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Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Outdoor Makeover

Posted inPersonal

Over the summer, our big project was to tackle the landscaping of the entire yard. The builder gave us the bare bones, but it wasn’t very pretty or useable. Ryan works in construction so he was excited to bring in a mini excavator and wreck some havoc in the yard! To recap our adventures, we extended our back patio an additional 400 square feet, added a boat load of plants and trees, spread fresh barkdust, made a pretty rock creek for better drainage, added a rock path from the patio to the grass, and finished off the makeover with some new grass! Take a look at the before and after pictures below.

Not sure why we had neon green grass before? Thank you JB Instant Lawn for the upgraded look =)

The extended patio is my favorite improvement. We went from a dinky 8×8 fairly unusable patio to a great outdoor space for entertaining!

The patio set and cushions were purchased from Cost Plus World Market and are working out perfectly for our new outdoor space.

This before and after is shocking to me… the added trees and shrubs are great for privacy from the surrounding houses

The of course we have, “the hill”. It was a baren wasteland before, and is now full of flowers and plants!

This is a view from the patio looking at the side yard. I love our new little path courtesy of Parkway Landscape Supply for the rocks!

There you have it, the recap of how the majority of our weekends were spent over the summer. It was a big project, but we couldn’t be happier with the finished result. Our families were a big help and we couldn’t have done it without them! Also a big thanks to Chuck Mangum for the landscape design and plants, we love it all!

We are looking forward to next summer when we can spend time outside enjoying our new entertaining space with friends and family =)

Posted inPersonal
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Denise - October 12, 2011 - 4:38 pm

even though I see it everyday, it’s amazing to see the side by side before and afters!! Nicely done!

Siriana - October 12, 2011 - 3:28 pm

Meg and Ryan! It looks so great! I’m impressed!! All the hard work paid off, it looks so so so good!

Ryan - October 12, 2011 - 11:52 am

Can you come do my backyard next? It looks great!!

Julie - October 12, 2011 - 11:06 am

Megan,
The yard looks fabulous!!! You guys did a great job.
Julie

Brianne - October 12, 2011 - 9:57 am

Nice Megan! It looks beautiful (especially the back for entertaining, very cute decor). Yardwork is such hard work… That rhymed. :)

Friday, October 7, 2011

Parker’s 1st Birthday Invitations

Posted inStationery Design

Little Parker man is turning ONE years old this month, and his mom Jennifer wanted to make his invitations extra special! I’ve worked with Jennifer before on her daughter Halle’s birthday invitations, and she is wonderful to work with. She literally just gives me a color scheme and says go at it! This is a big compliment because she obviously trusts that I will do a nice job.

She wanted to incorporate a photo of Parker, and I may have squealed out loud when I opened the photo in my email. The polka dot balloons, the adorable basket with his name, and his cute little hat! I could hardly stand it. The color scheme was blue, orange and green (same as the balloons), so I used this as my inspiration as well as the vintage look from the photograph.

I’m obsessed with envelope liners! I found some striped scrapbook paper that incorporated the orange, blue and green with a rough vintage look and I knew it was perfect for Parker’s invitation.

I matted the invitation with a light brown cardstock to coordinate with Parker’s cute little hat =)

When I was finished assembling, I packaged it all up with a pretty satin bow and passed them off to Jennifer to address and mail!

Posted inStationery Design
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Mallory - October 7, 2011 - 1:41 pm

Megan! I LOVE THESE! Loving the envelope liners as well ;)

Monday, October 3, 2011

Fifty Sucks

Posted inInspiration

Over the weekend Ryan and I attended a 50th birthday party, and we brought a funny little DIY birthday gift. Everyone got quite the kick out of it, especially the birthday boy!

We started by wrapping a small box with multi-color striped wrapping paper, punched 50 small holes using a screw driver into the top of the box, inserted the 50 Dum Dum Suckers into the holes we punched, and then added a couple signs to finish it off. Within 30 minutes you have a great gift that only costs a few dollars in candy, wrapping paper, and cardstock paper for the signs.

Posted inInspiration
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Julie - October 3, 2011 - 4:28 pm

Megan,
It was very clever and cute!!

Patrick Frost - October 3, 2011 - 4:10 pm

I may be the only guy to comment on this but it seriously made me laugh. Top notch idea.

Whitney - October 3, 2011 - 3:11 pm

That’s so creative! Fun!!

Denise - October 3, 2011 - 2:41 pm

cute!!

Friday, September 23, 2011

Julianne + Carter: Vineyard Invitations

Posted inWedding

As summer is coming to a close, I thought I would share an invitation that kicked off the summer with Carter and Julianne’s set! When I originally met with Julie and her mom, I knew it would be a great experience working together. They are some of the sweetest people you will ever meet!

Julie and Carter had a beautiful wedding at BeckenRidge Vineyard out in Dallas, Oregon. They wanted the invitation set to incorporate their purple and white color scheme, to feature an engagement photo (which isn’t shown in the below photographs), and details to represent their wedding. The graphic has small leaves and scrolls representing the vines you would see out in the vineyard.

Everyone loved how the invitations turned out, especially Julie’s mom Becky. Here is a review she sent me shortly after the wedding:

“I just wanted to thank you one last time for the amazing work you did for us. I have seen lots of wedding invitations, but I will always think the ones you created for my daughter were the most beautiful I have ever seen. I know I told you this before but lots and LOTS of people have told me the same thing and said they were going to keep the invitation set. I have seen the set hanging and framed in various people’s homes. It was such a joy to work with you. You are such a sweetie. I only hope my older daughter gets married soon so that we can come back and see you!” -Becky, Salem, Oregon

The set included the invitation, response postcard, registry insert and a ruby metallic envelope.

Invitation set photographed by Ashley Sturm Photography

Posted inWedding
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Friday, September 16, 2011

Free Printable Marriage Certificate

Posted inUncategorized

I recently stumbled across a blog post by Style Unveiled with some practical wedding advice about applying for marriage licenses, and helpful tips to know. They also included a link to a custom marriage certificate created by Wiley Valentine, which can be all yours at the price of $125.00. So I decided to whip up a fancy keepsake marriage certificate as a FREE downloadable pdf.

The first 3 people who contact me can have this design customized with YOUR wedding colors! Want to see some purple, or maybe some red in this design? Simply leave a comment below with the colors you would like incorporated into this design, along with your email address, and I will shoot you a customized PDF with the colors of your choosing.

Click HERE to download the free Certificate of Marriage keepsake PDF.

When you apply for a marriage license you will receive an official certificate of marriage, as well as a “pretty” certificate as a keepsake to frame or add to your scrapbook. This downloadable document is NOT the official document, this is merely a keepsake piece. Just want to make sure that is clear!

UPDATE: I’ve already customized this design for the first 3 people who commented. If you would like this certificate to be customized with your colors and information, please visit my Etsy listing for more information.

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