Twenty-One

Emily's tote :)
Its petite, but I think thats why I like it so much!
What you will need:
-Two regular size bandana's
-Scissors
-Sewing machine
-A few pins to stick in the fabric!
-Paint pen
-Stencils for words/decoration

I bought two bandana's from Walmart for $1/each.


I folded it "hot dog style". In layman's terms-I folded it across its horizontal axis :)


Then folded it across its vertical axis...or hamburger style :)

I sewed three edges of it (including the side that was already connected) leaving the top of the bag opened. Once i had gotten three sides sewn, I turned it inside out so that it wouldnt have all the stitching on the outside.


I folded down the edges on top of sewed the down so that the edges would be smooth on top-not jagged.
After that, i started the straps.
With my other bandana, I opened it and then folded it hot dog style as well. I cut two vertical strips off of it and pinned them in place for sewing onto the bag! Make sure to keep your ends on the "soon-to-be-straps" covered! ( so make sure to pin them from the inside out. Next, with your sewing machine, make sure to sew the straps on-go over it a few times. Since I was making this bag for my 5 year old niece flower girl, I knew the straps needed to be sturdy. No wonder what she will put in there!


After that, I put a peice of cardboard in the bag and wrote her name and put a few bits of decoration on it.



It was a fun project that I'm sure Emily will enjoy! :)

Until Next Time,
The future Mrs. D :)

Twenty

Good early morning, All. Just stopping in since I just finished another project which I am quite proud of, if I do say so myself :)

For this blog, I am going to show how i made my bridesmaid's bags....
**WARNING!** If you are a bridesmaid and you read this-you WILL ruin the surprise for yourself :(

I made tote bags for all 4 of my girls :)
I bought black bags from Hobby Lobby and decorated them. I'm going to put things in them, but this is the biggest part of the present! :)
What you will need:
Black tote bag
sewing machine
Thick Ribbon of choice color
2nd skinnier ribbon of different choice color
string of choice colors for sewing
paint pen
stencils for letters/decoration!
iron-on letters


1. First things first.the black bags!


2. I first wrote each of the "_____ maid" parts. and put the design around them.
Each girl gets a different verb in front of maid... some of them are inside jokes and some of them are just the words i know describe them perfectly! Choosing each girl's word was probably the best part of this project! Make sure you've got your thesaurus for this one, ladies! :)


3. Next, we get the first big ribbon!!
I chose a pink polka dot ribbon since our colors are dark pink and black!
I sewed the ribbon onto the bag. Be careful-if you dont use the string color that matches your ribbon of choice-they will be able to easily see where you didn't have that "perfect" straight line...hehe that happened to me quite a few times!


4. I discovered that it is a LOT easier to just tie a bow and sew the bow on instead of sewing the ribbon around like i had with the thick pink. When i was attempting to sew the bow on, I did make a discovery: going through the middle of the bow is NOT a good idea. I broke two sewing needles by going through the middle! It was just too dang thick, I guess! Either way, I think it turned out well!


5. Last, but never least, I put an initial of the girls on the back of the bags. Sadly...I forgot to take a picture of it... but I can tell you it looks really cute! For ashley's, I put a cursive letter "A" on the back of the bag in the middle of it.


I also made my oldest niece Emily a tote bag but i made it from two bandanas! It looks awesome! I've got pictures of it- but I'm going to use it for another blog :)

Until next time,
The future Mrs. :)

Nineteen

I figured I'd post up a few of my wedding crafts since they are what consumes me lately other than work. As soon as i get pictures of everything, will put up pictures/instructions. Some of these things don't look as good in the pictures as they do in real life, so bear with me. Just figured it'd give me something to blog about versus boring you with our not exciting lives lol

Enjoy-more to come in the next few days :)

Until Next Time,
The Future Mrs. :)

