Card Box Ideas

So as I blogged before I wanted to make a cute card box made out of picture frames.

I found some fabric while on vacation this August that I loved and think would look perfect for the top.

I hope that I can either be able to purchase this or find some other like it.

DIY seashell soap

So while I was browsing ETSY the other day I came across cute little decorative seashell soaps and immediately knew I had to have them for the reception. Only problem was it was 12 dollars for 4 and then like 5 dollars shipping .. umm yeah I don't think so. So I decided I was going to make them myself :). Here is how they turned out and the process in which I made them.

So first I cut up shea butter soap into little cubes so it would be easier to melt.

Then melted it in the microwave for about 30 seconds. (You can also use a double broiler)

Then pour them into your mold and spritz rubbing alcohol on them to remove any air bubbles.

And here is the finished product :)
I can't wait to make these closer to the wedding to place in the bathrooms for a cute little decorative touch

I Got My Dress!!

I finally found my dress! After 6 dress shops I finally found the one! Here is a pic of the model.

I also added a crystal belt to it. I can't wait for it to come in :)

Nursing or Further Education

So I've taken a break from the blog for a while and it's time to come back.  This post leaves me terribly confused with where I am headed for my future.  When I started college I knew exactly what I wanted to do.. Nursing. Well, I started the program and then decided to change majors to Bio because I thought well maybe I want to go to Medical School instead. So Bio it was .. that lasted 1 semester and I decided I wanted to do Nursing after all.  I found a 22 month program in Pittsburgh, PA to attend so that I could finish quickly.  I loved it for the first 12 months or so and then my mind started to slowly change about this profession.  Then I started working as a PCT which I hate but for $12 an hour I guess I can't complain. But here I am 3 1/2 months before graduation and I HATE nursing. I don't enjoy it at all and I don't see how I can make this my job. My current rotation is in the CVICU which I do enjoy some so I guess if I could land a job in this type of setting I will be ok for a while. But now is the question what do I want to further my education to .. Nurse Practioner, CRNA, or attempt Med School?

Wedding Update

So I don't have any new ideas or projects but I am going to a Wedding Show this weekend and I will also be trying on dresses so I will be posting updates within the next few days. :)

More Couponing

So I did a little more shopping the past two weeks and here is what all I bought:

I paid about $4.68 for all of this and it's about $50 worth of products.

Walmart:
Zyrtec 5.99 a piece and I used 2/5.00 off coupons making them 0.99 a piece
Benadryl 2.38 and I used 1/2.00 off coupon making it 0.38
KY Jelly 2.98 and I used 1/3.00 off coupon making it free and I got 0.02 overage

Walgreens:
2 Tylenol Precision 7.99 each I used 2/3.00 Walgreens coupons and 2/5.00 off coupons making them free
2 Carefree liners 3.99 each on sale for 1.99 I used 2/0.50 off coupons and 1/3.00 off coupon making them free

Rite Aid:
Excedrine Migrane 4.99 each on sale for 1.99 and I used 1/1.00 off coupon and 1/1.00 off video value coupon making it free
Crest Toothpaste 3.99 each on sale for 2.69 and I used 1/0.75 cent off which made it 1.99
I also received a total of 3.69 +Up rewards

I also got a can of ALPO dog food and a trial pack of Playtex Sport tampons for free.

My deals as of 6/16

So as I mentioned in my last post I started couponing! Yes another crazy couponer out there. But I'm so sick of paying ridiculous prices at the grocery store for things when I could be using that money for savings, wedding things, and other important expenses. So, here is what I have bought up to this point and I am planning another small trip either tomorrow or Saturday.

Not much but I only paid a total of $0.89 for everything you see here plus an 8x10 from Walgreens. This is what I got and how I spent it.

Walmart
Cottonelle Flushable Moist Wipes
Dial Body Wash
Total before Coupons: $3.71
Total AFTER Coupons: -$1.03

Yes, they paid me $1.03 to take these items from the store. I used the following coupons:
$2/1 any dial product
Free Cottonelle Flushable Moist Wipes (I got this from the Cottonelle website)

Walgreens
Airwick Air freshener kit $7.99
8x10 Collage print $3.99
Total before Coupons: $11.98
Total AFTER coupons: $0.99 (this is after receiving $3RR)

The coupons I used were:
$4/1 Airwick kit
Free 8x10 collage print (from walgreens website)
And I also got a $3 register reward to use on my next purchase.

