MFB: A FREE Way to Organize Your Inspiration -- Pinterest

Hey folks! So this post is less about a project I'm working on (though there are many of those), but rather about a way to organize your inspirations.


You may remember my faux corkboard project from a few months back. I'm still using and loving them, but they have one main drawback -- they're at home, in my room -- meaning not near a computer, which gives me the greatest amount of sources of wedding inspiration.

What's an inspired lass to do? Sign-up for Pinterest!


Basically, Pinterest allows you to save all the beautiful pictures you love for your wedding (or anything else) all in one convenient location. No more saving to your hard drive, emailing yourself, or printing out random pictures. Instead, "pin" something to your board, leave notes about the image, and access it from anywhere. Best of all, you can share it with your friends (or fiance) easily by email or by "following" you !

Here's a screen shot of my main entry page, so you can get a sense of it:

I've already told two people about Pinterest today (not counting the millions of you following this blog! Ha!). I'm that obsessed, and I think you will be, too.


Here's a look at "my" page that features just my boards and the images I've pinned to them. You'll see a nifty "Vintage Americana Wedding" board in the bottom left corner. It probably even has some of the images from the inspiration board Shannon made for me a while back.

Anyway, I think Pinterest might be by invitation only right now, so if you need an invite, please feel free to leave your email in the comments section, and I'd be happy to send you one!

Happy pinning!

MFB: DIY Website Reply Cards

Happy Friday! I may have mentioned a while back that I'm a cheapskate. This is still true, which is why my fiance and I have decided to nix a paper reply card in lieu of alternate forms of RSVP-ing.

When I was doing some airmail research, I came upon this most excellent invitation suite over at Jeremy + Kathleen. Their suite was absolutely darling, but not in the budget (which is, as I told a man at the jewelry store, is "as close to $1 as I can get").

Not only is this suite Life Aquatic (my favorite of Wes Anderson's generally hilarious films) and airmail inspired, it features a cute no-envelope-nor-stamp-RSVP!

JACKPOT!

So, of course, I fired up my Microsoft Publisher and set off to make something similar for our wedding. This is what I have so far -- pretty similar, but with a few tweaks.

I'm going to have them printed as postcards at Vistaprint, since I was so happy with how the Save the Dates turned out, and then I am going to ask some *dear* friends to come over with their sharpest pair of shears.

Then, I'm going to use the infamous Airmail Twine to tie the response card to the invitation.

{via Etsy seller HeyYoYo}

Here's a mock-up I did using the dimensions of the postcard from VP, but with the sides snipped, and the rubber tag from my CVS Green Bag Tag that I removed, so that leafy little piece of goodness could fit in my wallet.

I'm on the fence about the size. I will probably make it a bit smaller, though I hesitate to add more cutting to the invitation assembly; cutting is not my forte, and my friends will probably kill me.

Any thoughts from the peanut gallery by someone who decided to do away with a traditional reply card? Any regrets?

MFB: Drinking Jar Tags

Hey all! Is anyone else as preoccupied with jars as I am? Mason, or otherwise, I love this trend in wedding decor for chic, homestyle, and fun decor. I think it will go great with our laid-back reception style.

I'm on a quest to collect as many jars as possible (at least 150) for our guests to drink from.

How to keep them all straight on the day of?

Enter the price tags my future-mother-in-law graciously gave me, left over from her real estate days. (A box of 1000 will run you $9.99).

{via Staples.com}

Add various Sharpies and pens, and you have yourself a party.

{via Amazon.com - $20.40}

I then created a rough draft of a legend of how these lovely folks are related to us.

Hearts and shades of pink for folks related to me and stars and shades of blue for those corresponding to my fiance. (I promise the end version of this, which will get displayed where folks pick up their glasses, will look much nicer)! Still, having this cheat sheet was clutch for keeping everyone straight, as was my guest list from Wedding Wire.

You can see the sea of red from my Irish Catholic family.

We'll tie the tags to the jars with AirMail Divine Twine.

{via Etsy seller HeyYoYo}

The guests will pick them up when they are served Blackberry Limeade and Tamarind Iced Tea when they first arrive at the reception venue. It's DC in the summer; they'll need a cool drink!

The tags will then serve the purpose of place cards (when we add their table info on the back later), name tags, and to keep drinking glasses straight!

Fingers crossed that my next trip through the recycling bin will yield me some more glasses than the other night. Though more on that some other time. Enjoy the weekend!

MFB: Invitation Draft

Hey folks! Just a quick post today on what I've been working on and a few quick tips for designing your own invitations in Microsoft Publisher that I've learned the hard way.

