Gone Too Long

Okay, it has been a long, long, LONG break-- but I am back.
The wedding is done and was amazing!  It was a fun destination wedding that truly went by way to fast!  There wasn't even a do nothing day for me and the hubby. (Well, I think he got slightly more chill time, but not that much more.)

We got over 40 people to get on a plane to paradise (St. Croix, USVI) and partied like rock stars! All my DIY's are over and there were many that I just couldn't do.  I realize I am a lot more anal that I thought and wished I had been slightly more bridezilla at points... oh well.  Our guests all thought everything went off without a hitch (-little did they know- and thanks to my wedding planner --I missed some near disasters too!)

The wedding weekend and the weeks leading up to it actually had quite a few accidents... I can laugh about them now, but before I was a bit of a neurotic mess. I will recount the many small catastrophes in my next post.  Since a picture is worth a thousand words... I'll share and stop talking about the beauty that is St. Croix! (Not in any particular order....)

 Hotel where we stayed, great staff -- very poor management. Hindsight is 20/20.

The guests still had a good time.

 My (new) family walking around Christiansted.

 My hair and make-up all done (wedding day)!

 Me and my best friend, also one of my Ladies in Waiting.

 My other Lady in Waiting & Saving Grace!

 Coming back from the Buck Island snorkeling tour.  God, look at that water.

 One of my beautiful sorors, pregnant and looking FLAWLESS when the rest of us looked...not so flawless!

Looking down from our TanTan (crazy adventure ohmygodamIreallydoingthis) Jeep Tour, looking at another resort, The Carambola. The jeep tour was tons of fun, not to be missed if you are fortunate to get to St. Croix, and I am so glad I did it.  It was really an adventure that day...

This pic does not capture the beauty of this beach.  All covered in rocks and some coral, when the waves recede, it sounds like applause! Mother Nature is grand.

Me and my sweetie -rehearsal dinner/party.

Me and my Daddy!

We did it!

Be vewy quiet...it's an iguana.

These pics barely begin to cover the jam packed days of the wedding celebration...it was AMAZE-BALLS!

"Surprise" Bridal Shower

This past Sunday was my "surprise" bridal shower.  I say this in quotes because my beloved mom-in-law tried so hard to keep it quiet and have me be totally surprised...it didn't happen.  There were a few dropped hints along the way.  Sorry Mrs. C! I do thank her for going above and beyond to make everything so wonderful.

Even though I knew what was coming, walking into that room was still completely shocking.  When you see all these people you love, that love your hubby, and family and friends that usually don't get to mix, you truly feel blessed and humbled that they would be there.

I actually had a mini panic attack a few days prior worried about what I would eat at said event.  (As a vegan, your love of life and the animals comes with a price!)  I was taken care of and even had my own cake from my fave bakery here in New Jersey - Papa Ganache.  So freakin' good, not only is it all vegan, it knocks the socks off ANY bakery vegan or non that I've ever eaten from.

The gifts were creative and touching and perfect and some embarrassing!  I wish I had the ability to take a picture with each person who gave us something.  It would have been nice since there were some new faces and people I have heard so much about that I'd just met for the first time.

Sadly, I was in the pics and didn't really get to take many.  I will post some later on as they come in!  Is there anything better than a party where all the gifts are for you?

Wedding Tutorial: Monograms (easy)

Here is a simple project that I am using for my own wedding with the favor boxes.  If you have tons of labels lying around, this is a nice way to incorporate them at no expense to you!

You will need:
labels
computer and printer
decorative hole punch

Go into your word processing program.  I use Microsoft Word. Under Tools, click on Labels and be sure that you select the correct code for the labels that you have. Decide on what font you want to use.  If you want more variation than the fonts you already have, go to a site that lets you download fonts for free.  I like Dafont.com.  You can also download cool symbols as well that you can use like butterflies and beach themed shapes for whatever your celebration might be.

I have chosen to just use the "C" in the wedding colors of red and teal.

Once you have selected your font and made your labels, print them out.

Here, to punch out the monogram, I am using a circle punch with a diameter of 1 inch.

Once, you are done, affix to the box and you are done!

