sense. In other words I need to paint from a photograph with as much accuracy as possible so I don't make Chimney Rock look like just another mountain. Its the focal point of the entire piece so I better get it right. That's a lot of pressure...pressure I've put on myself, but still. I have a fear of disappointing my "clients."

A month or so ago, after a 2 small scale and failed trial runs I sat down to take on this terrifying task with my over sized canvas, oils, and brushes and began to paint. I finished "a" painting but it wasn't "the" painting. I stood back and looked at my masterpiece and realized it sucked. Not just a little but a whole lot of suckage. Suckity, suck, suck, sucked. I scrapped it and vowed to start over. I decided the photograph I was using that I took this past summer was one of the main problems. It was a photo of Chimney Rock and the Selkirk Mountains from across the lake. The Rock was set in the background of Priest Lake and the mountains and forested hills that surrounded it sort of took away from the focal point. After scouring the Internet, family pictures, and personal pictures of that damn Rock, I pieced them together and sketched it out onto a fresh canvas. Where it has sat...for a month.

 

 Trial on canvas paper attempt #1. Apparently I forgot how to paint mountains.



 

Trail on canvas paper #2. Not AS bad but still full of suck.









Okay. Here it is. The reason I am starting over from scratch. 16x20. It. Is. Crap.

 

The new "big one" will be a totally different angle. It is a look from atop the ridge to the side of Chimney Rock as opposed to the view from across the lake.

I have failed at this 3 times now. If the 3rd time is a charm, what is the 4th time?

I refuse to give up

Wish me luck....I'm gunna need it.

 

Pinterest Inspired Ornament Wreath

I found these really cool looking Ornament wreaths on pinterest and decided to give it a try. I grabbed an old wire hanger out of my closet and shaped it into a circle (well mostly into a circle). I have some old ornaments that were too banged up and scuffed to go on the tree this year so they have been saved from the trash to be re-purposed into this little craft. I added a little bit of beaded snowflake garland to jazz it up but you don't need it. I think if I ever do this again I might add some ribbon (I'm out at the moment and didn't want to make a trip to the store).  I then busted out my handy-dandy trusty glue gun and went to work. It only took about 45 min total (including glue gun warm-up) to finish the wreath. Everyone should add this project to their list of stupidly easy craft projects. I'd say this is easy enough for a child to do but the hot glue gun would be a concern with young kids. Maybe a carefully supervised kids craft where the adult glues and the child arranges the ornaments. I'm sure you can use super glue or E600 for this project but it would take significantly longer due to the drying times of each piece.

Anyways...Here it is:




TA-DA!

The Randomess that is my Monday

Odd things have been happening all morning. Maybe its the lunar cycle, maybe it strange weather patterns caused by hurricane Sandy on the east coast, maybe its my imagination...I don't know but this morning was too weird not to write about.

1. My son decided to NOT take a morning nap and instead chose to roll around on my bed yelling, hollering, and chattering away to anyone/thing that would listen. Including, but not limited to: me, the T.V, the remote control, the dog, the pillow, the light fixture, and his pacifier. Now this doesn't sound too unusual being that Lil' E is 8 months old now but it is for him. He's normally a pretty quiet baby...except when he's hungry...or needs a diaper changed...or sleepy. Point is that he cries when he wants something and has, up until today (and some last night) not had any interest in the baby talk and jibber jabber. At lunch today he was talking away to the lady behind the counter. I don't know what he was saying but it seemed pretty important because he had a look of all seriousness on his little face.

2. The Asian people at our local Samurai Sam's are happy, friendly, loud, and weird. One look at Lil' E and most older people try to touch him and talk to him. Some have even asked to hold him. I don't know what happens when people age that makes them oogle over a strangers baby (or touch a pregnant woman's belly). Lil' E hasn't learned the term "stranger danger" yet so naturally today he was trying to touch the lady and man behind the counter and coo'd at them. The man informed me that Lil' E looks just like me and that it was good luck for the son to look like the mother. My best guess is its good luck because if the baby loks like mom and doesn't look like the father, paternity wont be disputed. Then there came the exchange with the lady as she brought me my delicious plate of Yaki Soba Noodles.
Lady (HEAVY Asian accent): ooohhhh he sit so good! How old?
Me: he's 8 months
Lady: Ohhhh he little like Asian baby!
Me: yes he's small for his age
Lady: Little is good, you no worry
Me: OK....
Then she walked away. As we were leaving she yells to us from behind the counter across the restaurant (mind you we are NOT the only ones in the dining area).
Lady: 'member I said small is good! Strong brain better then strong arm!
Me: uhhh...thanks?

