Canvas Print

You might remember that back in May, I won a a giveaway for an 8x10 canvas print from Easy Canvas Prints through a blog that I follow.  Well, it took me a while to figure out which photo I wanted to use.  When I did, the process was quick and easy.  And, now I have a beautiful canvas print of one of our beautiful engagement photos (in fact, my favorite one!).  

I did the 1.5" gallery wrap (I chose a dark charcoal gray for the border -- you can choose whatever color you would like).  I want to hang it as it is rather than frame it.  I also plan to set it out near our guest book at the wedding reception.  

I am really thrilled with it.  It took 9 days from the day I ordered it to the day that it arrived on my doorstep.  It's beautiful, it was quick, and it was free!  If you're looking for someplace to get a canvas print of your photos, I would definitely recommend Easy Canvas Prints.  

FINALLY!

The invitations are officially done.  This incredibly long, stressful process is finally over.  Sort of.  I will take them to the post office tomorrow and have them hand cancelled.  And, then we will play the waiting game for the RSVPs to be returned.  

I am going to wait until next week to do the big reveal.  I want to make sure that everyone gets their invitations in the mail before I show them off here.  I don't want to ruin the surprise!  :)

I am so glad that these things are done!  I'm really happy with how they turned out and I am most excited about them leaving my house for good!  And, I will be sending them out a day ahead of schedule (I had originally said that they should be mailed by July 30th).  Phew!  Now for a good nights rest (without worries about invitations!).  I'll just keep my fingers crossed that they actually arrive at their destinations (unlike poor Miss Macarons!). 

Meet Oveta Culp Hobby

Yesterday, I was determined to finish the invitations.  So, after work, I stopped by the post office.  I had a full invitation with me to weigh.  If the price would have just been determined by weight, the invitations would have only cost 64¢ to ship.  However, because my invitations are so thick, (ribbon + wax seal = expensive thickness) they will cost 84¢ to ship.  Yuck!  

But, I sucked it up and just bought the stamps I would need to mail these suckers.  Almost $60! I was upset that it's so stinkin' expensive, but I was excited to be one step closer to getting the invitations out of my house.  The lady at the post office was really sympathetic -- apologizing for the cost and assuring me that when I finished, she would hand cancel the invitations herself to make sure that they don't get torn up in mailing.  

My only option for the stamp is this beauty:

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That, my friends, is Oveta Culp Hobby.  She was the first secretary of the US Department of Health, Education, and Welfare as well as the first commanding officer of the Women's Army Corps.  However, most importantly, the colors on her stamp match really well with our invitations (gotta have priorities here!)!  And that's fantastic news since she's my only option -- unless I went the more expensive route and had stamps custom made.  I might have done that but I don't have the patience to wait for custom stamps at this point.  I'm just ready to get them out of my house!

Unfortunately, I still was unable to finish the invitations last night.  I would have, but I ran out of stamps for the RSVPs.  You see, in my bride brain haze, I forgot to pick up 44¢ stamps for the RSVPs when I picked up the invitation stamps.  I think I was just in shock at the expense of the 84¢ stamps.  I did have some stamps leftover from the STDs and a few other random stamps in my house, so I was able to finish most of the invitations.  However, about ten of our RSVPs have holiday stamps on them -- HA!  They just have pine cones and snow on them so it's not like they scream "Merry Christmas!"  I figure that people probably won't notice.  So, oh well.  

Anyway, I've still got about 15 RSVPs to stamp before I can put the wax seals on the envelopes.  Then I'll just stuff them into the outer envelopes, seal them up, and they'll be on their way to their new homes.  :)  It should be another hour of work, tops.  

Since I don't get home from work until 4:00 and the post office closes at 5:00, I'm not sure if I'll get them in the mail tonight (since they have to be hand cancelled).  I'm hoping so, but I will be okay if I have to wait until tomorrow to get them mailed.  I'm just so excited to be so close to finished!  

My favorite part of the invitations...

The invitations are almost complete.  I keep having little issues which are delaying the process.  However, they should be finished tonight!  And, if not, I'm throwing them in the trash and just calling everyone.  lol   -- kidding!

Anyway, last night, I got to work on something for the invitations that was actually fun.  That is really unusual lately!  I'm talking about embossing!

Yesterday after work, I picked up a heat gun thing to do the embossing.  I thought it would be tricky or boring or some other terrible thing.  I was wrong!  It's so cool!  I love embossing.  I wish I would have included more of it for our invitations!  

