DIY: Unity Candle

Merry Christmas to you all! I hope you all had a wonderful and not TOO busy holiday weekend! My whole month has been insane, however, after the first of the year, things should slow down - basically because I am going to make them. :) I have a lot of projects that I want to get completed during the cold, dreary mid-west winter and I need to start clearing my schedule for them.

Which takes me to the start of my first REAL DIY wedding project. (I know I talked about my first DIY project being the wedding binder/bible, but this is the first project that will actually be used for the wedding.)

The unity candle! Here is my inspiration:

No idea who Sara and Justin are, but I like what they did with their unity candle.

I started with our GIANT pillar candle from IKEA and measured out a "template" where a purple backer and our wedding monogram will go (don't mind my mom cooking Christmas dinner in the background or the bowl of chex mix I was munching on...)

Then I started measuring out where the crystals will go with a ruler:

To mark where the crystals would go, I made a little divot with a pencil and then went back and made a clearer mark with a Sharpie:

Making the divots first and following with a Sharpie allowed me to adjust the pattern if I needed to. The crystals I purchased are pretty good sized and will have no problem covering the black dots all over the candle.  At about this time I figured out that using a cloth measuring strip on a round candle is much easier than a hard ruler:

This is as far as I got on Christmas. Shortly after this shot, my mom served an awesome meal of prime rib, party potatoes, green bean casserole and roles. Then we all hopped in the car and went and saw the new Foeker's (did I spell that right?) movie - that series is one series of movies that I would probably still go and see even when they're on the 7th installment. Still funny as ever! Hopefully, I will get the candle finished on one of my days off over the next week and I can show you the finished results. 

Adorama is Amazing

How was everyone's Tuesday? Isn't business suppose to slow down for most offices during the holidays? Apparently we didn't get that memo because I have been insanely busy since right before Thanksgiving. It is making the holidays come insanely fast! Still have a few more presents to buy yet... :/

Tonight, after stopping by UPS to pick up a Christmas present for my mom, I raced home because I knew my photobooks I created through Adorama for our engagemnet pictures were waiting for me. After giving both of my fur-babies hugs and kisses for the day, I ripped into the packaging.

Be still my heart.

Our. Books. Are. Amazing.

The cover is extremely sturdy and has a nice metallic sheen to it. When I say it is sturdy, I mean it reminds me a of a text book cover - very durable. (Not sure if it would stand up to a puppy and I am hoping we don't find that out...)

The binding is amazing - I love how thick it is and that the cover continues around the back.

The pages are nice and thick. Not as thick as a flush-mount book, but definitely more than a glossy paper or even card stock. The finish on the pages is awesome as well - very nice, clean finish. 

My favorite part is the lay flat pages... I HEART full page spreads. I have multiple spreads like these throughout the book. 

The Adorama software is also extremely easy to figure out and for those who have no layout skills, there are plenty of templates to choose from. Adorama also offers many different options in terms of backgrounds and extra stickers and frames, which will be cute for a baby book... Someday. Maybe a fur-baby book. Hm....

In total, I bought a 10 x 10  album for ourselves and as well as two 6 x 6 books - one for each set of parents. I was a little nervous that the 6 x 6 books were going to be too small for the parents, but they turned out to be the perfect size for them. For all three books and for express two-day shipping (because I am impatient) I paid $129 - not too bad!

So - for those of you who do not know what they're going to do with their engagement or wedding pictures, I HIGHLY recommend Adorama - you will not be disappointed. If you want to view our full album, just click here. 

Giveaway!

CSN stores contacted me a few weeks ago and asked if I would either like to review a product of theirs or giveaway a gift certificate - I of course wanted to reward my readers with a gift certificate! So - I have a $35 to ANY of CSN's over 200 online stores!

CSN stores sell everything from luggage sets to cookware. I don't know about you guys, but I love online shopping - especially for wedding things. There is nothing better than sitting on the couch in your sweats and slippers looking at dresses, jewelry, shoes and honeymoons! CSN stores have a lot of great things for your new house or maybe even for bridesmaids or groomsmen gifts!

All you need to do to be entered in the giveaway is to leave a comment telling me what topics you want me to cover. More posts about getting married as an interfaith couple in the Catholic church? More DIY? More about what to look for in vendors? You tell me!

Contest ends a week from today... So ready, set, post!

I'm Back!

So - you can see, I didn't get the blog migrated to WordPress. I tried though. Oh how I tried. I eventually figured out that I like the simplicity of Blogger better and staid put.

Then life kicked in. After Thanksgiving, I had to travel to this amazing resort in Palm Springs, CA for a work function:

Yea, I know, poor me. I got to leave the mid-west at the end of November and go to a place where waterfalls don't freeze after October. I promise though, it was all work and no play - at least the scenery was nice!

Once I arrived back, I hosted a fundraiser for a professional non-profit group I am apart of and the next night we brought home this little cutie!!!

Yep, we decided our lives were chaotic enough and added a 6 (now 7) week old puppy to our mixture of a 16 month old chocolate lab and 18  month old cat. Her name is Josie and she is my beagle baby and our Christmas present for each other. 

We brought Josie home last Friday, had a wedding on Saturday and recovered from the wedding on Sunday. Then Bryan had to go to Colorado for work for the entire week, leaving me at home with a cold, a tiny puppy, a big puppy who just wants to play with the little puppy and a cat who thinks the puppy is prey. Not to mention that the puppy is like a baby and wakes up multiple times a night and feels a need to make sure everyone else in the house is awake too. 

It was a long week three weeks. 

To reward you all for your patience, I am going to put up another post right after this with my first giveaway!

Do any of you guys have furbabies? Do you treat them like kids like I do? I like knowing that I am not the only crazy dog lady out there.