Really...how do you respond to that?

3. Adventures at craft warehouse. I think I've said this before but I LOVE craft warehouse. It's my happy place. Long story short, Grandma gave me some ceramic tile and I made some coasters out of them so I needed waterproofing sealant and cork or foam or felt dots for the bottom. Craft warehouse doesn't have these (GASP!). I ended up just buying a sheet of foam paper and I'll cut circles out myself. Problem solved. As I'm wondering the aisles searching high and low for said dots a little old lady (70's or 80's) stops me to play with Lil' E (here we go again!). Lil' E being the chatterbox he is today with no stranger danger fears just starts blabbering away at her and trying to grab her necklace (yes she was that close to my child!). I can't just tell this lady to GTF away from my baby without causing a commotion (and yelling at old people is rude) so I just patiently wait and watch for an opening to run away. Then she says to him "oh just look at you! aren't you an adorable little thing. yes you are! You must look just like your daddy!"
Gee, thanks lady! Because he's adorable he must take after his dad...not me. Slap. In. The. Face. She must have smelled me starting to go into defense mode because she high tailed it out of there.

4. Our neighbor across the street is raking her leaves in 30mph wind. Counterproductive.

5. My garage door wont open from the outside. I had to park, go inside, and push the button from the inside of the garage for it to open. Stupid P.O.S!

6. Lil' E is SUPPOSED to be napping right now. But no. He's yelling...at his bear. It's not the bears fault he's stuck in the cage, cut the stuffed animal some slack!

So that was my morning. Yeah...gotta be the tides or the positioning of the stars or something.

Pinterest Inspired Scarf

Hi all!
Here is a 30 min pinterest inspired project for you. It is super easy and I'm sure when Miss Priss sees my finished product she's going to want to make one also. If a 9 year old can do it, so can you!

Supplies:
Yarn.
Scissors
3 or 4 dining room chairs (depending on how long you want your scarf).
Seriously....thats it.

I didn't take any pictures of the set-up or the process so you'll have to bare with me here while I try to explain this.
I placed 3 chairs side by side. I wrapped the yarn once around the backs of the chairs and tied the ends together. I then continued to wrap the yarn 9 more times. That makes a total of 10 times around the chairs. I tied off the end and slid the loops off the chair backs.
I did this 2 more times creating 3 loops of yarn total.
I then put Lil E in his Bumbo and put the ends of the loops under him to hold them steady (this step is optional).
I braided the 3 bundles of yarn together.
Tied the ends together tightly.
DONE.

Yeah thats it.
heres the finished product:



I look so serious! haha

Fall Crafting

Hello Folks!
Long time I know. I've been busy with life and stuff...sue me.
Anyways, this week I decided to decorate my front porch. All my flowers died due to the weather and mostly becuase I didn't water them enough...or really at all. Plants and flowers come to my house to die, green thumb I do not have.
So looking out onto my front porch I find dead plants and dirt in pots and needless to say its not an attractive sight. So its time to spruce it up!
Have I mentioned I love Pinterest? Well I do, it's a wonderful invention for bored stay at home mommies.

Front Door:



Moss and foam pumpkins.
So Cute!

Other Wreaths I made:

Pumpkins:
I decided I didn"t like the chrome look of these so I spray painted it black and added some glitter. Miss Priss says it looks like dragon scales.





Decoupaged with Cloth I had
Laying around the house

For the rest of the porch I bought some foam pumpkins, gourds, and leaves from the dollar store

Found at the Dollar store
How cute are these srsly!?