Excuses Excuses

Yes, again, I have been away for a long time, but this time I have a number of very legitimate excuses (as opposed to before, when I was just being lazy).

Excuse #1: I got engaged!!! Yes after 6 years Aaron finally asked, and it was so cute too. We were finishing up some little things in my studio before I moved all of my junk in, and he was helping me stick a beautiful decal pattern on one of the walls. This should've been clue number one because he never would've offered to help me do that otherwise. anyway, here's a picture of the wall we were working on:

When we were done we stepped back to admire our work and he pulled the ring out of a drawer!

So, needless to say I have been frantically trying to secure wedding vendors, and get myself organized, luckily I had already picked out one of my wedding plan books (available on my etsy shop)and I can wait to share a few posts on specific pages in my personal book!

Excuse #2: I have been moving all of my fun crafty stuff from my parent's house, to my new studio at my fiance's. But, my gorgeous studio is now completely done and I have been spending all of my extra time in there. Of course I never imagined that it would turn into wedding planning central quite so quickly, but I am so enjoying it! Here are some pictures of the finished product:

Excuse#3: I was on vacation. Aaron and I made another trip to Ohio's Amish Country, luckily we found a much better campground this year. So after a long weekend of s'mores, fabric shopping, antiquing, and a little sprint car racing action, I didn't have a ton of time for blogging, but I do have pictures to share:

Excuse #4: Some of our very close friends just got married, and though I started a quilt for them in January, somehow I was still finishing it up just this week. But I was able to finish it in time for the wedding, and as much as I love it, I was so glad to give it to them because I have spent so much time looking at it that I would be happy if I never saw it again! And in keeping with tradition starting with the last wedding quilt that I made, I of course forgot to take a picture of the finished product.

So yes, I realize that I have a lot of excuses, but I also have a lot more to share, so I will keep you updated on wedding details (I am already planning for a post on the special invitations that I have created for the members of our bridal party!), and I will definitely continue to focus on wonderful etsy vendors, whose beautiful work makes me fight the urge to whip out my credit card!

Pictures from Amish Country

As promised, here are some of my pictures from my trip to Amish Country. Please excuse the poor quality as most of them were taken while we were driving, and a moving vehicle is not exactly conducive to incredible photography. I took a ridiculous amount of landscape photos. I could not get over the hills. In my part of the state everything is flat flat flat, so the views from the hills were completely breathtaking for me. Enjoy!

Vacation!

Yay! I leave in just 3 hours for my only real vacation this summer. I mentioned the other day that Aaron and I are taking his new camper to Amish Country for a long weekend. Some may not consider camping a vacation, but I hardly consider this camping. The new camper is 800 times nicer than his old pop up. We now have running water, electricity and air conditioning, not to mention it is ridiculously clean. So no, I don't consider it camping I keep telling people that it is much better than staying at a hotel because I cleaned it myself!

So in honor of my trip I have found some wonderful Amish Country-type items on Etsy for you all to drool over.

I know, it doesn't make sense, the Amish don't even use electricity, so how do they have stuff on Etsy right? Well this first item is not made by the Amish, but uses genuine Amish ingredients. handsatwork make this super yummy looking Amish Cinnamon Loaf using an Amish Starter.

This adorable sunbonnet is available from dewdrophandmades. A few of the items in her store are made by an Amish woman, and dewdrophandmades sells them online for her.

CountryDreaming has listed this photograph, titled Amish Farm Through Sunflowers. My favorite thing about visiting Amish Country is that landscape photos always turn out wonderfully because there are very few power lines.

Finally, this Amish Friendship Bread soy candle is available from lilyladyscreations . I would absolutely buy this candle, I'm adding it to my favorites as we speak. If you have never smelled fresh baked Amish Friendship Bread then you are definitely missing out, and friendship bread has a wonderful story. You receive a friendship bread starter mixture in a plastic baggie from a friend. It comes with specific instructions of what to do with the starter each day, some days you stir it, some days you add different ingredients, and some days you just leave it alone. After 10 days you bake your own loaf using only one or two cups of the mixture. The leftover mixture is then separated into three starters, which you give to three friends. It's a really cute idea, if you remember to check the instructions everyday.

I also appreciate that lilyladyscreations makes soy candles, farmers right here in Ohio grow a lot of soybeans, it's one of the three major crops of this region - Support our farmers!

I hope that you all enjoy these wonderful Amish themed products, I can't wait to share all my pictures when I return!

Hard work can really wear you out - who knew?!

I am exhausted! Have you ever gotten so into a project that you literally can't stop? That was my morning. I woke up with the intention of printing a couple books and then binding a whole pile of items, but my attention was caught by the paper design project that I have been working out (without a lot of luck) all weekend. Before I knew it I was cutting out tons of tiny paper flowers.

I worked furiously for hours, I didn't even stop for lunch! So now, I'm not only exhausted, but starving, it's time for me to take a break, but before I do I have to start a new sketch - something outside my window just caught my eye...

Then I promise I'm going to take a break - I need to start planning for my vacation! My boyfriend and I are taking his new camper out for the first time next weekend. We are going to visit his brother and then spend some time in Amish Country. I have been dying to get over there all summer, so I can't wait!