Now, you can get even more complicated with this by adding other embellishments.  For me, I wanted to keep it clean and simple. ( I have a lot of these little buggers to do!)

My Store

This is my Etsy store started only a few months ago.  Getting an internet based business off the ground is truly hard work!  It has been a roller coaster and some days I am up, and other days...not so up.

I definitely feel envy from people who have just one passion or interest screaming their name.  I feel sometimes like I have multiple personalities and each one has a different craft or medium or idea and EVERYONE wants to be heard!  In time the store will find it's voice.

For now, I have a lot to do to refine it so that the voices can calm down!  I do have favorites in the store and sometimes feel like a "bad mom" for not giving the other babies the same love and attention! I wonder if other Etsy artists feel the same or I'm just crazy...

Here are some of my likes...

The bookmarks are based on my art, I love single fluid lines...

These two are lock charms that can be worked into your hair for a dangling design!

 These are my "get 'em talking" wine charms...Fun, no?

These are some of my polymer clay creations....

This is another item based off my artwork, in hammered copper wire...

My "works of art" wine charms...

What do you think? Am I just schizo or do they all work somehow?  Helpful comments are ALWAYS welcome!

New York City Vegetarian Food Festival!

I am so excited there is going to be a veg fest of sorts in New York City next month!  There are events like crazy on the west coast and quite a few in Philly and Boston, I think, but it is nice to have one so close to home.  Check out the website(click on the title post above).  It is going to be on April 3, and I will so be there!

I am going to be selling items from my Forever Always Amber Etsy store, with a focus on the vegan/veg related items.  Even if you are not veg and would never consider going veg (like I once thought 2 years ago), if you are in the area and can check it out, do so! You are sure to be surprised, and your tastebuds will definitely thank you.  I GAH-RUN-TEE!  Come by and say "hi!" I'll be at the The Vegan Guide to NYC table with my hubby to be.

It will run from 10am to 6pm at:
 The Altman Building
135 West 18th Street (Between 6th and 7th Avenues)
New York City

Playing with Glass...Part 4

Well, it is done.  I have completed my etched/painted glass experiment.  The final step was to see if the glass could hold up to washing.  It did!  I was so excited to take the pictures to show here.  So excited, but now my experiment has ended in tragedy.

As I was taking pictures of the finished product, a gust of wind blew the book it was sitting on, and to save it, the hand with the camera came up to crash into it!  Sigh... see if you can see the massive 3 way CRACK in the glass!

 There she is!  My beautiful idea come to life!

 This is my baby about 30 seconds after "the incident..."

 ...10 seconds before "the incident."

 About 1 minute after the incident.  (I was in shock when it cracked so I was staring in disbelief for a moment or two!)

  Oh, it still hurts to look at.  

I don't know if you can really see from the pic, but the base of the glass has the reverse etching and the flowers themselves were what got the frosted effect.

My wine charms, recreated famous works of art available in my Etsy store, are featured on the bottom.

And to be a drama queen, to show the full circle of "life," here is my glass, laid to rest.  So young, gone before her time... she never even got to fulfill her purpose of carrying a good wine...(sigh).

Playing with Glass...Part 3

Okay.  I have gotten this far with the glass.  It's has been etched.  It has been painted/decorated.  And it has now been through the oven to be heat sealed!

I was nervous about putting a glass in the oven, but it had to be done.  Although the Deco Color pens didn't give these specific directions, all other companies I researched based on their glass painting products recommended putting the item in the oven at about 325 for at least 40 minutes.

I put the wine glass on a cookie tray with a small sheet of foil on it.  Then when the oven was ready, I placed the tray in the oven for about thirty minutes, then turned off the oven and left the glass there for about 4 hours to really set and COMPLETELY cool.

It looks good.  Although I did not want to use the medium tipped marker on this project and mainly used fine tips, the medium tip made my flowers look really good.  There were no visible drawing lines with it like the ones the fine tipped markers left behind.

I will give the glass a test of a few hand washes and see how it holds up.  (I might even be so daring as to put it in the dishwasher for a true experiment!)  I will post the results tomorrow.