DI(fr)Yday: (Leif-inspired) Glittery Metallic Geometric Garland

I fell in love with the "Glittered Geometry Garland" at Leif, but decided I could make something similar at home.

First, I printed 3D shape templates (found here). Then I cut them out of glittered scrapbook paper using an X-Acto knife on a self-healing cutting mat.

After that, I made up the shapes securing all but one side with Scotch tape on the inside.

I strung the shapes together with gold embroidery thread and secured the thread at the corners of each shape with some hot glue.

Then I closed up the shapes, securing the final side of the shape with hot glue on a tab of paper.

The whole process took a few days, but I really like the end result, and I think it looks great on our tree.

I wasn't able to photograph every step because I mostly worked on it in the dark after work, but I'd be happy to answer any questions if you decide to make it.

DIY Hostess Gift: Painted-Wood Dessert Spoons

I have a real thing for cute spoons. These acrylic ones are my favorite. I keep one at work that I use to eat my greek yogurt every morning for breakfast, and I really feel like it makes the eating experience more enjoyable. Plus I have a weird thing where I don't like eating yogurt with a metal spoon.

Anyway, when I saw these cheap wooden teaspoons at Hobby Lobby, I thought they'd be a lot of fun to paint. I decorated each with a different pattern using a Sharpie paint pen. I like the way the mismatch set looks together, but I also think they look really cute tied around a pint of ice-cream as a nice addition to a hostess gift.

What I wore today: 12/07/2013 (Snow Day)

I love the snow! I don't think I'll ever outgrow the excitement of the first big snow of the year (or the second or the third or the fourth!)

It started snowing Friday night while I was at work. Ryan met me there after so we could eat Japanese food and do our Christmas shopping. It was kind of nice to shop in a nearly empty mall in the middle of a snowstorm, and my Subaru got us home safely (I drove Ryan to pick up his car the next morning once the roads were plowed).

Saturday was bright and sunny, with lots of light reflecting off the beautiful snow and barely any wind so it didn't feel that cold. My mom and I got lunch at a wine shop and went to my first wedding gown fitting. It was a perfect snow day!

* * * 

This coat is from Forever 21. One of the biggest pieces of advice I can give you is to buy lots of Forever 21 coats. They are cheap as hell, which means you can buy a variety of trendy patterned once, which means you don't have to wear basically the same outfit all winter long(since your coat is often all anyone sees of your outfit). I have one quality neutral coat and a bunch of trendy Forever 21 coats.

As for the hat, Ryan bought it for me at Topshop on our last morning in Chicago last year. At lunch, my mom told me, "You should never not wear that hat again." Ha!

Alcott Dress - Anthropologie
Brown leather riding boots - vintage
Fair isle tights - old
Portable Pocket Belt - Modcloth
Green felt hat - Topshop
Aztec-print coat - Forever 21

Our Wedding Registry Wish List

For our wedding, Ryan and I decided to forego a traditional registry, and created an Amazon wish list instead. That way we could register for all kinds of a fun things from a variety of sources. We have lots of Etsy items on our list as well as things from Modcloth, Restoration Hardware, Leif, Anthropologie, Terrain, and even the online printshop of a Swedish photographer I found through Instagram. 

Since we've been living together for four and a half years, we don't need a lot of traditional registry items, so, instead, we're asking for a few pretty odds and ends, and a lot of art.

01. Etsy (Banana Tree Studios), 02. Modcloth, 03. Restoration Hardware, 04. Annette Pehrsson, 05. Etsy (Clare Elsaesser, 06. Etsy (Flapper Doodle), 07. Etsy (Clare Elsaesser), 08. Etsy (Ashley Goldberg), 09. Etsy (Pretty Little Theives), 10. Etsy (Fifi Du Vie), 11. Etsy (Stone and Violet)

01. Amazon, 02. A Sunny Afternoon, 03. Leif, 04. Terrain, 05. Anthropologie, 06. Sears, 07. Amazon, 08. Reiko Kaneko, 09. A Sunny Afternoon, 10. Anthropologie 

Our Wedding Invitations

We sent our invitations a few weeks ago, and boy does that make this whole wedding thing feel real! Of everything I've done so far to prep for the wedding, this moment feels the biggest.

The design of the invitation suite was very important to me. After all, the invite is the first introduction to your wedding style that guests see. It's also the only thing a lot of people will file away in their keepsakes.

I wanted the design to feel really personal, and I think the custom cameo does that well. Kristen of Five Dot Design created the suite after an extensive conversation about what I had in mind and a few revisions based on my very specific (and sometimes nitpicky notes). She did an incredible job, and I would recommend her to anyone. I'm really excited to see what she does with the rest of our stationery (programs, menus, and place cards).

Kristen thought it was really romantic that we were getting married on our fifth anniversary, and she had the idea to incorporate the number five into the design in subtle ways. Each antler has five points, and the silver thread is wrapped around each suite five times. I love that little detail. Most people won't notice it, but it imbues the whole thing with a kind of magic that feels auspicious and special.

I looked at a few styles of love stamps and wedding stamps, but I ended up buying a bunch of 20th-cenury poet stamps instead. They're just so much cooler! I bought about four times as many as I needed for the invitations so that I can have a little happy moment every time I pay a bill in the foreseeable future.