For the Love of Cupcakes

It's no secret I love cupcakes. If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook, you've probably seen me post photos of cupcakes, talk about how much I love them, etc. Who cares that they are trendy right now. A good pastry is a good pastry! Anyways, since it's Friday - and I'm in a super good mood at the moment I thought about doing a different kind of freebie... more of a giveaway to my followers. Because, you're awesome! So tonight I will pick one lucky lady (or gentleman) to win an 8x10 poster of... this!  I mean, how cute would this be at your desk??

So, if you follow my blog, leave a comment here on why you love cupcakes and I chose a winner at random. And if you're not a follower & you want to enter... just follow my blog, then leave your comment =) P.S. you can get this in another color too. So keep calm people! It's Friday!

The Awkward & the Awesome

Yay! More Half Birthday Posts! I first heard about this awkward & awesome post idea from Kelly Hicks - I just love her blog and her A&A posts literally crack me up! I recently got some wedding photos that my grandpa took during the whole 3 day extravaganza. He LOVES taking photos and he managed to get quite a few awkward ones of basically everyone - including myself. So for my Awkward & Awesome, I thought I'd do more of a photo collage instead of a list, because I mean, really, how can you put some of these into words! So here are some of the best awkward photos from our wedding =) Hope they give you some giggles!

Look at everyone closely! (Click to enlarge)

And now the awesome! 1) My amazing family! 2) My Best Friend from home Lauren - who I miss so much! 3) My sweet brother Landon and new neice Baby Kate 4) All my lovely friends who worked so hard to set everything up on my wedding xoxo

Happy Half Birthday Blog!

Ok, I know celebrating a half-birthday is a tad ridiculous - but I love them! You may remember me chatting about how I celebrated my half birthday last year here =) I really use any excuse to celebrate... well, life! Yesterday, I was incredibly inspired my my dear friend Rhi, over at Hey Gorgeous. She wrote a truly honest post and her words and vulnerability got my wheels turning about my own blog. Who am I? Does my blog truly reflect me? And so on.. So what better way to celebrate my blog's half birthday than to see where I've come and hone in on where I want to be, right?!

How old is this ol' bloggeroo anyways? Well, today she is 2 1/2 years old!! (I say she because, well lets face it - this is a total girly blog) And boy what a journey it has been! This blog has evolved incredibly in the last couple years. It started out as an assignment for a Journalism class I took in college. I studied Journalism w/ an emphasis in public relations/marketing. At the time, I thought this was the coolest assignment ever, haha. I loved it so much I continued w/ it even after the class... posting about new fire red vintage boots I got, or my first attempt at making red velvet cupcakes, and my spontaneous trips to NYC  =)

Then, I got more involved w/ events at my school and was planning weddings for people in the orange county area. So I started a blog called Something Blue so I could sort of categorize all my wedding inspiration for clients. After I finished school and moved out to Santa Clarita, I merged the two and decided to pursue my new adventure Tasteful Tatters. I blogged about general inspirations I got, my tatters, as well as other DIY projects I was attempting while in this funky transition in life (new place, no job, no friends)

Now, on my 2 1/2 birthday I want to make sure that I am staying true to who I am & what I want this blog to be about. It's easy to compare yourself to all the other creatives out there "doing so much" and "accomplishing this and that" - but what I want is this place to be a source of beauty, inspiration, a reflection of my business Tasteful Tatters and our vintage rentals, and just a place of positivity and love to all who visit. I'm going to post real projects I do, real weddings that my rentals are featured in, real stories of my life, and real brides/vendors who I get the opportunity to work with. Because I believe in living in the now, being present in the moment and loving every minute of it. Or else it passes you by because you were waiting for something else. I believe in this, but I also struggle with it on a daily basis. But that's just the real me =)

So stay tuned all day for some fun little surprises to celebrate our 2 1/2 birthday - I hope it brings you joy!

Tasteful Interns

I'm so excited to announce that Tasteful Tatters/Treasures is now looking to bring on the team another intern. Our current intern Becca (who is amazing and you may remember me blogging about her here) is starting out on an exciting new chapter in her life coming this September. She definitely set the bar high, and I'm so excited to bring someone else on board!