First, you get your envelope ready.  And, by ready, I mean stick it on a flat surface (ha!).

Next, stamp the flap on the envelope.  I used the stamp I created for our return address.  The ink I used was Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Embossing Ink in Clear For Embossing.  

Next, pour embossing powder over the stamped envelope and then lightly tap it off so that the powder is only covering the ink.  I used Zing! Embossing Powder in Gold (I wanted to make sure that it would show up on the dark blue envelopes!).  

Next, use an embossing heat tool to raise the image.  I used a Uchida Embossing Heat Tool.  I got it from Michael's with a 40% off coupon.  It ended up being about $15.  

In that photo, you can see that the bottom powder is already "melting" and starting to raise up.  It's pretty much the coolest thing ever to watch.  ;)  When it's finished, it looks like this:

The entire stamp is raised up off the paper.  And, it looks shiny and beautiful.  :)  Please excuse all of the blacked out middles on the stamp; I can't take any chances on getting stalkers!  I'm already under enough stress!

The process is super easy and takes only about a minute.  And it's just so cool to watch the powder melt!  If you haven't ever embossed anything, give it a whirl!  It helped me ease some stress from this crazy invitation making endeavor!  

To Do List for This Month

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We've arrived at the fun part of the planning, folks.  Now is the time when the stress starts affecting my body.  In the past few days, I've started having trouble breathing.  It only happens when I get stressed.  I need to relax and get everything under control.  

I know that it will be much better when I actually get these invitations out the door.  They are such a huge burden.  I don't know why I stress over these so much.  They are just going to be thrown away.  I really should have gone with something super simple and not even worried about it.  Especially since the way these invitations look does not show how much time, effort, blood, sweat, and tears have gone into them.  They seem relatively simple.  I can't believe how long they are taking and how much effort has gone into them.  It is disturbing.

Anyway, here's the rest of the things I'll be doing this month:

• Get BM shoes ordered 
• Order programs from Vistaprint 
• Order special wedding underwear 
• Order honeymoon lingerie 
• Buy garters 
• Order Indiana reception postcards 
• Complete OOT bags 
• DIY flower hangers for ceremony (for on aisle chairs) 
• Order paper lanterns 
• Buy lights for paper lanterns  
• Order burlap for table runners
• Order mason jars for centerpieces
• Complete favors: phase 2
• Finish Vanilla favors
• Order train passes for honeymoon
• Address envelopes for invitations
• Finish RSVPs
• Stuff and seal envelopes
• Buy stamps for invitations & RSVPs
• Mail invitations by July 30th.
• Order dinnerware
• DIY flower girl basket
• Ask people to be readers
• Order flowers
• Reserve wedding night hotel
• Finish guest book

That's all I can think of right now.  And I'm sure that's more than enough to keep me busy for the next month.  Wish me luck, readers.  I am going to need it.  

Progress

Well, peeps.  It's here.  Two months until the wedding.  Actually, two months yesterday.  It's time to commence the super freak out.  AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

I can't believe it.  There are only 61 days left until our wedding day.  It really makes me dizzy and nauseous to think about.  The good news is that I managed to get most of the stuff done on my to do list for this month.  

• Ask people to be readers at the ceremony
• Belly bands for the invitations
• Buy address stamps 
• Buy stamps for invitations & R.S.V.P.s
• Buy tour package for honeymoon
• Complete ceremony playlist
• Complete cocktail hour playlist
• Complete dinner playlist
• Complete the popcorn part of the favors (Changed to vanilla)
• Complete wedding packet (with schedule)
• DIY "reserved" signs for ceremony
• DIY flower girl basket
• DIY Photo Scavenger Hunt
• DIY Ring bearer box
• DIY signs for bride and groom chairs
• DIY thank you parasol
• DIY wooden signs
• Figure out wish jar
• Finish DIY guest book
• Mail out invitations by July 30 (might run into next month's to do list)
• Order dinnerware
• Order envelopes for invitations & programs
• Order headband/tiara
• Order jewelry
• Purchase or DIY veil
• Put together VIP ladies' bags
• R.S.V.P.s for the invitations
• Reserve wedding night hotel room
• Stuff envelopes and put on wax seals

I should be able to cross a few more items off my list tonight and tomorrow.  That's because the invitations will be DONE!  I should be sending them tomorrow.  Finally.  I can't wait for these things to be out of my house.  I'm sick of them!  

