Another Fail.

What do you do when a DIY project fails?





I, for one, leave it on my kitchen table, in hopes that when I wake up the next morning, it will be magically fixed.



Usually, it's not.



Check out this cute design that my awesome graphic ninja (again!) designed for me. They're thank-you cards for our wedding shower. Get it? Raining kitchen appliances??

This would be so cute and clever IF THE PRINTING WASN'T UGLY!

Stupid Gocco.

I'm half-tempted to sell it. I can recoup my money, at least...

Gocco: Step by Step

So I'm betting that 99.9% of you had never heard of a Gocco before reading this blog. I hadn't heard of it until last summer, either. Once I saw the magic that it produces, I knew I had to have it.

So, I scoured eBay for a great deal, and had this baby shipped all the way from Japan:



As a wedding gift to us, one of my coworkers who is a graphic design ninja, designed our invitation and response card.

On Saturday evening, I got to work:



Little did I know (since the instructions were in Japanese), that this sucker needed new batteries. After a quick trip to the local gas station, we were once again ready to make our screen.


Voila! Now you just peel the design off of the back, ink it up, and begin printing.

Okay, kids, now what have we learned? Now we see that a) the blue ink is too dark, so we'll have to custom mix a lighter shade, b) the white ink doesn't appear well on the green paper, and c) the font is much too small --- it's blurry and doesn't take up much of the card.

Since I was still trying it out, I thought I'd see what the design on the actual invitation would look like:

Aaah. Another "teachable moment." Design too blurry, needs to be sharpened. White still a little light, should probably be embossed. Also, must work on centering skills.

In short, we'll be reworking the design a teensy bit, I'll sharpen it up, and I'll get back to work. Also, I've decided to emboss the entire suite so the ink is raised, which will add many, many more man hours to the project. Good thing Tom's done with finals on Wednesday... ;)

Anything I missed? Questions, comments, compliments??? :)

A Little Late to the Game

Did you know that March is designated as "National Crafts Month"? I did. And I've started my celebration late.

It's no surprise that I love me a good project, especially one that has instant results.

I actually started these organza flowers a few weeks ago as a test run. They were pretty simple, actually, and I had churned out 3 in less than half an hour. Plus, I only spent $10 on the organza, and I have plenty left over!



Mine are made out of blue and green, and I'm hoping I can figure out a way to make them into hair clips for my nieces. The ones I made were a bit more curly around the edges, but I like them that way. If I figure out a good use for them, I'll be sure to post the final result.

Last night, I left the wedding projects behind and moved into home decor. Not for my house (though those projects are beginning to swirl in my head, too!), but for my nieces' bedroom. The two oldest of the bunch are moving up to a "big girl" bedroom to make room for little Charlotte, who will be arriving in just 6 short weeks! So, last night, I dug my trust little sewing machine out from the depths of my closet, fired it up, and whipped up 2 pairs of curtains and 3 throw pillows. Tonight, I'm finishing up the last of the 3 pillows. Soon, Becca and I will start with the last of the accents, which I'm most excited about. I'll definitely post some pictures once the room is finished!

Since I was already on a crafty roll yesterday, I ordered a new set of calligraphy pens and white India ink to address the invitations.


(Clever calligraphy from Once Wed)

I informed Tom that once I finalize and verify all the guests' addresses, I'll be launching a hostile takeover of his computer and printer so I can begin the printing, then will start the white ink process in batches throughout April and May. This way, June will roll around and all I'll have to do will be to purchase the stamps! :)

And what's an envelope without an invitation?



That's right --- I'm breaking out the Gocco. I know I've made a series of false promises with this, but I really have no choice anymore. I have to start this and figure it out, in case it doesn't work...

And maybe, just maybe, if I'm not too burned out, I'll finally start on the ribbon wands I mentioned.

I've purchased a TON of ribbon a few weeks ago, but I still have to purchase the dowel rods for these and the flower girl wands and paint them before I begin anything...

A Guest Book, of Sorts...

For those of you who don't know, Tom and I collect wine. Truthfully, we don't know much about it, but that doesn't really stop us...



We try to gather a bottle or two from the places we visit. So far, our collection includes German Riesling (from my trip to Heidelberg), a bottle of Irish Mead (honey wine from my trip to Ireland), a tropical fruit Riesling (from our New Year's trip to Tampa last year), a few bottles from a winery in Michigan (from our summer trip this year), and then a few random bottles we've collected from various wine tastings and other functions.

Naturally, when I heard a fabulous wine-related guestbook idea, I was pretty excited. I was formerly anti-guestbook, only because Tom and I are not the people who would ever look at that after our wedding. But this idea combines the idea of a wishing tree along with wine, so I quickly jumped on the bandwagon.

On the "guestbook" table, we're going to have 4 or 5 bottles of good wine, each with a label. The labels will be "1 Year," "5 Years," "10 Years," "15 Years," and "25 Years." In front of each bottle will also be a card (or several small cards with one envelope) and the following instructions:

"Please write a sweet note to the bride and groom. Each bottle and card will be opened on the designated anniversary, so they can continue to share in the love from this day." (or something similar).

As you can imagine, I already have visions of gocco'd cards dancing in my head...

PS - I plan on attempting to Gocco this weekend. Maybe. If I'm not a scaredy-pants.
PPS - I've only logged onto my registry once since we registered. Okay, fine, it was twice. But I'm vowing to stay off it until May. Okay, maybe April...

I Jumped.

I did it. I bought the Gocco.

If I didn't have a pounding migraine (and an hour left of work), I'd be way more excited and be using lots more exclamation points.

But, that hasn't stopped me from thinking about all the future delicious projects I'm going to be embarking upon (Lord, help us all!)...

But just look at the magic it creates:





I can't wait to start :)

On a side note, I'd like to make an announcement/sent out my congratulations...

My oldest sister (the mother of 2 of my darling flower girls), announced this weekend that she is pregnant! :) Like I said earlier, there's no telling how many nieces & nephews I'll have by the time the wedding rolls around!!!! I can't even begin to tell you all how excited Tom is about this. This is the first child he's "eligible" to become a godfather to. His first words when I told him?

"You mean, I, I, I get to be a godfather??"

Haha. Priceless, this kid!

Somebody, Please, Talk Me Off My Ledge. Or Join Me.

So a few weeks ago, as I plunged into the unknown depths of wedding blogging, I came across a crazy word.

Gocco. (Go - Co). Like Loco.

The Gocco, as I quickly discovered, is a home-printing system that is having quite the renaissance in the U.S. Apparently the manufacturer in Japan didn't get that memo, as they decided to stop selling them in the U.S. Then, most cruelly, they decided to stop manufacturing them completely. (Though they'll still manufacture replacement parts and inks for the next 5 years...).

Gocco = magic.

This:

turns this:

into this:

And it makes these:

And these: (much like what I want to do!)

And these:

And even prints on cloth like this:

Is it not magical?????????

Now for the price. I've been offered one for $200 + shipping. Quite a steal when you consider there's several on eBay for $250 + shipping. And upwards.

And at first, I wanted it. And then I hemmed and hawed and looked up my bank account. But I still wanted it. And then, a lightbulb went off!

I can take the money for the gocco from my wedding budget!!!!!

It would be used to create the invitations, right? And probably the programs. And the thank-yous. And maybe placecards. And, well, whatever I wanted, right????? And, since these are only going to go up in value as less and less become valuable, it's an investment that I can re-sell, right???? Right???

Who's with me?

Who thinks I'm crazy????

HELP! Comments needed ASAP because I need to email the seller right quick!