Bathroom Boxes anyone?

At this point, I just don't want o keep buying more material for wedding craft projects, especially if I can't justify the purchase or know what i'm going to do with it after the wedding.  But I really wanted bathroom baskets. I can't tell you how many weddings i've been to where someone spilled something, ripped something, got an unexpected period or didn't plan very well for menstrual issues (ladies you know what I mean. So when I first heard about bathroom baskets, I thought the originator of this idea has to be brilliant as hell.

I however didn't want to buy 2 baskets that I probably not use again. I already have baskets galore at home but none at the right size or shape.  Enter my boxes. I found these boxes for $1.99 from Michael's a long time ago and I bought them just because. I do that a lot.

I also had some paint form one of my 2 year old's craft projects but it was too blue. It was royal blue so I bought a small bottle of yellow acrylic pint for $59 and got to mixing, until I got the perfect aqua shade.

I swear it turned out perfectly. The boxes are very sturdy and kinda feel like wood. I then headed to my nearest CVS and stocked up on all those travel size toiletries? I also had some stuff that I had bought before so without further ado, here are my bathroom boxes. Well one of them anyway with all basically the same stuff that all the other bloggers have mentioned before.

 I then sanded down 2 glassy brown 5x7 picture frames that I had but was not using and painted them white.  I printed my little quote on a 5x7 shimmer piece of card stock and voila.

You can click on any of the images to see them better. And remember my little "butterflies that I didn't know what to do with?  Well that's 2 down. About 23 to go. And in case you can't read what written in the bathroom sign:

Should you happen to get in a bind
A rip, a tear or of the spilling kind


Take what you need and leave the rest
so it can be used by another guest


Clean up, spruce up, and you're done
now hurry back and enjoy the fun


As always, if you need the tutorial, please click on my DIY link at the top of my page.
JEM.

We've decided...

to downgrade. A bit. So remember my last rant about our predicament? I want to thank you guys so much for your support. In spite of never having met any of you, it's amazing how much your support means to me. I felt so much better after reading all your comments.

Anyways, Mr. M and I had a talk and discussed our options:
1. We could postpone our wedding until our financial situation changes - (wah, wah, wah)
2. We could cut our guest list down dramatically
3. We could have a civil ceremony and a cocktail reception.

Option 1 was the least desirable one for me since I really want to get married now. Not just because of all the plans and projects done but I want to move on with my life. I want to get pregnant sometime this year, you see i'm 34 yrs old and I really don't want to be pregnant after 35. (personal choice.) We own a Co-op now but I want to buy a house. I don't want to be saving for a wedding a year from now or God forbid, even longer.

Option 2 was not practical since we sent out STDs and I think it's just plain rude to tell some people that they couldn't come and that we were cutting them out of the guest list, plus everyone on our guest list is special to us.

If you guessed that we went with option 3 ding, ding, ding. You're right. We decided that it was the best option for us. That way we won't lose our deposits on our venue (since we're self-catering), DJ, Baker etc. I'm so relieved and honestly a little calmer. I was seriously worried about trying to squeeze $1 out of 50 cents. There is so much less pressure now. I can still use almost everything that we already have. I will have to change a few things around but I won't need to get anything new or different per se. Mr. Muscle felt so bad for making me feel bad that I started to feel bad (ha, ha). He kept calling every few hours while at work yesterday to see if I was ok that I had to start reassuring him. I told him that it was ok and we would talk when he got home last night and we did. I have a really good man who does really  dumb things sometimes but I still love him. He's my hunny boy.

So all's well in the JEM household. Our plans continue and i'll keep you abreast about my cocktail reception plans. Thanks again lovely ladies and oh I told him that all my blogger friends were mad at him and he said to apologize for him and that he's an ass. I swear those were his words. lol

JEM.

2 Posts in 1 Day

I'm so f-ing mad.. You will never believe what Mr. Muscle did. So you know about my job (or lack thereof) situation, right? Well we've talked about it and decided - or at least that's what I thought - that if I didn't get a job by the 2nd week in June, sadly we would have to postpone since that's when I wanted to send out invites.

Well anyway, Mr. Muscle decided to take it upon himself and tell practically everyone that the wedding was off until further notice. It's only May 25th and I know June is almost here but it's not the deadline yet. Now today my Dad who is not in the greatest health is not going to be coming from St.Lucia to the wedding. It saddens me but I understand. Today when I told him about possibly postponing, he said he would pay the balance of our venue cost. That was our biggest issue. Everything else is almost done or practically paid for. That basically solves things and here is my darling fiance telling people the wedding's off.

