Tricks of the Tray

I may be just now tuning into an old trick, but through the awesomeness of Pintrest, I've notices a lot of great tips for ways to use ice cube trays that make so much sense. I thought I'd share a few of my favorites.

1) Freeze lemon juice, left over stock, tomato sauce, juice, wine, veggie pulp from your juicer (thanks Arlene!) and more and use in recipes later when you need just a bit. Store the frozen cubes in freezer bags once formed and be sure to label and include the date. 

Fresh Lemon Juice

Tip from Frugal Living:
How much liquid does a cube hold? One ice cube is generally the equivalent of one ounce or two Tablespoons. Here are some conversions to help you determine how many cubes you'll need to use in a recipe:
2 cubes = 1/4 cup
4 cubes = 1/2 cup
6 cubes = 3/4 cup
8 cubes =1 cup


2) Freeze cookie dough into cube size portions, then bake just a few at a time whenever you want! (This is a perfect option for the hubby and I since he usually eats just one anyway!)

Recipe from Fooducate Blog

3) I like this idea for kiddos. What a fun way to get them to eat a few of all the food groups!

More Great Ideas from Home Made Simple

4) Freeze herbs before they go bad. Drop them into soups and sauces rather than buying a full new bunch each time you need just a little!

From Food.com

You can do non-food-related things with ice cube trays too:

5) Pour paint into ice cube trays and use as a painter's palette for you or your little one. Depending on the type of paint, you can freeze it and use it again later when it thaws.

From Real Simple

6) Store small things like fasteners, buttons, jewelry, nails, screws and more. The little compartments provide the perfect way to store little things without getting them mixed up and lost.

From Better Homes & Gardens

From Real Simple

A Touch of Whimsy

When I started planning the decor for our wedding last year, I came across this photo and absolutely fell in love with the parasol "ceiling" over the dance floor. I knew that somehow, someway, we needed to incorporate this design element into our decor.

I also flipped when we saw the movie Meet the Fockers because they had the most gorgeous backyard wedding reception with hanging parasols! It was very Florida-hippy-chic! .

(this isn't the best shot, but the only one I could find)

Once our venue was booked and I knew where the dance floor and market lighting would go, I designed a plan for our parasols and placed an order with Luna Bazaar in varying shapes, sizes and colors to match our decor.

(the plan)

Next, Kevin screwed brass hooks into the handles of each and used pliers to bend the hook into a loop. This allowed the set-up crew to simply attach each parasol in place on the cable supporting the market lighting with a zip tie. Easy up, easy down!

I couldn't have been happier with the outcome. The parasols added a sense of whimsy over the dance floor. They swayed softly in the breeze as if dancing along with us and created a sort of faux-ceiling overhead which made for beautiful photos.

*Photos of our wedding by Emily Faulknor Photography.

DIY - Card Holder

We decided we wanted a pretty bird cage to hold all of our cards on our gift table at the wedding. I started looking around for one that would fit into our decor, but they were all a bit out of my very small price range. So, I had to get a little crafty.

I ended up finding the perfect one at Ross for only $9!!! Only problem was, it was not the perfect color.

All it took to transform were a couple coats of paint, some sand paper and a little TLC and we had the perfect little card holder!

The moral here, it doesn't have to cost a ton of money to get exactly what you want. Sometimes, it just takes a little bit of paint and some love! Don't be afraid to D-I-Y!!!

Step Five: Invite Your Guests

We all know there are a million kinds of invitations out there to chose from and these days just about anything goes! I think it's important to at least read up on wedding invitation etiquette before starting your invite shopping so that you can determine what traditions are right for you and the direction you'd like to go. (Check out these articles on The Knot, Martha Stewart Weddings, Real Simple Weddings.)

Personally, I don't think there's anything out there that says you have to send out a formal invite, reply card, map, etc., however these items do tend to be the main components of a wedding invitation. For our wedding, we decided to include a hand made invite, reply postcard (already stamped) and info card which included details about our reception and address to our website. It's really up to you what you'd like to include and how you want to do it. Heck, these days just about anything goes. (I've even heard of people sending Evites to save some trees!)

A couple of things that I suggest keeping in mind when designing your wedding invitations:

1) Pick a motif and carry it through. Find something that represents you and your wedding design and use it on your invitations and other stationary elements too. You'll be pleased when you see all of your stationary come together as a cohesive design.

2) Design your invitation to reflect your wedding. If your wedding is formal, you probably want to pick a more formal motif and include more traditional elements such as a reply card in an envelope rather than a postcard or RSVP online. But, if your wedding is more on the casual side, you can use more playful and whimsical designs and traditional elements can become optional.

3) Think about postage! The bigger you go and the more elements you include (bows, cards, envelopes, etc.), the more postage is going to cost. This adds up quickly! So be conscious of how much you want to spend on postage and include this number in your stationary budget in the beginning.

4) Don't keep people guessing. If your wedding will be a little out of the realm of what people are used to, you should find a nice way to let them know. For example if you plan to have adults only, dessert and champagne or cash only bar, these are the types of things that would be nice for your guests to know in advance so that there is no confusion. (The last thing you want are hungry guests with no money to buy a drink!)

