Ok… so I started a new job

Apparently some of the most stressful things you can do are start a new job and get married. I’m doing both within a two month period. This is a dream job for me and has taken me a looooooong time to find (thanks recession) so I’m having to really put the effort in. Combine with the insane amount of DIY tasks I’ve given myself and I simply haven’t had time to blog.

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THANK YOU FOR STICKING WITH ME!

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We finally got the invites out last week, and even though they were a lot of work (yes I really did add 70 envelope inserts), the feedback has been amazing. Check back tomorrow and I’ll show you what they look like (I’m too tired to format photos right now.)

Am still alive

… it’s just been incredibly busy and stressful. D has been working really long hours (including the bank holiday), we spent a long weekend in Pisa for a wedding and I started my new job on Monday.

The invites still haven’t gone out.

If you’re lucky – tomorrow I’ll post photos from Italy. No promises.

Am a little blown away…

…readers I’ve neglected you for over a week but am  amazed to see that it hasn’t made the slightest difference to my readership – you’re all still reading.

Am completely tired out and quite a bit stressed but I will try my damnedest to post exciting things tomorrow.

The invites are nearly designed (sigh), I tried and failed (almost, don’t tell D) to break the printer and may have to change to printing on paper. My map is driving me demented, its the never-ending colouring-in exercise from hell, but it looks pretty, and I’m sure it’s going to be worth it. Right now I’ve gotten to here:

(it takes AN AGE TO LOAD in photoshop)

Tell me it’s worth it…please.

Two weeks, and two months…

…almost. Until I start my new job and the wedding date arrives. I’m starting to really feel the pressure.

No extra blogging this week as I had hoped, I’ve been hard at work cutting fabric, designing the invitations (which have to go out asap) and working on this:

Still a work in progress.

Last week, the weekend, on posting…

First off I really want to be better at this posting thing, I have the best intentions but with everything else going on it doesn’t seem to happen; THIS WEEK I WILL DO BETTER…

Last week was relatively exciting, lots of lovely things arrived in the post from America (each on a different day for extra postman related excitement). On a day-trip to Leeds I bought more supplies in person and feel I’m nearly there on the supplies front (which will make D a very happy man.) Everything else was a bit of a blur – I have endometriosis and it wasn’t a good week, I felt completely drained the whole time.

The weekend was spent with the usual running around madness, a round trip of over 133 miles which is par for the course. I was too tired to sew.

Today I was in Leeds again to meet a different friend, we had Bagels instead of Sushi, I bought more fabric (but this time from the market*). I also did my future commute home  and didn’t like it. Tomorrow will have images… Promise.

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* Why didn’t I think of this last week? much cheaper

Real Wedding Inspiration: 7

Danielle & Garett, San Francisco;

Rustic modern;

Love the autumn elements of straw/wheat, berries and produce;

…but especially the contemporary way it’s done – the black tablecloths, plain candles and glass, the simple menus.

Lots of inspiration here for a modern take on rustic and autumn that will work in our art gallery reception.

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Originally found at 100 Layer Cake here

Fabric Flowers: Dahlias, some wired

On Tuesday (I’m still catching up) I met with a friend in Leeds, which gave me an opportunity to run through what will be my new commute as of september 6th, and explore the city I’ll be working in. We found a great Japanese/Sushi place for lunch and a haberdasher’s which meant I came home with more fabric. I think D’s getting used to it…

I took supplies with me to make more of these but I didn’t cut enough ribbon/was too fast and by our late afternoon coffee stop and chat I ran out… So I did the obvious thing and got my scissors out and started on the new fabric. Making it up as I went along a got this:

not bad eh?

I adapted a pattern found via Martha, which had also produced these;

Once I’d tested the pattern and chosen the fabric, M made most of these for me, I’ve held off showing them to you because they really don’t look much without their stems added (my bit). The original plan was for them to be exactly like the Martha ones, but once I saw them finished I felt they lacked a certain something, and was a little worried there would be too much burgundy (with all the roses), so I used an old top of mine to make red buttons and added them as centres. Now I just need to stem the rest and add leaves. I’ve chosen an old shirt of dave’s in cotton to contrast with the shine of the silk.

Because a DIY wedding isn’t crazy enough…

… I have a list of things I’d like to do in the house before I start work in four weeks time.

I have a lot of flowers still to make, and many more to attach to stems.* I need to remember how to drive a car.** I’d like to paint quite a few walls black (yes black: really), re-paint the front door and window, and stake a claim of ownership on a piece of land… Oh and work on looking attractive for the wedding day since people will be aiming camera’s at me and apparently I’m not allowed to ban people bringing them.

Which is why the sunday previously D and I began (this is the first sunday we’ve had free for months)…

We cleared the gutters:

Killed weeds:

…and attacked the ‘triangle’. We worked really hard and haven’t quite recovered yet. Annoyingly I don’t have a good photo of the triangle before we started but it was very overgrown. Here’s part way through;

…we’ve already cut down lots of foliage (mainly young trees) and I’ve started to pull the wall leaning on the compost bin down.

Part way through (before we started it was a struggle to get down the steps);

and after;

..and again…

So far we only have a possible trip to Congleton in the diary for the weekend so we may get round to some more.

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* M has been busy – to date well over two hundred roses completed – good isn’t she?

** it’s a long story but I need to sort it, a reoccurring nightmare has me turn up to my new job and be asked to get in a car and drive to York, odd but there it is

Real Wedding Inspiration: 6

Monday wedding from the archives… Iris and Travis,

Mis-matched men;

Gorgeous florals – berries and grasses… texture, texture, texture…

(I love this picture above)

Simple paper elements, farm motifs…

Soil and vegetables…

Love it, lots of autumn inspiration.

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Originally found at the lovely Snippet&ink here; additional images from the very talented Anna Kuperberg here.

Fabric flowers: wiring ranunculus

After having similar problems finding good images of ranunculus stems and leaves I again turned to artificial flower examples;

Images clockwise from top left: Irresistible Decor, Bloom, Elmstead Nursuries

The leaves are much spikier and the stems much thicker than the roses, so I made mine in the same fashion. For the green-white ranunculus (first seen here), I chose the contrasting texture of a woolen tweed, in a complimentary shade of olive.

For the amazing red-purple ranunculus (introduced here) I chose a similar texture, but went with a darker tweed though it has highlights of all the ribbon colours in it. This fabric is one of my favourites but sadly it’s very coarse so I can’t see myself saving any for cushion making; just the leaves of what are possibly my favourite flowers so far…

As they could look, almost individually;