DIY

WEDDING WEDNESDAY: BRIDESMAIDS: HOW I ASKED MY GIRLS DIY

Today on Wedding Wednesday, it’s all about a little DIY for my Bridesmaids. I was very excited once I knew how I wanted to present my idea, that’s why I decided to share with you all, how I asked my girls! For those of you who have been following my blog, you all might know that I’m all about DIY and creating goodies and cute decor details. Asking my girls to be my bridesmaids would be no exception to the opportunity. So after some research and finding some cute ideas, I decided I wanted it to be personal. My creative side got excited and started going to my local arts and crafts stores like Michael’s, hobby lobby and one of my favorite places for small inexpensive goodies.. Target! Once I started visiting these stores I just began by looking around and just seeing what cute things I could find. I wanted it to be personal but not spend tons of money on random goodies either. So I picked up a couple of cute little pieces from wherever I found things and started my DIY! I spent time looking for things that would suit and go with our look for the wedding as well. Like mentioned before in my previous wedding Wednesday update, I’m trying to incorporate our colors and the feel we are shooting for that day! Simple, classy and personal. So away I went! The final product was definitely pleasing, personal and lovely!

My materials included the following: -the cute little buckets I found at target and they were a dollar a piece! Score. -the little gold chevron goodie bags, labels, sewing kits and post cards were also all from target -the golden magnet frames I found at a cute little boutique called Francesca’s -the white Dolly’s, gold glittered clothespins, gold ribbon, golden glittered material paint, gold washi tape and notecards were from Michael’s arts and crafts -the small white totes from Hobby Lobby -the color paint paper samples from Home Depot – the sweet chocolates, your local food store lol – personalized notes by yours truly 😉

First thing I got to work on were these tiny little white totes.. I wanted to spark some interest to them and make them personal. I decided to get a dolly and place it on the tote and secure the edges down with some tape to prevent the dolly from moving. Once they were secured, I got my glitter fabric paint and traced the pattern of the dolly on to the tote and let it dry for only a few minutes to prevent the dolly from sticking to the tote. *Note..If you leave it to dry completely it will stick, if you remove dolly right away it may smudge the pattern.. so only let sit for a couple of minutes before removing dolly. Once that dried, I wrote each girls initial on the tote… They came out better than expected!

Next step was wrapping these up once they were dried. I decided to sneak in the travel size sewing kits in between since they were a little of an eyesore. They didn’t really go with the colors so I hid them in between and used the pretty gold ribbon to tie it all together.

After those were done, I started gathering up all the other little details. One was labeling those cute little chevron goodie bags with a little sweet note and putting some yummy chocolates inside. I used the extra dolly’s I had to label each gift with the girls names and taped the pictures to each individual magnet picture frame.

The Next step was the more personal aspect of this cute little Bridesmaid gift. I Included not only a cute little postcard that asked each girl to join me on my day as my bridesmaid but also sweet details about expectations and details of what my vision was for the wedding and information about the day of the wedding. My favorite though, was the individual sheet I gave all my girls that named each girl and I wrote a little sweet note of what each of them meant to me. It was sweet and simple, but it came from the heart. The rest as you’ll be able to tell was just arranging and making it look cute with gold and glitter and color samples of what the wedding colors would be! ❤

Now for this handsome guy, he also asked his guys to be his groomsmen, only in a more simple and masculine way lol. We arranged some of these Cigars with their names on simple cardboard paper with a simple phrase printed on them, “Your service as a groomsman is required.” This idea we had seen on pinterest and felt it suited well!

This Handsome guy was ready to pass out our bridal party gifts!

The Final Product was just what I envisioned, cute and simple but made with lots of love for my girls. Made to let them know how much it means to me for them to be there for me the day I say I do! ❤

*all images are property of La Vida, life as it comes

-Jen

ENGAGEMENT & WEDDING PARTY FESTIVITIES!

Engagement & Wedding party festivities took place this past saturday night and it could not have gone any better! As many of my frequent readers know, Xavier and I got engaged in October while we were in New York. If you didn’t know here’s how he Proposed! Its worth reading in my opinion lol. ;P Well, since this past October, we have been in “planning mode.” I can tell you that the so-called ‘planning mode’ comes and goes, because it gets overwhelming at times. So we plan a little, take a breather and pick up again! It’s been working thus far for us lol. It’s an exciting time for us even with the moments of stress! Because if you’ve never planned a wedding before… let me tell you, it can be time-consuming.