I planned to buy the dinnerware last Friday, but that didn't happen.  Other expenses popped up.  I'm not hugely worried about that though.  Still plenty of time.  

I don't think the hotel room is ever going to happen.  Same for the guest book.  I just haven't come up with any more inspiration for it.  I think I'm going a different direction than I thought with the flower girl basket.  So, I mostly finished the original basket but now I might be trashing it in favor of something new.  We shall see.  

That's all I've got for now.  I'm having a crappy day and I'm not looking forward to finishing up these invitations tonight.  But, I just need to keep telling myself, only one or two more days of these things and then they will be out of my life FOREVER!  And then I can focus on some of the other projects that I've got in the works!  My new to do list should be up later today or tomorrow.  And then I'll have a panic attack!  Yay!  :)

DIY Thank You Parasol

I told you all a while back that I wanted to do a "thank you" parasol.  I really wanted to have a photo to use for our thank you cards that looked something like this:

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Well, I started and (mostly) finished the project tonight.  I am tired, cranky, and ready for bed.  So, all you get tonight is the big reveal.  The how-to will have to wait for another night.  

I will say that this project was pretty simple.  It was just really time consuming.  But, I'm happy with what I ended up with.  I need to do a little more touching up around the edges, but my hands are tired now and I just keep making more work for myself.  So, good night!

Our Address Stamp

Our address stamp arrived a few days ago, but the stamp pad and embossing powder didn't arrive until today.  I still haven't picked up the heat gun to do the embossing though.  I'm going to pick one up at Michael's tomorrow using a coupon.  :)

But, here is a preview of what it's going to look like (without being embossed):

Excuse the marking out of the address... can't ever be too careful! Don't stalk me in real life, blog readers!

It turned out great!  I was worried with the tiny details above and below, but www.rubberstamps.net did a fantastic job.  I'm definitely glad that I went with them!

Vanilla Favors: Day 2

I thought you all might like to take a peek at what the vanilla favors look like after about 48 hours.  Here you go:

After only about two days, they are already much darker!  I can't believe how fast they're coming along!  They are going to be beautiful in no time.  :)

Vanilla Favors: The Details

I've had some people asking questions about the vanilla favors.  Turns out, I wasn't very specific in my original post!  So, let's get to it!

1. What kind of beans did you buy?

I took the advice of a few other bloggers and went with the Tahitian Grade B vanilla beans.  The ones that I bought are 5 to 7 inches each, but I don't know that it matters much how long they are.  You don't need to splurge on the Grade A beans -- they simply have a higher moisture content.  The flavor in the beans doesn't come from the water though!  The lower moisture content of the Grade B beans will work better for making vanilla extract (probably why Grade B beans are also called "extract beans.").

2. How many beans did you buy?  How much will that yield?

I bought 1 pound of vanilla beans.  I put 2 beans in each 6.25 ounce bottle (bought from Save-On-Crafts).  Most recipes say 1 to 3 beans per cup of alcohol (depending on how long and plump the beans are).  I went ahead and did 2 per bottle just to be safe (my bottles hold less than 1 cup of alcohol).  And, you can always add more vodka later and the beans will still produce more extract (for a time at least -- the bean will eventually run dry, so to speak).  

I did about 42 jars (since 6 of the jars broke during shipment -- still haven't heard anything from Save On Crafts about that!).  So, that's about 84 beans used.  I used right around half of the pound for all 42 jars (they say to estimate 140 to 160 beans per pound for the Grade B beans).  So, if you're doing smaller jars, you could probably get away with one bean per jar and make 140 to 160 jars on one pound of beans.  If you're making larger jars, you'll need more beans.  With the jars that I was using and two beans per jar, I could probably make 80 jars (possibly more -- I think my pound had more than 160 beans in it).  

3. Where did you buy your beans?

I bought my beans on eBay from seller vanillaproducts.  The actual page I bought them from is here.  If you buy more than $10 worth of beans, you receive 10 free Grade B beans. If you buy more than $20 worth, you get 1/4 pound of Grade A beans free.  If you buy $35 or more, you get a half pound of Grade A beans free.  And, if you buy $60 or more, you get a free pound of Grade A beans.  

