I'm starting to get a bit stressed. Martha Stewart, I ain't!

margecat

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I won't be around as much until after May 18th.  It's crunch time, Martha-style!

My best friend is getting married in May. I'm hosting a bridal shower for her, and at least 10 other people (I'm still awaiting r.s.v.p.s). The total guest list was 30, but I think we'll only have from 12-20. Since Christmas, it's been a whirlwind of making crafty things and planning. the shower is in early April.

I also offered, in order to save her money, the use of my house for the wedding rehearsal dinner; she's buying the food, DH and I are cooking it. We will add a few surprise dishes that we paid for, though.

Of course, all of the above necessitate scrubbing the entire house, painting, repairing, etc. I spent the entire previous weekend, literally the entire weekend, washing the downstairs walls and crown moulding. (We use a kerosene heater on very cold days; it really warms me up, and I can lower the thermostat. It does deposit a layer of soot on the ceiling and walls.)  We ended up painting the ceilings, as washing made things worse! Saturday, I worked outside, cleaning off the tree limbs from the ice storm, and I scrubbed the deck floor and railing, and planted Spring flowers and mulched the flower beds. Due to the massive snows, we couldn't get outside until now!

I handmade 30 bookmark shower invitations (she's a librarian). And, the fool that I am, I offered to make wedding favor bookmarks...I need to make over 100 of those. The shower ones were a big hit, though, and well-worth the trouble. Oh, and the table number cards, and invitations for the rehearsal dinner. I also printed the wedding invitations and the response cards and their envelopes for her, and assembled many of the invitations (they came with stick-on bow doo-dad things).

Also, a month ago, her fiancé had a mini-stroke. He's pretty young for that, but he's a diabetic who does not take care of himself. He's improving, but my poor friend has had a very rough time.

I'm also her Matron of Honor, so I've been asked to help design a lot of the wedding details.  I think I 'm supposed to show up for the wedding--if I can get out from under the pile of various colors of cardstock paper and inkjet printer cartridges!


I never want to see a Dollar Store ever again. I found myself buying paper puff-ball decorations to hang from the ceiling (assuming I don't hang myself from the ceiling first). The thought of peeling apart 10 layers of stupid tissue paper and fluffing them out...someone please stop me before I buy any more stupid, cheap, unnecessary, ridiculous decorations.


I never want to see the color purple ever again.

I never want to ponder the merits of different wine glass sizes ever again.

I never want to hear the words "registry", "bridal", "shower", "invitations", "guest list", "party favors", "seating chart", "Matron of Honor", or "bridal Bellini cocktails" EVER again. If I do, I may need to seek professional help...and heavy-duty prescription drugs. Oh, and I also found out that those words are NOT a turn-on when uttered in the bedroom. Why??? What husband wouldn't want to discuss bridesmaid gown colors?????


Does this straight-jacket make my butt look big?


(All joking aside, I really enjoy making things for her, and she's never asked me to do them. I am starting to feel nervous, though! I think I've been spending too much time with this stuff.)
 

MoochNNoodles

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Wow!  Your as busy as a bride yourself!!  I did a lot for my own wedding but somehow back then I knew how to manage my time better for what I had to do.  At least with my own.  The work around the house always takes longer than you think it seems too! 

Maybe you and hubby can take a little honeymoon of your own after this!
 

AbbysMom

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:clap::clap::clap::clap: Good for you though, being such a thoughtful, helpful friend. It's amazing how all the little details add up and it can truly make you insane. I hope everything goes really, really well. :cross: :vibes:
 

Winchester

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I think you're a fantastic friend for doing all this for her. I can't even begin to imagine how much work you've been doing.
 

AbbysMom

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Can we get pictures of some of your work at some point? :)
 
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margecat

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I'll try to remember to take pics!

Today, I bought a die-punch butterfly thingy to punch out butterfly shapes. It's fun!  I saved myself a bit of money. I was going to buy lavender gum paste butterflies to decorate the cake with. Instead, I'm making picks, with paper ones on toothpicks, double-sided (to hide the tape!).  Also,. for each place setting, I plan on laying out a white silk folding fan (I like giving useful party favors), and attaching a lavender paper butterfly to the fan's handle, with the person's name written on the butterfly. For the rehearsal dinner, I'll use more butterflies as place cards, but this time, they'll be split so I can stick them on the glass rims at each place setting.

If I took a large sheet of paper, and punched

 out butterflies around the perimeter, the resulting empty butterfly shapes would make a great placemat. I could even cut the paper into large (larger than dinner plate size) circles, and do the same thing. Kind of a butterfly paper doily!

I can visualize all sorts of projects using these die punches. I had a 40% off coupon, so it was only about $13.00, and the lavender card stock was on sale, 3/.99.

I'm used to giving parties, but, for some reason, I'm getting a tad nervous about these two parties.

Oh, BTW: did you know you could use dollar store rubbery shelf liner for table runners, flat "curtain" panels to put behind the glass doors in a china hutch, and as banners to hang in the window part of the French doors? LOL. Seriously--they had a pretty purple shade, and the 5ft-long roll is just enough to work on the French doors--it fits exactly over the panes. I did the same thing but behind the glass, in my china hutch. DH has taken to storing his lunchtime snacks on the shelves, and it looks ugly. I used to display teapots!  Two layers of (green) shelf liner, attached with sticky-baked Velcro, look very pretty--and no sewing needed.  Here's the link: 

http://www.dollartree.com/household...t-/500c541c541p312544/index.pro?method=search

I used double layers for the hutch because of the mess behind the doors. For the French doors, I just used a single layer, so the light would shine through, and cast a lavender glow. The shower's colors are purples/lavenders/blue/white.
 
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