{diy: peacock guestbook}

For our wedding, we tried to incorporate as many unique and original details as possible. One of those details being our guestbook. I woke up from a dream one night and immediately wrote down this idea---a peacock guestbook. I like peacocks a lot; they’re so beautiful and colorful. I thought, wouldn’t it be cool if we could have our guests sign feathers and create one of those gorgeous birds. I searched for several ideas but couldn’t find anything I liked; then this idea struck my bride brain. It worked out well---even though not everyone quite understood how to sign their feather (oh well). The end result is beautiful and now we have a lovely piece of artwork for our home. We have several unsigned feathers left over as well that future guests can sign. Below is a little tutorial on how to create one of these for your own event/home. If you have any questions, feel free to ask!  

 

Peacock Guestbook How To:

 

1. Get a large canvas (as large as you want you peacock to be) and paint the background whatever color you want, and your peacock’s body in the foreground.

2. Lay a little guestbook banner across the top, for some flair.

3. Cut out large curved raindrops from cardstock and stamp a peacock feather on top in whatever colors you’d like your feathers to be.

4. Lay your feathers on top of each other, creating a pattern. (We actually laid out the loose feathers at our wedding for guests to sign during the reception; you could do it either way)

5. Look over the pattern you’ve created, making adjustments whereever necessary.

6. Once you’re happy with your pattern, take a glue glue and glue your feathers down to the canvas. Don’t add too much glue, just little dabs.

And you’re done! Hang it up somewhere lovely. Such a handsome peacock needs a good place where he can show off feathers.

You can even frame some instructions for you guests. It is a very unique guestbook afterall.

{isn’t he just gorgeous above our mantle?}



{our wedding featured on hifi weddings!}

{sweet memories}

A few weeks ago Ashley from HiFi Weddings contacted me because she saw our wedding on our photographer’s blog (Blue Kite Photo) and she wanted to know if she could feature it on HiFi Weddings. We were incredibly honored and of course gave the okay! Hop on over there if you have a minute to check it out. They have so many lovely weddings on their site; it’s a great source for inspiration!

I know I haven’t posted our wedding on here yet...I’ve been really bad about it but I haven’t forgotten! It’s coming soon!

Here is one of my favorite series of photos from the big day…imagine it in fast forward…

Have a lovely day!

All photos courtesy of Blue Kite Photo

{february @ j.krabbits inc.}

{my cute little Pier 1 s&p shakers}

This month I will start a few features and most posts will follow this month’s theme which is of course…love! We will finally share our wedding photos as well as some romantic dinners and lovely crafts. It should be a fun month!

Features to look out for:

- diy gourmet: meal ideas for all occasions

- 26 before 26: i will tackle some ambitious goals before my 26^th birthday

- giveaways: each month i will try to host some sort of giveaway for all my wonderful readers

- diy dinner party: fun dinner party ideas; from menus to playlists

- nifty housewife: household solutions, home improvement, etc.

- sweet surprises: it’s a surprise!

Muah!

The Mrs.

P.S. Here’s a little wedding photo teaser just for you…

{my favorite}

Pin It

{our wedding: the honeymoon!}

Our little series is back!!! This time with honeymoon details. So Jesse and I were originally debating about whether or not we wanted to take a honeymoon as we had so many things going on around the time of the wedding that made it practically impossible to go anywhere. We had almost completely decided to postpone it when Jesse’s mom offered us her timeshare week in Hilton Head. It was ideal! We could arrive when we wanted as we would not be constricted by flight schedules, etc and we could return just as easily. This gave us an extra day after the wedding to finish packing up some final things for our move, say some goodbyes, and run a few errands.

So the Monday after the wedding we headed in our post-marital bliss to the beautiful Hilton Head Island. It was such a wonderful vacation and we were so happy to getaway. We did miss our puppies very much, however we knew they were in good hands and having their own little vacation at Puptown Charlotte.

Our entire week was incredibly peaceful and fun. It has been a long time since Jesse and I were able to getaway and just enjoy each other. We ate so much good seafood (even Jesse : ) who is notorious for his aversion to all things “under the sea”), went on mini adventures, and just relaxed. Jesse even woke me up with a lovely breakfast he put together one morning.

One of our favorite places was this restaurant called Daniel’s. It was a tapas bar, which Jesse learned he could indeed get full off of. We got to make tableside hummus which we had never done before and I must say, it was some of the best hummus I have ever had. The interior architecture and design was also really cool and Jesse and I decided we would like to incorporate some things we saw into our future home one day. Another stand out place we went to was Kenny B’s which is a Cajun inspired restaurant. We had fried green tomatoes (yum!), shrimp and grits, and grilled Mahi Mahi. Because we were on our honeymoon we were also given beignets on the house! It was delicious and I would highly recommend you visit if you’re craving a little New Orleans flavor.

{yum, yum, yum}

All week we were blessed with wonderful weather (70’s & 80’s and sunny skies), which allowed us to be outside quite a bit. We took advantage and went bike riding on the beach, swimming (for two minutes…haha) in the chilly ocean, horseback riding, pirate putt putting-—which I almost won—-and just leisurely explored. It was tons of fun and we hope we get to return again soon.

