Easy Football Party Crafts

Is it football season yet? I only know the fall for pumpkin picking, apple cider everything, and the ability to totally switch up my wardrobe. However, I know there's a whoooole bunch of people that love it for football! My fiancé is one of those people, so once in a while we hang out with the gang and watch a football game. He's a "less is more" type of guy, and I'm a "what else can we add?" type of gal, so I came up with a happy medium. 

I whipped up these easy crafts for Mariah at Giggles Galore. They're quick to make, and feature craft supplies you probably have at home. They're perfect for a mini football party. This month, I did not one, but TWO blog posts for her! You can find them here and here.

So be sure to head over to Giggles Galore now to see how to make these Easy Football Party Crafts and Football Flag Stirrers and Cups.

Wedding Planning Update- Less than 1 Week!

The wedding is only a few days away, and I truly cannot believe it. It feels surreal, and I can't wrap my head around it. I don't know what to do! Here's what happened the last few weeks, in my very last wedding planning update!!!! 

I got sick. Twice. 

I went with my sister to Mexico, and caught a stomach bug. I was on antibiotics for a few days, during which I felt absolutely dreadful. The whole she-bang lasted about a week and a half and I finally felt better in time for my bachelorette party. Fast forward a week and I've got a sore throat and a bunch of people at my job are sick. That sore throat turned into a full on cold- we're talking runny nose, body aches, cough... the works. Why me!? It's ok though, because I'm determined to stay healthy (hah!) for the wedding. Throwing all the positive vibes out there!

I called all my vendors. 

I set up calls with all my vendors to follow up on all the services we will be receiving, the time they'll be arriving, and payment due dates. I also informed them of any last minute changes that happened. It's reassuring to check all the boxes and make sure that everything will be perfect on the big day! 

I had my bachelorette party. 

Aside from my "sister bonding trip" to Mexico, I had my bachelorette party! My sister planned it amazingly. She did a tropical flamingo and pineapple theme, and she decorated our hotel room beautifully. It's such a shame that our hotel room had such terrible lighting, but don't worry. I collected everything she brought (except the balloons) and I'll be doing a blog post about it for you guys! 

Planning for the unknown

As the forecast changes every 2 minutes, I'm basically unsure what the weather will be like on Saturday. Will it rain? Please no! It's an outdoor ceremony! As I beg the weather Gods to throw me a bone here, I have to plan for a rainy day wedding. I'm ordering cute umbrellas for the photos, planning decor for an indoor ceremony, looking up rainy day wedding photos for inspiration. I even ordered myself a cute pair of rain boots! 

Tying up loose ends

I've spent the last few weeks running around to get everything done. I really wish I didn't leave so much for this week (or like, anything besides getting my nails done) because it would have been nice to be able to relax and rest instead! My fiancé luckily did not catch my cold, so he's been extraordinarily helpful and I really owe him one! 

Picking up my dress

Since I've basically been sick all of August, I've been losing weight like crazy and my dress doesn't fit! I was supposed to pick it up on Saturday, but I lost enough weight within 2 weeks that it was falling off of me. I started doubting that I picked the right dress, sine I couldn't even sit it in properly! I was very nervous to pick it up this week, since I've been sick and barely eating all week and I couldn't imagine it fitting. Luckily it fit perfectly, and I can't wait to wear it!! 

Finalizing the seating chart

We had a few last minute additions to our guest list (yay!) so we adjusted our seating chart and began working on creating the tags. My printer decided to suddenly stop working (fun!) so I might just get that new printer I always wanted. We're getting this one! It's affordable, prints over the wifi, and does great photos!

Final Thoughts

My catch phrase for the past week has been "no rest for the weary". I really just need a nap but there's so much to do! Nonetheless- I need to feel better, so I'm getting all the rest I can get. Whatever doesn't get done won't really matter in the end, but how I feel on that day is important!! 

Phew! Can you believe this is my last update before the wedding!? I kinda can't. I'm only sliiightly excited for the wedding, mostly because the dominant feeling is terrified. I really hope I get better in the next few days!! 

Any other brides out there leave stuff for the last minute? Anything that you gave up on since there just wasn't enough time? Let me know in the comments! 

