I'M ENGAGED!!!

Peter asked me to marry him in a snowy Colorado garden, and I said YES!

 

Let the wedding hoopla commence!!!

Warmly,

Emily

iPhone dump :)

Finished up my second puffy quilt -- this one was for Lisa's baby shower.

Can't wait to see Silas practicing tummy time on it!

Remember Katie and Jonny from last year? She loved their kSj monogram so much that she asked if I could come up with seasonal cards. We did 25 cards and envelopes each for spring, summer, fall and winter.

Here's my favorite -- spring!

Anyone else listening to Christmas music right now? No? Just me, then...

Warmly,

Emily

Wreaths for Others!

Stephanie loves monarch butterflies and requested this wreath.
Soo pretty! It can be autumn or summer!

How perfect is that ribbon that looks like a monarch butterfly? It's actually a Halloween ribbon. Perhaps spiderwebs? Who knows. It's PERFECT with the butterflies.

Warmly,

Emily

Late Summer Wedding Suite

Now that the fall wedding season is wrapping up, I can share pieces of this awesome wedding suite I did for Jenna and Alex. They saw the invitations I did for Rachel and Wes and loved them, so I used the same sunflower and changed up the colors to fit their style. Enjoy!

invitation

front of RSVP postcard

reception menu

thank you cards

I also did the place cards, seating chart and programs, but because all of those have a lot of different peoples' names on them, I'm not going to post. The seating chart was 20x24 mounted on foam core board. The place cards were already at the tables and appropriately labeled with the dinner option of choice.

So fun! And so easy to work with.

Congrats Alex and Jenna!

Warmly,

Emily

Fall weddings!

Isn't this couple beautiful? I am in love with these thank you cards. The bride requested envelopes the color of "Tahitian Waters," and they happened to match the groom's tie perfectly.

These thank you cards were printed on textured white cardstock and blank inside.

Eric and Katie are getting married sooo soon, and here is a sneak peak of their wedding invitation. Printed on a shimmery pearl cardstock with silver and navy embellishments.

Very excited to show you the whole thing once their wedding has happened :)

 

I am also itching to show you Alex and Jenna's entire wedding suite. Their invitations, programs, accessories for their reception and thank you cards are all so adorable, and perfect for a late-September wedding. Their wedding is at the end of this month, so I will share after that.

In the meantime, imagine yellows and greens and sunflowers :)

Warmly,

Emily

More wreaths!

This time of year, my crafting gets out of control!

But I love it :)

After seeing my blogpost with this wreath Anne requested that I make her one for their B&B.

awkward angle, gorgeous wreath

 Then Jennie requested that I make her a "Think Pink" wreath for breast cancer awareness month (October).

I strung sparkly pink beads throughout hers and found this most perfect pink ribbon head scarf to use instead of a ribbon. I think it's subtle enough to have up year-round if she wants.

I've seen various interpretations of this wreath, including looping scrapbook paper instead of ribbon and using hot glue instead of stick pens. All great ideas. The scrapbook paper one is probably significantly cheaper than the ribbon, as it takes a LOT of ribbon to construct one of these beauties.

Happy crafting!

Warmly,

Emily

Organization makes me happy!

I think I may have a problem.

But it's a good problem to have!

I am obsessed with organization.

Exhibit A:

ErinCondren Life Planner 

Personalized just for me!

by month

by time of day

 

pockets for receipts, stamps, labels, stickers...

 

 

Now instead of carrying around various notebooks for all of these things, I have it all in one fun, fancy planner! Who gets this excited about organization? Except for maybe this girl who introduced me to this ridiculousness in the first place. Love ya, Becks!

Now I can even more excitedly keep track of all of you lovely clients and your wedding days.

As well as my running schedule as I prepare of my first marathon (26.2 miles) in April. I just completed my first half marathon (13.1 miles) in Philly, and have another one coming up in November. And I am sooooo excited that I have found myself really, really having a passion for such a healthy activity. I remember the days of walk/running a 5k and barely making it to the finish. I hope I find myself looking back on my half marathons and feeling like I've come far once I accomplish my 26.2.

at the 5k mark and feeling good!

FINISH! Still feeling great!

I have recently started making and selling these fall ribbon wreaths. Let me know if you want one! They are seriously so beautiful, I want to eat them. They can be made for basically any holiday! I predict I'll be whipping one up for Christmas in a couple of months.

(Christmas is a couple of months? Holy cow...)

fully customizable!

In between these fun crafts and hobbies, the November/December wedding season has arrived for those of us in the wedding pre-planning stages determined to give you the most gorgeous day! I plan to have some items from recent weddings to show in the coming days.

Snuggle up to someone you love as the weather turns and the leaves begin to fall.

Warmly,

Emily

Thankful Thursday Linky!!

Linking up with Megan over at Blissfully Burton today :) What am I thankful for?

1. This lovely 3-day weekend coming up, which I am kicking off by hanging out with 2 of my most favorite kiddos in all the land: Grace and Jack! Love!