{the adventures of j & k}

{just for giggles}

Oh friends, looking back on all the pictures I’m so glad we went away. I can’t remember the last time I felt so relaxed. Many thanks to Mom Ellis for this opportunity!

Goodbye for now!

Mrs. E.



{our wedding: decor highlights}

Hello again!

Just thought I would share some highlights from our wedding. We still haven’t received our photographer’s pics yet, however we had plenty of friends and family with cameras who were eager to share what they captured.

I will share in segments as there is a lot to cover. This will be the first part of “our wedding mini-series” and will go over the wedding décor. It was fun to make everything and I would never have been able to finish it all without the help of my sweet husband and trusty maid-of-honor Giselle. When I first started picturing the design for our wedding I obsessed over it day and night, oftentimes waking up in the middle of the night with new ideas. I had post-it notes and index cards galore filled with ideas and to-do lists (I love lists!!!). Although she never showed any signs of it, I know I must’ve driven Giselle crazy every time I would jump around in conversation with some new idea. I felt so blessed to have her as my MOH and highly doubt that she can be beat! She did everything possible to make sure that our wedding day was truly everything we dreamed…and boy was it! Her only demand was that we did not make poms…haha.

We worked on several items throughout the months leading up to the wedding, but really focused the week before in a craft frenzy. Luckily I took off of work that week because I don’t know that it would’ve all been done in time if I hadn’t. We were in the process of moving at the time as well—--I know we’re crazy right?---so the apartment was empty and full of wedding/craft stuff, oh yea and a leaky air mattress (which luckily was replaced by a loaner mattress from our wonderful friends next door). It was a rough week to say the least but with a wonderful ending, our wedding day!

So to start off,

{our lovely reception hall,

http://byronssouthend.com/}

I was asked several times to describe the “theme” of our wedding and I could never land on anything in particular. All I knew was that I wanted it to be fun, whimsical, and showcase plenty of mustaches…ha! So maybe the theme was “Funny Whimsical Men?”—-maybe not.

But on a more serious note…I focused on some very small details because I feel like they are often overlooked but can sometimes be the most memorable. I mean tiny cut-out Hunger Games mockingjays seem purposeless but actually made beautiful confetti on our cake table and at the same time paid tribute to one of the greatest book series I’ve read in a long time. You can get some of your own here. I even found cut-out atlas birds that looked lovely dispersed around our centerpieces.

Then there was our photo spotlight. It was one of the first things our guests saw when they walked into the reception hall. It showcased pictures of Jesse and me through the years as a couple, and as individuals. I found this really neat framing idea on pinterest (one of my all-time favorite sites) and put Jesse to work! He did a wonderful job and the frames looked so beautiful at our entrance holding our childhood pictures. I also surprised my parents and grandmother with some pictures of them on their wedding day. At that same spot we had our guestbook which I believe is really unique---more details on that in a future post!

I wanted to make sure that there was fun for all ages and personalities. I babysit a lot and wanted my favorite little munchkins to have a blast---I even consulted them on music for the wedding. Giselle and I went to the party store, reached down and let out our inner kiddos, and picked out plenty of fun toys and treats to pimp out the kids table. From what I heard, the whoopie cushion we sneakily laid out, was a huge hit! We also set out cornhole boards (constructed by my handy hubby) for those interested in a little competition.

One of the projects I was most proud of was our cake topper. I knew I wanted a silly little bird topper for our cake but practically every one I had found was over $100---a little out of my budget. So I realized that this was a craft project I would have to save for my crafty hands. I searched everywhere for little birds which were surprisingly very hard to find, and eventually found some in a craft store by accident. I think it was about two days before the wedding; I sat down (on the floor, as we had no furniture, and at one of the cornhole boards which was my table) with my glue gun, little birds, and miscellaneous craft supplies. I began working and before I knew it I created my little masterpiece. I don’t mind boasting because it is something I am incredibly proud to show-off and better than some of the ones I was looking at. Total cost: $10. Woo!

{our favor tables}

Giselle thought I was a little looney, however I love treats and wanted to treat our guests very generously; it was a joyous celebration after all!

We had:

·         Mustache Lollipops: “I mustache you a ?”

·         Lip Lollipops in our wedding blues & greens: “Kiss me baby”

·         Rock Candy (Jesse’s favorite!): “Rock My World”

·         S’more Treat Bags: “No We Love You S’more”

·         A J&K Wedding Soundtrack featuring songs from key moments of the day: “J&K Greatest Hits”

·         Hand rolled Dominican cigars, a gift from one of my aunties: “Fancy a Smoke”

·         Personalized Team Jesse, Team Katie, (and for those preferring both) J+K, pin buttons: “J vs K, Choose!”

Okay…maybe a little extra. They came out wonderful however and everyone seemed to enjoy them very much (we had nothing left!).

Pheew! That was a mouthful.

Well, that’s all for today. Look out for the next part of our wedding mini-series, coming soon to a blog near you!

Love, Love, Love