Nick and Becks Colorado Wedding Photo Montage!

3.26.2011

Keystone, Colorado

"Everything begins somewhere, welcome to our somewhere"

{Beck's quote for the wedding}

To say the location was breath taking is an understatement!  

***On this drive I texted my dad and he texted me back....I love this text so very much I must share it right now:

Me:  Hi dad!! I just got to Colorado for Beckis wedding and I (was) thinking about our trip, thank you for brining us here I have such good memories!  Love you, Jaime (butttt with a lot more spelling errors because I was distracted by the view)

Dad:  Hi Jaime, It was one of the best trips of my life!  We'll probably never have another room like that again.  It was special to me to have that adventure with my two beautiful daughters.  Memories forever!  Block out my swimtrunks though.  Have fun out there.  You deserve it!  Love you wildly!!!! Dad

(*note my dad, who I have never even texted before had NO texting errors!)  (Also note many references made in the text only my sister who reads this blog will understand but awhhh how I cherished this text!)

Anyways back to the wedding and the trip!

Starting with spa day.... ahhhhh---enough said!

new sweet friends

and my best-est friend becks

all had a blast!  ***a note for my husband Cal who is so so so wishing I might catch baby fever, I really really adored my new friend Stella, but don't get your hopes up toooo high-----yet! 

There were so so so many special moments during the trip and the wedding, I felt beyond blessed to be part of everything, these families made me feel like I belonged and was part of the family even though I only wish that I did!

Ohhh how I love this couple, they are fun and wonderful and I just can't get enough of them!

I think this is a good opportunity to share the speech that I wrote for Becks as her maid of honor....  I don't know what I actually said because I am not much of a public speaker, but here is what I was meaning to say.  I mean every word, they are both such special people to me!

From cowboy hats to dental masks

From pre-clinic to real clinic 

I had the honor of meeting my closest friend and this beautiful bride Becki

Now some people are friends from the moment they meet, some people have been friends since they were young, Becki and I are neither of these, but I think we are something more important, we are what I consider the most important kind of friend, a forever friend and a lifetime friend.  

And just like friendships I think that there are numerous kinds of love but the kind of love that the two of you share is without a doubt the strongest type of love, it is the forever and until the end kind of love.  

I mean it is a love that has been strong enough to withstand 3 seasons or horriable Micigan football, remodeling a home together, dental school and even an indoor golfing range, and that is just in the past four years!

I am so proud honor to be here to day, the day that you start your forever, to celebrate the strongest kind of love, the love that you both share.  

Lets toast Becki and Nick and their new beginning in this beautiful place. 

May your life together be full of beautiful moments and a love that grows stronger each day.

Did I mention that they have an amazing family, I mean really, I don't know any other family where mother-in-laws are best friends!!!  Ohhh I hope they know how amazing that is!

Did I also mention Nick and Becki are SOO cute together?!  Can't you just tell how in love they are and how happy a time this was for them!?!

Couldn't skip taking a picture of the crafty and homemade wedding day touch with the Colorado background!

Aahhhh and how many times do you really really like hanging out with the other bridesmaids?!?  (or bridesmaid in this case?)  Christy and I were also quite excited to show off our dresses with pockets! 

And finally to end this beautiful day the bride and groom danced like it was going out of style!  BEST memories ever!

***It should be noted that I do not have photos from the wedding itself or from most of the day because I was busy enjoying EVERY SINGLE MOMENT.  But be assured, the bride was beautiful, she took her grooms breath away, everyone had a great time and I think I even made a few people cry with my speech, overall I would say the wedding was a great success and as I have said over and over again I feel so so so blessed to have been part of it!!! 

I would like to end the post with the lyrics to the song that was played about a million times throughout the weekend and the song that will forever remind me of this beautiful wedding:

Marry Me lyrics

By TrainSongwriters: Monahan, Pat;

Forever can never be long enough for me
Feel like I've had long enough with you
Forget the world now, we won't let them see
But there's one thing left to do

Now that the weight has lifted
Love has surely shifted my way

Marry me today and every day
Marry me if I ever get the nerve to say hello in this cafe
Say you will, say you will

Together can never be close enough for me
Feel like I am close enough to you
You wear white and I'll wear out the words I love you
And you're beautiful

Now that the wait is over
And love and has finally shown her my way

Marry me today and every day
Marry me if I ever get the nerve to say hello in this cafe
Say you will, say you will

Promise me you'll always be happy by my side
I promise to sing to you when all the music dies

And marry me today and everyday
Marry me if I ever get the nerve to say hello in this cafe
Say you will, say you will marry me

Love never fails

{http://diosmudanzas.tumblr.com}

I am beyond blessed to be going to stand up next to my closest friend while she marries the love of her life this weekend.