Pom Pom Pet Collar

One of my very favorite things to do is to dress up my pet. Something about seeing my adorable furbaby all dolled up in something equally adorable is enough to make me squee with delight. The problem is that I have cats, and they usually are not a fan of dressing up. It usually results in faces like this. However, these pom pom collars are so cute, even cats can't help but love them! They're easy to make and fun to wear, so grab your pom-pom maker and your yarn. We're about to get crafty!

You will need:

Cat or Dog Collar (here and here)

Yarn in rainbow colors (here)

Pom Pom makers (here)

Scissors

A cutie-pie pet

Directions:

Using your Pom Pom maker, create 3 Pom poms in your choice of colors. I used the two smallest ones, because my cats are pretty small. Depending on the size of your pet and the width of the collar, you may need larger Pom poms or more of them. Make sure you leave a string long enough to tie them onto the collar.  

Pom Pom Instructions:  

1. Take your Pom Pom maker and open one of the sides. It doesn't matter which one.

2. Starting in the center, wrap your yarn around the curve, making sure to keep it even. Keep going until it's nice and full. The more yarn you put, the fluffier the Pom Pom.  If you cheap out, you'll know! 

While you're wrapping around, make sure it only goes on the loop, not the bottom "feet". You don't want it to have weird loose ends. See the photo below for what NOT to do :p

3. Once it's nice and full, cut your yarn when at the top of the loop and fold the side in. Repeat for the other side.  

4. When both sides of your pom pom maker are filled, you want to cut each side in half. Don't fret- it's got a special groove for this to make sure you do it evenly! Cut through all the layers right at the center.

5. After you've cut your pom pom in half, you'll notice a groove down the center of the pom pom maker. Take a small piece of yarn and guide it through the middle of the pom pom maker.  I used purple so you can see it better, but for my other pom poms I wanted the yarn to match the pom pom. Pull it tight so that it goes through the center- this is what holds your pom pom together! Tie a knot, then wrap it back through to the other side and tie another knot or two.

Open the two loop arms (the blue part), then pull the two sides apart at the center (the white part) to release your pom pom.

6. Trim the ends so that everything is even and your Pom Pom is nice and round and fluffy.  

7. Tie the Pom poms onto the collar. You can also glue them, but if your pet is rambunctious they might be able to pry it off more easily.

Put it on your pet and enjoy! Take loads of photos. Be sure to only put this on your pet when you're there to supervise, since they may be able to take it apart like they're diffusing a bomb. You know how pets can be sometimes!

Annie (the black cat) surprisingly didn't mind wearing this collar. She's usually the feisty one!I think this photo is my favorite, because LOOK AT THAT SNAGGLETOOTH!

Roger, on the other hand, who is the most chill cat ever, somehow wasn't a fan of being dressed up that day. He doesn't hesitate to let you know that too. Here's his best "I'll pose for you human, but only because you feed me" face.

How cute do these little kittens look in their fancy new collars?! Ok, I know they're not kittens... but they're so darn adorable! What do you think about these collars? Will you be trying them on your cat, dog, guinea pig? Let me know in the comments below!

DIY Fruit Slice Container

Ohhh hey summer babes! Can you believe it's Mid-August?! Summer is coming to an end, and I'm a little bit bummed. It went by really quickly (as summers usually do) but it was fun, despite being so busy with wedding planning! Ever since I was a kid, summer always held a special place in my heart. One of my favorite things about summer is enjoying a sweet, juicy piece of fruit on a hot day. Bonus points if it was in the fridge! Since I had some time to create one last summer craft, I decided to pay homage to my love of fruit by creating this fruit slice container. It's perfect for storing all your little knick-knacks, like rings, hair ties, or even fortune cookie fortunes!

You can find everything you need to make these containers (and more!) at Oriental Trading. They're one of my favorite places to shop online, since they have everything you need for weddings and for craft projects! So invite your besties over for a craft day, and let's have some fun!

You will need:

Acrylic Paint (here)
Paintbrushes (here)
Paint Palette (here)
Washi Tape (here)
Round Ceramic Container (here)
Mod Podge (here)
Colorful Sharpies (here)

For the Citrus Slices:

1. Paint your lid and the inside of your container white.

2. Using your stickers and tape, create a spoke pattern with a circle in the middle.

3. Paint your exposed sections in your choice of color.

4. Paint the rest of the container (the bottom) to match the peel.

5. Remove the tape and add a rim for the rind.

6. Paint with mod podge to prevent scratches.

7. Write a funny note in the container.

For the Watermelon Slices:

 

1. Paint the top reddish-pink and the inside white.

2. Add a green rim around the red top to create the rind.

3. Paint the rest of the container (the bottom) green.

4. Add seeds using paint and a thin paint brush.

5. Write a funny note in the container.

Yay summer! I'm such a hoarder of small containers. I have them everywhere, and sometimes I have smaller containers within larger containers. I think I'm an addict. 

