Paper Chains from maya*made

Maya*made is always a great source for inspiration for me. She is so creative and very talented in coming up with new things to do with old materials.

Here she's made paper chain/paper dolls out of the old standard-- newspapers!

I am particularly enamored of this one. I love these acorns. Such a festive Autumnal banner. I think I'd like to try some of this with my kids.

We've spent the last couple of years in Florida, so missed out on real Fall. It's kind of fun to watch the season tumble down around us. Some banners and maybe even some mobiles might be an interesting project.

Backyard Living

Wow. Backyard tent, found at Design Inspiration Planet Stencil Library. This one is stenciled. That's pretty awesome although I would probably never do that. But seriously. AWE. SOME.

This would be great for a backyard wedding, or any party, or an afternoon reading poetry and lounging around, or a play house for the kids, or a romantic brunch... or a romantic night *wink wink*. So many possible options.

Maya*made has a simpler, more temporary tutorial for a summer pavilion for a similar feeling with smaller commitment and expense and trouble. I loves me some maya.

Here's a site to buy your own tent... if the thought of constructing your own intimidates you.

Found Via The Haystack Needle and Frolic.

Casual Garden Wedding Ideas

I know I haven't posted lately. With the upheaval of nap time and the new projects and the reduced computer time and some other big stressors, I have neglected this blog sadly. The new stress is a moving plan. Nothing is one hundred percent right now, but we're pretty sure that we'll be moving to Northern California by Autumn.

So such a big shift in location has my whole brain turning around. I haven't been thinking about weddings... but I saw this wedding on Once Wed and thought I couldn't lose this bit of inspiration. I love the casual feel of this seating arrangement. The intimate party. Relaxation. String of lights. Mismatched garden furniture.
I also love this table arrangement. Mason jars and candles and herb pots and garden/wildflowers. Yeah, baby. I've actually thought about collecting mason jars and vintage jars and jelly glasses for drinking. I mean, what's more down to earth, insouciant and romantic than drinking sangria out of a mason jar? Cava out of a jelly glass?

Found via Paper n Stitch

Armour Sans Anguish-- Are You Woman Enough for This Dress?

The Doily Dress from ArmoursansAnguish. Made to order and only 260$! I imagine this as a wedding dress for someone daring and slender and young. She would walk down the aisle with a feather fascinator and a bouquet of dark dark, almost black, red roses. A bride who always wanted to be a ballerina, and cares not a whit for any of that industrial rigamarole.

But then, maybe one could also visit their site and get Tawny and Julie to lengthen that flirty skirt and widen the straps just a tad, and one could still be a Degas Ballerina with a splash of shabby eco chic punk thrown in even though one was heading down the road to 40 years old.

Stuff My Kids Gave Me and Other Spiritual Practices

Stuff My Kids Gave Me This Morning, 3/31/09

In a post on Spiritual Practices for Hope in Uncertain Time, Magpie Girl talks about walking in the dark, about riding out the wave in writing and about breathing true things. All beautiful practices. Go there to hear what she has to say. At the end of her post, she asked a question. "What spiritual practices do you have to nurture hope in times of uncertainty? "

That got me to thinking about what I do when money is tight and there isn't any on the horizon, and the only thing that keeps you going is hope. You've just got to believe. How do you keep the faith? Now, I'm not religious, although I know people turn to religion for that hope. Me, I have to turn to the little things. The beautiful things, the point of it all.

That's what this blog is supposed to be about. Little things. Inspiration. Cheap and/or free things, so I thought this is the place for me to share a little bit of what I've learned, not just the cool things I see on the web while going about.

So these are the things I have done in uncertain times.

I have kept a list of at least three things a day that made me happy. Sometimes it was tough to make my quota, Sometimes my happy file floweth over.

I have taken a picture a day. Often many more than one. There are beautiful things out there if you look for them. They turn up everywhere.

Lately I am starting to draw a sketch from life once a day… or maybe not even once, maybe just every once in a while. When you pay attention to the line of a grape stem, you start seeing the wonder all around you. I think it also helps to take up a project so you feel like you are growing as a person and being productive, even if other things aren't going so well. It could be the photography or it could be learning to play guitar or cooking vegan, or growing a window garden.

Also, my kids keep giving me stuff they find, rocks, berries, twigs… I think I’d like to collect these things somehow, a record of them. Perhaps a photo of them, laid out on a piece of paper. (Oh, hey, it's already done! Inspired by this post, and this post. See, this blog really is my inspiration file. Just stick around and see what else I create based on what I find here. :)

Also, have picnics. Take walks. Window shop. Stop and listen when someone is playing music in a public place. Sing. Dance. Spin with a child. People watch. Go barefoot. Have long heartfelt conversations. Have sex. Stand in the rain… take advantage of all the free sensual and spiritual pleasures in life.

Life is still good, even when it sucks.

Keep the conversation going. What are the things you do to keep hope in tough times?

Excellent Tutorial from Blogland

Little Green Notebook is a recent find of mine and I am terribly impressed with Jenny and her window shade from cheap mini-blind tutorial. It just is a brilliant idea as window treatments are so ridiculously expensive.
I have always liked a simple look to my windows, but sometimes you need something more than just bare, and maybe I need to do more than the white eyelet table cloths I had tacked above my windows for so many years. I liked the country feel, but I'm feeling the need to go a little more tailored. This might fit the bill. I wonder if eyelet tablecloths would look good as shades? hmm.

