DIY Wedding Fun - Part 2

Pumpkin-potted Mums

I spent a lot of time searching the internet (specifically home decorating and crafty magazines) to find different decorations that I could easily do myself to save money on.  This project was an EASY project and I loved the outcome!  Not only was it beautiful, but it saved me money on florist costs because I was able to decorate really cheaply with my pumpkin-potted mums.  AND (as if those 2 things weren't enough) my parents planted the mums once we were finished with them.  I made these on Thursday night before the wedding with my best friend and the only thing I had to do was cut the tops off the pumpkins and gut them.  If you're interested in the official tutorial, go here to see what I followed.  These would make a fall decoration for any home and then plant your mums (or give them away) when you're done!  This would also make an awesome housewarming gift (or any gift at that)!

DIY Wedding Fun - Part 1

In honor of my one year anniversary, I'm going to share with you some different projects that I took on to make my fall wedding last October 10 exactly what I had envisioned.  Even if you're not planning a wedding, some of these projects would be fun to do for fall decorations or a special occasion :).  Enjoy!

Glowing Pumpkins

I love me some monograms AND pumpkins:)

I had wanted to do this for quite sometime!  I enlisted the help of my best friend to come over and help me gut the pumpkins and then use wood etching utensils to etch the rind off the pumpkin so that it would glow.  I used these in various places on the serving tables (mostly on the dessert tables).

This is a great project to do for any occasion, and even for none at all!  Of course I was inspired by Martha and she didn't disappoint.  This project was easy (just a little time consuming as we made 6 of them)!  We did them the Thursday before the wedding so I'm unsure as to how long they would last, but I'm assuming they'd last as long as any regular carved pumpkin would.  When we were finished with them we gave them to my parents-in-laws and Stephen's side of the family whose last name ended in "C".

If you're interested in making your own glowing pumpkins, you can find the tutorial here.  

I'll see you back here tomorrow for another fun DIY wedding project!

I've linked this idea up to:
Tools are for Women Too!; The DIY Showoff; Making the World Cuter ; Skip to My Lou; The Girl Creative; Sumo's Sweet Stuff; Between Naps on the Porch; Cottage Instincts; Keeping it Simple; Mad in Crafts; It's So Very Cheri; C.R.A.F.T.; All Things Related; Silly Little Sparrow; Today's Creative Blog; 

The Gypsy's Corner; Sugar Bee; Tip Junkie; Lucky Star Lane; New Nostalgia

Magnificent Mondays: Magnificent Blogs 35

Brooke knows that decorating can be expensive so her blog offers ways to decorate on a budget.

Check out these awesome chairs!  I love furniture transformations!

Check out how she took etching to a whole new level.

Check out her tutorial on how to make a cheap and easy window valance.

Head on over to All Things Thrifty and let me know what you find that sparks your interest!

Happy Blogging!

Good News and Busy Times

Hello Blogger friends!  I hope you guys are having a great hump day!  When I was teaching, this was always my favorite day of the week because the kids were used to coming to school but they weren't burnt out on it yet :).  Maybe you're feeling the same way?  Maybe you've gotten the Mondays out of your system but you're not quite counting down the minutes to clock-out on Friday?  No?  Okay, well, never mind.

I have some GREAT news!  On Sunday night I found out that I have gotten a Research Assistantship on campus!  This is so awesome because I will be receiving remarkable training and participating in such an awesome project that will really benefit me as a teacher.  I will be working with Project Read which works one on one with Chicago Public Schools to help transform the culture and climate of the school in order to reform their literacy curriculum so that ALL students are reached and are able to reach their highest potential as readers.  I'm super excited but also a little anxious...my free time has definitely become just that: MINE and FREE.  It's going to be somewhat hard to get used to actually having a schedule and it's about to get really busy around here!  Prayers would be appreciated!  If you could pray for me during this transition and during this time when I go from having a really free schedule to having one that's not so much free.  I really appreciate it!

Because of this new recent job, I probably will be a little less present in blogland.  That doesn't mean I'm throwing in the towel, it just means that I probably won't be blogging on a daily basis, but instead just a few times a week.  I'm super excited to jump right in and be a part of this amazing project!

On another note, I've been put in charge of the kids' craft room at our church's fall festival.  I would love for some ideas.  Do you have any cool kids' fall crafts that you can send me a link to or describe for me? I've come up with a lot of stuff but I would love to hear all the great ideas that you have out there for me!

Happy Hump Day!