Holly and Paul--Married!

Although it's true that a couple's wedding day is about them, it's also about so much more than that: It's about friends, family, community, love, and the rest of their marriage. Those facets of a wedding celebration were very much evident at Paul and Holly's wedding this past weekend. Despite the blustering winds, family and friends excitedly came together to celebrate this couple. It was an honor to be a part of their day as Holly is the mother/mother-in-law to two of my very dear friends. Congratulations to the both of you. Your adventure in one of God's greatest gifts has already begun :). 

And this about sums up their whole day 

and the rest of their days: 

Becoming the Robies

So my wonderful Dave wanted to gift me with a quick weekend trip to New York for Christmas this past December because our friends Michelle and Ryan were going and wanted another couple to tag along. Well in tagging along, Michelle introduced me to her long time friend, Nicole and her new fiance Ben.

They're a pair who march to the beat of their own drum and are completely in love with each other and with Jesus. Though they're planning a daunting wedding (w/ the guest list at 1000+), they're easy going, and we had so much fun getting to know them while exploring NYC in the wintertime. While we were out there, we had some time to spare, so I took a few picture for them in Central Park. Unbeknownst to me, Nicole actually decided to use one of the shots for their Save the Date! So fun. I'm so glad I was able to capture you two in your element.

If you go to one of my older posts [here], you can see some more of the pictures I got of Ben and Nicole that day. 

Happy wedding planning, you two! :)

Magazine Banner: A Repurposing DIY Project

I was in my friend's apartment, and she wanted to add some color to her white walls . She had some Anthropologie magazines lying around, so I figured I'd repurpose them. The first thing that came to mind was to make a banner because I keep seeing them on DIY blogs (This is also great for parties, weddings, baby rooms, etc!). Well folks--here's my first how-to blog.

Step 1: Grab an Anthro magazine (or any other magazine, of course).

Tip: If you want there to be an eclectic sense of cohesion, work with only one magazine

since they usually fall under certain complimentary color themes.

Step 2: Tear the pages of the magazines out. Fold the pages in half (top to bottom)

 and tear them in half once more (In other words, you'll have two flags made for every magazine page).

Step 3: Fold one of your sheets in half (I recommend using the cover of the magazine b/c it's sturdier) 

to find the center point. 

Step 4: Take a ruler and with a pencil, draw two lines to make your flag pattern. Start at 

the center point that you found from Step 3.

Step 5: Cut out your pattern. Place this pattern above a few of your sheets and start cutting!

Step 6: Once you have enough flags cut out, you'll be ready to start putting the banner together.

Get some string, yarn, twine, fishing wire (etc...) ready.

Step 7: Place your flag underneath the string and leave some room at the top so you can fold it over. Make sure the side you want showing is not the side that you can see.

Step 8: Have some tape handy. Fold the top part of the flag over the string, and tape it down. 

Continue this step with the rest of your flags.

(Depending on how sturdy you want it, you'll need to use a varying amount of tape.

For this particular banner, I just put a piece of the place at the center.)

Tip: When taping your first flag onto the string, make sure you secure the flag to the string, so

your flags don't go flying off the end.

Step 9: When you've attached enough flags to achieve your desired banner length, hang

your banner up wherever you needed that splash of color! Be creative; add your own twist to this 

simple DIY project!

Enjoy! Challenge yourself to craft with things you already have!

Give your old things new purpose! Give it a shot. I'd love to 

see all the ideas you come up with :).