Notebook

Most new "consultants" would invest in one of those adult Trapper Keepers - the leather-bound kind with lots of pockets. I did not do that. I made this notebook from some wrapping paper that I'm pretty sure came from Elana. Someone had given me pieces of the Levenger "Circa" system ($74 for a notebook?!) so I used them to make my own.

Elijah's Doljabi

Elijah's traditional Korean first birthday celebration (doljabi, or dol for short) was a smashing success. One of the highlights was a game where the birthday boy chooses an object to predict his future. The typical objects are yarn (long life), rice (abundance), money (wealth) and books/pencil (scholar). We added a ball (athlete), microphone (musician) and rocket (astronaut). After much deliberation, he chose the rocket! I made his doljabi board, raffle tickets, and ballot jar labels.

I picked up these cardboard letters from the Paper Source and painted them for the cake table. I will eventually get around to putting them on a wall or shelf in his room!

The food was ridiculously good...as usual.

Greeting Cards

This month's Martha Stewart featured a vintage bicycle layout with a photo spread of bicycle baskets. I liked the photos so I cut them out and glued them to some blank greeting cards. To make them glossy, I formed a paper frame to protect the paper and sprayed the photos with clear glaze.

Oh, baby!

The template for these DIY invitations are adorable and free! The cupcake toppers can also be used as gift tags. I modified and customized the design of the baby shower invites in Adobe Illustrator and got the coordinating ribbon and paper from Paper Source.

Bridezilla's Sweatshop

During the month of June, I did more cutting, pasting, folding, pressing, taping, measuring, stitching, sewing and tying than I ever thought possible. And somewhere in the middle of it all, double-sided tape became my best friend. Preparation for Elana's wedding pushed me to the edge of craftiness and beyond, and even though it was occasionally lonely being the only worker in Bridezilla's sweatshop, it was super fun*.

Elana picked out gorgeous Japanese paper for the table tents, place cards, wedding directory and guest book, which were all made from supplies we bought at the Paper Source**. The guest book was made from a photo album kit and was bound with the dove gray German linen photo book cloth. I thought the album was the perfect size but I didn't think the vellum paper between the pages was appropriate for a guest book, so I removed each vellum sheet and pasted a strip of the Japanese paper against the spine of each page. If you're into book binding, and even if you're not, you should pick up one of these bonefolders cuz it's a sweet little tool (but not as cool as double-sided tape). Elana came up with the idea of a guest seating directory which listed each guest's name, affiliation to the bride or groom, kids (if applicable), where they were from, and their table number. It was a very practical little booklet and a great souvenir.

The petal cones were made from regular sheets of paper and were covered with white 8" paper doilies. We spruced up three inexpensive baskets with cute white ribbon and stuffed them with the petal cones (that were constructed very late at night, I might add).

Lastly, the photo garland added a personal touch to the reception. I printed out a bunch of childhood photos of the bride and groom, sandwiched them between pieces of vellum paper and stitched them together. Two trusty friendzillas strung them up with pretty ribbon at the reception.

* Since I used Mikey's apartment as my craft studio (thanks, Michael!), he kept me company and provided feedback, so I wan't technically alone...

**Warning: The Paper Source is a great store but can be a dangerous black hole for enthusiastic crafters. Never go into the Paper Source just to "look around" and never go by yourself - either situation will result in a state of total delirium.