Just what I've been looking for...

I was so excited to see these pictures posted on Divine Twine's blog after being so disappointed when I discovered their site about 6 months ago, to find that they didn't do their pretty twine in any colours I had in mind for my wedding theme. Now I just have to wait patiently on their release mid-June-ish.

I'm planning to bind the wedding service programmes with baker's twine and was trying to decide what colour would suit best and these could be the answer to my prayers.

It would seem that there is one more new colour to come.

I can hardly contain my excitement - if it's cream or peach I will burst.

An open letter to scrapbooking Me...

It’s funny how when you first discovered scrapbooking in January 2008 you couldn’t get enough of it. It coincided with your discovery of blogs and you became addicted to finding new scrapping blogs for your Favourites list. You would devour every word on them and keep copies of layouts to recreate yourself. You spent a small fortune on supplies and would spend most of your free time browsing the online shops and checking out the latest products. You spent every free moment you had scrapping and your family loved seeing your new pages although you were always a bit shy to show them.
Then you joined Scrapagogo, a kit club, so that you could get a good variety of embellishments that you couldn’t afford to buy otherwise and your other online purchases slowed down and eventually stopped.
When you moved into your first home together with Mr M, he allowed you to use a whole bedroom to devote to scrapping which you turned into an office and you thought you were the luckiest girl.
When you treated myself to a lovely laptop, having had an old dog of a PC you bought from work when they had replaced theirs, you discovered digital products and Photoshop. It was around this time you got broadband into the house as well. I know some of your scrapping time transferred to this and it’s not that you were scrapping digitally, you were just “messing around”, creating logos, designing cards, editing photos and that’s ok.
You joined some online groups on UK Scrappers and really felt part of the “scrapping community” for a short time. In February 2009 you entered one of your pages for the first time to a UK scrapbooking magazine, Scrapbook Inspirations, for publication and could not believe it when you received an email to say they wanted to include it! It was published in June 2009 this was definitely a high point for you.
In February 2009 your aunt also asked you to do an album for her daughter’s 18th birthday in the space of one month and gave you photos she wanted included that meant over 40 pages needed to be done. I know some serious scrappers would think nothing of doing 40 pages in a month but when you have to have it done, and it’s not just because you are on a roll, that’s a different story. I think it’s at this point that you really stopped enjoying it so much. Would you agree?
You continued to subscribe to Scrapagogo and every month would get excited about it arriving but in the end you weren’t even lifting the goodies out of the box again after looking at them.
Scrapbook Inspirations folded and I am sensing that for a lot of UK scrappers, without the possibility of getting published, the motivation to make great pages just wasn’t there anymore. Well it seemed that way for you anyway.
Now quite a few of the scrapbookers in the blogs you devoured have moved on a little too. Stacy, Laura, SJ, Rachel who write blogs you were addicted to, barely mention scrapbooking now. Maybe they still do just as much and don’t mention it now.
Angela, you definitely seem to take really strong interests in something and become engrossed in them and then they pass and you move on to something else. Now it’s designing your wedding stationery, wedding blogs, photography blogs and cameras, cameras, cameras. You are driving yourself crazy thinking about wanting/needing a DLSR! Just wait, you will get it when you can.
This month you cancelled your subscription to Scrapagogo and definitely felt very torn about it, knowing that it is unlikely you will buy many more goodies for yourself and it’s like saying a final goodbye to scrapbooking really.
You recently logged in again to UK Scrappers and seen that 6 people had left new comments on your gallery and this excited you and you thought maybe it would motivate you to scrap over St Patrick’s Day when you were off work but alas, no pages.
I’m so so sad that you’re not in full swing to record all your wedding plans although you have a small album you keep updated when you make bookings and record some feelings in.
I really hope that you do come back to scrapbooking in the future when you have babies, but having babies just to re-spark the scrapping bug is out of the question. Right?
At that stage no doubt you’ll be addicted to baby blogs.

Reception decor/tablescape love...

Today I thought I'd share with you the chairs that we have booked for our reception.

This was taken at a wedding fair and the tablecloths will be a little shorter, just skimming the ground and hopefully the seat pads will be on the seats more firmly!

I'm getting really excited about the whole cream/ivory and gold base colours and I hope to add to it with peachy pinks for a splash of colour. Our venue's ballroom is ivory coloured with gold mirrors and a wooden floor so I think it will fab all together. This is a picture of it with the chivari chairs instead of ours. I can just imagine ours there instead though and get really excited when I think about this.

I came across these fab photos this evening on 100 Layer Cake. I would love something like this :)

All credits here

I hope you enjoyed some reception decor/tablescape love!

Camera, photo and paparazzi chat...

Being the busy researcher that I am, I've spent the last few weeks obsessively reading reviews on DSLRs before making a decision on which one I actually want. I've finally decided it has to be the Canon EOS 450D (XSi in the US) for various reasons. And that's the end of that stage. Now I have to actually find one at the right price that I want to buy. There are some good bargains to be had on ebay but to be honest, they're still out of my price range and I'm finding it hard to justify the cost to myself, let alone Mr M or anyone else! Anyone know of any secret places to bag a bargain?!

I've always been more than a bit fascinated by photos with photographers in them. Like these:

photo credits: Angel NI, Jasmine Star, photographer in photo 4 is Janine Walker

I guess they are never in photos because they are the ones taking them really and any with them featuring are considered "rejects" or "outtakes". The reason I love them is because I want to see what the scene will look like in real life. Its easy to imagine when you see wedding photos that there is no actual person there taking the photo, you think only of the people/things that have been captured. This makes it all more real and helps me visualise what my day will look like. Does this sound like nonsense? Surely someone understands me?

This leads me to a thought that I've been wary to mention to anyone to spare me having to hear "Are you nuts?" and the likes - I think I want to bring my camera with me to my own wedding.

The way I see it is that no-one is going to see what I see with my eyes. I want photos like these showing what really happened and not just the staged ones and to be honest I don't think there is anyone amongst the wedding guest paparazzi who I can rely on to get them for me - they will all be wanting to take exactly what the professional takes. I want photos of what it looks like standing posing for a shot and seeing the guests all lined up with their cameras taking photos of me. Something like this:

photo credit

Have any of you ever seen a bride take a camera to her own wedding?

Marshmallow Grove...

Sunday past we went along to the wedding fair in the King's Hall in Belfast at Mr M's request where we finally resolved the chairs and tablecloths issue (yes I am still banging on about that!). There were a few things that caught our eye like a photobooth which Mr M loved the idea of and he finally seems to be coming round to the idea of a cinematic wedding video.

I'm not really that fussed on the idea of a cake at all although I know they look nice and I really have seen some great ones. Its just not a priority for me when we are trying to fit everything we want into the budget. Being a fan of silhouettes, when I think of what my cake might look like, I think of this:

photo credit

But then I discovered Marshmallow Grove. Their stand was offering samples of the most delicious mini cupcakes I have ever tasted. Usually I'm reluctant to try samples but I knew by looking at them they were going to be good! So moist, soft and delicate, I wasn't very happy when Mr M asked for a bite of mine instead of picking up one of his own. It was miniature for goodness sake! On the day there were so many people flocking around the genius cupcake creator that I didn't stand a chance so I picked up a leaflet and tenderly looked back.

photos from Marshmallow Grove

They come in, dear me, about 17 different flavours and that is just the sponge (if that is the right word for it!). Don't even get me started on the frosting flavours.

This has given me some food for thought and I'll have to think some more about the cupcakes and whether they are in fact what I want to cut!