Just My Style

While I can appreciate the sentiment behind the Keep Calm & Carry On slogan, this version is much more my style! Found via WhipUp.

Soap Making Update

We unwrapped our Energy Soap and cut it last night...so cool! Now we have to wait 4-6 weeks for it to cure before we can try it. Here's how it's looking...

Future Project

Call me crazy (go ahead--I already know y'all do when I'm not around), but I really want to try my hand at refurbishing furniture. It's Design*Sponge's fault. I certainly would have never come up with the concept on my own. There's just so much goodness in their Before & After series, that I can't help myself. So, when we were out house hunting this weekend and cruised past a garage sale, I made Raf stop immediately. I had caught a glimpse of these little beauties out of the corner of my eye and just knew they'd be mine. There's 2 of them, they're in great shape (other than the nasty orange velvety fabric, of course), they're quite comfortable, and I worked a deal to walk away with both for $20. Score! (I know, again, you're all thinking I'm even crazier for spending real money on them, but just you wait! I'll show you.)

Here are a few examples of recent goodness to be found through Design*Sponge Before & Afters:

• This chair has some similar traits to ours. I like that they reduced the number of buttons (whatever you call those). I think we'll be getting rid of the little wickery part under the arms though. Since they aren't a structural piece, I think it might help bring them out of 1964.
• LOVING the cow print here. And the kitchen chairs further down that screen--so great! We are fully intending to thrift the chairs when the day comes to invest in a dining room table. New chairs are crazy expensive and these are just too simple to not DIY.
• This one looks way scarier than ours. Of course this woman is a pro, but whatever.

And pretty much anything that Carpenter Ant is working on makes me hap-hap-Happy! This woman is doing my dream gig--running a little artists co-op and refurbishing furniture out of a studio in the back. I've always loved the idea of opening a co-op, but thought it might be weird if the girl with nothing to sell wanted to run the place! I'd be down to hawk some furniture that I've given new life to though. Now I just need to figure out how it's done!

I'll keep you posted on the progress of this future project. I'm telling myself I won't start until after the wedding. "These chairs have NOTHING to do with the wedding, Brooke!" Besides, if we get the house (we put in an offer today!), we'll need to keep them looking like this so that we can throw a rockin' 60's themed housewarming party! (No joke, I really kind of wonder if these chairs came from that house...)

Soap Making: Attempt #1

Four months have passed since we took our soap making class at The Nova Studio, and we finally made our first batch tonight. Woo Hoo! It took us for-ev-er to gather all the supplies we needed, and in the end we still bought a big ole bucket of SoapQuick from the local Mission Peak Soap, because we simply don't want to store 5 or 10 random jugs of oils in our one bedroom apartment. We found a bunch of recipes that sounded appealing on Magestic Mountain Sage, so earlier this week we finally sat down, picked a few, and ordered the fragrance oils and other fun little additives to make them. The shipping was super speedy and I got everything this morning, so we made some tonight! Clearly our only barrier was gathering the supplies. Now that we've got 'em, there's no stopping us!

As for our first experience, it was:

• A little scary. Lye--EEK!
• A little frustrating. We forgot about our beeswax until after we had already blended the oils and lye, so we just melted it really quick and threw it in. We're a little concerned about there being little beeswax clumps throughout the soap because we're not sure we were able to get it fully integrated at that point, but we figured it was better to add it late than never, considering it was factored into our oil/lye calculation. I also learned that I don't know how to read a thermometer.
• And a little fun and exciting! This is me doing my "we're making soap" dance:

And here's a shot of the final batch. Cross your fingers that we didn't totally screw it up! Btw, this our version of the Energy Soap recipe from the Sage. We just substituted SoapQuick for the oils listed here, but used the same extras (beeswax, rose hip powder, and energy fragrance--mango/papaya/lime--smelled so yummy!)

Peanut Progress

By now I figure you've completely given up on the idea that I'll ever finish Peanut. Have no fear, Peanut is still a work in progress, I just have to work with him in bite-sized pieces or I kinda want to throw something through a window. The good news is, Val's mom, Kathy, helped me resolve my three-dimensional bunching complex with a little email coaching. I was able to (fairly) successfully sew the pieces you saw pinned in my last post, and it was even easier than I thought to add the other side. Go figure, things really do get easier with experience.

