Craft Week Part 2

Last night I decided to begin making the table runners I've been meaning to start on for the last two months.  My sister April of A. Liz Adventures made her own table runners for her reception last year, which I thought was great.  It saved her a lot of money, plus she was able to get custom runners that matched her decor perfectly.  I found two fabrics online that I liked and ordered what I needed to cover our twelve tables.  Later that week FORTY POUNDS of fabric arrived at our front door.

 You should have seen the look on Mr. T's face.  

So last night I got home from work, poured myself a hefty glass of rosé, and started cutting.  Lulu the cat even helped, too.

I've finished two runners so far, and have ten more to go.  That should amuse me for the next couple of weeks.  Here's the finished product.  I laid the runner over our table to see how it looked.  The colors I chose for the bottles coordinate perfectly, too!  All it's missing are some votives and flowers. 

I didn't even realize it until now, but the runner matches exactly with the plaid chars that you can see in the background.  After our wedding, this runner may have a new home!  Hope  y'all have a happy hump day!

Craft Week Part 1

As I approach the two month mark until our wedding,  I'm starting to realize there are quite a few DIY projects that I've told myself I would do, but still haven't gotten around to doing.  Mr. T's three day  out-of-town work trip couldn't have come at a better time.  I've decided to delve into those projects this week while he's away.  That way I can mess up the apartment as much as I want to without feeling guilty about not cleaning up after myself.  Craft week began yesterday with making faux colored milk glass bottles.  The picture below was my inspiration.

I found this picture on Pinterest, but there was no link to step by step instructions.  After searching a little bit more I found this tutorial from House of Earnest. I stopped by a second-hand store on my lunch break yesterday and picked up 6 vases for a total of $6.00.  Then went to the craft store for some cheap acrylic paint and picked up six different shades.  All you do is pour the paint into the vases, roll them around until they are fully coated.  Let them dry up-side-down in a Solo cup. If you're having trouble having the paint fully coat the vase, just add one or two drops of water to the paint.  Here's the final product.

I've got a lot more of these to make, but I'm thrilled with how they turned out!  A cheap way to add unique hand-made decor to our reception.

Makin' Butta

As my sister April of A. Liz Adventures spent her weekend watching the Miss USA pageant, working out, and making low-cal salads, I spent mine making butter.  Yes, I made my own butter.  It actually isn't as hard as you think it may be. No need for one of those wooden barrels with the sticks that they used to churn butter in the olden days.  All you need is a mason jar and heavy cream.  Here's how you do it.

Fill the mason jar half way with cold heavy cream. Fasten the lid tightly and shake shake shake. Shake until your arms get tired, then continue shaking until they want to fall off, and then shake some more.  About 25 minutes total.  After about 7 minutes of shaking you'll notice that the cream starts to thickly coat the outside of the jar, and after about 15 minutes you'll see the buttermilk start to separate from the butter. 

Once the butter is completely separated from the buttermilk, you can pour the contents of the jar through a strainer to get all of the buttermilk out.  The butter will be extremely soft at this point, but will harden up once you put it in the fridge.

I just love the color of this butter, a very faint yellow as opposed to the fake bright yellow you find in most grocery store butters.  You can add a little bit of salt at this point to the butter if you prefer the salted variety, but I just kept it as is.

And this is what you end up with.  I used a pint of creme and ended up with 1 cup of butter milk, and 1 cup of butter.  Buttermilk can easily  be frozen and used at a later date.  While I haven't calculated if this is a cost effective way get butter, it sure was fun!  And honestly, who can sit down at lunch with their work friends and say "guess what I did this weekend, made butter".  Not many!  Hope y'all have a great week!

What A Weekend

This was the first weekend that truly felt like summer.  On Saturday morning Mr. T and I headed down to Charleston for a high school friend's wedding.  The wedding was beautiful, the venue was set right on the water.  I love any excuse to see my friends from high school, seems like we've never been apart once we get back together.

We woke up early on Sunday and headed towards Columbia to my parent's lake house at Lake Wateree. (the people who named the lake got really creative with this one) They just bought a new boat and Mr. T and I were excited to get out on it.  One of my favorite summertime activities is going out on the lake with family, but now that we're in Greenville we don't get to do that much.  I was so happy we had the opportunity to spend the day there.

Once we arrived we had some lunch and took the pontoon out to Island #13, Johnny's Island.  A lot of people beach their boats up on the side of the island and wade in the water.  Boats blare country music and classic rock while throwing back Budweiser's left and right, confederate flags blowing in the wind off of every boat (except ours).  The exact definition of the red neck yacht club.