Eighteen

Hello all,
Joshua has invested in a bicycle. He looks pretty funny in his little helmet :) haha It's really cute. He likes his bike because now he can ride everywhere and not have to walk. He says its really hard on his muscles but really nice to not have to walk. It's probably even more helpful now that the weather is getting hot since now he doesn't have to be walking in the heat. He is doing great!
I bought some new Tennis Shoes for Joshua. I just sent them over to Korea so he should be getting them any day now. I also sent some cookies and home made snack mix. I know he'll enjoy that package. If anyone would like to send anything to him (letter,package,etc), I will send you the address- Just let me know!
It's finally arrived at my weekend. I don't have to work tonight or tomorrow night. I'm so relieved. It's so nice to get a weekend in. We have been busy at work. We had ZZ Top in for a few nights. All those managers and such were so nice. I got to meet the guys band manager Pablo Gamboa. Actually, Pablo called room service after hours and wanted some ice cream. Everyone told me that we couldn't serve him any because our Room Service wasn't in to give it to him. I decided that we should give him ice cream anyways. I scooped some ice cream and took it to him- He was so nice! He was like "awesome!!!" and then he introduced himself as if he was any other person. It was very nice to meet someone who you know has lots of money but is still so humble and kind.
As far as planning goes, I've been trying to finish my projects. I'm going to finish laquering my wood projects for the house this weekend. I am also going to start working on finishing up my flower balls. I enjoy being creative on a weekly basis. It's nice to get a chance to just let my creative side run wild :) haha
Well, off I go to work on my projects while I'm watching TV! I will leave you with a few pictures of Emily playing T-Ball while Steve coaches her! :)



Until Next Time,
The Future Mrs. :)

seventeeeeen

Illustrations for the past few blogs :)


My Reupholstered chair!! :):)


Mother's Day Dinner crew.


again :)


Carly!I have the most precious neice in the world!


Pa enjoying Emily and Carly's antics

To celebrate Mother's Day, all of us kids (minus bradley and joshua who are all in Korea) took Mom, Granny, and Sarah out to eat. We went to Mom's favorite restraunt. Even my two cousins (their immediate family is in Houston but they attend UT so they were stuck here for the holiday) got the chance to come! Its so nice to see them. I've only got one girl cousin so I've definitely learned to love my boy cousins. They are the two tall ones in the back of the pictures wearing the yellow and orange shirts. Why didn't i get any tall genes in me?!? Either way, we had a nice dinner. My oldest niece,Emily had lost a tooth since we had last seen her so she showed us all the "hole" in her mouth. My brother in law taught my little niece Carly how to frown so she showed us all her frown! It was very funny. She would frown and she would look so angry and then she'd bust out with a laugh because she knew she did it right! It was so precious and fun! We enjoyed our time, as we hope you enjoyed your holiday! The important thing to remember is that this holiday isnt just about having kids-it's about being supportive and loving for your family,whether you've just got a husband or just a cousin or just a grandparent, so whether you've got no kids or twenty, know that you are so very appreciated and loved!

until next time
The Future Mrs.

Sixteen

I have been feeling quite productive over the past few days even though I didn't have much time to express it all in my last entry. I booked a groom's cake for Joshua which I designed myself and I'm really excited about it. The company that's doing it is The PolkaDot Cupcake Factory.
I also met with my day-of coordinator and she rocks. I can't wait to see how she pulls everything together for the wedding. Her name is Mandy and she is a reservist. It's so nice to be doing business with someone who understands the military! It's so rare for that to happen when planning a wedding, i think. She is also super tiny-short like me but very thin- how is she a soldier! She's very precious! I'm very excited to work with her. She also has fabulous connections so she is helping me pull a deal with an awesome florist :) I'm very excited about getting things all pulled together.
The next thing that I've got to do is get together the rehearsal dinner....hmm! Joshua said he wants italian so I'm sure that's what we will do since he hasn't had American-Italian food in about 7 months now :) Now, I've just got to find a good place with a decent price!haha :)

Fifteen

This week has been a very busy one for me. At the hotel, we have all of the GM's for our hotels from across the United States so we have to be in tip top shape,etc. It's been a busy few days.
Joshua's board has gotten pushed back until June. I know he wishes they would just hurry and get it over with.
Anyone who reads this blog- if you're coming in from out of state/out of city, we are hoping that you would stay with the Stephen F Austin Hotel in Austin. Since I work there, I know that I can get good service and discounts on things for everyone. Plus, I'd be able to attend to your rooms and make sure welcome baskets,etc get there and the rooms are ready for your arrivals! I emailed a lot of people my "friends and family discount" link. If you dont have it, please send me your email and I will send you the link. Its a great rate.
Other than that tid bit of information, we've just been keeping busy and counting down the months until October :)

Until Next Time,
Hannah