Invitations from the Wedding Sweatshop

Greetings from the apartment sauna.

As I sit here with my third cup of coffee, awake much earlier than I have ever had to be thanks to my one and only 8:00am class I've been blessed with my entire college career (which my major so nicely forces us to take our last semester), I figured now would be a great time to blog about my very first wedding DIY project that took place this weekend!

My goal for the last week of winter break was to get my invitations done. Yes, that meant MAKE them, no easy task when I decided that the invitations I had designed over Thanksgiving break were not at all what I wanted. I sat at the computer for hours, pouring over other people's invitations I found on Google for inspiration. I knew I wanted ours to be unique, not your typical cursive font on white paper with a bow tied around it. I tried to recreate the ones I liked on Microsoft Publisher to no avail, all the while wondering if I should just suck it up and pay a professional to do it. But this crafty gal was not to be defeated.

I finally found an invitation template I loved in this book, one of my Christmas presents, and set to work to create one myself to see if it could be done. I made a quick excursion to Michael's, where I picked up some blank invitations, cardstock, and an eleven dollar rubber stamp--kind of a splurge for me. While I tried to follow the step-by-step instructions, I found my own creativity taking over until in the end, I had created something that was nothing like the picture in the book. But you know what? I loved it.

Step 2: Time to make 150 of them. Enter some crafty, beautiful bridesmaids.

With the aid of mimosas, egg and sausage casserole, and chocolate chip scones, these lovely ladies helped mass produce these homemade wonders. In the apartment sweatshop...that right there is true dedication.

A couple hours later?

And they are staying far, far away from the makeshift humidifier.

How To Have The Perfect Wedding: No Liposuction Needed

Even though New Years Eve is annually the lamest holiday of the year, I sincerely hope you had a more eventful one than I did. This year, my glamourous evening consisted of throwing up all night, sipping gatorade all day, and sprawling on the couch, dozing in and out with my man watching all three Back To The Future movies, only changing the channel to watch the ball drop and toast to the new year with a wine glass of ginger ale. Yep, after avoiding it for so long, the stomach bug made its way to me on New Years Eve. Happy freakin' 2011.

But hey...with a year of graduation, weddings, and moving upon us, it can only get better, right?

After the stomach flu made it's grand entrance and exit, I spent a lot of time in front of the TV recovering/taking advantage of being lazy for my last winter break ever. (Being waited on by mom and dad only lasted so long, though.) Among the junk that is daytime television, I definitely had my fix of trashy reality TV. And wouldn't you know, weddings are a hot topic these days.


Say Yes to the Dress. Bridalplasty. Four Weddings. Different shows, but they all say the same thing: Weddings need to be extravagant. If they want it, brides can be talked into spending $500 dollars more on a dress when their budget was $2000--it's OK, because Daddy will pay. Every girl's wedding will not be perfect unless she wins a liposuction-facelift-boob job makeover. It's all just a big competition to see whose wedding is the biggest and the best. Winning= a lifetime of love and happiness. And if they lose? Well, at least they got to be on TV.

It makes me think: whether you spend $5,000 or $50,000 on your wedding, everyone has the same thing to show for it: marriage. The flowers will wilt, the dress will go back into the closet, and the cheesy DJ will pack up his speakers and drive over to the next reception. Have the girls on these shows lost sight of the reason for all the glam and glitz?

Today marks the 7 month countdown to me and Ian's big day (and also our two year and eleven month anniversary of dating!) and I know that as the planning and crafting (and working more hours to pay for all the planning and crafting) begins to take form, it will be easy to get caught up in the details. But as long as I keep my sights on the most important thing, everything will be perfect. Even without plastic surgery.

Escape to a Small Town

Because we weren't escaping town to Chicago yesterday, my sis and I decided to escape town to a slightly closer, more charming, and less exciting destination called Bellefonte.

The sunny skies fooled me into thinking it was warmer than it really was, so all I wore under my jacket was the polka dot shirt from yesterday's post. It wasn't very warm.

It might not be Chicago, but Bellefonte is a cute town about 20 minutes away from Happy Valley, good for a day escape to small town America. Not to mention antique and thrift shops galore.

I went in with a few things in mind that I wanted to find: flower brooches, a birdcage veil, and once again, an antique cake topper. However, as we all know, the number one rule of thrifting is to not be on the lookout for any one thing in particular, and I'm finding that to be especially true when I search for wedding things. When I went antiquing with my dad a few months ago, there were flower brooches EVERYWHERE. I figured I would have no problem finding enough to make one of these:

Yesterday? Nothing of the sort! Guess we'll just have to keep searching.

But! As we turned to go up the rickety stairs of the never-ending antique mall, I saw this leaning against the railing:

Two bucks!

Keeping an open mind for the decor has led to all kinds of fun ideas that I never would have thought! Things are just in the beginning stage now, but I can't wait until things start coming together.

All that dust in the air sure worked up an appetite, so Em and I headed over to Cool Beans Cafe where I had a delicious hummus and veggie wrap, probably the most healthy thing I've consumed in the past month. But then, my after-lunch treat cancelled out all nutrition that I had probably gained from that veggie-licious creation...