The deets:
- Must be available about 10 hrs a week (excluding events)
- Have reliable transporation
- At least 18 yrs old
- Live near the northern Los Angeles area (SCV, Antelope Valley, San Fernando Valley)
- Must love frequent ice cream breaks
- Knowledge of excel
- Great organizational skills
- Available on weekends for events
- I can offer school credit for marketing, PR, event related, & small business classes

>> So if you are, or if you know, someone who loves events, working with their hands and just down for a good time while working hard, then shoot me an email at tastefultatters{at}gmail{dot}com! Please just write a little bit about yourself and what your career goals are, and why you feel you would be a good fit =)

July Playlist

I haven't done a Playlist post in a long time! So sorry about that. I try to do one of these once a month or so. This post should really be my playlist for June but better late than never ha. I thought I would share with you guys our wedding songs for this months playlist. Music plays such a huge role in both mine and Mr. H's lives and it's definitely something we're both passionate about. I think one of this first gifts I ever gave him was a mixed CD haha! All of these songs were specifically chosen and mean so much to us and just represent us and who we are as a couple. Anyways, happy hump day and I hope you enjoy our wedding songs =)

Bridal Party Processional: Sweet Child of Mine (Guns n' Roses) by: Vitamin String Quartet

Bridal Entrance: I Want You To Be My Love by: Over The Rhine

First Dance: Sweet and Low (Acoustic) by: Augustana

Father Daughter/Mother Son Dance: You Are the Best Thing by: Ray Lomontagne

Last Dance: Blue Eyes by: Carey Brothers

For all you ladies planning your weddings, I would highly recommend songs that MEAN something to you and your man. It definitely makes the whole day/experience that much more meaningful. I was so torn about our first dance song because I was worried what people would think. It's definitely not your traditional super sappy love song. But in the end I went with my gut and I am SO happy I did. It was probably my favorite moment of our whole day =)

Creative Connection Recap

Last Saturday I had the opportunity to attend the Creative Connection LA July Meet up event. I was at the very first event when there were about 8 of us gals eating our breakfast chatting about each other and how awesome a creative support system is. And now we are throwing events w/ 60 + people! It's seriously mind blowing to me how quickly this whole thing has grown. Anyways, I had the pleasure of a doing a little styling for the event and I had so much fun meeting all the amazing ladies in attendance. Aren't they all stunning?!

btw... I TOTALLY stole this amazing photo from Shannon LaBare who also happened to be a featured artist and designed all our paper products =) And all the photos are by Becca Rillo

I absolutely LOVED the industrial look we were going for and had so  much fun making the name tag wall for the event =) Those little metal balls are just so cute, don't ya think?!

I was thinking this would make such an awesome table assignment wall or escort card wall for a super chic downtown LA loft wedding, yes?? Now, I just need a bride who wants one! I just love these photos below of fabulous ladies connecting =)

Now, tell me this isn't the coolest thing you've ever seen at a restaurant - milk and donuts! C'mon people - this is so cool!

If you're interested in coming to the next event, head on over to our facebook page and "like" us so you can be in touch and know when the next one is =) Oh, and did I mention I'm the new hostess for the LA Chapter, yay!

Tasteful Giveaway!

 Happy Monday Bloggers! Since it's Monday... and I wish it was the weekend still - so I would imagine that some of you feel the same way, so why not share some fun news to brighten your day?? I'm doing a giveaway over at Creative Index this week!! 

Jessica has the most awesome blog and I seriously think she designed my giveaway post so beautifully! So go on over there and enter to win =) ALSO... if you purchase something from my shop this month & enter the code : "grandopening" you will receive FREE SHIPPING!

Freebie Friday: Festive Drink Labels

Do you remember my post on fruit infused water here? Well, I've just been on a fruity water kick these days (ok... a week) but hey, at least I'm drinking water, right?! Anyways, the ever fabulous Amy Moss designed these adorable tags for fruity water! Click HERE to go to the FREE DOWNLOAD!

