For the Ladies

Last night, I wrapped the bridesmaid's presents.

Bridesmaids: Please vacate the premises.














I probably shouldn't've wrapped them so early, but I really don't want to be scrambling right before the rehearsal. If I don't do something when I think of it, it probably won't happen.

So I told you all that I made them tote bags, which I finished a long time ago. I ended up having enough scraps of fabric left over from that project to make my bridesmaid's matching jewelry rolls as well.

Sorry about the sideways....



The ribbon unties and you can thread rings through it, and there are 2 good sized zipper compartments to store jewelry in. You roll it up and tie it with the 2 long ribbons (I put little tags on them so people would know what they are).

And here is a tote bag with a jewelry roll:


This set is for Ryan's sister Erin, I love the pop of pink.

I also got a lightweight pashmina for everyone - red for the MOH's, since they're wearing aqua dresses, vice versa for the other B-maids.



So there it is, a bridesmaid present in its full form. They are all wrapped and sitting in a corner. I just need to write cards to the ladies and tie some ribbon and we're all done! Love having this crossed off my list...

I'm really glad I made their presents...I was able to get them more than if I had just bought them presents, and each bridesmaid has a tote bag/jewelry roll with fabric picked out just for them. Plus it was fun.

What are you doing for your bridesmaid's presents?

Showered x 2

Saturday Ryan's sisters (and bridesmaids!), Kate and Erin, threw Ryan and I a lovely shower at Ryan's parents house with all of the women from his family, some friends and my sisters, mom and aunt. Picture taking was minimal because there were 40 people there! That was a good preview for the wedding...I wanted to talk to and spend time with everyone and it just didn't happen. My friend and bridesmaid Melissa joined us...


And my sisters, mom and Aunt Mary came up too!


The shower was lovely and we got an insane amount of goodies. Ryan's mom put together a really thoughtful gift-a recipe for cookies Ryan adores plus the pans to make them, and my mom passed on a gorgeous applique quilt made by my MeeMaw before she got Alzheimer's. The quilt made me cry, it was such a surprise...and I feel weird crying in front of that many people so now I feel dumb. Everyone was outrageously generous to the point that our registries were pretty much emptied.

The food was super good too...Greek salad, quiche, a fruit tray and cupcakes! Another wedding preview: I hardly had the time to eat and I only had one small plate of food. Note to self...eat at all costs. It was just so busy!

So yeah, a great time...I wish I would've thought to take more pictures. It was really well put together thanks to Erin and Kate and Ryan's mom, I hate people going to that much work for me but it was really nice. Thank you ladies!

Have you had your shower yet?

Bags

Ladies who are standing up with me on July 24th, 2010: If you are not Alli or Mary, please go grab some coffee or water, pet your dog(s), or maybe take a nap. This is somewhat of a surprise.












So I'm making tote bags for all of my bridesmaid's, courtesy of the sewing book I got for Christmas, One Yard Wonders. I have all of the fabric together too! The fabric on the far left is for one of Ryan's sisters, its a chocolate brown with lilac detailing. The coral is for Ryan's other sister, the yellow is for one of my sisters, the brown and green is for my friend Melissa, and the 2-D zoo print is for my sister Mary.

Whew.



The chocolate brown, coral and yellow I got at a discount home decor fabric warehouse for $5/yard, which is a great deal for thicker fabric. The brown and green I got at Hobby Lobby with a 40% coupon, and Mary's animal print I ordered offline for maybe $10?

Anyway, I need to buy fabric to line the bags in, but it won't be expensive. I will buy a thicker fabric to line the animal print with since that fabric is on the thin side. The tote bags do much better with a thicker fabric to give them some shape.

I started with the coral, and wow does my machine hate that fabric. It pulled and tugged and was awful to work with. I showed the results to my sister Alli and she said I was being anal retentive, so I'm going to finish it (hopefully tonight) and see how it is. If it's awful, I have another 40% Hobby Lobby coupon I can use to buy more fabric. *Edited to add: I had to buy more fabric last night. Lesson learned!*

It's amazing how fast these go together now that I've made a practice one! I need to get better at cutting accurately.

I'm also hoping to make envelope shaped pouches with the scraps left over from the bags. We'll see!

I feel like I need to add something else to their gifts...we'll see! I want to give them stuff they'll use, and tote bags like this can be used to library books, groceries, work out clothes, anything really.

What are you gifting your bridesmaid's?

Sneak Peek

My aunts on my dad's side generously threw me and my cousin Ellie a shower on Saturday.

Source

Oh yeah, it happened. Don't worry, I have pictures, and since I have no shame I will share.

Source

Some of the bubbly might also have been a part of the afternoon.

Source

And lots of those too.

I'll do a full post with pics tomorrow -- I hope everyone had a wonderful Valentine's Day and weekend!

First Wedding Present

Ryan and I received our first wedding present this weekend!

Source

More a Ryan present, actually. A bunch of guys Ryan coached (our ushers) pooled their money and got us an XBox Elite, 1 year's worth of XBox Live and Call of Duty. One of the runner's mom's mentioned how a wedding present should be for both members of the couple, and one of the runners then explained that I could certainly make use of this as a DVD player (right)!

I'm really glad they got this for Ryan. Since Ryan doesn't coach the guys anymore, it's been harder for them all to keep in touch, and apparently XBox live is an excellent means of manly communication. They got it for him early, too, so they could play together all semester. It's something I've been wanting to get for Ryan myself, but I keep getting de-railed financially (work and such).

Our first wedding present--an XBox, who knew!

Did you get any memorable or early wedding presents?