What do you keep in your little containers? Let me know in the comments below!

Wedding Planning Update- Just 1 More Month!!

You guys... YOU GUYS!! There is exactly 1 month until the wedding day!!! Holy cow, where did the time go?! I swear it feels like just yesterday that we picked out our venue and really started planning. At the same time, it feels like a freakin eternity that I've been planning this wedding!! 

If I could describe the last month in one word, I'd probably pick hard. Or emotional. Or "the worst". Yep, with the pressure of the wedding day fast approaching and the flurry of RSVP's coming in (or not coming at all...) I'd say this month was one of the hardest so far. Let's see what happened, shall we?

Hair and makeup trial/trip

I did my hair and makeup trial! Since my wedding venue is about 3 hours from my house, I decided to do a weekend trip over there with my gals so they could give me advice and also see the venue. We traveled to Honesdale, PA (about 30 mins from our venue) and stayed at a cute little hotel. We had some laughs and dinner/drinks, then went for my hair and makeup trial the next day. I originally wanted a natural look, but I realized that translated to slathering me in makeup and trying to make me look like myself again. It resulted in me looking like a fake version of myself! So I decided to go a little more glam and I liked that look much better. I can't wait for John to see me on the day of :) 

John suit- picked up

John's suit got picked up and all his alterations are done. We also picked out his shoes and belt, tie, etc. All he needs is probably a shirt, because the one we bought a few months back is a little loose on him. I'm so excited to see him all dressed up on the big day. 

First dress fitting- done

I had my first dress fitting last month, and my amazing seamstress is stitching away to make my dress look dreamy on me. I'll be heading over next week for my second fitting! I'm so excited to see the dress when it actually fits on me. I'm kinda nervous, because what if it doesn't look as good as it did with the clips?! Wedding dress shopping is so stressful. Guys are lucky they only need a suit! 

Custom made veil- ordered!

I wanted my veil to have a little something extra, so I decided to make my own. However, that was going to take time I don't have so my lovely seamstress/designer is going to make one for me! I'm so excited to see how it turns out. It's got a little something special, and I'm so excited to wear it. 

Crafts Day- Done!

I gathered up my friends and family for a crafts day this past weekend. I had so many things on the to-do list and so little time. It was great to have an assembly line of people ready to help. I don't think I can emphasize enough how amazing and relaxing it was to have everyone there helping me. I finally felt like I could breathe for a minute! I highly recommend having people over to help. I have some tips here. 

Wedding Ceremony- Planned

Can you believe that we didn't have our ceremony planned, like at all?! We are having a friend do the ceremony and we finally sat down this past weekend to get the details laid out. She's going to draft something up for us within a few weeks and then we'll do a trial run! 

RSVP's- Returned

This month we sent out our wedding invitations and got back our RSVPs. Since our wedding is somewhat of a destination wedding, we had sent them earlier to make sure people were able to reserve their rooms, which were blocked off until 6 weeks before the wedding. Getting back RSVP's was one of the worst parts about planning so far. First off, I recommend adding an option for online RSVPs. It's not only cheaper (a special bonus) but it's easier. We sent out so many cards that weren't returned and got texts back instead. Postage wasted! 

Then, the actual responses. I already knew that people (mostly on my side) were a bit unhappy with the distance of our venue. The truth is that it's a little far (about 2 hours away for most people) but there were family members on John's side where they would have to travel about 2 hours just to get to our house, or other areas that were close to my family. Stuffy reception halls, the same ones everyone else had their weddings and parties over the years, was not where we wanted to have our wedding. It resulted in John getting about 6 no RSVPs and me getting a whopping 30+. This included friends and close family members. And I'd be lying if I said that each one didn't feel like a small stab in the gut. 