Part of our wedding plans also included a special little party that we had thought up. Xavier and I, have only but a couple of mutual friends and most of our friends don’t really know each other. So our plans were to host a small “Engagement Party” for the sole purpose of making it an opportunity for our friends to meet. We had to call it an “engagement party’ for the purpose of keeping it a surprise to our Bridesmaids and Groomsmen. What most of our friends didn’t know was that our plan was to throw a little party for our wedding party, to ask our closest friends to be our groomsmen and bridesmaids. We wanted it to be special and intimate because we wanted our gals and guys to get to meet (most for the first time) so that come wedding day, they would know each other. We knew that throughout the year more opportunities would have come where they would have been able to meet, but.. we wanted the first time to be special. So along came our little “Engagement & Wedding Party Festivities!”

Xavier and I’s, closest friends are very special to us and it means a lot to us, for them to be a part of our special day! A lot of preparation went in to making our engagement party a success. Our purpose was to make them feel special and to let them know how much we appreciate them as friends. Along with how much they mean to us as individuals and as a couple. I went to my handy-dandy “Pinterest” and started gathering my ideas for the party. To try to keep it simple for you all, just know that about 90% of our engagement party was all DIY! We really wanted to make it beautiful and timeless at an affordable price, so most of our decor and food we prepared ourselves and with the help of my family! Because lets face it, for the average joe, a budget is of the essence! We couldn’t be more grateful for all of those who helped us on saturday!

This is how we asked our gals and guys to be our ‘Bridesmaids’ and ‘Groomsmen’ and how we celebrated our Engagement!! We hope you enjoy!

This lady and I got to stare at our rings lol!

Be my Bridesmaid gifts!

Be my Groomsmen gifts!

opening their gifts!

This little lady was sooo excited for us! She wouldn't leave my side! — This little lady was sooo excited for us! She wouldn’t leave my side!

Maid of Honor

Matron of Honor

My MINI-maid of Honor!! the love of my life!

The Groomsmen!! =) — The Handsome Groomsmen!! =)

My Beautiful Bridesmaids!! <3 — My Beautiful Bridesmaids!! ❤

We're getting married! — We’re getting married!

Thank you again to all my family who were so gracious to help us this past saturday and to those who couldn’t make it but were in our hearts! We love you all!

Thank You to all our amazing friends that came to share an amazing night with us and for saying YES! to sharing Xavier’s and I’s journey into marriage by being our Bridesmaids and Groomsmen!

Even though we get overwhelmed by all the planning, we are so very excited for the months to come and for our future plans leading up to the BIG DAY and forever! We know that God will guide us through this journey and we will get through it all!

Jen and Xavier

❤

LIFE & ITS SMALL PLEASURES LATELY

Life lately? Its been good to us. While some days we’re more tired than others. Usually its just because we either work or because we take advantage that we don’t work the next day and stay up late. Either way life has been good to us and we can’t complain. Besides the daily hustle of work, feeding our bellies and driving endlessly, we are grateful. I was looking through my phone earlier and found myself smiling. Smiling.. one, because I can capture such sweet moments here and there and two because even the smallest little things can cause the biggest warmth in your heart. If you know me at a personal level, you’ll know that I’m pretty much a picture hoarder. Times like this, where i get to sit back and look through all those pictures i have ~~hoarded~~ ‘stored in memories’ i feel a sense of happiness. Happy that we don’t forget that at the end of the day, even the smallest of things have made us smile one way or another in our days. I’m glad i keep a lot of these moments in my phone. Gosh, i am so thankful for my iPhone! lol. I believe we call these, ‘small pleasures.‘ I wanna share with you all some of my simple pleasures within the last couple of weeks and i hope you understand why my heart is full. Between yummy meals, family time, doggy time, diy’s and my handsome boyfriend, my heart is warm and full of love! What are your simple pleasures friends?

Hope you all are keeping track of all the little things in your lives that make you happy!

Happy week!

