Etsy + Martha Stewart + Handmade Weddings = awesome!

First of all, I don't think I ever showed off our photographer's lovely photo of our wedding centerpieces. I blogged about them here, but her picture is much more lovely.



Second...check this out! Etsy is teaming up with Martha Stewart to have a contest for handmade wedding crafts. So cool. Here is a link to the page on Martha's website.

And...here is the link to my submission! It looks like this contest isn't determined by votes or anything, but I'd love if you hopped over there and left a comment/rating. And check out the other submissions...there are some pretty neat ideas out there, for any of you planning weddings. Gah, don't you just love the internet?

Imperfect Roses.

At our local Kroger, they almost always have a bin of discounted flowers sitting out front. Most of them look slightly wilted, and some have discolorations or other blemishes that deemed them not worthy of full price anymore. I love this bin. Every Sunday I buy flowers from this sale cart, and two weekends ago I picked out these roses. A dozen for four bucks! They were a lovely pink color, but had some brownish discoloration around the petal edges. I took them home, and they have been slowly opening and becoming more beautiful. And they have lasted over two weeks.

Pretty great purchase, I must say.

More Cloth.

Holy smokes, have you seen this? This brilliant gal has somehow written code (or a computer program? I have no idea how it works) that categorizes fabric on Etsy and organizes it by color. I want to hug her.

{And how cool are these color "barcodes"?}

Cooper Young, oh yeah!

First of all, I can now say that I've conquered sewing...well, purses and clutches at least. Clothing is another story. I finally figured out a clutch pattern that works, and is awesome. I made three this weekend, and I am thrilled (they involve some awesome pleats, and use of some very cool vintage skirts that I bought.) I need to photograph them so I can show them off here, don't I? I was going to list them on Etsy, but...we got a booth at the Cooper-Young festival this year! So I'm going to save them to sell there instead. I'm so excited!

I've done this festival in the past, and, while I had a great response to my jewelry, I just wasn't completely satisfied with it. My booth setup was severly lacking, and I just hadn't thought everything through (branding, booth decoration, table display, etc.). And making jewelry was fun, but I just wasn't really into it. I couldn't say that I had made that jewelry from scratch. It would be one thing if I was forging my own earwires, so I could say that yes, I really made that. But I wasn't. I was pretty much buying the parts, then assembling and selling them. And really, making earrings is so easy once you have all of the components. It involves threading a few stones, turning a couple loop turns, and BAM you're done. So I wasn't too proud of it, even though, like I said, everyone seemed to love it. But this year...we're going to rock. I'm very much inspired by this gal. So I have lots of plans for the booth. And I can now proudly say that my clutches are made entirely by me, from scratch, and they are all one-of-a-kind. My husband has even jumped in on this, and is super excited. He's going to be making and selling stuff as well!

So if you're in Memphis on September 19, please stop by! We're at booth B16...across the street from Java Cabana and Casablanca (see map below).

Featured Etsy Seller: Neneee

These clothes are fantastic. Fantastic! I adore everything in her shop. I constantly am drawn to her designs and just her sheer...I don't know...daring way of putting things together. Rompers? A babydoll dress sewn on the front of another dress? Crazy and amazing.

Here is her sweet summary of her work:

"neneee focuses on featuring comfy and fashionable daily wear for extra awesome girls and smart, fragile women. i draw most of my inspiration from street style, art, eccentricities, music, movies, literature and the like. unless noted otherwise, all clothes are made by yours truly; this includes everything from sketching to pattern drafting, cutting and finishing."


{great expectations romper}


{scalloped shorts}


{tuxedo dress}


{circus romper}


{grey gardens playsuit}

Market Publique.

Well, this is new to me, and I like it. Have you seen this site? Check it. It's like an ebay for awesome vintage clothing.


{80's Cherry Red Secretary Dress Gathered Ruffled Sleeves}


{Fuchsia mini sheer party dress}


{Vintage 50s Mint Green and Blue Boots and Flowers Dress}

Lovely Wedding.

We attending L's good friend's wedding this weekend in St. Louis. It was lovely! Absolutely stunning. The rehearsal dinner (L was in the wedding) was held at Sage Restaurant. We had the entire upper outdoor patio reserved, and the mother of the groom did such a wonderful job with the table decor. The wedding colors were a gorgeous robin's egg blue (almost turquoise), and a really pretty cherry red.






{us at the rehearsal - you can't tell, but we were somewhat miserable...it was just so hot!}

The wedding itself was held at Bee Tree Park, under a shady area that overlooked the Mississippi. The weather held out and provided us with a very enjoyable 85 degrees, instead of the miserable almost-100 degree heat that we had the previous day.

But the best part? The reception was held at Third Degree Glass Factory. How cool is that? Between the time of the bridal party taking pictures and their arrival to the reception (and thus being able to start the buffet line!), guests were given a glass-blowing demonstration to pass the time.