Tracy & Steve are getting married!

My good friend & co-worker is getting married this May! D got me a new camera for Christmas (Canon Rebel T5i), and she asked me to take a few "engagement" pictures for their invitations. In all honesty, she only wanted one photo for the invites, but I told her we were going to make an engagement session out of it to make it worthwhile. After all, they weren't planning on having any taken, so it worked out! It turned out to be a win-win situation for both of us, they got some engagement pictures, and I was able to practice with my new camera!

A cord of three strands is not quickly broken - Ecclesiastes 4:12
This bible verse goes beautifully with her ring!

Here are some of my favorites from that gorgeous sunny day we had last month (it was perfect weather for January)....

Tracy & Steve, I wish you nothing but the best for your future together! I can't wait for your big day (as a guest, not a photographer)!

Linking up too...
4 You with Love
City Farmhouse
Posed Perfection

Today's Creative Blog

The Shabby Chic Cottage
Somewhat Simple
Lovely Crafty Home 
Polka Dots on Parade
Ginger Snap Crafts
Sugar Bee Crafts
BruCrew Life
Craftionary
JoJo & Eloise

© [Kayla] and [Small Town Lift], [2010-2014]. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to [Kayla] and [Small Town Life] with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Perfect Engagement Gift

I've been waiting to give a special girlfriend of mine the perfect engagement gift that I pinned on Pinterest a long time ago, and I was finally able to do so!

Yes...that's right, my brother FINALLY asked my bestie, Ashley, to marry him on NYE! He called me the night before, we had a very long in depth conversation about it all, and I was so excited that he was finally going to do it! The next day, NYE day, I headed over to meet Ashley for a quick manicure & a couple drinks before her big night...that she had no idea about. I knew she would need to have fabulous nails to go with that stunning ring she was about to receive. She never even acted suspicious the entire day, just a couple besties getting together on a wim. While I was over there, I snuck over to the bookstore, picked up a couple bridal magazines, and a planner. I knew my plan to put an engagement basket together for her was finally going to happen!

this ampersand is from Hobby Lobby

a couple of bridal magazines, and a wedding planner notebook

can't forget the hershey's "kisses", and a small pack of thank you cards

D & I weren't able to be there for the "popping of the question", because then she would of known something was up that we came last minute. So we waited for the phone call after he asked her in front of a few family members, and her close friends. She was extatic! I hadn't seen her since that day, and a few weekends ago I was finally able to give her the engagement gift basket that I put together for her. She loved it! I was afraid she already had purchased a planner, but she hadn't. They have already set the date for October 2014, and have a lot of things already set in stone. Go Ashley & Brett!! :)

all wrapped up and adorned with a purple hydrangea! 

The great thing about this gift is you can personalize it however you wish to. Add in a monogram of her future last name, wine glass, stamps for the thank you's, gift cards, more candy, etc. But I thought this would be perfect for Ashley!

A quick "engagement" photo of the happy couple! :)

They both asked me & D to be a part of their big day, we of course we were honored and said yes!

Linking up too...
4 You with Love
City Farmhouse
Posed Perfection

Today's Creative Blog

The Shabby Chic Cottage
Somewhat Simple
Lovely Crafty Home 
Polka Dots on Parade
Ginger Snap Crafts
Sugar Bee Crafts
BruCrew Life
Craftionary

© [Kayla] and [Small Town Lift], [2010-2014]. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to [Kayla] and [Small Town Life] with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Lauren's Bachelorette Weekend

Well Lauren & Josh have now been married for almost a month (Sept 24th will be a month to be exact), and I'm just now getting around to showing off her Bachelorette Weekend!! Let me just start with I believe our check liver lights came on on our way home Sunday! LOL! We had a BLAST!!

Invitation front (with obvious personal information missing)

Invitation back (with obvious personal information missing)

Friday night we got all dressed up after we all arrived at the hotel, and headed out to the Rascal Flatts/The Band Perry/Kassadee Pope concert. We took the hotel shuttle there, and headed in for some fun!

Bachelorette Party Weekend night #1:
Rascal Flatts, The Band Perry, & Kassadee Pope
Top: The Bride, Most of our group (too many names!)
Center: this was our whole gang that went to the concert Friday night! Cowgirl boots & all!
Bottom: Rascal Flatts, & me & The Bride

The concert was an absolute blast!! We missed Kassadee Pope play, but The Band Perry was amazing, and Rascal Flatts were great! The Band Perry seriously ROCKED IT!! After the concert we walked back to the hotel, ate a little pizza, and passed out.

Saturday, we all ate breakfast together, and then we separated into groups and went shopping. My friend Jess & I went to the mall, and shopped until we dropped! Came back to the hotel, and we all started pregaming by the pool, having fun! It was time to get ready for the actual Bachelorette Party, which was held up in Lauren's suite. We ate pizza, bread sticks, and wings, drank beers, had her open up gifts, gave the guests their party favors and then we headed out to the hotel shuttle so we could hit the town! We had group shirts made for all that came "Help Us Tank Her Before She Drops The Anchor", and Lauren's said "Tank Me I'm The Bride"! They were so fun!

Top: getting some sun & having some cold ones!
Bottom: The Bride & banner I made, Bachelorette Party Motto
Side: all 3 are The Bride opening gifts

The first bar we went to, we had a free bottle of wine waiting for us, it was at Oeno Wine Bar. It was a neat place, had live music outside, but it wasn't the place for us to hang out the rest of the night. So we walked down to River City brewery, had a couple of micro brews, and waited in line to get up stairs to Loft 150 where there was a live band playing. It was fun for awhile, but it was time to move on. Then we found Pump House, and that's where we stayed for the remaining of the night! We had so much fun dancing, and laughing...just what we needed!!

