{2nd anniversary art}

We will be celebrating our 2nd wedding anniversary next week and in keeping with the tradition we started last year we started searching around for another piece of art to add to our collection.   We chose to go with a large photo print from our wedding day for our first anniversary which you can see see right here.  This year, I came across these amazing palm leaf watercolor prints from The Aestate and thought one of them could be perfect!  The more I tried to decide which of the four variations of the Beverly print series was the best the more it occurred to me that it could be amazing to grab up three of them to create a sort of large triptych piece.  I also briefly entertained the idea of having them print us one extra large one like this, but the custom framing cost behind something that large is atrocious (over $600!!!).  We picked up white frames for these from Ikea and depending where we move to we could always switch them out for the walnut finish frame or even paint them!

{bridal party gifts}

Giving gifts generally stresses me out which is why I tend to lean towards something home-made because otherwise I find myself for hours in the mall trying to find that absolutely perfect item for the person.   Bridal party gifts definitely take the cake as one of the most difficult gifts to give.  These are your closest friends and you want to thank them properly for all their hardwork and time they are giving to you to celebrate your wedding.  On top of that, you generally want to give everyone the same thing which complicates everything further since usually a group of 6 girls or guys dont always have the same interests or style.

For the girls, I decided to go the safe route and purchase everyone matching robes (including myself) from Plum Pretty Sugar.  I also added in small "love" necklace from one of the jewelry stores in downtown LA.  Although those two things felt like enough, I wanted to include something personalized for each girl.  My friend Carol created a fashion illustration of each girl based on stalking their facebook pages and taking some cues form me about each of theirs interests.  I was so happy with how these turned out!  If you want to order a set of custom illustrations for yourself, you can contact Carol Chavana directly through her online store here.

 {terra}

 {heather}

 {caroline}

 {katie}

 {eva}

 {kay}

The groomsmen also proved to be difficult to decide on the perfect gift.  After debating on tie cases, flasks and the like, we ended up with a classic Timex watch, a striped bowtie from The Tie Bar and socks for their wedding day outfits.

I debated whether or not this post would be interesting/appropriate on the blog, but I felt since we spent so much time trying to decide on the perfect gifts that hopefully it would save someone else's time by sharing what we ultimately decided to give.

{gift tag downloads}

 {my gift wrap with Hey Look's tags!}

 
This past weekend, I finished all my Christmas shopping AND wrapped everything- this is something I am incredibly proud since in the past I generally like to leave the shopping and wrapping right up until the last minute!  I picked up the candy cane wrapping paper from Target and used a free printable gift tag download from Hey Look Events.  I particularly like this gift tag download since the design lends itself to many different colors of paper so you can tailor it to match your wrapping paper theme.  I printed them onto simple white cardstock, but I think they could look especially fun on kraft paper!  Here is a round up of some other wonderful and free gift tag downloads to jump start your holiday gift wrapping!

 {the full set of gift tags that I used, download here}

 {another gift tag set from Hey Look! I really wanted to use these, but they 

clashed with my gift wrap, two different colors available for download here}

{modern gift tags from Jones Design Company, download by giving your email here}

{red & blue tag set from Gifted Magazine, download here}

{another fun set from Gifted magazine, download here}

{gift guide: ladies & gents}

 Last week, Lauren from A Fabulous Fete asked me if I wanted to put together a holiday gift guide in collaboration with some other bloggers.  This is the first gift guide I have ever put together and I had a ton of fun perusing my wishlist on pinterest and asking Chris for input.  I definitiely plan on doing some additional gift guides leading up to the holidays this year. For my first try, I decided to keep it simple and create one for the ladies and one for guys....

1. J. Crew Studded bow pin

2. Voluspa Orangerie D'Azahar Candle

3. J. Crew Overnight Bag (monogramming available)

4. Juicy Couture "preppy" bracelets

5. ASOS Horse charm clutch

6. Concrete Planters from Etsy

7. Chervon Print Tissue Box

1. Filson Suit bag

2. Black Maple Hill Bourbon

3. John Varvatos "Vintage" Cologne

4. Scrappy's Bitters Gift Set

5. Leather Iphone Holder from Etsy

Also head over to these blogs to check out their holiday gift guides:

Cupcakes And Cutlery

A Fabulous Fete

Green 4 U

I Go You Go



{diy bachelorette headbands}

{terra with muji & dugg-e wearing their pouf collars}

For Chris and my 25th birthday party last year, we made fabric pouf collars for the dogs to dress up in- see the photo above (please note the happy expressions on the dog's faces).  The dogs were less than thrilled about this and as the night progressed the pouf collars turned into a pouf headband- see picture below:

{Terra wearing the pouf collars as a headband}

This past weekend was the bachelorette party for my friend Heather and she had the great idea to make these pouf headbands in all different shades of pink for all of the ladies to wear instead of ordering obnoxious screen printed tank tops (thank you heather).  Here are the very simple directions on how to make these fun headbands:

{kaylee, natalie, heather (the bride), me}

what you need:

• fabric in the varying shades you wish to use. (one single headband using about 5 or 6 different fabrics will only need about 8 square inches of fabric for each color)
• one 24 inch strip of grosgrain ribbon for the band (while we used fabric for the band part of the headband- it will significantly cut your time and effort if you use ribbon)
• scissors

1. cut strips of the different colored fabric about 1/2 inch wide and 6 to 7 inches long. These strips do not need to be straight or perfectly cut in any way.  It actually looks better if they are a little but uneven and fraying at the edges
2. starting in the middle of your 24 inch long piece of grosgrain ribbon start double knotting the strips of colored fabric one by one right next to each other
3. push all the knots as close together as possible and rotate some of the knots so that the strips become more of a cluster than a straight line

{Sarah (the maid of Honor) wearing hers as an arm-band}