i heart him.

My fiance is one of the nicest, most thoughtful people I've ever met. Here is a perfect example of how sweet he is to me. I asked him to go to the store after work to pick up some noodles so I could make stroganoff for dinner tonight. He said yes and picked up the noodles on his way home. What else did he come home with?
Purple dahlias. And some other type of flower...not sure what they are. Spider mums maybe?

Why did he buy me flowers? Because this weekend I went on an unsuccessful journey to find things to fill my vases with since I couldn't use ornaments anymore. So he decided flowers would be perfect to fill my vases with. He was going to just get the light purple flowers, and then he saw the dahlias. Which happen to be the flowers that I want to use for my bouquet. So he bought both. Needless to say, he made my day. I heart him.

Also, I promised my dad I would put a picture on here of our new dining room set. So here it is! I'm very excited about it! And we are putting our purple candlesticks to use before the wedding... no point in letting them sit in a bag in the closet when we have a pretty table to decorate! Unfortunately we can only fit 4 of 6 chairs around the table in our little apartment, but you get the idea.
All photos are my own. I apologize for the poor pictures, I was too lazy to get the camera so I just used my phone. Please forgive me.

invitation inspiration.

I've been trying to find some inspiration for our invitations and save the dates, but haven't had much luck lately. I found this paper at Paper-Source last night and immediately ordered some. The color looks perfect and if I like what I see when it arrives I might have to buy the matching stamps and cocktail napkins. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Moss flourish paper from Paper-Source.

christmas diy project #10: dollhouse.

The last but certainly not least project that was constructed for Christmas was a dollhouse for Adam's niece Aliyah (who is also our flowergirl). At the beginning of November, we had set out to find a birthday gift for Ali (her bday is in Nov.) and after being unsuccessful at finding anything, we decided a dollhouse would make a really great birthday/Christmas combination gift. Adam created the dollhouse out of a lot of plywood, dowels, and paint, without much help from me. I originally intended on doing all of the painting after it was finished, but that just didn't happen with all of the other projects I had of my own. So for the past two months Adam worked almost every day on the dollhouse, building, painting, wallpapering, flooring, and making and painting the furniture. I helped a little with the painting and color choices, but this project was definitely all Adam. It turned out so well, and I'm glad to know that he is an expert in dollhouse-making so when we have a girl of our own he can make another one :) That won't be for a while though, probably a long while!

All photos are my own.

christmas diy project #9: fabric ornaments.

After hand-making a gift for everyone in my family except my mom, I felt a little guilty. The other projects had taken so long I didn't have time to make anything elaborate before I left to go home. I had seen instructions somewhere for making fabric ornaments (I'd give you the link if I could remember where I saw it) so I headed to JoAnn Fabrics for the fourth time in as many days and found some styrofoam balls, red polka dot fabric (I already had the green flannel and the black polka dot cordoroy at home), and red and green rick-rack and ribbon.

I made grooves in each ball to separate it into 6 parts. Then I used the back of the knife to push the fabric into the seams, and when was all in place I pinned some rick-rack to the top, added a ribbon, and I was finished. I made three ornaments: one for my mother, one for my godmother and one for my mother-in-law-to-be.

Photo is my own.

christmas diy project #8: polka dot coin purse.

When I was finished making purses for Dani and Mariah, I wanted to make something for Gaby too. I knew she didn't really use large purses yet, but she might use a coin purse for her money, lip gloss, etc. So I used the same fabrics and ribbon I used for Mariah's purse and made her a coin purse. This was my first experience sewing on a zipper, and it didn't go that badly! On Christmas she crammed as much as she could fit in it and carried it around with her everywhere.

All photos are my own.

christmas diy project #7: cigar journal.

My dad is what some may call a cigar snob. He even has his own humidor. So when decided what to give him for Christmas, I wanted to give him something for his hobby (without giving him an actual cigar, I'd actually rather he didn't smoke!) I went online to find something, and came across a book called a Cigar Dossier. It's essentially a journal for people that smoke cigars. You write down the cigar, the occasion, etc. and place the label inside the book, which is the only thing you have to show for it after you finish the cigar. The book was $35, which I thought was crazy for a notebook with a few titles in it. So I made one myself. I found a really rich looking journal at TJ Maxx and used some stamps I already had to create my own "Cigar Dossier".

After a few hours of stamping every single page while Dana and I had our crafting night (yes, we are lame) I had this:

All photos are my own.

christmas diy project #6: shadow box.

So this wasn't exactly a Christmas present, but close enough. My dad retired from the police department a year ago to the day on Dec. 22. This day also happens to be his birthday. So for his birthday present, I wanted to make him something to commemorate his time as lieutenant. I decided to make him a shadow box, so he could do something with his uniform besides let it sit in the closet collecting dust. My mom gave me his uniform, pins, handcuffs, badge, etc. while I was home at Thanksgiving. I don't think he even noticed it was gone. I found a shadow box from Michaels, which happened to be 40% off (which I was actually mad about, because I had a 50% off coupon at the time that was only valid on regular priced items... just my luck!) I bought some really long floral pins to attach everything to the box, ironed and folded the uniform, layed out everything else in the box, and pinned it all into place. With the exception of stabbing myself with the pins a few times, this project was simple and painless! Love you dad :)

Photo is my own.