2. Dinner tonight with super fun friends. It's nice to have a friend whose husband is the head chef at a swanky restaurant!! See? Super fun!

3. Rollover minutes so I can still talk to my favorite sister now that she switched providers:

4. Awesome friends, family, extended family and boyfriend who gave me such a fun birthday 1 week ago!

5. This series. Which has completely inspired me! If you're a woman with a pulse, you will love reading about these four best friends who run a high-end wedding business and find love with four very handsome men.

6. Hotel and plans booked for my first half marathon on Sept. 18. Rock N Roll Philly Half Marathon

Wish me luck! Happy Thursday :)

Warmly,

Emily

Baby Quilt -- Done!

Beth's baby's quilt is done! And I must say, I love it!

If I had a passion for vintage airplanes, I might just keep it for myself :)

It started as this

Super Yoshi to the rescue!

Time to sew the puffs -- all 64 of them.

stuffed puff!

64 stuffed puffs!

Blanket with brown, satin binding. I hated it, ripped it out, and came up with a new idea:

Pull the back around to the front and make IT the binding!

Center 64 squares

Back and Front together!

Cannot wait to give it to baby boy in October!

After this quilt and Jack's wall hangings for HIS airplane nursery,

I think I could start a baby airplane Esty site :)

Goodnight all!

Warmly,

Emily

Birthdays, disasters and 9/11

Good evening!

My birthday was this past Thursday, and Peter's was the 18th,

so we celebrated:

Then, on Tuesday, there was a bit of an earthquake. Weird. I was on my lunch break at work, outside on a bench, and after I convinced myself I wasn't having a panic attack, but the bench was indeed shaking, I realized what was happening. Our building was shut down, and we all went home early. BUT everything checked out fine, and aside from a lot of stuff falling off the top of some of our shelves, it was like nothing ever happened.

Then we had a hurricane. Apparently. It appeared to be more of a large rainstorm from where we live, and we didn't lose power or trees or cars, but I do feel for those who are experiencing loss.

Earlier yesterday, before Hurricane Irene was set to arrive, I drove the 3 hours up to Shanksville, Pa., the site of the crash of United 93, for work. I read all about what the passengers went through in those terrifying final moments, and thought a little too much about it all and how scary it must have been. The memorial promises to be very beautiful when it is complete in 2014.

That white wall is phase 1 of 3 for the memorial. It has the names of all 40 passengers and crew who were killed (excluding the hijackers). If you follow the wall down, that's the flight path that United 93 came in at. 50 feet off the ground, upside down, before crashing at the end of that mowed grassy region. The crater created by the crash was filled in once the remains of all 40 passengers and the hijackers were identified. Closure that loved ones from the Twin Towers and the Pentagon may never have. It is coming up on the 10-year anniversary of this tragic day, and sometimes I still cannot believe it ever happened. But at the same time will never forget.

Please take the time to look at the websites for the memorials being created in remembrance of the heroes of 9/11:

Pentagon Memorial 

Flight 93-Shanksville Memorial 

Twin Towers Memorial 

Warmly,

Emily

sweet sewing for sweet friends

I really wish Summer wouldn't slip by so quickly!

I seem to have a lot of works-in-progress at the moment. Fall weddings are approaching, so I've been doing those invitations, and now the programs/reception decor that follows. I've also been having WAY too much fun with my sewing machine.
Check out this little darling in her "pillowcase" dress:

too cute for words!

Also, my dear friend Beth is having a baby SOOOO soon! Beth and I met in 2005 when we were both randomly put together in a dorm for intern housing. I was an intern at the Washington Times, and she interned at a senator's office, which basically means she gave Capitol tours all day, every day. We've managed to see each other quite frequently since then :)

January 2007

Summer 2008

Beth's birthday. April 2009

Beth's wedding, Jan. 2010

 Here it is 6 years later, and I've watched her meet and fall in love with Jason. I went to her wedding in Kansas, and now I will be heading back to Kansas to see her new baby once he pops out! Of course, Auntie Em cannot show up without a little something for the little guy, so I'm working on this super adorbs puff quilt, also called a biscuit quilt.
The tutorial can be found over at Honeybear Lane.

This is the center section

It now has a 4 inch denim border, and tonight I have to sew on the brown binding :) Oh, and the back is incredibly sweet -- my favorite part. Baby's nursery is blue, brown and red with vintage airplane accents, so I found this gorgeous fabric and snatched it right up:

Way too excited about this find

Yoshi was a real big help during the process, too! Every time I sit down to sew, he jumps up on the chair next to me and sleeps. Which is hugely distracting, because I always want to squish him.

Zzzzzzzz...

I'm heading off to Shanksville, Pa., on Saturday to do a multimedia project on the 9/11 Memorial there (I can't believe it's been 10 years!).
And I have my Annapolis 10-miler on Sunday.

Hope your weather is as gorgeous as it is here in DC!

Warmly,

Emily