DIY Dreams

This is a lovely diy wedding, found on stylemepretty. I love the setting. If only I could find a grove of aspens. I love the informal feel of people just wandering along the path, gathering around in a meadow. Very pretty and touching. I also love that it is so family and child oriented. Games! How clever and important for a party with many children. Great idea.

And to go along with the family focus, the clothes line with all the photos. Old and new family photos. I really like that for myself, particularly since this wedding that is yet to be planned or have a date set is, in part, for our children and our families. I guess all weddings are, but our wedding would have actual little people running about, not the abstract concept of future children. And no one will then feel compelled to ask us, "so, when you having kids?" heheh.

I plan on doing a LOT of my wedding DIY. This is one of the reasons I started this to plan and research ideas and maybe even use to keep track of projects. Because I don't want to have crazy stressed out time before this wedding, whenever it happens. And that's pretty hard to do if you're DIY everything.

Witness my current plans of DIY, and my rationalization on why I can do it (or can find a family member and/or friend to do it for me.)

Invites. I am an artist and writer and setting up a whole system for printing currently.

Vows. Both S and I are poets (shhh, don't tell anyone.)

Table settings. I have read Martha Stewart for 20 years, and besides, I will simplify the whole thing because I like simple. and small. and heartfelt.

Favors. I am an artist and would probably do something to reflect that.

Flowers. I've done wedding bouquets before, and because I would go for something kind of wildflowery/handtied looking. And because my mom is a horticulturist and I could pass this off to her to do.

Music. I do not have the skills for this, but S's best friend is a musician and DJ, and my sister and her fiancee are musicians, and I would probably like an Ipod playlist, although we don't have an Ipod yet. This will take some work. I might put S in charge. He might be able to find friends to play for free, actually. Hmm.

Photography. My dad and my uncle are both professional photographers and I am an avid amateur. Would it be weird if the bride ran around snapping digital shots during the wedding?

Decor. Artist, amateur decorator, wannabe stylist and martha afficionado, that's me.

Guest book. So many options for creativity here, I can think this up. I can do most anything on paper, owing to my lifetime of arts and crafts and writing.

Hair and makeup. I would do my own hair and makeup because I like a natural look, but my sister is also a professional hair stylist and makeup artist. I'm not talking to her right now, but I have plenty of time to work on that. ;)

Officiant. My bestfriend and I both registered to be officiants at the same time. I haven't finished the process, but I think she has. And if she hasn't there's plenty of time for that.

Bar. I, S and my sister are or have been professional bartenders over the course of the past 20 or so years. I think we got this... although we wouldn't work during it, obviously. Thinking more we stock our own bar, create a specialty punch/drink, and then hire a friend to tend bar.

And my possible DIY plans

Dinner. I have dreams of having a Spanish style fiesta with Paella and tapas and simple good food that I could plan all myself with my mom... but I am not that crazy and will probably have to hire someone to do this (or whatever we plan).

Cake/cupcakes. I still think about doing this. Plain cupcakes aren't as difficult as a big white tiered wedding cake which I think is unnecessary, or I have a flourless chocolate cake recipe that can be made ahead and frozen, and served with whipped cream and icecream and berries. Yumm. I want that now.

Apps. See "Dinner." How hard would it be to set out olives and manchego and nice crusty bread? Or make some tortas and slice up some chorizo. Doesn't that sound like a good pre party snack?

Glasses This is probably dreaming, but I'd like to scour yardsales and fleamarkets or even Ikea and pick up plain glass tumblers and vintage juice glasses and use those for everything from water to wine to whiskey.

Plates and Utensils. Also probably dreaming. Same yardsale/thrifting and using mismatched vintage place settings. The biggest problem with this would be cleanup and storage.


The things I wouldn't do myself?

Dress. Seamstress, I am not, but I will get a simple, inexpensive dress and possibly add some embellishments like a ribbon or a shrug. I'm not a princess and don't want to pretend that I am.

Tables and chairs are looking pretty much NOT diy Unless we do a picnic on the beach or in a field, in which case I would like to thrift up some blankets for "seating"

Venue. I just don't know where it will be and we first have to move, which will probably define the location. And the date, actually. I could find a park somewhere, but it would take much research, especially since we still have a move to make, and that will define location. Without knowing the location, it's kind of hard to define most of the plans. Hence perhaps my longing for a grove of aspens.

Bartending This could just be self serve, but a nice touch would be someone behind a bar.

Food serving Well, there probably won't be formal servers, but someone to set things out and care for the dishes. Probably the same person as set up and clean up, actually.

Set up and Clean up the day of. I don't want to do this. But if pressed, I'll probably make my mom do this. Sorry mom. :)

Possibly day of coordinator. This is a new thought. If I do everything myself, why not hire someone to organize and set up everything for the big day so I can actually have a party rather than HOST. Seriously, I don't want to do anything the day of.

Am I crazy? Just a little? Remember also that we're talking TINY wedding here. Not big. Luckily, we have small families, spread far and many of them won't or can't travel much. It does depend on where it is, though. If we do it in NY that's a different guest list than if we do it in Florida which is a different guest list than if we do it goodness knows where we end up moving.

Tell Me To Go To Sleep

I love this blog, Snippet & Ink with all it's inspiration boards, especially the budget friendly variety. So great at getting rid of the fuss and pomp and leaving unique, personalized things... plus with hints about how to save money. So many. Great ideas. This one is very similar to ideas in my head, with a few more I never considered.