DIY Monogrammed Cosmetic Bag

For my bridesmaids gifts, I wanted to give them something that was personalized and that they could use again.  So I started browsing at Hobby Lobby in the section that you can decorate bags, shirts, hair accessories, etc, and I found these waffle weave bags.  They were perfect for a small cosmetic bag.  The day I found them, they only had 3, and I needed 5.  I was afraid if I picked 3 up that day, I would forget to get more the next time, or even worse they wouldn't get anymore in.  So I took a picture, and decided I would browse around on the internet.  I ended up finding them over at Embroider This, and I ordered 5 Fuchsia colored bags.

I also found some "iron on" monogram letters in black at Hobby Lobby (these are the ones), and thought it would be a really cute way to personalize the cosmetic bags.  I picked up the letters that I needed: (3) A's, (1) M, and (1) D.  Instead of ironing them on, I picked up some "No Sew" fabric glue.  I figured that if it didn't work, I could always iron them on anyways.

These were really simple to make, but I will show you how I did them, just in case! ;) 

I first figured out where I wanted to put each letter, because each letter was different (well 3 of them were be different anyways), and made a little mark with a pen.  Then I took some "No Sew" and put some on the back of the letter.  After that I put the letter on the bag, hoping it was straight and even, and let it dry.  It didn't take long for the glue to dry, which was nice.



The finished product!! So cute!

I so wish I would've taken a picture of everything I put in it, but it was super close to the wedding, and I didn't even think about it.  I stuffed each of them with a necklace, earrings, stretchy bracelet, brooch, and their pink hair flower (purchased from gigglesnbowz etsy shop!) for them to wear at the wedding.  I then added a few fun/emergency things: a pack of tissues, travel sized pain reliever, travel pack of bandages, Pink Chiffon Body Spray, Pink Chiffon Lotion, a cute nail file, travel tin of Altoids, travel deodorant, package of peanut butter crackers, and a small bottle of Little Black Dress Blueberry Pomegranate Vodka (really good in sprite!)  Since Ashley was my Maid Of Honor, she got a little bit more: a 3wick Passion Flower candle, some Raspberry Hand soap, and her jewelry was a little bit different than the others.  I got a lot the gift ideas from Pinterest, imagine that!  Can you tell I love Bath & Body works stuff for gifts!?!?! 

The girls loved everything, and was really glad that I included in the emergency stuff.  You never know when you're gonna need some pain reliever, a band-aid, or better yet a shot of Vodka!! ;)

PS - sorry for the bad pictures...they were taken at night. :(

Linking up too...
It's A Blog Party
Today's Creative Blog
The Shabby Chic Cottage
What Allie's Making Now
Somewhat Simple
Lovely Crafty Home
The Sisters of the Wild West
Polka Dots on Parade
Ginger Snap Crafts
How To Nest For Less

Bridal Showers & Bachelorette Parties (picture overload)

Forgive me...I'm just now posting about my 2 bridal showers and 2 bachelorette parties.  Mainly a lot of pictures with a little blurb about what we all did.  Oh and I was only planning on having 1 bachelorette party, but the 2nd was kind of just an excuse for us local girls to go out in the limo!!  But it was fun, and I'm so blessed with wonderful family & friends!!

1st Bridal Shower was held in our hometown by my Mother In-Law's friends/my friends, and 1 of my bridesmaids.  There was a great turn out of guests, lots of gifts (seriously blessed, people!), and yummy cake!!  My mom, both grandma's, and my maid of honor were able to attend.  My 3 other bridesmaids were back in the city, they weren't able to make it.  There weren't any games, which was my request, because it was a large shower.  I think most of the guests were pleased with that decision, because it allowed more time to chit chat.  It was a really fun time!!  Here are a few pictures (I won't bore you with pictures of me opening gifts)...


cutest.zebra cake.ever
don't you just love the red high heel?!



Tracy, Ashley S (bridesmaid), Me, Diane, and Lori
The fabulous girls who threw the shower!

My mom, Me, and Mother In-Law

Me & my MOH Ashley! {besties}



Gma Jo, Mom, Me, Mother In-Law, D's Gma Bonnie, and Gma Jean


My 2nd Bridal Shower was held in the big city, as I have several friends that I keep in touch with.  I lived there for about 7 years, so I just had to have one there.  My bridesmaids were all in charge of this one, and it turned out to be fabulous!!  They all know me so well...I love Pink and I love Zebra, so they combined the 2!!  Just like the 1st shower, I requested no games, because we were tight on space, also a large crowd, and I wanted to have a little more time to chat with friends that I hadn't seen in forever.  Here are some pictures...


