Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Glitter Makes the Cake Go 'round

In case you haven't noticed, I don't like to do things unless they make sense to me. Things like "you have to register for fine china because one day 10 years from now you might NEED it and then what will you do?" and "you have to have an equal number of bridesmaids and groomsmen!!" make my eyes roll so much I think they might roll right out of my head! So when I was told that I have to have a special cake knife and server just to cut our wedding cake with, I balked something fierce! Then I ignored that gem of advice and moved on with my life. I intended to email the caterer or baker to see if they have something we could cut the cake with. I mean, am I going to use this special engraved cake serving set again? No! When I eat cake at home (which let's be honest never happens since I'm Ms. Healthy) I cut it with a butter knife. And IF I don't just consume said cake standing up at the kitchen counter (because as I mentioned, I never have cake so when I do I go nuts!), I can move it to my plate with a fork, the butter knife, or a spatula if I'm feeling crazy.

BUT THEN!!!

I came across this glittery set of perfection! Whaaaa??? They make cake knives and cake servers in GOLD GLITTER??? Sign. Me. Up. I will absolutely use these in my every day life after the wedding! Umm they're made of gold glitter. I'll be using them to cut my meatloaf and serve up my mashed potatoes! Any excuse will do!





Tragically, I went to buy these beauties and they're out of stock! I have emailed the shop owners and plead with them to restock!! So, to be continued on whether or not I can actually cut my cake in style.

Update: The shop that I found these on emailed me back and said they were out of stock for the season. Wah wah... BUT THEN!!! I found them on bhldn.com and snatched them up!! Woooo!


<3

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

2D Tree

In the summer of 2011 J and I added two furry balls of love to our family.  And then by the winter of 2011 we discovered that one of our cats, Ollie, has PICA. PICA is defined as a disorder where one has an appetite for non-nutritive substances such as clay, dirt, chalk... or if you're our cat; clothing, Kleenex, hair ties, and Christmas trees. Last year, since the cats were still kittens, we locked them in a bedroom all day while we were at work and watched Ollie at night with spray bottle in hand ready to spray him if he started to eat the tree.

This year, we weren't in the mood to be as vigilant and didn't think it would be fair to lock the cats away all day now that they're adult cats. But we have so many ornaments! And we still want to be festive!! What do you do when your cat has PICA and it's the holiday season???

Why, you create a 2D tree from wood, kraft paper, and chalk!! Inspired by a Style Me Pretty shoot that was circling around the blog-o-sphere, J and I decided to craft ourselves a cat proof tree!

Here's the inspiration:

(follow the source link for other out of the box x-mas tree ideas)

With the idea in mind, we headed to Home Depot. Since we didn't want to actually nail into our wall, J proposed to build a wood structure. We bought two 2x12x12 planks of wood and had them cut into thirds. They will cut them for you right at Home Depot so it was fool proof! We also bought a couple 2x4s and had those cut in halves. Here's J being manly waiting for our wood to be cut!


Yes, building is fun, ladies and gents! You heard it here first! Once we returned home, J stacked the 2x12x12s on top of each other and secured them together by screwing the 2x4s into them.


Once we leaned it up against the wall, it looked like this: 


We covered the board wall with kraft paper to make a canvas of sorts. 


Here's where the fun/tough part began. I sketched out my tree with a pencil. Make sure you have a big eraser handy because you will need it! I made lots of edits as I went through to make sure it looked just right. Also, at one point the tree had quite the lean going on. A little eraser magic and I was back on track! Once you've created your outline with pencil, go over it with chalk! 

(The right picture is of the pencil outline. As you can see (or not) it is very light so don't fret if you don't cover all of the lines with chalk)

If you're better at drawing than I am (almost impossible not to be...) you can get fancier with your tree. It also probably won't take you as long. This is about as sophisticated as I get, and it took me about an hour or so to get it looking spiffy! 


The hard part is over! Now all you have to do is add some nails, string the lights, and choose your ornaments! 


Voila! 



2D Tree! It's honestly so cool in person and I'm super pleased with how it turned out! I think I may even like it more than our real (fake) tree! I went with a silver/gold/green color scheme to go with the kraft paper. I'm impressed that we were able to make this on our own and I think it came out better than the inspiration picture! I apologize for the poor iphone pictures but I didn't have time (read: didn't feel like it) to take real pictures. 

Best part? Ollie can't eat it and die. Everyone wins! 


We were still able to put down our tree skirt and put gifts "under" the tree! I think this was the perfect solution!

Check back later this week for tips on decorating for Hanukkah (since I am a Jewish girl after all!)

<3









Sunday, November 25, 2012

That's a Wrap!

If you spend a lot of effort making sure your Christmas tree looks perfectly festive and gorgeous, you need to also put some time into making sure the gifts you put under the tree look just as great! People love to open a beautifully wrapped gift so why not spend some extra time making sure your goods look great not only on the inside, but on the outside as well! Here's my guide on some good looking gifts! What I'm loving right now is a natural looking wrap + baker's twine + a beautiful gift tag.




















Gift Tags:ChevronPeacockHeart Cut OutOrnamentsTwine:ColorfulGold & BlackWrap:Geometric & TreesFloralExtras:Heart StickersGift Display & Paper Flower
Whatever you taste in wrap may be, have a fun holiday season!!
<3 

Sunday, November 18, 2012

Gift Guide: The Goods for Your Gal Pals

Hello on this lovely Sunday evening! Today I thought I'd throw together a little etsy gift round up for ya! Since it's that time of year when our thoughts shift to gift giving, I'm here to help with gifts for your gal pals.