Petsmart
2 Pawsafe Cleaners $3.99 each
Total before Coupons: $7.98
Total AFTER Coupons: Free

Coupons I used were:
Petperks card made each cleaner $0.99
2 $1/1 pawsafe cleaner

I think I did really well for my first time after starting to coupon and I can't wait to see what I get at the end of the week.

Couponing!

Yes, that is right I decided I am going to start couponing to save some money around here. I went on my first shopping trip yesterday and I can't wait to share with you how I did and what all I got. Stay tuned to see my results!

Updates!

Well I don't have many updates to share but I figured I would post since it has been forever! So, because of school I haven't been able to get much of anything done for the wedding but I look at ideas every once in a while. I went and tried on a dress the other day which I loved, but it's a 2010 design so I'm sure I won't be able to find it many places.

Ok, here is the dress it is a Christina Wu 15417. Keep in mind this dress is a size 20 and I am no where near that so it is quite big and the shop didn't have any dress clips to make it tighter. I was only able to hold it tight at the top so the rest of it is quite baggy, and its quite long. Here is the dress on the model:

(source: Christina Wu)

That's my only actual wedding update, but on a side note my best friend just got engaged on June 9. I'll try to get in the crafty mood again soon, so I  can post more updates.

The start of my DIY to do list

So to help save on costs for the wedding I am planning on making as much as I can without going crazy and turning into a bridezilla. So here is what I have so far on my to do list:

- Card Box: I want to make a photo frame card box and I found a great tutorial on the Road to the Aisle blog.

(Note: I do not remember where I got this picture from. If it is yours please let me know so I can credit you)

- Save the Dates: I want to take an engagement photo that we will have taken in August and create cute save the dates to send out to everyone invited.
- Invitations: I want to order my paper from Anchor Paper and create my own pocketfolds. I wasn't going to do this but after pricing some online, normal invitations plus all the inserts was going to run me anywhere from $600-$800 and I am not going to pay that
- String Chandeliers - I saw these and I fell in love with them and I think they would look perfect hanging at our reception. I found a tutorial on the Ruffled blog and they seem pretty simple to make.

(Credit: Ruffled Blog)

As for now that is all I have on my list. What types of projects did you plan on doing? What projects did you actually complete?

Wedding Planning

So while we were in Charleston, we visited a few locations for our wedding reception. I took pictures at each location so I would be able to look back at them and compare later on. So our first stop was to The Charleston National Golf Club. It was a very pretty location but it was a little far up from where we were wanting and it just wasn't what we were envisioning for the reception.

Outside of the Charleston National Golf Club, this is where guests would enter

This is where the reception would be held.

Our next stop was at two locations owned by the same company, Lighthouse on the Creek and also Cottage on the Creek. First up was Lighthouse, it was gorgeous and by far my favorite of the two. I loved the fact that it felt more relaxed and that it was on the water.

We forgot to take a picture while we were standing out front so we had to get a quick drive by picture.

This is where either dancing or the tables would be located.

The outside area with the bar

More space for either tables or dancing

The last stop for the day was Cottage on the Creek. It was pretty and had an amazing outdoor area but the inside just wasn't what I was really looking for. 

The best picture of the outside I could get

Downstairs area could be used for dancing or tables

Indoor balcony area upstairs overlooking Shem Creek

Outdoor deck where tables could be placed

So at the end of the day we went home and started looking back through all the pictures we had taken and had pretty much decided on Lighthouse on the Creek as our location. The next day we heard back from another location, the Creek Club at I'On. 

:Looking at the back of the building from the water

 One of the side porches with a fireplace, also the bar is at the end of the porch

The other porch with rocking chairs

View of part of the inside

So we left knowing that this is where we definitely wanted to hold our reception and decided we would call back the next day and sign the contract. We were then told someone had already placed a temporary hold on the place and we would have to wait until after the weekend to see if they still wanted it.We were all pretty devestated and hated thinking we had to start looking for other locations. 

What part of wedding planning has gotten you stressed out?

On the set of Army Wives!!!

Well kind of. So during the first few days of being in Charleston we went looking around for the houses from Army Wives. Thanks to a blog I stumbled across called He Wears Combat Boots, I Wear Stilettos I was able to find most of the locations I was looking for. So here are my pictures from my little sight seeing adventure.

This was the first house we stumbled upon and it is Joan and Roland's house. It was interesting because when you looked around it was the only house that had bright green grass.