For our invitations, we hand made each and every one of them which took some time! But, it gave me a good excuse to recruit my girlfriends and with their help, we got them all done! (Thanks ladies!!) Our design was simple, on one side there was the invitation and on the reverse was a pretty pocket which housed the information card and the stamped reply postcard.

I found a beautiful handmade paper at Paper Source called "Peacock" and used it along with a feather stamp in my design. I carried the same paper through into the programs and thank you tags at the wedding.

I must admit, I loved our invites. They turned out so pretty and each one was filled with a lot of love!

Happy planning!

Wishing Tree

One of my hopes in getting our wedding published on Style Me Pretty was that other brides might be inspired by some of the things that we did for our day like I was by things other brides did for theirs.

So, you can probably imagine how excited I was when I saw this adorable San Francisco Wedding on Style Me Pretty and they had a wishing tree much like ours!

Theirs.

Ours!

 Not trying to claim that we inspired theirs, but how fun to see a similar guestbook idea used in another wedding!

For ours, we found two cool pieces of Manzanita branch, filled in moss where it was missing and secured them into a pot with plaster of Paris. Then, we punched out little paper leaves and asked our guests to "Leaf us a Wish!" It was a very easy project and was so much fun to read through all of the wishes post-wedding.

We're looking forward to looking back over them for years to come!

Great Ideas for an Organized New Year

The new year is a great time to clear out clutter and get organized. I'm always looking for new ideas to help get things organized and last week I received an email from my mother-in-law that was full of great ideas. I decided to share a few of my favorites.

Use straws to hull out berries.

Hang a strip of Velcro on the wall to organize stuffed animals.

Use a stocking on the end of vacuum hose to find small lost items like earring backs.

Use wire to create a place to store wrapping paper on the ceiling of a closet rather than on the floor!

Mount a tension rod under the sink and use hang spray bottles.

Use shower caps to cover shoes while traveling to keep your clothes from getting dirty.

Store sheet sets inside their pillow cases to save time searching for matching pieces.

Use baby powder to easily get sand off of your skin.

Attach rain gutters to the side of a building or on a fence and use to plant vegetables.

Cut X's into a box lid to create an instant cupcake carrier.

Use a rubber band to secure a sliced apple together to help prevent browning in your lunch box.

Use old baby wipe containers to store plastic bags. This is a great idea for pet owners!

Use bread tabs to organize and label power cords.

I will soon be implementing several of these ideas in my own home.

Happy organizing!

Why didn't I think of that?

I have a ton of these little white milk glass vases in various shapes and sizes left over from our wedding that I am slowly selling online. (Yes still selling stuff from the wedding! Yikes!)

Today I came across an adorable Bachelorette Party Shoot on 100 Layer Cake where they used some of the very same vases and added a layer of paint to change them up.

Why didn't I think of that?!! What a great idea. All you'd need is paint good for glass or ceramic and you can easily change the color of just about anything. Genius! I may just be keeping a few more of our left overs for myself afterall!

Happy Monday!

*Photos via 100 Layer Cake, "Let's Get Cozy" Bachelorette Party Shoot.

To Veil or Not To Veil?

I've never pictured myself wearing a veil in my wedding, even as a little girl. (Although I will admit, there was a moment right before the wedding when I started having doubts about my decision and thought maybe I should wear one. Thank goodness that only lasted for about five minutes!)

They say that to feel like a bride you should put something special in your hair. Kind of like the icing on a cake, it just adds a finishing touch. So, if not a traditional veil, then what? Flower? Headband? Clip? Feather?

My dress decided it for me: Feather - All the way!

I liked the old Hollywood Glam style of my dress and felt like a feather would be just the right touch of something special to kick it up a notch!

In true Elena fashion, I didn't like any of the feather fascinators that I was finding at the bridal shops and online boutiques and if I did, they were way out of my accessory budget or way too big for what I had in mind. So, I decided I would try to make one.

After looking around at purchasing feathers and reading up on how to attach and secure them, I quickly concluded that "Pre-Made With A Twist" would be the best solution for me!

Sav-On-Crafts actually had the perfect white feather fascinator headband for $29! I decided to order it and see how hard it would be to detach it from the headband and somehow secure it in my hair. Low and behold, it slipped right off! Thank you Sav-On-Crafts for saving the day!

(image from Sav-On-Crafts.com)

(image from Sav-On-Crafts.com)

Now for the "twist." I decided a broach would be the little extra touch to complete my new feathers! I scoured sites like Etsy and flea markets all over town until finally tucked in a display case, in an Ocean Beach antique shop on Newport Ave (a must visit if you end up in San Diego), I found it! It was just the right mix of art neaveau, pearls and pave to tie in my other jewelry and other details. And best of all, it was $12!!!

It was just perfect!

After attaching the broach to the feathers using the existing pin, I glued the clasp shut to lessen the risk of it coming undone. Voila!

The perfect feather fascinator for my perfect day!

(photo by Emily Faulknor Photographers)

(photo by Emily Faulknor Photographers)