I'm fuming now. Now he feels that he can't go back and tell them it's back on. Like it's somehow embarrassing to do so.  He even told his groomsmen and says that the people may have made alternate plans already. WTF???!!! At this point I don't care who can or cannot come. I just want this wedding over. He says he still wants to marry me of course but we have to do it right. What does that mean. No, we have to do it the way we want to.
I'm sorry about this rant but I just really needed to vent. Thanks y'all.

JEM.

So Much

I'm still here everyone. With just about 2 months to go, there's still a lot to be done and i'm trying to get to the point where the last two weeks are pretty much for relaxing (ha). Seriously i'm hoping to be done with all projects at least 2 weeks before.

I'm working on so many things right now and will post them once i'm done. Here's a little teaser.

What is that and what is it used for,  you ask? Stay tuned. Tomorrow you'll find out.

TTFN,
JEM.

Winner of Uprinting Giveaway...

is none other than Heather at Bicoastal Bride who said "We would use them to send out cute post-wedding postcards to our guests as a fun way to share pictures and thank them for coming! "  Congratulations honey. Have fun creating your postcards.

I had 18 entries to the Uprinting giveaway and I thank everyone for entering.

JEM.

Gifting my Peoples.

Since none of my wedding party know about this blog, I don't have to shoo anyone away.
All members of wedding parties have to spend money from their own pockets. Even when the dresses are bought for them, they still may need to get their hair done or nails etc. Not that it's required for our wedding but most people feel the need to look their best.

The boys in our party were asked to wear a black suit because we figured that most guys already have a black suit but 2 of them still need to get one. So I think regardless of what the dress code or style is , there will be some spending going on. Plus you choose the people closest to you whom love and who love you and if you're lucky you may even get them to help you with some of your projects. Not in my case since all my ladies live far, far away.

Anyway, to show our appreciation for  them just being there to stand with us we got them a little sum' sum'...

The two black boxes are from Zales and the third box is you guessed it Tiffany & Co.

Sorry about the picture orientation. I tried to change it but it wouldn't work.  These are the cufflinks for the gents. They're sterling silver with gold edges. I was able to get the on clearance after christmas at Zales. All in all, I paid something like $17 for them.  I also had a $50 coupon they had given me when I had made a previous purchase for my mom. They're gorgeous and I know those gentlemen will love them.

The second box contains my MOH necklace. The pictures don't look very good and don't do them justice. I wanted to get her something a little different from the BMs. It's also sterling silver and came from Zales.

This is the BMs' necklace. Don't let the Tiffany Box fool you. They ain't from Tiffany. I got them from a site called Jewelry TV. They were really a great price. They too are sterling silver and I paid only $12 for each. I used coupons here as well. I had these Tiffany boxes from presents from the FH. Actually only 2 of them. A friend gave me the other one.

The ladies at Zales were nice enough to wrap the men's gifts in silver paper. They also gave me some   very "manly" black ribbon to tie them but i'll use some aqua ribbon to co-ordinate with our colors. That should make the guys happier. lol

I also took advantage of a sale at Ann Taylor for my ladies. I got Almond Vanilla Warm Fig  body lotion and body mist. Unfortunately I only found the one type. It might actually be a good thing since no one will say that they would have preferred the other person's type/flavor/scent.  I got them for 3 for $10 and I stocked up.

I wanted to get monogram totes to put them in but that may not happen. I'll find some cute gift bags and tissue and whip up a cute little presentation for the ladies. The guys' gifts came with Zales gift bags so that's taken care of.


And with that, i'm done with gifts.

1 more day for my giveaway , enter here for 100 postcards.

JEM.

2 More days...

...no not till the wedding. I still have 80 something days for that - thank goodness. What i'm talking about is my Uprinting giveaway. It ends on May 22nd, in 2 days. Click here to enter.








You get:

100 4 x 6 Postcards for One (1) Winner

Paper Stock: 14pt Cardstock Gloss

Specifications: Full Color Both Sides; 3 Business 

Days Turnaround

Shipping: FREE UPS Ground Shipping

Eligibility: Limited to US Residents only

Good luck!

JEM.