 Here I am in front of Frank and Denise's house

View of Frank and Denise's house from the street

The Holden house, I wish I could have gotten a better picture and actually got to go look around but there was a security guard sitting in a car. I'm guessing because there was a gospel sing festival thing going on since it was Easter weekend and they didn't want people messing with anything.

The pergola in front of the Holden house

The Administration building

An up close view of the stars on General Holden's parking spot at the Administration building.

 This picture kind of speaks for itself but it's the HUMP BAR!! I was so excited to find this.

Of course, I had to get a picture in front of it.

That ended my tour of the locations we could find of Army Wives, and thanks to the wonderful blog I mentioned above I was able to find them. The funny thing is last August when we were on vacation in Charleston we walked around in the River Front Park but never drove up into the houses and somehow I missed the Hump Bar on the drive through.

But if anyone needs help finding these places the houses are located in the housing subdivision right near River Front Park in North Charleston. I believe one of the street's is called Navy Way or something to that effect. But the easiest way that I found the hump bar was driving from downtown Charleston. We drove straight up Meeting St. towards North Charleston and it was on the left side of the road. I tried going the opposite way and totally somehow never found it. But I hope this helps someone!

I'm Baaack!

I bet you thought I fell off this whole blogging thing like I normally do, didn't you? Well I just went on vacation and sorta forgot to post at all while I was there. But oh well I guess I will just make up for it all now.

So my fiance, mother, and I went to Charleston, SC for a vacation/wedding planning trip over my spring break. We had meeting scheduled pretty much every day but Friday, so it was more business that relaxation which kinda sucked. But, we visited 4 locations for receptions, and 1 photographer. We were supposed to visit 2 photographers, but after meeting with the first we realized we wanted her and didn't even want to see the other.

So we got both of those booked (I will have seperarte posts for those) now I just need to get other things booked or at least narrow the vendors down. 

Do you ever have crazy weeks where you feel like all you do is run? What do you do to keep yourself sane?

My first challenge

So since I had to make another card anyways I decided to find a sketch from a challenge so it would be a little bit more fun. This challenge is over at the Random Acts of Creativity blog and it is Sketchbook Saturday Challenge #7. Here is the sketch:

So I decided to use black cardstock for the card itself, We R Memory Keepers Promenade paper for the background color, some random Prima flowers I had laying around, and also some little bling jewels. I used a piece of blue scrap ribbon to put across the middle and I stamped the word Thanks! in Bahama blue by Memento Ink and I also heat embossed it. 

Here are all of my materials before I got started

And here is the final product

So stressed out!

So wedding planning and school is starting to officially stress me out. I'm so glad I will be on vacation all next week, I definitely need it. Well if you rember my previous post about reception locations I was telling you about our favorite location at Boone Hall Plantation. Well, I found out today they are booked all the way through June 2012. WOW I never realized I needed to start looking more than 13 months in advance but apparently I needed to start in November. Why so early you may ask? Well, I decided to start calling even more locations to go visit and every single one is booked up! I have called 16 places and I have found 2 that are available as of now, and one location had a temporary hold on our date so she said she would call the couple and see if they were still interested. I feel like I am going to have a breakdown I never thought it would be this difficult to reserve a wedding location. I will be calling more places but I'm just so discouraged. And on top of all that I have a final on Thursday that I have yet to start studying for and I just found out that I need to make yet another card for my clinical unit. Ugh so lets see 2 cards, study for test, find reception locations. Let's see if I can get this all done without freaking out.

So out of the multiple locations I called today here are the ones available:

Charleston National Golf Club

A view of the outside of the facility (Photo Credit: Kate McKinley Photography)

Here is the room we would be using (Photo Credit: Kate McKinley Photography)

What the room would look like with tables (Credit: Kate McKinley Photography)

It's not exactly what we were looking for but it is very pretty. We also found an availability at the SC Aquarium. They will be sending me more photo's than what is on their website so whenever I get those I will post away.

Thanks for everything

Yay, I finished my card for my clinical instructor and I guess I'm ok with how it turned out. I'm not used to making cards for guys except my fiance and I put bows and ribbons and flowers on a lot so this was a really tough challenge for me. But here are some pictures I hope everyone likes it :)

Here are all of my materials before I started. I probably sat here for a good hour just trying to figure out what I was going to do. Then I finally had an idea and then about three others.

 I thought at first that I wanted to add a strip of paper behind that had embossed lines on it but later decided I wasn't a fan of it at all. So I came up with another idea.. 