All of this speech preparation and packing for Colorado is making me miss the love of my life more than the usual-long-distance-relationship-amount....  I am so blessed to have met and married my best friend and now husband, even if we have been married for close to 3 years now, my heart still flutters when I think that I really really really get to spend the rest of my life with him.  We are getting closer to being geographically closer but I don't think our hearts have ever been closer than now.  I miss him constantly and love him more than ever for helping me deal with all my final struggles and unexpected stresses that are going along with getting to graduation.  He is truly my rock and my heart is always where he is.  

Real true love is so amazing and I am so excited to be celebrating a new beginning for Nick and Becki and I look forward to Cal and I having a new beginning in just a few short weeks.

On that note, love may hinder and hit rough patches, but right now I am going to say that I agree, love never fails.

{This weeks highlights on Pintrest}

Ahhh So I am SUPER excited to start doing a weekly blog post about my favorite things that I have found this week on PINTEREST.  

If you don't know what pinterest is, well you are SO SO SO missing out, it is SUCH an amazing way to be inspired!

The idea is that you join and essentially "pin" or curate a collection of things that you see online that inspire you, or that you like, or that make you laugh, or that you just want to easily make your way back to.  The uses of pinterest are endless and I have already been so so so inspired!  

So for my first addition of this weeks highlights on pinterest I have to say there are too many amazing favorites to share on here so join pinterest if you like what you see!!!

http://www.marthastewart.com

Ohhhh how I love the step ladder as a night stand, what a cute idea!!!

etsy

Yep I am loving the possibilities of doing all kinds of fun creative things like this with the silhouette!

I am also thinking a lot about color palates as my move to Wisconsin is only a month away!  I really like the light gray right now with a teal accent (lighter teal though).

etsy

And I must say that thanks to pinterest I found this cuttteeee baby U of M hat....  My babies must have this!  

And oooh how I would love this Curly Girl print in my new house!!!

Finally another wall color inspiration for the night, I love the lights and whites together especially with a hint of gray and yellow, sooo cute right now!

Hope you are having an inspired and crafty happy kind of a week!  I have to be honest, I am having a stressful kind of a week....  But as always I am doing my best to remain optimistic---spring is coming and with it so so many amazing things to look forward to...!

Up-cycled duvet cover DIY

I have to say I had an amazing weekend!  I got to do a bit of celebrating for Miss Curtis at her batchlorette party---I still can't believe that her Colorado wedding is less than a week away!  I also had a little time to do some crafty crafting, that always makes me SO very happy.  

Let me just say this is my second official sewing project so my work is so so so imperfect, but I like the final result enough I thought it still might be worth sharing.  

{How cute is my new sewing bag?!?  It has wheels and everything!  I have that thing stuffed full with fabrics and the machine itself and the best part of the matter is I found it at T.J. Maxx for a quarter of the cost of a real sewing machine bag}

Anyways, on to my project!  I love duvet covers, I am obsessed with them but can't ever afford to buy a new one every season as I would like to....  Also I would like to note I have been on a crazy mission to find a script type fabric duvet cover (I know pottery barn has a sheet set which is what originally sparked my wishes for not sheets but a duvet....)  (I would also like to note that the sheets were around 3 million dollars so it was not a good way to get the fabric to make my own duvet).  After searching the web I found a script type fabric on fabric.com and since like I said I am a bit new at the sewing stuff I didn't comprehend the amount of fabric I was buying I ended up with more than enough to make a duvet with!  ....and curtains, and pillows, and a shower curtains...hahah oops, good thing I really like this fabric (you will be seeing more of it on my blog thats for sure!)  Anyways, since I am always frugal I decided a viable way to make a duvet cover inexpensively I would recycle/up-cycle an old duvet cover I don't use anymore by using it as the base for my new duvet.  (That way I didn't have to sew that back side or the buttons at the bottom which I thought was just GREAT).  