Seating Chart- Done

While the RSVP's made me want to crawl in a hole and cry, the seating chart kinda put things back into perspective for me. John and I used this method to do our seating chart, and it was actually extremely helpful. We picked different colors for each of us, for friends and for family, 4 colors in total. I realized that although John had nearly all his family coming, I still had a lot of friends (that I consider family) and some of my parents' close friends that I have known for YEARS coming. Seeing all my pink and purple seating tags made me see the people coming, instead of only focusing on those who can't. I'm still trying to get over the rejected feelings I have for those not coming, but I at least feel better for now. 

Emotions- All of 'Em.

Ugh, this month was a rollercoaster of emotions. I don't ever want to do that again haha. I had the highest of highs (OMG our wedding is only x days away!) and the lowest of the lows (Why doesn't anyone love me? Why did we bother to throw a wedding if no one would come?) I felt pretty shitty for a large portion of this month, as I anxiously waited for RSVP cards from guests who had only complained about distance, or otherwise made my wedding seem like an inconvenience to them. For a little while I thought I'd only have my closest friends and my parents there for me. I feel like I sound like a whining baby but seriously, you don't realize how upsetting it is until you see all those "no" boxes checked off. 

My Wedding Hashtag Got Stolen.

I almost forgot... someone took my wedding hashtag! I first searched the hashtag when I picked my venue and literally no one had ever used it. I tagged a pic of my venue with it. Within a year, 2 people had used it and one more is using it after my wedding! This was another irrational freak out I had (Bridezilla coming out) but I decided to just ignore it. In the end, I know I used it first, plus I own the URL. As a friend said... "hashtags are a trend. URLs are forever." So everyone's going to have to sift through some other brides to find my photos (hah!) but I'll keep posting my stuff on there too. That's what happens when you go from a practically non-existant last name (Sarlis) to a popular one (Cardona). 

Also a note- your wedding hashtag is supposed to be UNIQUE. So, don't use one that someone else already did. (Update: It’s so funny what seems like a huge deal when you’re wedding planning. In the end, barely anyone even used the hashtag! So, I freaked out over absolutely nothing.)

I feel like this post was heavy, so I'm going to try to wrap this up with some advice, and maybe a positive note? Ummm... uh.... don't focus on the people that didn't come. Focus on the ones who did. Any time someone says something negative, remember that they aren't criticizing you, but they're just upset about how if affects them. Then, re-read a text from someone that was excited or call a family member that you know is excited. Tell them something fun and positive you did (We just ordered the favors!) and see how they get all excited. For every Negative Nancy, there's 5 others that are Happy Harriet's. (that's a scientific fact, but don't look it up :p). Also you get what you put in- so if you call a family member to complain and be negative, you'll probably breed more negativity and it'll be harder to shake. So try to focus on the good. Easier said than done, but that's my advice :p 

Need to do:

Bachelorette party- later this month I have my bachelorette! We are going to Philly, and I'm really excited. I've never been to Philly before, but my sis went and it seemed colorful and fun. She was telling her coworker about her upcoming trips and her coworker was like, wow you guys like Pennsylvania, huh? I guess we do! We're going 3 times this summer, between the trial, bachelorette, and wedding haha.

Final fitting and jewelry- I need to get my dress all perfectly fitted, and I need to get some jewelry to go with it. I also need to decide what I want. Dangly earrings, or studs? Necklace or no necklace?! I have no idea, but I need to decide soon!!

Finalize the little loose ends- I created a Trello board a few months back and added in all the tasks, and it's actually been really really useful! I think I'm going to do a blog post about it, because it's really helped me to stay organized and get everything done. I'm down to the last few tasks, and yet somehow my board looks just as full as a month ago! It's amazing how many little things there are to do for a wedding!

Looking for some party planning tips?

If you want to learn more about planning a Pinterest worthy party, be sure to sign up to get your FREE Anatomy of a Pinterest Worthy Party guide! It's full of helpful hints on how to pick a theme, the little details that will make your event unique, and tips to take great photos of your event. And, there's even a checklist so you don't forget anything! So what are you waiting for? Get yours now!

 Phew! I'm tired. This was a rough month of planning, but it's over now, and the wedding is so close I can practically see it. If I have time, maybe I'll do a post 2 weeks before with some last minute wrap ups and details. Otherwise, your next post will be from Mrs. Cardona herself!!

So... any last minute advice? Did you get really bummed over your RSVP's? Think I'm simply crazy? Let me know in the comments below!