Tonight, not only did I do my first gathering stitch to close off Peanut's trunk (while taking note of how I might do it better next time--take the stitch over each interior seam allowance, rather than under), but I actually got to the stage where I was able to turn him right-side-out and stuff him! YAY! Stuffing is yet another interesting little process that I'm clueless about. It said to "stuff firmly" and man did I have him packed, but it just seemed a wee bit too firm, so I pulled some back out before closing him up. Now His legs are a little wrinkled, which I was hoping to avoid, but whatever, at least he's not lumpy and looking ready to burst. Want a sneak preview? TA DA!My biggest torment this evening was closing his belly opening. The book gives instructions for doing a blind stitch, but let's be honest here--my noviceness is way beyond learning a hand stitch technique from a bunch of text. I spent most of the evening combing the internet and found a couple tutorials/videos that I was able to piece together into some semblance of understanding.

The good news is, I think I figured out the basic blind stitch process. The bad news is, I had not prepared Peanut properly for blind stitch closure. A blind stitch is supposed to be sewn just inside the fold...which was fine on the beginning edge near where my sewing ended, where the fold still existed. But considering I haven't taken an iron to Peanut's seams in a good 2-3 weeks, there was no hint of a fold left in the middle. And there was NO WAY I was unstuffing this guy to re-iron the opening. So, I said screw it and skipped over to a whip stitch about an inch in. It's visible and ugly, but you know what? I kinda like it. It's like my little stamp making it clear to the world that this was HAND MADE BY BROOKE (who is quite a clueless little sewer).

Hopefully I'll be showing you a finished product before summer. I did the beginning steps for his big elephant ears tonight and held them up to him...SO CUTE! I'll have plenty of opportunities to practice blind stitching to get the ears finished and attached, so I'll keep you posted.

Shopping Shopping

Raf and I did some shopping shopping today, for houses primarily. We pulled the offer we had on the first house a couple weeks ago. After seeing it in the light of day, we decided it wasn't worth as much to us as we had offered, and there were plenty of other offers waiting in line. As for the other place we put an offer on, we're not sure that ever even got submitted, and at this point we're over it. Way too much drama at that house to bother with.

So, Raf's been feeling a bit frustrated about house hunting lately. It's a lot of work, primarily on his shoulders, to search day in and day out for something of interest at a price we're willing to pay. Last night we decided to venture out to some neighborhoods we hadn't checked out before, and fell in love with a neighborhood we'd never noticed previously. It's further out commute-wise, which we'll need to consider, but the feeling is right. The good news is, after our drivebys last night and checking them out with our agent today, there are 3 places that are contenders. Thank goodness--the boy is revitalized!

One place in particular stands out. It's an estate sale, and very unique. The person who lived there obviously had a lot of talent and interest in landscaping. There isn't a blade of grass on the property (hallelujah!), nor a square inch that isn't planted, and there are 4 Redwood trees in the backyard (including one huge one encroaching on the back of the house--eek). You step on to the back deck (which is very cool), and it's like you've been swept away to some secret garden in the middle of Humboldt county--which is especially weird because it's in the middle of super dry Livermore, just a few houses off a main street.

The bummer is that it lacks any open dirt for me to start my gardening experimentation, and it breaks my heart to think of tearing up anything that has obviously been so lovingly planted--especially since the look is so cohesive. However, there is one good sized patch, smack dab in the middle of the back that I may be able to work with. It appears to be an interestingly shaped raised bed, currently filled with succulents and some native-looking plants. I'm thinking that we could transplant some of the cooler looking plants into large planters to put on the edge of the deck, then use all that fertile dirt to plant some veggies! The nice part is that the sky above that area is completely clear, so it should get some good sunlight.

As for the interior--it needs A LOT of work. The house was last purchased in 1968, and there probably hasn't been much attention paid to the interior of the house since then. We already know there's some dry rot and termite issues that would require full fumigation. Other than that, it's just super outdated, a little dirty, and doesn't have a feel (or smell) of being lived in. And yet....