Top: Brea & Megan, Kaylee & Kylee, Jessica & I
Center: our group of girls at Oeno Wine Bar
Bottom: Lindsey Lauren & Tera, Us girls on the shuttle to downtown

So many memories were made, it was such a fun weekend to celebrate our good friend Lauren!!!

Click here to check out the Bachelorette Party Banner I made.
Click here to see the Dollar Store Bachelorette Party Favors we put together.

Bachelorette Party Banner {Cheers Bitches}

I created another fun party banner using my Cricut, and I have to say this is probably one of the funnest ones I've created! I got the idea from etsy, but I didn't feel like paying so much for something so simple. I knew I could create it for a fraction of the cost!

I bought the sparkly teal scrapbook paper at hobby lobby, then I typed out the letters on CDS, and then cut the letters out with my cricut. I had some bright pink curling ribbon that I taped the letters to. It was a very quick, easy, and cheap project!! And the Bride kept the letters and has them hanging in their garage!


Click here to see the Dollar Store Bachelorette Party Favors we made.
Click here to see the Bachelorette Party photo's.

Linking up too...

Today's Creative Blog

The Shabby Chic Cottage
Somewhat Simple
Lovely Crafty Home 
Polka Dots on Parade
Ginger Snap Crafts
Sugar Bee Crafts
BruCrew Life
Semi Homemade Mom
Craftionary
Lolly Jane
JoJo & Eloise

Lauren's Bridal Shower {tropical flair}

Lauren's Bridal Shower was held last month at our friends pool, so it was a no brainer the theme would be "Tropical". You can read here about our inspiration.

The shower went smoothly, but the weather was terrible. It was so windy and hot, that we weren't really able to do much decorating. The backyard is already like a oasis, so it didn't need much more sprucing up, even though we were planning on it.

The Bride (middle) with her bridesmaids (minus 1).

Food & Drinks: We had Grilled Ham & Pineapple Kabobs, Finger Sandwiches, Meat Roll-ups, Chips, Fruit Kebabs & dip, Veggie Tray, Punch, Mimosa's, and Sangria's. We also had water for those that didn't/couldn't drink alcohol. The maid of honor made yummy cupcakes, that sadly I didn't get a photo of. They were adorable!

The food. However, I didn't get a photo before we started...oops!

Gifts: Lauren received so many nice gifts, she made out like a bandit! Us bridesmaids got her Mr. & Mrs. beach towels, and stuff from her registry. The towels are perfect for them, because they practically live at the lake and pool in the summer time. They will also be great for them to take on their honeymoon! I purchased the towels at Wal-Mart for $13 each, and then had them embroidered for an additional $7 each. Pretty inexpensive for a personalized gift.

her guests watching as she opens gifts

gifts from her bridesmaids! check out those cute personalized beach towels!

Decorations: As I stated above we weren't really able to decorate that much. We put fun colored table cloths on the tables, I made a "She said Yes" bridal shower banner, and I made little printable's for the drink dispensers. We also had a little sunscreen station set up just in case someone felt the need to use it. I created a little chalkboard out of tile from Home Depot for the menu, and also used our large chalkboard to direct the guests out to the pool. Everything was very simple!

She Said Yes bridal shower banner

It's always 5 o'clock somewhere, right?!

Favors: We put together little goodie bags for the guests filled with a lei, paper fan, and a hair clip flower. We ordered the fans & clips from Oriental Trading, and picked up the lei's from a local party shop. It was something fun to get everyone in the tropical mood!

Now we are preparing for the bachelorette weekend that is taking place Aug 9th-11th! I'm so excited, I can't wait!! Here is a peek at the invitations that I designed for it:

Front

Back

Linking up too...

Today's Creative Blog
The Shabby Chic Cottage
Somewhat Simple
Lovely Crafty Home 
Polka Dots on Parade
Ginger Snap Crafts
Sugar Bee Crafts
BruCrew Life
Semi Homemade Mom
Craftionary
Lolly Jane
JoJo & Eloise

{She said Yes} Bridal Shower Banner

I created another banner...yep, I might have a slight obsession with making banners! :) This one was for my friend Lauren's Bridal Shower that we had last month. We did a tropical flair (inspiration post here, and actual shower post here), so I used my cricut to cut out the flower shapes in 2 different sizes. And on the patterned paper I also cut the letters out in the middle of it so the plain paper would show through. Can anyone catch my boo-boo? Ok, well don't pay too much attention to the direction the stripes are going...oops! I just noticed that myself. I then glued them together, and taped them to some fishing line. You can always use fun ribbon, but I forgot to pick some up, so I just used what I had on hand. Again, these are so inexpensive to make, and so easy to put together!

UGH .... the darn wind that day was terrible.

As you can guess, I'm creating one for the Bachelorette Party that is coming up in a couple of weeks!! I told you I might be obsessed!! :)

Here are a couple other banners I've done in the past:

Scalloped Birthday Banner for Maycee

Miss to Mrs bridal shower banner I created for Aimee. Click here to see the rest of her shower!

Actual post for the Miss to Mrs banner I created for Aimee!

Linking up too...

Today's Creative Blog
The Shabby Chic Cottage
Somewhat Simple
Lovely Crafty Home 
Polka Dots on Parade
Ginger Snap Crafts
Sugar Bee Crafts
BruCrew Life
Semi Homemade Mom
Craftionary
Lolly Jane
JoJo & Eloise