Progress in the Jem Wedding Workshop

Another one down ladies. I bought some parasols a while back from save-on-crafts and was very happy with the quality. There were no rips, or stains or any of the other problems that i've heard from other brides. (Thank God)

As pretty as I thought they were, I  still wanted to spruce them up a bit. With all the gorgeous parasols - complete with tutorials - floating around in the blog world, I didn't see why I shouldn't. So without further ado these are my parasols:

I'm having 4 ladies (now) so I decided to give each of them a letter spelling out the most important word, which is the reason for us having a wedding day after all.

That's a train track in the back there. My little engineer wouldn't let me move them out of the way to take the picture.

And the piece - de - resistance:

I'm totally in love with them. The aqua one I did with a stencil  that I made in Microsoft Word. The print looks a little small but I assure you it looks amazing.  I just winged the white ones freehand.

The tops don't look so great with the unpainted wood and all so i'll paint them with some white acrylic paint or wrap it with some ribbon or maybe i'll use the leftover strip of  feather boa. I'll play around with them and see what works best. Otherwise done!

Don't forget to enter my giveaway for 100 free postcards from Uprinting.


JEM.

Siiiiiigggggghhhhhhhh...

Remember my  post about adding another bridesmaid and therefore a "partner" groomsman to the wedding party? Well my FSIL,  the bridesmaid who was added, has now informed me that she is pregnant and that although she's only 2 months along she knows she'll be too sick to be in the wedding.

Although I totally understand  and feel for her, it does kinda put me in a bind. If you recall, we initially had a MOH, BM and 3 BMs and GM each.  Another reason why it's never good to make decisions based on what other people want. My FSIL and I are not that close and although I like her, she was not high on my wedding party list. My other FSIL who's Mr. Muscle's half sister is.  When we chose the original wedding party, Mr. Muscle was fine with it until the other FSIL said she was moving back to NY and all of a sudden we had to include her according to my sister and FH.

As you can guess, this created a few problems:

1. We had to get another groomsman to be her partner
2. I had to create another bouquet and bout when I thought I was already done, adding to the DIY list
3. Then I had to rethink the whole dress decision  because I had already bought 3 and that dress was discontinued so I couldn't find a 4th
4. Since we're self catering, I had all the special glasses and square dishes for the head table for 8 people. When it changed to 10, that was squashed.
5. I had to get another bridesmaid and groomsman gift
6. I had to get another parasol and if you know what Save-on-crafts shipping is, you know it's a pain in the patootie
7. blah blah blah blah...

Needless to say, i'm not a happy camper and i'm definitely not going to replace her. But that leaves me with an extra groomsman. So what do I do now, un-ask the last groomsman?  Do I just let it be with 5 men and 4 women? I don't know what to do now. This is not what I want to be dealing with now. Help!!!!

Don't forget to enter my giveaway for 100 free customizable postcards from Uprinting.
JEM.

Yay I have a Giveaway for You!

Since I love you guys so much and you're my BFFs, I have a great giveaway for you. It's from Uprinting.

They have very kindly agreed to let me give to one of my darling readers 100 ( yes count them) 100 postcards  that you can use whichever way you want. Consider using them as:

Thank You cards, Save The Dates, Invitations or to promote/advertise a new or existing business. The possibilities are endless. Well not endless but quite plentiful. Here are the specs:

100 4 x 6 Postcards for One (1) Winner

Paper Stock: 14pt Cardstock Gloss

Specifications: Full Color Both Sides; 3 Business 

Days Turnaround

Shipping: FREE UPS Ground Shipping

Eligibility: Limited to US Residents only

So you really can't lose with this. Even the shipping is free.

All you have to do is...

1. Blog about this giveaway and post the link back to me  - 2 entries
2. Become a follower or let me know you're already following - 2 entries
3. Tell me how you would use the postcards - 1 entry   

and that's it. This contest is open till Saturday May 22nd.
Good luck ladies!

I will also be receiving 100 postcards for hosting this giveaway.
JEM.

Make Up and Hair Score (In My Opinion)

 Remember yesterday when I lamented my major makeup fail, I also promised that I would use products that I already have to DIY my own makeup.
This is the blank slate (except for lipstick), I don't mind showing it since I never wear makeup anyway so everyone is used to seeing me like this. I forgot to take a picture before I started everything. I then wiped the lipstick off to start over.













