Baby Beads

First things first:

See that?

Yeah.
That's a big smiley on what is now my clean, clear coffee table.

I am celebrating because this marks the finishing date of all those wedding programs!
After almost 2 and a half months of meticulously laboring over these things, I tied the last ribbon and glued the last insert today! [Woo!] It's official: they are now boxed up and I won't see them again until the big day. I'm ok with that. :)

In other news, it just sort of happened that the ladies at my work enjoyed some of the jewelry work I've done, so I started taking orders. One of my biggest challenges thus far hasn't been the designing or creating, it's actually been completing the process while a 2-yr-old tries to touch everything I'm doing. 

Solution? 

I got Sydni a long, solid elasti-plastic beading cord and some of those plastic heart beads with holes easy enough for her to maneuver. She flatters me in that she always wants to be doing whatever it is Mommy or Daddy are doing, and I could tell right away that she felt like the biggest of big girls as she sat alongside me on the couch for nearly an hour making her own strand of pretty colors. Every few beads, she would stop, hold it up, and say, "Mommy, Look!"

Eventually, though, as with all her toys, she remembers that the floor is still clean, and we must, at that point, remember that she is still at toddler with the innate abilities to create a mess twice the size of what an average adult could probably make if he/she were trying. It took just shy of five seconds for the spotless floor to become the spotted floor. I'm sure there are a few renegade beads are going to remain hidden behind the couch, tv stand, and desk until those pieces of furniture are moved. It was worth it.

We're on our way to a good weekend!

xo | cmd

 

Wedding Programs [continued....]

Remember when I said I was a prolific DIY'er?

Well sometimes that gets me in over my head. That usually happens when I think of something that sounds phenomenal, but I mentally fast forward to the finished product without necessarily weighing all the legwork that will be involved.

For example: Wedding *stuff*


ribbon x200.



I should've learned my lesson when I made 200 window invitations and mailed them off. Apparently I didn't, or I did and just forgot. I'm realizing this as I now find myself hidden behind a coffee table stacked almost a foot high all across with two different colors of cardstock divided into three separate sizes. My paper cutter and printer paid for themselves about 30 times during this process. There is first the front and back. Then there is the matting on the inside of each of those. Then, there is the actual printed part that goes on the matting. 

After cutting, next is the design and actual printing of four different layouts for each of the printed sections. 

*Print........ 800 times. 

Of course I also failed to take into account just how these things would be assembled. I decided on ribbon. That meant dividing [cutting] ribbon for each program.

*Cut away..... x200.



cardstock



So here I am tonight, glue stick in hand, attempting mass production in nearly the most old-fashioned sense possible. In a way it's sort of a challenge for me: one-[wo]man mass production is not something to be taken lightly, especially by a woman with a 2-year old who is simply dying to put her touchy toddler fingers all over eeeeeverything. In my more practical moments, I wonder what I was thinking, and wish Kalyn was here so I could push half of this off on her ;) . Just kidding.

Good news is: I'm over halfway done. I swear we won't have to hand out pieces of the program. :)

Wish me luck! This project is definitely a beast that won't go quietly.

xo | cmd