You can imagine my excitement when I saw them, literally like the day after my water epiphany. Anyways, Amy's Blog Eat, Drink, Chic is one of my daily reads and she is just so darling. So head on over to her blog and leave her some love for creating the cutest download ever!!! No go drink some agua people =)

Something Blue: Vintage Plates

photos by Margaret Jacobsen Photography

 As you guys know, I'm a sucker for all things vintage. And that definitely was at the forefront of my wedding. My dress was vintage, there were vintage elements everywhere - including our plates! I was fortunate to meet-up w/ Kathy from The Vintage Table Co. on twitter of all places! She is seriously my kindred spirit. I'm pretty sure we're somehow related haha. Anyways, Kathy rents out vintage plates for weddings, styled shoots, baby showers, bridal showers - you name it! I was fortunate enough to have her as a vendor at our wedding and her plates were the perfect compliment to our outdoor garden wedding. PLUS she is just an all around amazing vendor to work with, and as you start planning you will find what a treasure that is =)

Her collections are to die for!!! All you brides (and everyone else for that matter!) MUST go check out her fabulous site HERE and check out her Facebook Page. I know you will fall in love with her just as I have! P.S. these photos are a little sneak peak of our reception - of course featuring Kathy's awesome plates =)

Can't Wait to Share!

Speaking of things I love... I couldn't wait to share this. ADORABLE. Someone please buy it before I do =)

{ source }

Summer 2011 Book Update

You may remember me chatting about this new book I purchased on Etsy - Summer 2011 and how I was going to document my summer and all the exciting things happening to me i.e. wedding, moving, etc. Well, I have an update for you all =) I have a handful of pages done in the book and it seriously LOVE how it's all coming together. I cannot wait to add more. One of my biggest pet peeves about technology is I have my camera phone w/ me everywhere and I take so many more photos but I never print them out. So I finally printed a ton and I can't wait to add the wedding and honeymoon pages =) Anyways, I got lots of inspiration from Elise's blog (she is the one who sells the books) Hope you all are enjoying your Tuesdays!

Hostess With The Mostess!

Happy Monday friends! This weekend, I was actually using my handy dandy little blog planner =) And I decided to bring some more continuity to the blog by adding another column!! I love to entertain and now that I am a wifey w/ my own little place so I thought it would be fun to show my inspirations for hosting parties as well as sharing some of the home projects I've done that have to do w/ entertaining =) What do ya think?!

First up, I found this awesome idea for transforming the idea of serving water. Mr. H is a personal trainer and aspiring Fire Fighter - healthy living comes w/ the package. So we have water at almost every meal. But let's face it - the Brita pitcher doesn't always fit for entertaining. So when I saw this inspiration over at Cupcakes & Cashmere I had to try it out! Emily had the awesome idea of infusing water w/ fruits and such and displaying them in fun glass bottles and adding little tags w/ images of what is in the water.

So I immediately went over to our local Home Goods - best store ever!! And scored some bottles for only $3.99! I had some limes in the fridge so I cut them up and put them in the water. Chilled them for about 2 hours and the water was perfection! I can't wait to use them for a dinner party =)

Freebie Friday : Ostrich Font

Yay it's Friday! I can't wait for the weekend and this beautiful beach weather =) Hope you all have a great time! Now, I'm no designer or anything and I know type is very important - so take it or leave it, but I am really digging this free font, so I just had to share =)

 

Click HERE to download :: seriously my new FAVORITE!

Pop of Color

So I am in full home makeover mode these days! Probably because I was so used to having all these wedding projects... I just have to be making something =) Anyways, we get to paint our apartment and I've been knee deep on Pinterest searching for the perfect color combos for our little space. You may remember my post HERE about our kitchen colors (which I am loving!) Anyways, we just purchased another couch and I can't wait to get the living and dining area together. I have quite a few shoots and weddings that I'm styling coming up so I feel like sometimes I'm just drained for ideas. But this pretty picture just stood out to me and I can't get it out of my head - totally do-able, right?! Click the link below the photo for a FULL TUTORIAL of the bed xoxo

{source}

Tasteful Tatters is Back!

I cannot tell you all how excited I am to announce that my Etsy Shoppe Tasteful Tatters is back in action and ready to take on the world! Ok... maybe that's a little much =) but I am ready to start working w/ my hands again. I've missed it! You'll notice that there are quite a few more "Bridal" pieces available for summer and I can't wait to keep adding more! You might also notice a new look around Tasteful Tatters land. We've updated our look so go check out our website too - you'll notice tons of watercolor fun =)

While I was away I did do some custom wedding pieces for some amazing gals! I made a whole peacock set for a group of bridesmaids and a larger piece for the bride - and get this, I did their florals too!! A HUGE first for me! Below are just a few snaps from their big day:

I also had the opportunity to made custom flower girl pieces for an amazing florist turned event stylist/coordinator that I used to do events with in college! I love her style and she is one kick butt stylist! So I was honored that she asked me to create pieces for her wedding. I only have one little sneak peek for this one but I LOVE it!