So, no super wise words about this project, just cut the fabric to size (I left extra on the sides so that I could make a little extra fuffel at the edges (I have how most duvets seem to short on the sides)) 

Here is an idea of size if you are thinking about doing something like this!

Pin and sew, or if you are like me you pin, sew, rip out, sew, wonder what the heck you were thinking trying to do such a big second project, stop try to remember how to load the bobbin...finally sew some more...

Not sure if you can tell but here is the extra little ruffled edge I made on each side 

And just remember to no sew the duvet shut, leave the existing opening separate so you can get the comforter inside!  

I might be hunting for old duvet covers at garage sales this summer so that I can up-cycle them!  Quick and easy and I am loving the new look! 

Not sure if the cover will be in my room or the guest bedroom, but for now I am enjoying it---also not sure if I like it more as the entire comforter or the throw at the end of the bed....how fun to have options!

Things to Come

I am excited to share a little list of things that I am SO excited about---things to come!

But first I must say, I had SO so SO much fun crafting with my sister while she stayed with me for her 4 week rotation....she inspired me, kept me sane when I thought my brain might explode due to the stress of my fourth year dental boards, and she just overall took care of me---what an amazing thing!  My sister has always been the one who has inspired me to blog, this may have been why my blogging blossomed with her around....I am always a doubter, I never imagine my ideas are worth sharing...  But WOW each of the positive comments I received during my past few weeks of posting have managed to make my day and inspire me to come up with even more new ideas.  Thank YOU for stopping by my blog, for looking at my humble ideas and for being a potential blogging friend---I have been so so sooooo inspired by other bloggers!

So now, back to my main point, I have SO many amazing things coming up in my life, in my crafts and SO much to look forward to

• Beck's getting married next weekend in Colorado-I am her maid of honor, and I am having so much fun helping her in the only way I know how-by crafting-last night we dipped and drizzled pretzels (I wish I had a picture they turned out so pretty), we painted pine cones white and glittered them, made tags to tie on to them so they will act as name card holders for dinner, we made bridesmaid jewelry---they match perfectly and they are sentimental---just my thing!  

http://elemeno.us/images/pretzels.jpg

http://.bp.blogspot.com

We picked the two blue with the center silver ball to be a bit meaningful since there are only three girls in the wedding including the bride.

I am not great at making jewelry, but it is kind of fun to have something that the bride knows she really likes, and it is cheap and easy!

• In addition to Becki getting married next weekend---this weekend is her batchlorette party and lets just say I am having fun making things for that as well!!!

We have a little black and white theme going on!  I will show the rest of the decorations if anyone is interested, after the party!

• I passed my written and patient boards (still waiting on the restults of one last part so not completely out of the woods yet), but I think it is safe to say I am graduating----wooohooo, moving home to be with my love (my husband) and moving into a new house----which means look out decorating here I come!!!  And as a gift for passing boards and saving the 1,000.00 it costs to re-take them my husband simply insisted that I buy myself a celebration gift----another part of my blog post-things to come-----because look out I got my dream machine and that means LOTS of crafting to come!

Ahhhh I feel a little heart flutter just looking at this amazing cutter!

And the funny thing is that I didn't realize until it arrived that it might not have worked with my mac---woo that was a close call! 

I also treated myself to some cute fabrics from fabric.com----I have SOOO SOOO many projects I am getting ready to start!

And finally for my fun crafty project to come---as in as SOON as I have a free second--I am going to up-cycle these beautiful (hahah-but so not my style) clearance plaques I found at home good for $3.00 each---I am SUPER excited!  So stay tuned, there are great things to come.

Lamp shade re-do tutorial

On my personal note: for the night I survived my boards this weekend....ahhhh was that NOT fun!!!  I am in one piece and I am on to waiting for the results...I know whatever happens I did my best.  

On a crafty scrappy happy note: I did a fun little project tonight and here are a few shots of the fruit of my labor---ooooh how I sometimes wish I could just craft all of the time!!!  I am so so so full of ideas but don't ever seem to have enough time.  I have been wanting to do a lamp re-do FOREVER and I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was easier than I had thought. 

Kind of cute right?!?!

Now want to know how I did it?!

