Crafty {Belated} Birthday

Belated Birthday Gifts & Wishes 

for Jen of Craftiness NOW

At Koru, the inspiration & celebration of new beginnings involves weddings 99% of the time.  But beginnings come in many forms like births & birthdays.  & I like to celebrate them all!!!

My friend Jen of Craftiness NOW is no exception.  When she announced her birthday bash in August, I eagerly started a birthday project for her that involved her love of pink & crafts.  Then I was unable to attend her party (boo-hoo) & I stalled on my crafting.  We finally made plans last week & this was the fire I needed under my crafting butt to get this project done.

Let's call this project Inspiration Canvas Set.  I found inspiration on Pinterest but (stupidly) I didn't actually pin the source but the basic canvas, letters, paint idea is similar to this pin.  I wanted something simple & sweet to decorate Jen's cute apartment & inspire her with some well-chosen words.

First things first was a trip to AC Moore.  I loaded up on 4 baby canvases, wooden letters & paint.  Because a throng of sorority sisters had depleted the supply of wooden letters to make their paddles, I was forced to rethink my words.  I ended up with my original words of Love & Hope, plus the new additions of Joy & Wish: 

I painted two of the canvases with a few coats of Ballet Pink because Jen loves pink & the other canvases with Vanilla for a nice contrast:

The "toughest" part of the project was painting those tiny letters.  For most of the letters, I painted them before I glued them on the canvas.  It wasn't easy keeping them in place to paint them.  I didn't paint Wish until it was glued on the canvas for that exact reason.  Then I ended up with pools of extra paint on the canvas.  I can't decide which method was best:

Before too long, my birthday present idea turned into an actual birthday present that I'm pretty proud of:

I wrapped these cuties in a cupcake gift bag & paired them with pink wine & presented them to Jen at our little dinner & dessert party.  I'm pretty sure she liked them.  Hopefully, all of Jen's birthday wishes come true because she deserves each & every one!

FYI, with the right words, these could be a great engagement, wedding or baby decoration or gift.  Think Marry Me with the couple's name, wedding words like Forever/Always/Love/Heart or the baby's name, birth date & stats.  Be creative & have FUN!

It's A Wrap!

Photography by Amanda Wilcher
Image via Style Me Pretty

I spend a fair amount of time scouring wedding blogs, design blogs, craft blogs & more for inspiration each week. It dawned on me that I should be sharing this inspiration with you. Duh! Each Friday, I will recap my favorite finds for you in a little feature called "It's A Wrap!" Enjoy~

Love her blog, ADORE her wedding

Can't I have one?! Pretty, pretty please!

What sweet Valentines

You can have a princess dress, yes- you can!
(Editor's note: Start reading this blog NOW for your sanity!)

Won't you be my forever friend?

Have a wonderful weekend!

L is for Love

Happy Valentine's Day!

I'd like to share a little snippet of the celebration of LOVE in our lives. Without further ado . . .

Two of my heart-made Valentines for our beloved family & friends:


Another heart-made Valentine paired with baked-from-the-heart cupcakes for a good friend:


One year ago Sunday, RZ proposed to me- another wonderful moment in our LOVE story!!! We went to Duck Walk Winery after the proposal for a wine tasting & bought two bottles- one to drink that afternoon & one to drink on our engagement anniversary. We enjoyed every drop last night! Cheers to us:


Whatever your plans for Valentine's Day, I wish you LOVE & laughter~

From the Heart

I have some fun times ahead to look forward to: a visit with the talented Jen Kim of Craftiness NOW & her new mascot Mila, a celebration of my fabulous sister-in-law's birthday, a day of love, aka Valentine's Day & a personal favorite, our anniversary. No need to run to Hallmark or Crumbs. I'm determined to craft & bake from the heart!

I'm no Betty Crocker- in fact, my little baking project included a very scary moment of fearing I may cause a fire alarm for our entire building. Anywho! Baking from scratch is out of the question for me so I picked up my favorite Funfetti cupcake mix, along with vanilla icing in pink just perfect for Valentine's Day. Here are the baking supplies & the cards in the works:


I had tons of Valentine's Day supplies left from last year for my cards:


Here are the naked cupcakes patiently waiting for pink frosting & pastel sprinkles:


And here are some work-in-progress cards that need some finishing touches:


Tune in next week for the baking & crafting results!

Pretty Poms

You may remember that I chose my first DIY wedding project: Fabric Pom Poms. Then I started the project with a sample from random fabric. Now here is the still a work-in-progress pom:


Ta-da! The finished sample pom:


The sample pom looks quite nice in our dining room! Here is a close-up of the pretty pom:


I loved, loved making the pom & I adore the finished pom! I've officially signed myself up to make eight beauties in white & ivory for our ceremony & possibly for our reception too. I may re-use the poms to decorate the sweetheart table. TBD. I'm going to make four 6-inch diameter poms & four 4-inch diameter poms for a bit of variety. I'm quite happy that there will be some personal touches at our wedding.

Next week, crafty Jen, of Craftiness NOW fame, is taking me on a hunt in NYC for the perfect fabric for my poms. Wish us luck!