I was very pleased with my order.  I received the beans in just 2 days.  And, the beans seemed to be good quality.  My whole kitchen smelled like vanilla within just a few minutes of opening the beans.  Just remember to store the beans in a cool dark place!  That goes for the extract when it's jarred as well!  

4. What kind of alcohol did you use?

You can use plain vodka or rum.  I'm more of a vodka fan though, so I just picked up the cheapest vodka I could find at the local liquor store.  You can also use spiced rum to give the vanilla a little kick.  It just depends on what kind of flavor you are going for.  

I hope that this helps!  I know there are lots of options when it comes to beans, but the vanilla extract is actually pretty simple to make.  Happy extracting!  

I feel like a Ravenclaw Princess...

Yes, I am aware that this title is quite strange.  I will explain.

I ordered the headband that I will be wearing at the wedding a few days ago.  It came in the mail today.  

(Pardon my messy hair) It's not quite as I thought it would be so I was a little disappointed at first.  But, when I put it on, I did feel a bit like a princess.  :)  So, I played with it for a while and continued to stare at myself in the mirror.  

And then I saw this:

It's a diadem!  Like the lost diadem of Rowena Ravenclaw!  My wedding headband could be a horcrux!  Ha!  For those of you who are not Harry Potter fans (even though all of you should be!), none of that will make any sense.  I suggest that you read the books so that you can understand my tiara humor!  :)

Bride Brain

I've told you all about some of the dreams (nightmares!) I've had about the wedding during the planning process.  Well, they continue but they aren't happening that often now.  However, I now have a new problem: Bride Brain.

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For those of you who don't know, Bride Brain is the technical term to what happens to a woman's mind during the wedding planning process.  Basically, it turns to mush.  Ha!  

Seriously though, I find it hard to concentrate on things because of everything I've got going on.  I'll be doing invoicing for work and suddenly think, "When is the payment due for the cake?"  Or, I'll be grocery shopping and think, "Did I forget someone on the guest list?"  Or I will be talking to someone and suddenly think of a great song to play at the reception (and of course completely lose my train of thought!).  

It gets worse.  I think I'm more stressed that what I am letting myself realize (I honestly don't feel that stressed out).  I said that the wedding nightmares have lessened, but I am still having crazy dreams.  

I wasn't actually going to tell you all this because it is slightly embarrassing, but I just have to tell you because it's hilarious.  

I sleep in the nude.  I have for years.  I find it hard to sleep when I'm wearing clothes because I feel constricted.  I also get too hot.  This isn't true, however, when I'm staying at my parents' house.  That's because my dad typically comes down to my bedroom before work to tell me goodbye and that he loves me (sweet, I know).  Well, I don't really want my dad to come downstairs and accidentally see me naked!  So, I always wear clothes to bed when I'm at my parents.

Well, lately, I've been waking up in the middle of the night.  For some reason, I think that I'm at my parents' house.  Then I have a mini panic attack because I'm worried my dad is going to come into my room and see me naked.  So, I get out of bed, go to my closet and get some clothes to wear.  Then I go back to bed.

When my alarm goes off in the morning, for a few seconds, I wonder why I am wearing clothes.  Then I remember that it must not have been a dream!  It's really strange.  One day I woke up wearing the clothes that I had laid out the night before for work.  Then I had to pick something else to wear that day because the shirt was too wrinkly!  

It's kind of embarrassing because I don't know why it's happening.  But, it's happened about 4 times now in the past two weeks.  My dad even called me last week to harass me about it (thanks for telling him, Mom!  :P)!  

But, I hope that you've at least gotten a chuckle out of my stressed out Bride Brain.  ;)

Vanilla Favors: Phase 1

The bottles for the vanilla favors arrived today.  I was a little disappointed.  When I opened the first box:  

I found two bottles were cracked.  Then I opened the rest of the boxes and found four more bottles with cracks.  Not only that, but several bottles had chips out of them.  The boxes were packed just terribly.  There was bubble wrap in with them, but not enough to keep the bottles safe.  So, I emailed Save-On-Crafts tonight to let them know my disappointment.  I am hoping that they will make it right.  

Anyway, on to making the favors!  I took the labels off the bottom (by far the worst part of this process! lol) and then washed the bottles.  Then I sliced the vanilla beans.

I just sliced once down the center of each bean so that the vodka could mix with the good stuff in the center.  :)  Then I stuffed 2 beans in each bottle. 

Then I poured vodka into the bottle. 