Me with the sweets table.
If you look closely in the back there is a black frame with
pink & black zebra fabric, that was advice for couple.
I loved all of the advice that we received, such a cute idea instead of games!

 

Homemade Cupcakes, and they were all super yummy!!
Top to Bottom: Smores with topped with Marshmallow frosting and graham cracker crumbs,
Red Velvet with Cream Cheese Frosting,
and Cherry Limeade (the green thing was supposed to be cotton candy, but it was a very hot day)
These were all made by my amazing sister in-law Kelli, and brother Jerrod!



another look at the cute sweets table

 

Pink Peanut Butter "Zebra" Cookies
You can find these babies on Pinterest!!

 

"Love is Sweet Take a Treat" - sweets table sign

 

Mel, Ashley, Me, Aimee, and Danielle
The amazing bridesmaids, minus Ashley S.



Me & my personal attendants: Jen (cousin), and Kelli (sister in-law)



me & the mom's!



Amber, Nicole, Me, Kelsi, and Rachel
My old small group ICCC friends, who have turned into great friends!!

After the bridal shower, we headed downtown where we reserved some rooms for the evening.  Me & the bridesmaids, plus Jen & Kelli, and another friend, split 2 King Suites which also were connected.  We had so much fun getting ready together, doing each others hair & makeup, and having some drinks!  We had supper down in the hotel restaurant, went back to the room to do some fun shots, and came back down just in time for the bachelorette party to start!  I had some friends come down and meet us, as well as some of our local friends made the trip up to the city as well.  We had some drinks in the hotel bar, and then headed to the downtown hot spot where there are several bars and a huge open area to hang out.  The theme was Pink & Black!! Whoever came had to wear something pink & black.  Here are a few fun group shots, but the rest of the pictures aren't blog friendly!! ;) 


Top Left to Right: Mel, Jen, Mom, Jess, Kelli, Ashley
Bottom Left to Right: Amanda, Me, Aimee



Me, Amanda, and Mel

I am sooo blessed!!! :)



Amazing Bridesmaids who put this whole thing on!



Taking a fun shot without the use of our hands!! ;)

 I was pretty tired that next day, I think I only had 7 hours of sleep total for the weekend (friday & saturday combined). It was the longest.trip.home.ever. No joke, 5 hours on the road, and it was windy & hot. Also, I ended up leaving my shower dress in the closet and the hotel never was able to find it. So to whoever took my dress, I hope you're enjoying it as much as I did!  It was brand new, only got to wear it the 1 time. :(  Other than that, the whole weekend was a blast, love my girls!!

On to the last bachelorette party...it was more of a last minute thing, but man it was a blast!  D was out of town at his bachelor party, so we decided we were going to go out.  Well a few of the girls decided it was going to be a #2, rented a limo, had supper at Boondocks, and then it brought us back to town to the local hole it the wall.  I've never laughed so hard in my life!!  My friend Jess even made me a special veil that I wore to supper, and then I took it off, because I kept sitting on it.  Here are a few pictures...


In the limo...Me, Jess, Janel, and Mom

 

Party People!!
Kaylee, Lauren, Buffey, Kristi, Janel, Penny, Diane, Mom, Jess, and I (in front)



a view of the condom veil!



Mom, Tracy, and I



Lauren, Me, and Jess



Mom and I

 There ya have it!! Sorry for the picture overload, but at least I only showed a few from each event. I loved all of them, and think we need to make it a point to have more girl nights!

Our Lace Inspired Wedding Invites

Well we did it!!  We got married almost a month ago (will be a month next Monday!!), went on our honeymoon in the Bahamas, came back opened all of our gifts, and currently still trying to get our house and shed back in order!  Whew...not sure where this month has gone, but they say time flies when you're having fun!!  So now that the wedding is over, I will have more time to blog (I'm hoping anyways).  I tried to take as many pics along the way of the little things that I made, so I hope to have some great posts coming your way. 

Today, I will finally share our invites that D's Aunt Hatty created for us.  I helped her by giving her some inspiration pictures, and she took it from there.  My dress had lace on it, so that's where the scroll things come into place, plus it kind of ties in with our Save The Dates we sent out.  Our colors were Navy, Fuchsia, and Lime Green. 

Here is the invitation up close.  It's hard to see the true colors of the invite, because my camera isn't the best, but you get the idea!  We ordered a natural cream colored linen card stock from Paper & More, and she printed 2 invites per page and cut in the middle.

