Furball Friday

Made by hand: table numbers

Last week I began posting about some of the handmade wedding crafts I worked on for our wedding. This week I thought I'd tell you about the making of our reception table numbers.

When we started planning last fall, I spent a lot of time poking around on the web for ideas and discovered this beautiful wedding on Design Sponge. I used it as inspiration for a number of elements on our tables. I especially loved the idea of using tree stumps as a way to display the table numbers- it fit perfectly with our rustic, crafty wedding.

Then I got lucky. When we were picking out our Christmas tree I spotted a pile of sawed off tree stumps in the corner of the lot that were headed for the trash. Score!





A little sawing and filing and we had a place to put cards or signs or whatever we needed to display.



Next we needed the table number cards. I like to save my old calenders for just such a project. My very favorite one is by Snow & Graham.



I picked out two patterns that matched our chartreuse table runners and the napkin patterns (such as the yellow and grey pattern below).



Then sliced them up into 4 x 5" cards.





Next I printed out the table numbers on my inkjet printer and glued them to the back side.



They fit in the tree stumps perfectly.







I love how they looked on the tables with the flower arrangements, which were made by my very hard working friends (more on that later).





Planning the tables was my favorite wedding project, SO much fun.

Double rainbow

There are two (look closely).

More Desmond

The Disappearing Desmond dummy is close to done. Stay tuned for art in progress posts soon!

A lovely review from the Arkansas Gazette

(Click to read)

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Made by hand: napkins

I thought I'd post about a few of the handmade projects we worked on for our wedding. We wanted to be as environmentally responsible as possible, do a lot of reusing, and keep throw-away stuff to a minimum... so we decided to hand sew napkins for the table settings, and then make an extra set to give away to guests as a gift (since we had a very small wedding this was manageable). That way we wouldn't be throwing away a lot of paper napkins, and people would have a nice memento from the day.

At first I thought I'd recycle fabric from thrift stores, but couldn't find enough of any one fabric for the job, or a mix of patterns that went well together. So instead I did some searching around online and ended up falling in LOVE with Amy Butler fabric. Her color palettes vintage inspired patterns are so so lovely. I ended up buying a yard of about 30 different designs (though I wanted a whole apartment full).



I estimated about 6 napkins per yard for a 13 x 16" size when hemmed. Finished and folded the napkins looked like this:



How did I have time to do all that sewing before the wedding you ask? I didn't! My mom pitched in and did the bulk of it, thank goodness. She is a much better and faster seamstress than I.

Once they were done I assembled my lady friends and we put them all together, tied with a bit of ribbon.



It was fun to see them all laid out- our color palette for the wedding was shades of yellow and blue and green...



Most of them went into a basket for the gift table.



And the rest went on the dinner tables (the runners were sewn by hand too, with fabric from Ikea).





They were a big hit; the basket was emptied and most of the table napkins went home with folks too! But we do have a nice set left to use and remember the day by.

Returning from wedding-land (or getting married is lots of fun)

After a week of getting back to regular life post-wedding, we just got the pictures from our photographer (Kelly Lorenz) and we are THRILLED. She did such an amazing job of capturing the day, how we felt, and all the beauty around us. Looking at the pictures is like walking through the whole experience again (only this time without the nerves)! Here is a little sampling.

Also, a request. If you leave a comment on her blog post about us we can win a free print... will you do that for us, pretty please? Just comment here.

Wondering what these were for?



The wedding provided me with ample opportunity to make lists, one of my favorite pastimes.



The dress, in hiding.



One of my childhood friends has the most adorable little boy. He ran up to me about ten times during the wedding to tell me there were PRESENTS inside. I think he was very confused about why I didn't run in to open them right away.



We made a sign-in book out of a Kolo photo album, complete with a Polaroid Pogo printer so guests could print out a picture of themselves and stick it in the book (think old Polaroid instant camera meets digital camera meets stickers). We ended up with the most goofy and adorable pictures of our friends and family.



Yes, we read The Rabbit's Wedding by Garth Williams. Its my favorite.



Bruno's ring was, er, a little tight.



But I managed to get it on anyways.



My mom enlisted the help of our guests to make dozens of little paper cranes to hang all around. I loved being surrounded by little pieces of art made by our friends.



There was this really cool house made of trees next to the ceremony site that we took pictures in for awhile.







Then we took a walk in the woods to contemplate our married-ness (and take some more pictures).

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One bag left to be unpacked. But I can't bear to take away such a cozy nesting spot (there are TWO kitties in there)!

Married!

Our wedding was perfect, I am still reeling from the experience of it all. We were surrounded by the most loving, generous people who made the weekend so special for both of us. Unfortunately I have very few pictures yet (hurry up photographer!)...

Going to the chapel, er, field with an oak tree...

What wedding is complete without 6 giant bunny heads?



Gettin' hitched this weekend... see you on the other side (with pictures)!

Furball Friday