 

So head on over to the SHOPPE and check out the new goods! And from today until the end of the month, you can receive FREE SHIPPING on all orders!! Ready, Set, Go! Get Tattered =)

Wedding DIY - Table Books

I have a fun little DIY to share with you guys today! At our wedding, we had rows of rectangular tables that looked awesome, but I wanted a fun activity for people to do at the tables if they didn't want to dance and for all the people along the rows to be able to interact together. I got this awesome idea from Martha Stewart Weddings and slightly altered it to fit our look and feel. On their site they had this awesome idea to place little booklets on each table asking the guests questions about or in reference to "the couple"- I thought it would be the perfect little activity that our guests could get creative with and pass along to the other tables to swap as well =) And boy were our guests creative! Mr. H and I had a blast going through each book and reading all the hilarious pictures/comments/advice - it was so fun!

{S T E P S} So what we did, was first contact my design guru - Shannon LaBare! She designed our invitations as well as all of our other paper products - so she took the original concept and made it work within our "wedding brand" if you will! I printed her design on cardstock so that the image was on the far right (that way all you have to do is fold in half!) I added 10 sheets of regular white copy paper folded all of it in half, made 2 hole punches and tied with yarn! And you're done! We made 1 for each table of 8 =)

I had tons of fun coming up with questions and even more fun reading all the responses - I took a few photos of my favorites above =) Happy Tuesday!

Dream Catcher DIY

The blog world is full of them, we all try to come up with cool new ones, many of us spend our weekends attempting countless of them that we collect during the week. What are they? Do It Yourself projects! We love them, and sometimes we hate them. I cannot tell you how many times I've attempted a project and half way through I've just thrown up my hands (and occasionally a glue gun!) when they don't turn out just quite right. This can be for numerous reasons, but a lot of times it's because the instructions include a technique that we are not familiar with or there is a part where a photo would have been a ton of help =)

So think of this post as the DIY myth-busters edition! I took a DIY that is floating around the web a lot lately - the Dream Catcher! There are a lot of good ones out there but I decided to take the one from Lune Vintage for a whirl. I loved how they incorporated vintage pieces into the craft.

Note: The following steps & instructions are based off the original post over at Lune Vintage (link above)

I used all the same supplies listed above, however for the lace doily - I didn't want to part w/ any of my real vintage ones so I got an awesome cotton doily from JoAnns for about $4 and hand dyed it in tea! I also threw in some twine and vintage lace - but we'll get back to that later! To dye your doily just head up some water and place hot water and about 2 dark tea bags along with your doily for about 10 min. Take out and dry (I just let mine sit outside while I finished the next steps). I also didn't use a circular hoop. I got one of those flat wood ones you use for cross stitch - they were much cheaper & it didn't seem to cause any problems for the rest of the DIY.

The original instructions call to use the yarn and do a "half hitch" knot - I believe this is a macrame term. I didn't really understand so I reverted back to my jr. high years and used a super easy knot used for friendship bracelets! I tied the knot to the top of my frame and pulled it over the frame looped around my thumb to create a sort of "4" and then pulled the yarn underneath and then over. When you do this over and over again it creates a sort of over the top braid that twirls around =)

sorry! just realized these photos are a little out of order! But you get the idea, right?

Next, go get your doily and place in the center adding yarn to the 4 corners. Place the yard on to the hoop pulling tightly and add clothes pins to hold in place. This is actually more important than it looks. I thought I was smarter than the tutorial and just tie them, but you can't get an even look that way - tutorial =1, emilee =0 haha

Now, that all your ends are clothes pinned - tie it up! I found it was easier to do top/bottom, then sides =)

Now for the fun part! Add your accessories! I added an old feather charm, some twine, and of course feathers to the bottom strings. I got the feathers for SUPER cheap at JoAnns =) I also added some vintage lace to the hanging string... because it's just so.. me!

After you're done w/ that - it's finished! You can add as little or as much as you want! I love mine so much I want to make 1 more big one and 2 smaller ones to create a little Dream Catcher corner in our living room! We'll see if Mr. H approves =)

Conclusion: Overall, this was a great DIY and can be totally customizable to your likes/style. There were definitely some cheaper alternatives to the supplies and the minor shift in how to wrap the yarn. I would definitely recommend this to anyone and it is so great for groups who have varying degrees of craftiness =) Head on over to Lune Vintage to check out her other awesome projects!