Oh well.

All in all, yesterday was another great thing to lift me out of the post-Christmas funk. Now go drink some coffee and curl up by the fire with a good book. Or Cosmo. Either way.

Bon Appetit!

Polka Dots and Post-Christmas Depression

Helloooo to my freezing funky junkies!

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday and that Santa was as good to you this year as he was to me. I also hope that in the midst of the Christmas season stress and chaos that your family was blessed with the little things that make the holidays a memorable time of year. I know that for me, after the last minute gift shopping and the hoards of presents are opened, Christmas ultimately lies in the memories made with my loved ones: holiday party-ing with my girlfriends I've known since preschool, a day-long cookie baking marathon with my mom and sister, and spending Christmas Eve with my family, amazing fiance, and future family-in-law.

I've also had a slight change in my Christmas break plans, as a nasty bout of the stomach flu hit the Saylor household put a wrench in travel plans for the Chicago externship. I'm hoping to work out switching to do it over Spring Break. Although the break didn't quite turn out as we had planned, this now means two more weeks of relaxing, sleeping in, and wedding crafting! Not to mention I'll have someone to kiss on New Years Eve. ;-)

Yesterday I found myself in a bit of a post-holiday funk, so I sauntered down to Goodwill. In addition to a burnt red spring/fall coat and a hot pink blazer, I was drawn to some blue and white polka dots peeking out of the rack. It was a really neat cut, but the only problem? It was rocking some 80s, mom-tastic shoulder pads.

Hop in the mini van, kids!

But after some loving scissor cutting/ripping the shoulder pads out, as well as some seam ripping to let the collar open a liiiitle lower, it looked like a whole new shirt. The pearls, earrings, and makeup certainly didn't hurt either, I suppose.

Major to-do on this week's agenda: make and assemble wedding invitations. I'll keep you posted on the progress, and even let you see a sneak peak of my Microsoft Publisher creation!

Until next time...eat lots of leftover/stale Christmas cookies, play with your new toys, and don't feel bad for being sick of Christmas music on the radio.

Happy Holidays from The Funky Junkie!

It's Time for Mistletoe and Holly...Especially Mistletoe.

With seven semesters of college down and one to go, I am officially on CHRISTMAS BREAK! My last one ever. Woah.

With Christmas classics on Grooveshark radio, I'm sitting in my kitchen at home waiting for mom and sister to get home so that the Christmas cookie baking marathon can begin. Meanwhile, I'm relishing in that fact that I can now shamelessly stalk wedding blogs without guilt. Because I have no projects, papers, or exams. Schooool's out. For. Winter.

These next few weeks of freedom will hopefully mean lots of time to get the ball rolling on some wedding crafts and decorations! Namely, invitations, gifts for my bridesmaids, and most of all, sifting through the masses of photos and ideas stored on the computer and narrowing it down to which things I want to be on the look out for in my antique and thrifting adventures (which there will hopefully be one or two to tell about by the time break is over!)

But until then, feast your eyes on some of my latest inspirations:

 

-Bren

The Funky (But Not Junky) Professional

Even though I still have a whole semester left before I enter into the real world, (Jobs! Marriage! Cooking dinner every night!) I've been starting to get antsy about transitioning from a late-sleeping, leggings-and-sweater wearing, Top-Model-Marathon-watching college student to a responsible, suit-wearing, Wall-Street-Journal reading wife and career woman. Maybe.

All that aside, there is one thing that I am getting excited about, which is building up my cute professional clothes wardrobe! I know that might seem weird to be thrilled at the prospect of sweatpants and jeans no longer being an option for looking presentable at work, but lately when I've shopped downtown or look through magazines, I find myself thinking to myself, that would look cute with a blazer and some funky jewelry! Instead of, I could really use some more going out clothes! Well...maybe that's not entirely true...

When I used to think of going to work, I used to think of this:

Yikes. How boring. I was pretty sure my days of funky clothes and thrifty shopping would be screeched to a halt once I got a job. Goodbye Goodwill, hellooo overpriced department stores....

But last summer when I had an internship at the Bedford Springs Resort and Spa, I had a coworker who defied all of my previous conceptions of the working woman. Every time she walked in to work, she looked ADORABLE while still professional! She rocked everything from bright, funky blouses to non-traditional suit coats. That's when I realized, just because you need to dress professional, it doesn't mean your individual style has to go out the window.

The best part? You can totally thrift that stuff!

In January I'll be working at the Sheraton Chicago Hotel and Towers for a week-long externship in Human Resources. Finally, a job that requires a different outfit from my usual messyFood and Beverage uniform! My mommy and I are planning on a shopping trip in the near future for some of these funky and fabulous work clothes. Here are a few of the things I'm looking for:

And just for kicks....I looooooooove this vintage look:

And while I'm at it, this is what I'll wear to bake pies for my husband:

On a more boring note, I am one final away from being one step closer to all of this exciting adventures to come. While I should be studying Updike, Cheever, and Bradbury (an English essay test...c'mon, reallyyyy?), I have been gorging on Christmas cookies, drinking too much coffee, watching Christmas movies, and coloring. Yes, coloring. With my fiance. Don't judge.