I tried to remember all the techniques that the woman used on Saturday. For instance she did my eyes first, eyeshadow, liner both above and below the lid, then the mascara. Then the foundation and powder, then the lips. I used my own colors that I had at home. I've bought makeup in the past promising myself that I would start using and usually ended up not doing so. Anyway, this is what I came up with:
I'm not very good at taking my own picture, especially when i'm looking into the mirror at the same time.













This one is a little better since I used the flash this time. As you can see here, i'm also wearing the Brooke sisters. I couldn't get them changed since I didn't have the receipt and they would only give me half the credit without it. Oh well I love my girls and I'd never dream of  changing them. I don't know what you've heard.

I may use a different color for my lips, something a little bronzer. Maybe.

The other side. I even did my own eyebrows. I hate going to the beauty salon. I know, I know, i'm not the typical woman.

I figured if I was going to do my face, I might as well do my hair too, so this is what I came up with. I actually liked it a lot. See my shower curtain. You know there has to be some aqua involved.

My hair form the back. I just put it in a high ponytail and took up a little at a time, curled it under with my fingers and clipped it in place with a bobby pin.  Forgive the look, I was in my bathroom in my pajamas.

I decided to go a step further and invited my veil to the party. Tags and all. It's not a very good picture but you get the idea.
All in all, i'm very happy with my makeup and hair. Not to shabby for an amateur. I'm going to experiment with the lipstick shades but otherwise i'm sold.  I don't feel like my face is heavy and goopy and I actually like the way I look which is what is most important. I'll feel confident walking down the aisle. If I feel uncomfortable, it'll definitely show and who wants that on their wedding day?



JEM.

Make Up Major Fail

I had an appointment to have my make-up done with a Clinique consultant at Macy's on Saturday. It was set for 2:30pm and I got there at about 1:30. I wanted to have someone to instruct me on how to do my makeup and then i'd buy some to do my own on my wedding day.

Anyway I got there and asked for the lady that I was scheduled to see. Since I was early I didn't mind when she very pleasantly told me that she was with someone else and I would have to wait.   I really didn't feel like walking around the store so I just sat there waiting. She must have felt bad for me or something because she said that she'd get someone else to do me. An expert, she said. She said that this woman did makeup for weddings and that she'd know exactly what to do for me. Yay me!

Well that didn't turn out so great. The "expert" was although nice, clueless as to what to do with me. Maybe the fact that the she's latina and i'm black, we were just destined for failure, I don't know. She started out by asking me what I had in mind. Now dear readers I know nothing about makeup so I really didn't know how to answer that. She asked if I had any pictures and I said no. She said she couldn't really work unless she knew what I wanted. At this point, I was getting frustrated, you see the lady I had the appointment with was also black and I figured she'd have a better understanding of what would look good on me. After a whole lot of talk and no action, I finally said that the whole point of me coming for a consultation was so that I could have an "expert try colors and products out on me so we can decide what I needed to buy. If I knew what I wanted, I would simply buy it.

This lady really, really laid it on thick, literally. Maybe it was punishment for me not giving her more direction or maybe her expertise didn't extend to dark skin.  She put on this liquid goop on my face that literally looked like mud, the eye makeup made me look like I was recovering from something, I kid you not. I actually liked the eye liner and mascara that she did. It was the only thing I would like from the whole experience,  and it was an experience. I looked like a drag queen when all was said and done. I had this shiny burgundy-like lipstick and a muddy face with eyes that looked like Miss 2 piece and a biscuit herself -Mystique from Rupaul's drag race. What's worse another colleague kept saying "pretty" every time  she went past, further patronizing me.

Mystique from Rupaul's Drag Race

Needless to say, I won't be using any of her colors or tips. I only bought a powder and got a whole lot of crap as a bonus (best part of the day) and tomorrow I plan on trying out my own makeup from stuff that I already have at home and see how that turns out. Stay tuned...

JEM.

I got an Award (sung to the tune of "you can't catch me")

They love me, they really love me. Chocolate Lover that is. Thank you so much for my newest award. The ever so sweet Chocolate Lover (pun intended) donned this award on me and I'd like to say a big merci beaucoup! It's gorgeous, (again pun intended). If you haven't already, check out her blog, if for nothing else but some sweet inspiration. (wink, wink)

The rules:
Accept and thank the person who gave it to you!
List 10 things about yourself
List 5 additional things you DON'T like
Then pick ten people to give this lovely award to!


10 Things about Moi

• I eat way too much bread.