Step 1: find an old lamp shade you don't love anymore and take the fabric off if yours has crazy red fabric on it like mine did

my sister helped, we used a seam ripper and it came off soo soo easily 

Step 2: pick your fabric and measure

I cheated because I had the old fabric to trace

Step 3: decorate your fabric if you would like---I am crazy obsessed with the citra solv method that I have been using like crazy since last week when I first tried and of course I used graphic fairy graphics because they are amazing (click on her button at the bottom of the post to get to her site).  And click here if you want to see my tutorial from last week on how to do this.

Step 4: wrap the fabric around the shade and pin it nice and tight take it off the shade and sew---I left this up to my sister as I have only done one sewing project and she just finished her first quilt...she is a professional in my books!  But I am guessing I could have done an okay job too...next time I will try I swear. 

Step 5: place the fabric back on the shade and wrap the loose ends up and underneath.  I did this step by first taping the fabric up and under and then used hot glue once I knew I had it where I wanted it....I might add more fabric or possibly ribbon or something to hide the loose ends but I haven't decided yet....for now I am just enjoying my little lamp re-do.

What do you think?  I am thinking I would like to re-do all of my lamp shades! 

Happy Happy Friday---Just finished up 3 fun projects and I am now admiring the results

I am happy to report that I took the day off.  I have patient boards this weekend and I didn't want to go into things too overwhelmed sooooo today I crafted and had such a nice time finishing some ongoing projects and even coming up with some new ideas...Hopefully this blog post isn't too overwhelming (3 projects in one post might be too much)!  And if you think about it, any thoughts or prayers on Sunday would be SO SO SO welcome, hopefully things will go wonderfully and I will be only 7 short weeks for being a real live dentist---ahhh what a LOT of work!

On to the fun stuff!  

Project #1 Up-cycled old frame:

Here is the result!

And here is how I got there:

I started with a very old and amazingly intracitly carved wooden GOLD frame (which was hard to tell when I found it because it was SO covered in dust and grime!)  

After some TLC and some white paint the frame really became a fun decoration....  I like the empty frame look but I decided to add to this one.

Step 1-go to home depot and have helpful guys cut me a board that fits in the frame

Step 2-cut some fabric slightly larger than the board (I ironed the fabric once it was cut)

Step 3-pick images that you love-I got my from the graphic fairy and print them on your laser printer or copy them....(I don't want to go into how to do the transferring too much since I already did a post on it this week---click here if you want to see my technique!)

Step 4-have fun transfering

Step 5 wrap the fabric around the board and secure (I was real fancy and used tape).  

I thought about being done at this point, but I have these cute skeleton keys that I am in love with but not sure what to do with that I found at TJ Maxx a few weeks ago sooo I added a small piece of scrapbook paper behind them (secured with pins) and hung them with a pretty ribbon

I must say this defiantly turned the dirty frame into a fun decoration-mission accomplished :o)

Project #2 Up-cycled shutters:

Here is the result! 

And here is how I got there:

I found these unfinished little shutters at a thrift store for $.50 each, I have seen them all over antique shops for a lot more than that and most of them were a bit larger than I was wishing for sooo I was excited to have found these

Step 1-I painted these green first as my base coat of paint

Step 2-I painted my second coat in a seafoam color by Martha (I have found it less expensive to buy tester paint samples from home depot for crafty purposes rather than the acrylic paints that craft stores sell)

Step 3-distress!  I LOVE this part!  Just get out the most gritty sand paper you have and have some fun!  I did some lighter distressing as well because I wanted some of the green base color to come through.

Step 3-attach vintage apothecary jar, I did this by using jewelry making wire and clamps but if you don't have that regular wire would also work

 Fun and spring like-I would really love to pick flowers and put them in the little jar this spring---sigh---hurry up spring!!!

Project #3 Empty ikea frames to white board lists:

Here is the result!

And here is how I got there:

So I have aproximately 1 million ikea frames all in a light oak color....I am so so so over light oak so they now sit in a Good-Will-Bound-Pile-O-Junk butt I was inspired by this web page ahhh-design.com , and all of her free downloads so I decided to revamp my frames!  

Step 1-I started with a few coats of gray-ish white paint

Step 2-I cut my scrapbook paper to printer paper size and then picked my graphic and printed them right on the paper.

Step 3-(I know you probibly don't need instructions for this but hey I am on a roll) pick and cut your matte paper

Step 4 assemble and get list making!

Super cute and functional-now that is right up my ally!