Something Blue: Wedding Video Preview

Now, I don't want to bombard you all with my wedding stuff - but it's just so exciting I can't contain myself =) Watching wedding videos is probably one of my favorite things haha - I could spend time watching other peoples videos all the time! As weird as that may sound, but when it comes to mine, I am over the moon excited about it. The amazing Ryan McDuff my good friend & incredibly talented from Biola shot our video and was kind enough to make me a little preview while he works on the "main event" I love this video so so much, in fact, if Ryan gave this to me as our video video I would have been more than pleased haha so that is why I had to share it with you, but it is just so goshdarn sweet. Enjoy!

GWS Feature:: Twilight Styled Shoot

 So in case you missed it - yesterday was a very exciting day for me =) The styled shoot I worked on (2 weeks before my own wedding!!) was FEATURED on Green Wedding Shoes yesterday!! WooHoo!! Such a huge accomplishment for Tasteful Treasures and I'm so excited to keep pushing for my dream. When approached by Brienne, I'll admit I was a little hesitant. Twilight what? I knew it had something to do w/ vampires and a hot guy who somehow always had his shirt off - but that's where my knowledge stopped. I hadn't read a word of the books or seen the movies. But the whole concept was way too awesome to turn down - plus I'm always down for a challenge that will push me outside my box =) Anyways, I thought I'd share a little commentary on what Brienne (photog) had to say about the idea behind the shoot::
Certain elements came directly from the book – the hanging flowers at the various locations, the art nouveau inspired details, our “Bella’s” ring, and even the name cards were tied to chess pieces to reference the cover of the Breaking Dawn book. But from there we took some liberties. The color scheme was also inspired by the book – the choice of sapphire blue came from the hair combs given to Bella by her parents that contained sapphire stones. We interpreted the shoot with a bit more of a southern California feel, opting for our own “forest” of oaks and incorporating the colors of the forest into the design. Emilee, my stylist, and I settled on slate greys, deep rich wood tones, forest inspired greens, ivories and creams, a few blacks, and of course, the POP of sapphire blue. The inspiration for the actual look of our models was taken from a Peggy Sirota shoot with Vanity Fair with the original Twilight cast. I loved the natural organic look and wanted to bring that softness to this shoot as well. Emilee worked her magic with the Tasteful Treasures vintage pieces and setup an absolutely magical location.

The florist, Lindsay of Petalicious, added her own elements as well. “The bouquet came from our take on Edward and Bella in the Twilight movie saga. The handle of the bouquet represents the dark edginess of Edward but mixed with the soft white flowers, it brings us right to Bella making it pure and loving. We added the heart locket to the bouquet and a key charm to the boutonniere to represent the unlocking of everlasting love between Bella and Edward.” Lindsay also created the most amazing willow ball cloud to ground the reception table. I mentioned wanting something “sculptural” and she quite literally created that piece from her own imagination.

We chose sunset and the time just after – quite literally twilight – to shoot to capture the moodiness and deep romantic elements of the “wedding”. Using glowing laced mason jars hanging from the trees and in our own version of the “clearing” we added our own twinkles and sparkles. The very last image of the shoot – our “clearing” – was the only image I had in my head from the very beginning of the planning of this shoot. I knew I wanted to re-create it, adding sparkles through the tea lights in the mason jars rather than Edward’s skin, and that the perfect time would be a very narrow window just after the sun had set and twilight had settled in. After placing my models, we set in to wait. It took a little while before I knew the moment was perfect, but as soon as I saw the image on the back of my camera, I knew we had it. The hills glowed their own blues and greens and greys, the shadows had stretched into their own blacks and the sparkles created an aura of light and romance that exactly captured my hope for the shoot.

Now for the eye candy =) Hope you like and find some inspiration!

 The Dream Team!
Photography: Brienne Michelle Photography
Styling + Rentals: Emilee Sutherland – Tasteful Treasures
Floral Design: Lindsay Schmidt of Petalicious
Paper Designs: Shannon LaBare Designs
Hair: Anna Quinn
Makeup: Kiara Roberts

* You can view TONS more images over on Brienne's Blog HERE