After a few hours in the sun, we headed back to have nackies (snacks) and make some drinks.  We got back just in time to avoid the storm that came through.  Mr. T made margaritas and we sipped on them as we watched the storm pass by from the screened porch.

 

 

 

Gotta love an Instagram photo op

 The storm passed and we decided it was safe enough to get back on the water for dinner.  We took a 20 minute boat ride to the Retreat, one of the very few restaurants on our small lake. 

Excuse the terrible hair.  It was mighty windy on the boat!  We came home Sunday night and just sat around chatting with my parents.  Monday morning we slept in, had lunch, and headed back to Greenville.   What a weekend!  Hope y'all had a great long weekend like I did!

Our China Pattern

I didn't think I'd ever be the kind of person to share these things, but after getting deeper into the blogging world, I've realized that someone may actually be interested in reading about these details of my life.  After reading Missy Anne Rinfret's blog, The Penny Pinching Preppy and her post on how she came to choose her china pattern I decided I'd share my decision making process with you, too. 

I come from a family that NEVER uses their fine china.  I think we used it once when one of my sisters brought a boyfriend over for Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner, and that's it.  It's hard to replace, not dishwasher or microwave safe, and kept way up high in one of our cabinets.  My practical self did not see any advantage of spending way too much money on something that will rarely get used.

** as a side note to Missy, your fine china pattern is beautiful and I am definitely not discounting your decision, you look like a fabulous entertainer and I'm sure you'll get lots of use from what you chose.**

We decided on the Kate Spade Wickford pattern.  All white and somewhat simple, hopefully something that will still be beautiful 30 years down the road.  As much as I loved the trendy pieces, I decided to go for simple because I thought it may have a better chance of not becoming out-dated.

The great thing about the Kate Spade line is that most of the pieces coordinate with others, so if we wanted to get funky, we could always add something like these into the mix.

Kate Spade Wickford Sandpiper Accent Plates

We were also looking for something that was on the dressier side of casual (if there is such a thing), so we could use it for more special occasions, too. 

Wickford Pitcher-  perfect for entertaining

Another great thing about Kate Spade dinnerware is that the company is owned by Lenox.  Lenox offers a breakage replacement program which is good for as long as you own the product.  If you break a piece, they will replace it for 50% of the current suggested retail price.  Not bad, huh?

Bacon Vodka, Anyone?

I've recently been hearing a lot about infused vodkas so I've been doing a little research on the topic. While I'm not a huge vodka fan, I do like the idea of infusing different alcohols with fruits and herbs of your choice.  Coincidentally this weekend when I went home, my mom treated us to some of her own strawberry infused vodka.  She served it in these little dainty etched crystal glasses my dad brought home from Austria several years ago. 

The vodka was great, and something about that tiny chilled crystal glass made it even better. Here are some of the combinations I'm interested in trying.

Marshmallow Vodka- think I may be able to get over my aversion to vodka if it tasted like marshmallows

Strawberry Tequila- would be great for margaritas

Watermelon Tequila- perfect for summer

Bacon Vodka- would be so good in a bloody mary!

I've seen several people using a French press to do this, which is so smart.  Just let your liquor and add-ins steep in the French press for a few days, then run it through the filter, and voila! Last night I went through our liquor cabinet to see what we had that might need a little sprucing up.   Found some rum, which is something that I never drink.  I had also just trimmed down my mint plant, so I decided to combine the two.  We'll be having mojitos this weekend!

Monograms and Mimosas

This Saturday three of my bridesmaids and their moms threw a monogram shower for me.  It was so much fun getting to see my friends from college, high school, and even some friends that I've had since preschool.

The wonderful hosts of the afternoon

The theme of the shower was Monograms and Mimosas.  The hosts did such a great job. Not a single detail was missed, from the monogrammed burlap wreath that was on the front door, to our framed save-the-date, and impeccable food and drinks. I was so happy that so many of my girlfriends all came to Columbia for the day.

 

 I received so many great gifts too.  Hope it's not bad luck, but I think I may start using some of my new monogrammed things already!  I just don't have the patience to wait. Here are a couple my new goodies.

Etched Glass Martini Shaker

Lilly Pulitzer Melamine Serving Tray

Chef's Hat!

West Elm Wooden Cutting Board/Cheese Board

Canvas Basket- Perfect for Tailgating

My Bridesmaids (Minus one)

Thank you to my bridesmaids for hosting this shower, and thank you to all of my friends and family for coming!  If you want to see more pictures from the shower check out my matron of honor (and sister) April's blog.