Getting rid of the lines and just keeping it plain was my next thought. But I really wasn't a fan of it either so you can tell I started to take my ink pad to the bottom right half of it. I decided to distress the edges to give it more of a masculine look like the yellow oval has.

Once I was finished with that I still wasn't happy so I decided the patterned paper needed some distress ink also. And this is the finished product and hopefully I don't change my mind on anything else to add.

Do you ever get those projects that you just can't seem to figure out what you really want it to look like? What do you end up doing?

New additions to the to do list

Well, I had planned on getting caught up on my to do list this weekend while I had nothing to do, but that wasn't the case. My fiance decided to come up and surprise me since we currently live an hour and a half away from each other until December. But I had planned on working on my cross stitch for a little bit and at least get the first bird close to being finished. I also needed to get the thank you card made for my clinical instructor. Well, I got my paper out and I sat and just stared for what seemed like forever. You see here is the problem, I'm not used to making cards for a guy, normally I make cute girly cards you know with bows and flowers. So that is my problem no bows and no flowers and probably no ribbon, so what am I supposed to do? I'm not sure yet but I better figure it out soon I have to give it to him on Thursday! Yikes, I better get to work. But before I get to telling you about my ever so slowly growing to do list I will show you the little progress I have made on my cross stitch.

As you can tell I haven't made much progress. But now to what I have added which I may be crazy for. So now instead of making one card I am making two cards. And yes I would like them both finished by Tuesday, so that only leaves me today and Monday. Why by Tuesday for the second card? Well it is going to my grandma and it is an Easter card, and since Easter is Sunday I want to make sure she will get it by then. As for my other projects I have in mind, they would include sewing on a sewing machine which if you read in a previous post I still don't have. But I am going out today and browsing to see which one I like the best then I can come home and read up on it a little. But once I do get that beautiful new machine I will be making a dog bed cover, a baby blanket for our friends baby who's birthday is coming up so we figured a nice blanket and a toy, oh and also a blanket to put on my couch for those lazy day naps, hmm lets see what else oh yeah! I saw this really nifty scrap holder bag while I was looking through magazines last night, it lays across the table and has a pouch that hangs off the table that holds the fabric scraps, it also has a place to hold safety pins and needles. But I do believe that is all for my adding list other than working on wedding plans, so I will be back to show you my top contenders for my sewing machine.

So do you find yourself adding to the to do list before you finish anything off of it like I do?

So much to do!

I never finish a project before I decide on starting another one. So since I had a break from school work tonight I decided to work on some of my many unfinished projects. But as I sat down to do them I realized I had way to many than I should. Going to school full time and planning a wedding should be enough to occupy my time, but no I decided to work on a cross stitch design for my FMIL (future mother in law) and also a thank you card for my clinical instructor. I've also been trying to find a sewing machine that I like so hopefully I can have a quilt made by the time my fiance and I buy a townhouse in November. So the cross stitch project I started on about a month and a half ago and just really haven't been in the mood to work on it. So today I decided I would work on it a bit and here is where I'm at and how far I have to go. 

So I haven't gotten far and it sort of looks like a kangaroo but no it is a bird haha I promise

This is what it will look like when it is finished. I bought it from Michael's and it is the Winter Cardinals designed by Marc Hanson and Dimensions makes this kit of pattern, thread, and Aida cotton material

Now, as far as the wedding planning goes, we know we are having it in Charleston, SC but still have yet to decide on the ceremony and reception locations. We know we want it to be on the beach but we aren't sure which one, it will probably depend on where the reception will be at. We have the photographer choices narrowed down to two Carmen Ash Photography and also Richard Bell Photography. We love both of their photos and we will meet with them in two weeks so I will have an update later on as to which we ended up going with. As far as reception options we only have one option because we can't decide which others we want to visit. Our favorite right now is Boone Hall Plantation.

(credit: this is my own photo)

This could be where we have some of our photos taken in between the ceremony and reception

(credit: own personal photo)

The gorgeous avenue of the oaks on the way up to the plantation house

(credit: my own photo)

This is the dock house where the actual reception would take place. It is rather large inside and we are only planning on about 30 guests max showing up, so there would be a lot of extra space but I think it would still be ok.

(credit: Richard Bell Photography)

This is the back side of the dock house where we would set our tables up at.

I have decided I would leave making the card until either tomorrow or sometime this weekend. But I will make sure to take pictures before of all my materials and after it's finished.