• I really don't like living in an apartment. Being a West Indian and growing up running around in the backyard and climbing trees, this is a huge adjustment.

•  I absolutely love blogging. My wedding would not be so well organized had I not found the blog world. I love reading and getting inspiration from all my fellow bloggers.

• In spite of my occasional rants, I absolutely love wedding planning; I go to sleep with wedding thoughts and wake up with them in the morning.

• I've written about 50 poems that no one has ever seen.

• I'm told I look exactly like my dad although I don't see it.

• My son looks exactly like his dad and I can definitely see it.

• I want to have a daughter someday whom I will name Theresa, Lyzette after both of her grandmothers.
• I love, love , love my life. I wouldn't have it any other way.

• I cannot wait for my wedding in August and I pray that we don't have to move it.

5 Things I Don't Like

• People who talk badly about others even when they don't know them
• Liars
• Being so lazy sometimes that I would not be motivated to work out for days
• Seeing  and hearing teenage girls and boys cussing up and being disrespectful - It hurts my heart
• The fact that people have become so dependent on technology that they can't write a proper sentence or have a face-face conversation anymore

Now I in turn must pass this award onto 10 other lovely bloggers. So here goes:

1. My Dream Life
2. Sonya at Bridal Bliss
3. The Pink Bride
4. Heather @ Soon to be Mrs. K
5. Nuflaiir
6. San Diego Budget Bride
7. Bee @ BP Wedding
8. Amber
9. Buhdoop
10. Gonna Be His Mrs.

Enjoy ladies and thanks again Chocolate Lover.
JEM.

More DIY Projects Done. (oops)

In my previous post, I mentioned that I had completed my table numbers as well but got so carried away talking about my card trifecta (gift tag, place card and photo-sharing card) that I completely forgot to include my other DIY project - the table number/menu.

This project actually came about from excess. I've mentioned how much I hate waste, so when I was left with 10 program covers after deciding that I was only going to make 50 programs (more on that later) . I had no idea what I was going to use the extras for. I was actually surprised that I had 10 left over. I must have cut the paper while watching a movie or something and got carried away. Anyway, here I was with 10 extras and based on my guest list, I think i'll have about 10 tables. Ding, ding, ding! You see my eureka moment?

So with a cut here, some glue there, I had me another combo. Ta da...

Our table number and Menu all in one. I just didn't have the patience to create a menu for all of my 90 guests plus it seems like a real waste of paper to me. How many people (except me) really take home the menu?

The front cover:
The great part is that our initials on the front are these really cute stickers that can be peeled off so if anyone wants to use these again, providing they have the same tastes in food and it doesn't have to be for a wedding but just a dinner party or something, they totally can.
My menu is very West Indian since most of my guests are West Indian. The food for the cocktail hour will be a mix of all types. I still have paper, in case I have to make a few more. So what do we do now? Check another one off the DIY list y'all.

JEM.

More DIY Projects Done.

My table numbers are done and so are my photo-sharing / place cards. Whoever came up with the photo-sharing card is brilliant. Almost every guest who attends a wedding these days has a camera and usually gets awesome shots of everything. I know a lot of brides had someone design theirs through Etsy and then printed them through Vista Print or 123 Print. But I neither had the patience, nor resources for that. Plus I had all this leftover paper I had ordered to make invites and other stationery so I thought I should tackle this myself. Here's what I came up with:

The scanner didn't do it justice. Plus I was thinking of giving it a border with my mettalic silver sharpie. I'll see how that looks after I try one.


You may need to click on it to see it clearer.

I also wanted to use place cards for my guests since I want to make a seating chart. So I thought I would use the back of this card for the guest's name and I will attach it to the favor that will already be at each place setting. This way, chances are guests won't leave them behind. This is the back of the photo-sharing card which will be the front on the table attached to the favor:

 I used clean edge business cards that I already had. They cut off so easily and there are no perforations. I know the cards look a little colorless but since the favor wrappings are aqua, I think they'll do just fine.
I will punch a hole in the card and thread it through the ribbon that is going to be used to tie the favor.

So it will serve triple duty: gift tag, place card and photo-sharing card. I will post a picture of the final product at a later date.

I know they're not as pretty as the other's i've seen like Bee's over at BP Wedding which are gorgeous by the way but you can't beat free and immediate. I'm pretty much done with those. I may have to discard or make a few more if there are any changes to our guest list but for now, check off another DIY project.


JEM.