Then I put the corks back in and gave the bottle a good shake. 

So, there you have it.  The start of our vanilla favors.  You can already see the vodka starting to darken and the photo was taken maybe a minute or two after adding the vodka.  Now I have to shake the bottles once every week or two until it's time for the wedding.  By that time, they should be about done!  :)

What's up, Vermont??

I keep up with who is looking at my blog.  I track it through Google Analytics just out of curiosity.  It started when I put a hit counter on my blog.  You see, I had originally put up the blog thinking that I'd be the only one to read it.  So, when the hit counter started showing that people were actually reading it, I was shocked.  

Then I thought, well, it's probably just my close family reading the blog.  So, I linked my blog to Google Analytics to see if that was the case.  Google breaks down how the viewers are finding your site (directly or through a search -- and then what the search word was) and where they are viewing from.  

Imagine my surprise when it showed viewers from all over the country.  Well, that has been months ago.  Now, I have viewers from all over the world (I still can't believe it!).  I have had at least one visitor from every state in the U.S. except for Vermont.  What's up with that Vermont!?  Ha!

It's been like this for at least a month.  I check it about once every week or two to see if it has changed, but nada.  No Vermont visitors.  I have 225 visitors from Europe, 95 from Asia, 21 from Africa, 82 from Australia, 41 from South and Central America, and 229 visits from Canada (since I've been tracking at least).  But no visits from Vermont.  Tisk, Tisk.  

Well, Vermont, I will await the day when I am worthy of a visit from your great state.  Seriously.  I'm waiting.  Hurry up!

I bit the bullet...

And finally ordered the envelopes for the invitations (and a few other items).  It hurt me quite a bit to do so because envelopes are expensive!  Well, the envelopes I wanted were expensive.  

See, I wanted ivory inner envelopes (easy peasy) with navy outer envelopes (not so easy).  Since my pocketfolds are 5" x 7", I needed A7 inner envelopes and A8 or A9 outer envelopes.  I searched and searched and searched.

I was going to buy the ivory inner envelopes and the RSVP (A2) envelopes off Amazon.com.  And I found the navy colored envelopes for a fairly reasonable price on www.envelopemall.com. However, when it came to shipping, it was slightly outrageous.  One box of envelopes was going to cost almost $15 to ship!  That's almost what I'm paying for the envelopes!  

Change of plan.  If I order more boxes of envelopes at the same time, the shipping only goes up a buck or two.  So, I ordered the navy outer envelopes, the ivory inner envelopes, the RSVP envelopes, the thank you card envelopes, and the program envelopes all at the same time.  The shipping still only ended up being just over $15.  

Here's what I ordered:

Stardream "Euro Flap" 5-3/4 x 8-3/4" (A9) Envelope 100 Pack - Outer Envelopes

Carnival 5-1/4 x 7-1/4", (A7) Envelope 100 Pack - Inner Envelopes & Thank You Card Envelopes

Carnival 4-3/8 x 5-3/4", (A2) Envelope 100 Pack - RSVP Envelopes

Carnival 4-1/8 x 9-1/2", (No 10 Sq. Flap) Envelope 100 Pack - Program Envelopes

And, with that, I feel slightly nauseous about the amount spent on all things paper for this wedding.  Ugh.  At least I should be done with the invitations by this time next week.  With fingers crossed that is.  Hopefully the envelopes won't take long to arrive!  Then I can get them out of my house and not have to think about how much they cost!  ;)

FAQ

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I've had a number of questions asked repeatedly, so I'd like to dedicate a post to answering them (not that I don't enjoy answering all of your comments and emails!).

How did you do the monogram (most often asked about for the aisle runner)?

I actually got the monogram from wedding chicks:

http://www.weddingchicks.com/freebies/invitation-suites/monogram-invitation-set-by-zenadia-design/

I filled out the info and they sent me a .png file and I just cropped it down to the monogram and saved as a .jpg file.  And then I could use it for whatever I wanted.  I'm using it for the aisle runner, the invitations, the save-the-dates, and a few other wedding items.  

Where did you get the wood for the Mr. & Mrs. chair signs?

I actually picked them up from Michael's.  They were 99¢ each.  The ones I used are 5" x 7" in a sort of plaque shape, but they come in a bunch of different shapes and sizes (the larger ones are a little more expensive and the smaller ones are less expensive).  