Here is the RSVP card that we did.  We decided instead of wasting the money supplying more stamps for a postcard that might get tossed or forgotten about, we would have people RSVP 3 different ways.  They could call/text, email our special wedding account, or enter in their names on our wedding website.  Overall, most people did the email thing.  And we still missed a lot, so we went through our guest list, guessed who was going to come, and then we were able to figure out our final RSVP for the caterer.  It worked out really well.  It was printed on the same card stock as the invite, she was able to print 4 to a page and cut them accordingly.  We mailed them out in a natural cream colored linen envelope a little over a month before the wedding.

Hatty did such an amazing job with our invites, and we received several compliments on them!  The best part is, they weren't like anyone else's, completely custom just for us!! 

Linking up too...
It's A Blog Party
The Girl Creative
Today's Creative Blog
The Shabby Chic Cottage
What Allie's Making Now
Somewhat Simple
Lovely Crafty Home
The Sisters of the Wild West
Polka Dots on Parade
Ginger Snap Crafts

What's on the schedule for tonight?

My goodness...I'm a little embarrassed that its been soooo long since I've done a blog post. Well folks...we are 9 days away from our wedding, so my whole days consists of planning/thinking/ordering/doing wedding stuff. I normally blog while at work, of course after I have my work done, but weeding took over! So I promises after the wedding, when things calm down, I will blog more than what I have been.

Other than wedding stuff, I started having issues with my neck last weekend. I normally don't pay attn to the normal back and neck pains,because they eventually go away. But not this time, something felt off so I've been going to the chiropractor this week. Today it hasn't got any better, matter of fact it was worse. So back to the Dr I went, he did his thing, still no improvement. So then we decided to go do an xray. Apparently my neck is straight, which normal people have a curve. So I get to do a special exercise to help it back to normal. It sounds crazy, I know!! Anyways back to the wedding stuff...here is a snapshot to what I'm working on tonight. It is for our memory candle in memory of my great grandma Elsie, great grandma Gladys, cousin Jeremy, and d's grandpa "Ellsworth". You might be able to guess what I'm going to do by looking at the picture, but you're gonna have to wait until after the wedding to see finished product. Hope ya'll are doing well!!ro

Chili Sausage Platter

About a month ago, we went to the {big} city to do some wedding stuff, and before we came home Sunday we ate at a newer restaraunt mainly because of it's name, Dodge City Distillery.  I hadn't ever heard of it for one, and two our {small} town is pretty close to the actual town, Dodge City.  This place had a western atmosphere, which fit perfectly, and the food had kind of a cowboy twist to it.  Everything on their menu sounded delish.  I ordered their homemade sausage platter, which consisted of grilled homemade sausage, slathered with their whiskey chili, served over a bed of dirty rice.  I don't normally order stuff like that, and it was the best thing I had eaten in awhile.  And not to mention the serving size was ginormous, I could only eat about half, which left me stuffed. 


I'm drooling just looking at this!

The next Sunday was superbowl, I was at home watching it by myself, and I decided that I was going to cook up a batch of chili and then a couple days later recreate that meal with the leftover chili.  That's exactly what I did!  I went and bought a sausage link, a box of wild rice mix, and had just enough of my homemade chili left for us to eat.  And guess what...IT TURNED OUT AMAZING!!!  My chili wasn't whiskey chili, but pretty darn tasty (someday I'll share how I make it), and it was very simple to cook up. 

Ingredients:
Leftover chili (probably enough for a couple of bowls full)
Sausage Link (the kind that looks like a "horseshoe)
1 box of Wild Rice, plus ingredients to make (I used Uncle Ben's Long Grain & Wild Rice)
Shredded Cheese to top

Directions:
1. Heat up leftover chili on stove.
2. Cut up Sausage Link into 1" thick pieces, fry them in a cast iron skillet until it's a little browned. Remove from heat.
3. Cook Wild Rice as directed on box.
4. Grab a large platter, spoon out all of the Wild Rice onto the platter.
5. Next top with fried sausage, and then slather with chili so it covers.
6. Top with shredded cheese and serve.  You can even pop it into the oven if you wish to melt the cheese a little more.



Rice & Sausage ready for the Chili



Mmm...topped with cheese on a platter and ready to devour!

D was totally in love with this dish, and there was plenty leftover for lunch the next day!  I'm telling you...if you ever have any leftover chili sitting around, you've gotta give this a try!




Linking up too...
At Home With Haley
It's A Blog Party
The Girl Creative
Today's Creative Blog
Not So Homemade
The Shabby Creek Cottage
What Allie's Making Now
Somewhat Simple
Lovely Crafty Home
The Sisters of the Wild West
Polka Dots on Parade
This Chick Cooks
Ginger Snap Crafts
Homemaker on a Dime
My Favorite Finds