There's just something about this place. The minute I saw it's dark little mysterious exterior from the front yard, I was curious. And the moment we stepped inside this morning, we were both immediately smitten, despite the numerous and obvious flaws. The flow of the house just feels good. There's lots of natural light, aided by a few skylights throughout. And it's quite spacious, due to the fact that the garage was converted into a huge living space, which flows completely naturally with the rest of the home. (There's plenty of room to add a garage in the front, if that's something we'd want in the future. In the meantime, there's a rad little carport, assuming it doesn't have to be torn down.)

The asking price is already well within our budget...assuming we wouldn't have to sink a good $50k into it...which we would. Thus, conundrum #1. But if we could significantly negotiate on price, I think this just might be exactly the kind of fixer upper we've been looking for.

As for the other 2 houses, one is already beautiful and ready to go. More expensive, but done very nice, and just a few houses down from a huge and beautiful community center that we'd be happy to share a neighborhood with. And the other is on a street we already know we like, but it's on the "wrong" side of downtown, which feeds into the worst school system, so we probably wouldn't stay there for many years. The house is really cozy, a bit on the small side, but I've never seen a more beautiful backyard. It's huge and most of it is nothing but dirt! I had the biggest smile on my face standing back there. The old woman who's moving out used to garden the whole thing, but now she just works one small bed--that was still looking incredibly impressive. I wish we could have that yard in the other neighborhood! Oh, the wonderful world of shopping for a home.

Ironic

I just Googled myself. (Don't try to act like you don't do it.) After a couple social networking links that are actually me, this was the next link.

I love the hilarious irony of the universe. I share a name (almost) with this artist, who happens to be a man. And the awesome scratchboard piece above is the first photo I see in his portfolio. Maybe you've noticed the dandelion trend on our Save the Date cards and wedding website?

What are the chances that an artist named Brooke Rogers, teaching at a University in Maryland, is spending his time creating images of dandelions?! Go figure. I love this life!

Now someone figure out how to get a print of this for our wedding gift, please! :)

Printable Press

I just discovered Printable Press via A Practical Wedding, and it's too cool not to share with all my fellow brides-to-be! Basically you choose the invitation style that suits you best, purchase a PDF with all your info, then print and prep it all at home yourself (or source it out to a printer). So you get the benefit of professional design work at a fraction of the price. Love it!

It only costs $60 to purchase an invitation PDF, plus an extra $15 for any significant design changes (color, paper size/layout, etc). Best idea ever! According to their website, even outsourcing the printing only averages about $80 for 100 invitations. Here are a few fun samples:

Minus the butterfly, in yellow & gray:

Check it out, Mom! I told you we could put the Big Shot to good use!

Jordan, I know you're "never getting married", but just in case...

Gina?

They even have a bear!

...and a bee!

Our favorites...

Obamas will Eat The View!

Remember this post back in January, encouaraging you to vote for the Eat the View campaign on OnDayOne.org? So the first bit of good news--Eat The View was the top vote winner. Even better news--the Obamas have announced that they will be planting an 1,100 square foot vegetable garden on the White House lawn. YAY!

I'm so thrilled that our First Family is setting this important and hopefully motivational example for our country. I can't wait to plant our very own Victory Garden. Now we just need to find that patch of lawn we can rip up...

Today's Floral Inspiration

Noticed some DIY bouquets from myhomeideas.com tonight that feel like our wedding. I think this one with the shakers is especially fun. Here's the caption: "Unusual Displays: Place a few stems in a water-filled Parmesan cheese dispenser for a lively display. Here, three old glass-and-metal shakers support two varieties of yellow daisy mums and white Monte Casino aster. No shakers on hand? Mason jars with holes punched in the lid work equally well." I could see these little shakers as the supporting cast for our Patron bottle centerpieces.

The teapot isn't really my style, but I dig the bunched look of this small arrangement.

I can't imagine these fishbowls stacked at our wedding, but they'd be fun for another event. Maybe a baby shower, with their bulbous wonderfulness. I do like the look of the single ones though. Could definitely work with a spattering of mis-matched clear bottles/jars as the supporting cast.
And some new goodness from One Love Photo.
I'm pretty sure there's an old sink attached to the out house in the backyard at our venue. Considering there are sinks inside each of the stalls, this looks like a way prettier use of the outside sink! Except I'd want mine full of huge colorful dahlias!