If you recall my post two weeks ago, I've been crushing hard on airmail-anything. As a result, this is what I've come up with so far. Keep in mind -- this is just a draft (the "and" is still bugging me, and the justification isn't quite right). Progress will be posted in a future MFB post.

A few Publisher tips I've learned along the way:

- Use "Word Art" for any large "banner" sort of items, like for our names here. It keeps you from having to adjust the font size a million times. Plus, you can stretch, turn, flip, and pretty much abuse it any way you need if you do so. Using a text box is much more limiting. Plus, you get all the outlining features, which are pretty neat.

- Shapes are your friends. In this example, I made the blue circle to mimic a button and string closure, as well as the airmail / par avion "sticker" to pay homage to some of the great airmail stickers I've seen on vintage airmail postage. Easy pee-zy.

- Save multiple files/versions. Trust me, you'll second think some of your changes, and it's great to be able to go back to a past version without trying to re-create you've already done.

That's it for now! Back to invitation creating for me. Comments and constructive criticism welcome. Updates to come. Enjoy your weekend!

MFB: Save the Dates Revealed (Finally)!

It is a happy MFB Friday for me indeed, since I get to finally reveal our finished Save the Date (100 printed at Vistaprint for the low low price of $19.95, including expedited shipping)!

As my MOH, Christie, can testify, these have been a real labor of love. It was really difficult for me to figure out how best to get our information on the front of the card. Luckily, I got some very cute inspiration from the (fully customizable and FREE!) biplane STD featured over at the Wedding Chicks.

I loved the look of these so much, I almost just went with them, full stop and abandoned my previous plans. But, my poor little DC vintage postcard cried out to me, "don't forget me! Use me! Waaaah!" and so I couldn't just leave it out in the cold. But how to combine the two?

It finally clicked in my brain that having a biplane "sky-write" our information would be an excellent way to combine the vintage postcard that I wanted to use with the cute airmail theme we'll be using for the rest of the stationery. A perfect solution! So here it is, without further ado!

The front:

and the back:

The quality is a bit fuzzier in my upload than in the final product, but what do you think? And have you taken on crafting your Save the Dates yourself?

Anyway, I hope you love these as much as I do!

MFB: Vintage Postcards

Happy Friday! So here's a wedding project that's been and is on-going: our Save the Dates (STDs -- hilarious, I know).

I have been really inspired by the vintage postcards created by a lot of Etsy designers like Serendipity Beyond Design:

and Shadowboxer, Inc.:

These are some talented folks! However, like everything else, our STDs are going to be a budget affair, and I don't have $225 or $300 smackeroos (for approx. 150 cards) to spend on something that will eventually just be thrown out or lost.

Enter eBay and its lots of vintage Washington, D.C. postcards. I knew I could make something sweet myself.

I found one that enamored me instantly, so I bought it, along with 47 of its friends (good things come in pairs...of 23).

I scanned the image, using a flatbed color scanner, and uploaded the image into Microsoft Publisher to play around with. (I should add that I pain-stakingly blended out the words "Greetings From" that were in the right hand sand of the Capitol).

Sadly, try as I might, I couldn't figure out a way to fit the writing I wanted on the card and still have it be both large enough and legible enough to send out to some of our bi-focaled relatives.

So, it was back to eBay, and another lot of postcards (I was planning on buying more vintage DC postcards anyway, for another project, so it was no harm, no foul).

Enter this beauty. Great colors, vintage charm, and lots of space to write!

I even substituted out the back of the actual card with another DC postcard because the second one had a Capitol logo in the Postcard part.

I also moved the header and postage stamp around a bit to leave more room to write on the left side.

So that's where this project stands. I'm in the process of working some easy-to-read type onto the front of the card, along with creating the back that will give more info and a link to our website.

This is actually a pretty easy project that I've turned into something more complicated. YOU can certainly do this in a snap if you find the right postcard, and, on the cheap. I plan to get our postcards printed at Vistaprint or Overnightprints for less than $50. Not too shabby, eh?

How about you? Have you taken on any of the paper projects for your wedding or for a party yourself?

I'll update in two weeks with the designs I've come up with. Until then, happy MFBing!

MFB: Inspiration -- IKEAhackers.net

Greetings everyone! And, a hearty congratulations to Shannon, who recently had her first baby! What a cute patoot!

I have a few wedding DIY projects in the cooker right now, but none quite so ready to be unveiled to the world wide web. So, for this installment of MFB, I wanted to share a site that has long been inspiring me, IKEA Hackers.