How did you get the photos to print correctly on the vellum paper for the table number luminaries?  

I have no idea.  Ha!  I didn't realize that this was something difficult to do.  I printed 3 to a page (4" x 6" photos).  I used my Brother DCP-7020 laser printer.  It only prints in black and white, but that was all I needed for these since I just needed a sort of shadow for the light to glow through.   

What fonts are you using?

This is mostly about the aisle runner.  For our names, I used Edwardian Script and for the dates, I used Copperplate Gothic.  Those are the main two fonts that I have used for everything from the Save-the-Dates to the invitations.  For the I Spy photo scavenger hunt, I used many different fonts.  In this order: Scriptina, BadaBoom BB, Girls are Weird, Ravie, gitchgitch, Sketch Block, Curlz MT, EraserDust, Gunplay, Amorino Beta, Burrito, Honey Script, Chicken Butt, Carnivalee Freakshow, Airplanes in the Night Sky, Evanescent, Nashville, Alice in Wonderland, Boingo, Riesling, Frosty, Harrington, Porky's, Loki Cola, and Clubland.  They were either already available on Microsoft Publisher or I downloaded them from www.dafont.com.  

Are you using a high temperature glue gun or a low temperature glue gun?  

This is most often asked about the photo frame card box or the sand ceremony frame.  I use a high temperature glue gun, but I don't honestly think it matters.  You should be able to use either one.  Either way, be very careful!  

How long did the Baby's Breath bouquet/boutonniere last?  

That's a good question.  I can't really answer though.  Because they are still awesome!  Well, that's not exactly true.  I broke down the bouquet to use in the centerpiece mock-ups.  It dried beautifully.  All on it's own.  I didn't actually do anything to it.  After I did the mock-up bouquet, I sat it in a glass and left it there.  And then forgot about it for several weeks.  Ha!  And it looks pretty close to the same dried as it did fresh.  I still strongly encourage using Baby's Breath!  :)

I hope that answers some questions.  If you've got any others for me, just let me know!  I always enjoy feedback from my readers.  :)

I have a secret...

Well, it won't be a secret much longer.  For the past several weeks I've been thinking about our popcorn favors.  I still really like the idea of the glass bottle soda bar, but I just cannot fall in love with these popcorn favors.  In fact, lately, I've hated them more and more every day.  For a refresher, here is what they look like:

I still think the idea is cute (and the movie theme meshes with our hobbies), but I just can't see them out our wedding reception.  They just don't fit.  I want something more vintage or rustic.  Something that fits with the theme I'm hoping for.  

Ready for the secret?  I dumped the popcorn favors this week... but not before finding something to replace them with...  Here is a hint:

Still not sure what it is?  How about this?

If you are still confused, let me clear things up for you.  A long time ago, I fell in love with these beauties:

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I decided that they will fit the look I'm going for better than the popcorn.  A little more vintage/rustic chic.  :)  So, I bought the vanilla beans and the glass bottles with the corks.  The vanilla beans arrived today (I bought 1 pound on eBay from seller VanillaProducts for $13.98 plus $5.00 expedited shipping and I got a free 10 pack of beans with the order) and the bottles should arrive on Monday or Tuesday.  Which means, I will be making homemade vanilla early next week!  :)

Oh, and for a sneak peak, this is what the bottles look like:

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I got them for 49¢ a piece at Save On Crafts.  I am only going to do one bottle per couple so that I don't have to make quite so many of them.  Then there will be another special favor surprise later.  :)  I am so happy that I eventually came to this decision!  And, I'm so excited to make the vanilla!

My love of burlap...

I've been struggling to come up with something to set off the centerpieces.  I like them but they are just missing something.  For a refresher, here is what I came up with last month:

I love the books and the candles and the table numbers.  But, there is just something missing.  It's just a little too bland for me.  I thought about adding a table runner.  I threw around the idea of a navy table runner since it's our major color.  In the end, I thought that would just be too much.  I thought that would be too modern for the vintage/rustic feel that I'm going for in the centerpieces.  

I kind of mulled it over for the past few weeks and then it came to me: burlap table runners.  

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This is actually a full burlap tablecloth, but since it had the books with it, I just couldn't resist! (Source)

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They are perfect!  They fit the rustic feel and they are just beautiful.   And while I'm drooling over burlap, I'll just share these with you, too.  

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Yep.  Beautiful.  I love burlap.  *Sigh*