-Jen ❤

Breakfast on days off are the best with my honey

Coming home to my homemade dyi fall wreath is so welcoming and cute

My new little fall center piece in our dining table, feels so cozy and the smell is delicious!

Coming Home to some homemade Fall diy’s always light up my day

Seeing these two become best friends makes me laugh

Sending my brother silly faces when he’s going to work is always a good idea

Seeing Xavier and Bella become best friends and sending my brother silly faces from the girls always brings smiles

This little lady, is getting too big and reminding me of me when i was her age

She’s so adventurous its sometimes scary.hope she always stays a kid at heart

Seeing her play by the pool was my favorite part of the weekend

Don’t you worry my little Sofia, I will always be a kid with you at heart, play on my dear!

Nutella and strawberries always make smile

and why not fill the croissants with nutella for dessert?

Um.. Nutella with anything? Thats always allowed in our home lol

She's our little princess and warms our hearts (even if Xavier denies it lol) — She’s our little princess and warms our hearts (even if Xavier denies it lol)

Spending time with this guy is always okay with me, no matter what we may be doing. This couch with this lady and us together is our favorite

link up – Here –

Simple Pleasures

BRINGING FALL INTO OUR HOME

Bringing fall into our home was high up on my ‘to do’ list during this season! That can only mean one thing for me.. More DIY projects! This is the first time that Xavier and I will be celebrating the holidays in our own place and i want to make sure we
celebrate the holidays full heartily! So that only meant that once we got our door ready for the fall with our DIY door wreath, it was time to bring fall indoors! Long behold, another DIY! So I’ve had some shelves stored from Ikea since we first moved into the apartment and we didn’t know where else to put them for a while.. The other night sitting on our couch I realized how empty the wall behind our tv is and thought ‘perfect!’ Perfect place to put a shelf above our tv! The purpose is to sort of to mimic a ‘mantle’ minus the fireplace? Does that even make sense??!! in my head it did lol (We do live in Florida after all,lol) And even though it really doesn’t look like a mantle, it still looks good in my eyes! So below I will show you my idea!
We put the shelf up and the DIY projects started in order to decorate with some fall goodies for the shelve (Here is a prior post where I showed my readers how we make sure things get hung straight in our home.) I used a lot of left over materials I had from previous DIY projects and from the DIY wreath. I had a $4 ikea picture frame I had not used, only it was black and I wanted white..so my painting skills came out and the painting began! The two vases you will see, I had bought at Michael’s arts and craft store a couple of weeks back when they had a discount and I used a coupon! They were perfect for my left over bundle of fall leaves! The two little pumpkins you’ll also see, I bought that same day and were also super inexpensive! The rest of my materials I already had! Oh and I must mention..do you all know how super handy and versatile washi tape is?!? You will see how so, below in my pictures! Love me some washi tape!

My materials included: remember most i already had..
1. IKEA shelf
2. Burlap
3. Fall leaf bundle
4. Acrylic paint
5. IKEA picture frame
6. Twine string
7. Gold washi tape!
And of-course scissors.. The vases and pumpkins

It was so exciting bringing a piece of fall into our home, since this is a first for us! I made sure that this task on my ‘to do’ list for the seasons ahead started off well, and I think the shelf looks great! It was great incorporating things I had already that were stored away. With the holidays coming up I want to make sure i get my home up to par! Down here in Florida the weather drops in fall, um.. one degree??lol So, in order to get us in the spirit for a new season our efforts have to be up to speed! I guess that’s a good way of putting it.. Either way, this season i want to make sure fall is felt inside our home if that’s all i can get! The shelf is a start and i can’t wait to add more home decor to suit the season! Fall usually gets me excited for the holidays ahead!! I am already thinking Christmas!! is that even ok?? it is right around the corner after all! None the less, I will give fall the time it deserves until the christmas trees come out! For now, I will make sure my home feels the warmth and coziness of fall, the air a scent of cinnamon and apple pie and that the pumpkins shine brighter in orange than ever! What do you all think of this simple little shelf? I would love your feedback! Any favorite DIY projects this fall??