The site is an aggregator for all the creative, inspiring, DIY or DIT (do-it-together) projects that the readers submit. Some of them are a bit wack-a-doodle, but some are truly inspiring. One of my all-time favorites is Spring Chick's craft room.

Wanting a craft room to suit her needs and tastes, she and her husband customized a work table by securing four IKEA base kitchen cabinets together and topping it off with an attractive MDF table top. She then added some legs to make it pretty.

She used the same technique to make a matching desk.

Et, voila! C'est une tres magnifique craft room!

Head over to IKEA Hackers to get some inspiration yourself! The archives are stupendous.

MFB: Faux Cork Inspiration Board

Hello! Hope you all had joyous Christmas and New Year's celebrations and are ready to stick to that NY Resolution that said you were going to be more creative and frugal this year. I'm here to help you do both!

The first MFB project for 2011 is quick, easy, and probably free because you likely have the supplies on hand.

I've always appreciated the usefulness of cork / memo boards. PulpProducts has a really cute one that served as my inspiration.

I liked the idea of having an easy way to keep track of the wedding ephemera that has been tickling my fancy and taking over my dresser.



But paying $36 + shippping is just not my cup of tea.

Instead, I decided to FAKE IT using a cardboard box and some wrapping paper I had on hand in two of the colors I'm using for the wedding.

First, cut the box to the desired size. Mine is about 12" x 12" by the only limit is really your space constraints. This project is easily sized up or down.

You can trim up the sides to make it more even, but it's not a huge deal because the paper will even things out.

Then, cut the paper to about two inches longer than the box on each side.

Next, tape up the sides using masking tape....

....and voila!

A simple, easy place to stash my inspiration.

Enjoy!

MFB: Curbside Chairs: Part III -- The Finale

Happy Friday all and welcome to the last installment of the Curbside Chair project!


Two weeks ago, you saw a sneak preview of my fabric selection. Today, you'll see the finished result.


If you are attempting to similarly recover a chair, let me recommend this handy tool.

The staple gun.

And let me also recommend getting one at a garage sale, like I did last weekend, for $8 + with free heavy duty staples! Just watch your fingers.

To cover the chair seat itself, cut a swath of fabric about 1 and 1/2 to 2 inches wider than your seat. (I cut it a bit wider than that, but to save fabric, next time I'd scale it back). A fat quarter is about the size.

Place the seat cover, seat side down, on the wrong side (dull side) of the fabric.

Always make your first staples, on the top and on the bottom. This helps to stabilize the fabric. Make sure you have pulled the fabric tightly, but evenly.

Continue stapling all the way around, until you have something that looks like this.

Though it looks a bit jank on the wrong side, it looks great on the right side!

And ta da!

I think the fabric matches the vintage look of the chair.

What do you think? Do you have any projects you are working on?

MFB: Curbside Chairs Part II

Since I'm still on Thanksgiving break, this entry is going to be short & sweet. Just want to unveil the cute fabric I picked out for the Curbside Chair Project.

Drumrolllllll please....

Ta da!

I went with Amy Butler's Midwest Modern line, in the "Ohio Sky" family. I picked "Garden Maze" in Green for its whimsy, vibrancy, and retro vibe. Though it retails for about $8.50 per yard, I was able to score 5 yards on eBay for only $25, including shipping!

Here's a sneak peak of how I think the chairs will look:

Cute, right?

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving, and I can't wait to finish and unveil the final project!

MFB: Curbside Chairs: PART I

At my day job, my boss keeps a delightful set of 2 vintage folding chairs. They have an adorable organic hand-carved look (sorry, no picture) and bright orange vinyl cushions. Anyway, I've deco-crushed on them for a while.

So, when my fiance and I were walking to his car after dinner one night on the Hill, and I saw four of these beauties on the curb....

...my heart skipped a beat and I knew they would have to be mine despite his two door car.

Needless to say, we made it work, and I put rehabbing these chairs to the top of my DIY project list.

First, I got my supplies together:
- Plastic baggie
- "Screwdriver" (aka an old knife because I couldn't find ours)
- Sandpaper
- 3 cans white primer spraypaint
- 4 cans semi-gloss white spraypaint

For the first step of the rehab, I removed the seat covers with my "screwdriver."

Then I placed all the parts into my plastic baggie for safekeeping.

Next, I sanded the heck out of the chairs to get their old finish off.

After that, I primed...

...and primed.

Then, you guessed it, I painted, painted...

...painted

and then went back to spray paint some more!

Part II in two weeks when I recover the old vinyl with some hip, but "vintage-y" new fabric from eBay. What do you think? Fabric Suggestions? Leave your comments below!