Items #1 and #4 are the perfect gifts for your travel enthused friends! When you favorite globe trotter is jetting off to Europe or Thailand they will be traveling in style with their personalized passport holder! And when they've seen something that wows them and they just don't want to forget it? They can write about it in their stylish journal. 


Items in group #2 (herehereherehere) are a great gift for a good friend or sister! I think the initial necklaces are a particularly thoughtful and fun gift! 

Need a dish to hold all of your new jewelry? Don't worry, I've got you and your friends covered here! I love the floral pattern and the many color options. 

The sea urchin air plant gardens are such a cute gift for coworkers. I have a few in my "blog room" and I love them! They don't have to be watered very frequently so they work well in an office.

And finally, if you're shopping for me  a stylish chica, any of these adorable clutches will brighten her holidays! 

Now you're ready to go forth and gift unto others. Check back later this week for an etsy gift wrap guide so you can wrap you gifts in style and have a gorgeous pile underneath your tree! (Or by your menorah). 

<3







Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Jewish-ish Wedding Traditions- Yichud (and a bit of hair style talk)

We're back with more Jewish goodness! I'm watching my absolute favorite Jew on The Voice right now! So proud that Adam Levine is part of the tribe! Anyyyyways... today's Jewish wedding tradition on the agenda is the Yichud. But since there are no pictures associated with the yichud and posts without pictures are no fun, I'll also be discussing my thoughts on my hair-do for the big day!

A yichud is simply a time of seclusion for the bride and groom after they become man and wife. In traditional and religious families, men and women aren't allowed to have alone, one on one time until they are married (lest they do something naughty!). So the yichud is the first chance the couple gets to spend alone in each other's company! Actually, in biblical times this was when the couple "consummated" the relationship... Awkward! However, according to wikipedia, that practice is no longer current (thankfully)!
Nowadays the happily married couple goes off to a room on their own to snack on some yummy appetizers and look at each other and go "Oh my god we're married!!!!!" Let's just say that J and I will definitely be doing this.

#1- Our caterer is ah-mazing and I want to eat those yummy yummy apps!
#2- I think after committing to spend your life loving and living together, it's nice to spend a few stolen moments alone together!

Now, the question is how much time do we spend in seclusion? The advantage of doing a "first look" and taking all of the bridal party and family portraits before the ceremony, is that we're free to do whatever we like during cocktail hour! I'm thinking we'll only need 10-15 minutes to stare at each other and giggle that we're married. After that, my fabulous bridesmaid/hair stylist will transform my hair from it's veiled curly down style to a fun, ready to party, up-do! Here's what I'm thinking for my reception hair style:


all sources can be found on my pinterest board Dana's Wedding Style Vision

I want my reception look to be fun and flirty! I like the messy hair styles rather than a smooth, pulled together look. Features that I definitely want to include are curls (naturally, since I'm a curly girl!), braids, and twists (get it, because I'll offically be a Twist! har har).

Assuming my hair transformation takes about 20-30 minutes, we'll have 30-40 minutes of cocktail hour time left! I'm still thinking through what I'd like to do with that time. Should we join the cocktail hour? Do more portraits of just J and me? Watch the transformation of the ballroom? Kick back and relax and eat more appetizers? I definitely want to get a sneak peak of the room before all of my lovely guests go in. I've even seen pictures of the bride when she first walks in and sees her vision come together. I think I'd like that, since after all of this planning I'm sure my face is going to be all OMGAMAZING!!! when I walk in! I'd like to remember the moment when I feel that it was all worth it!

Thanks for joining me for another installment of Jewish-ish Wedding Traditions! Only 1 to go! Here's how we stand:

1. Ketubah signing- IN
2. Chuppah- IN
3. Separation- OUT
4. The Covering of the Bride- Half IN Half OUT
5. The Procession/Unterfieres- IN
6. Encircling of the Groom- IN
7. The Betrothal/Ring Ceremony- IN
8. The Kiddush- OUT
9. The Seven Blessings- OUT
10. The Breaking of the Glass- IN
11. Yichud- IN
<3

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Kitchen Round-Up

Hey guys! Now that I'm finally improving my photoshop skills, I get to do product round up posts! I am always shopping around the internet (it may be one of my top skills) and finding cool and beautiful things. I'm here today to share my kitchen accent favorites! 

Kitchen accessories are super fun and easy to play around with. They're pretty inexpensive in general and easily swap-out-able. Here are some that I've been eyeing (you might even find a couple on our wedding registry)!


1/2/3/4/5/6

<3




Sunday, November 4, 2012

Fall Trends- Polka Dots!

I think polka dots might be my most worn fall trend! Dresses, tops, tights, you name it I have it polka dotted! It's a fun and young look that is very playful! Big, small, I love them all! This trend looks great layered dot upon dot, or let one piece stand alone. You can pick up some dotty pieces practically anywhere but here are my favorites from Target, Modcloth, J. Crew, and Nordstrom! A variety of price ranges for all budgets.

1, 2, 3, 4

1, 2, 3, 4 

2, 3, 4 
(give me a break for using the same sweater twice, I was putting together my post whilst making shakshuka for dinner! A smidge distracted.)

Here I am working this trend all over town!



A cute work look from TJ Maxx.  

Hearts as polka dots from Modcloth


Don't see the polka dots? Look closer...

Gold dotted tights! 
 
Love these new tights I got from ASOS! They are actually lacey dots! 

Another work look from TJ Maxx. 

<3