-Jen ❤

Step one: Getting that black picture frame painted white! I took the glass out first and I used the white acrylic paint i had lying around and painted the picture frame with several coats. I had to take some brakes and wait for the coats to dry a little before adding another coat. After several coats the picture frame was white enough. I then decided to use some pearly white acrylic paint i also had to give the picture frame a tad of shine and a little texture! ( btw, kind of hard to tell in pictures)

Step two: Creating a master piece!! lol, just kidding..well sort of. I gathered some of my material i already had and created a little DIY art work. I took a leaf from the bundle I had used for the wreath, a blank piece of paper, burlap and some washi tape! Below is what i came up! Simple but makes its point!

Step three: Making a burlap banner..again! can you say, a little obsessed with these?? I used some burlap, washi tape (again!,) twine and white paint for the letters! I chose the word autumn.

Step Four: Giving my vases some spunk with the twine and gathering everything I had to go up on the shelf!

FINAL STEP: Put goodies up on the shelf and ENJOY!

Hope you all enjoy! Lately arts and crafts have become a place for me to escape from the stress of work and something I really happen to enjoy doing! My ideas aren’t extravagant but rather simple. Either way I enjoy them and hope you all do too!

-Happy Autumn-

-Happy crafting-

FEELING CRAFTY

I can’t help it guys…Lately, the Decor ideas keep coming! A couple of weeks ago, we made a trip to Michaels, an art’s and craft store. Couldn’t help myself once again, I had to buy some little things here and there. And well, no better reason than seeing some Letter decor on Etsy a couple weeks prior to that. I thought it was a great way to incorporate some cute decor in the home. Well frankly, I did not want to spend the kind of money some of the sellers on the site ask for. So on that trip to Michaels, I ran into these lovely letters and WA-LA! they were bought! I bought my honey and I’s Initials, It is OUR home after all. Why not right?! I can decorate my own letter’s for MY home, for half the price, and the way I want them! I thought it would be worth a shot! So I let my inner “craftiness” come out and gave it a try. They did not come out Perfect, or look like straight out of a magazine, but I like them, and enjoyed working on them. I even had one of my favorite little people join in, on the fun! Heres my version of the DIY Decor Letter’s that seem to be “in” right now.

Here are some of the things I used and what I used to make them my own:

Materials:

Wooden Letters (Bought 2 kind, wooden and a white wood, but only used the wooden ones for now)
Acrylic Paint (white & grey, I have a white & grey theme in my home)
Painting Brushes
Painting Stencil
IMAGINATION! =)

Heres my little DIY in pictures. Now, time to find a place for them!

Acrylic Paint, bought at Michaels

Wooden Letters

Brushes

The painting began, and a little lady decided to Join in. We had to do a several coats, to really give it a good cover. The stenciling didn’t come out perfect, but good enough for me!

We will see where these lovely letters end up in our home! hope you all like.=)

SIMPLICITY IN DECOR

Life lately has been work work work guys! exhausting and stressful. But no better way to wind down and relax, then to keep the decorations going in our apartment! I mentioned in a previous post how empty our walls still seem to be since we first moved in. Well, slowly but surely, there has been some progress. One more wall down.. this time, in our Bedroom. A couple of weeks ago I made a trip to Ikea to pick up some wall ledge shelfs. I had come across a wall ledge shelf picture in a magazine and on Pinterest and thought they would make a great addition in our bedroom. My favorite part of them, is how simple they are. I’m a big believer of simplicity.. I think simplicity comes a long way in decor (and life ;P). So, it was time to make it my own! I picked up some picture frames, printed some pictures of ourselves and some shots we had taken ourselves with our Canon and Nikon cameras! (part of making it our own!) I also picked up some decor pieces a couple of weeks after that at one of my new favorite stores down here in South Florida, Hobby Lobby. So on one of our days off, it was time to relax and decorate. It is SIMPLE, a contrast to our dark furniture, the pictures are our memories, and its our own. I love it and hope you all do too. It’s a work in progress, and it’s not complete. But, I thought I would share where our simple wall is thus far and any suggestions are welcome. I want to bring some greenery in with some flowers or a nice plant, what do you all think??

First, we gathered our handy tape, in order for the shelves to be straight (In the Unexpected DIY post, I explained how we used these) then the shelves and up they went!

After going through a bunch of our shots, I finally narrowed down which pictures I wanted to display. Then, after some shuffling around, I was finally happy with the arrangements of the picture frames. And the Decor that I picked up went on top of our dresser and that was that!

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