and the winner is...

we (i) decided to go with the farm. it just offers a lot more fun stuff. i also feel that it is much more personal to both of us with our family farm histories. and tell me that a country farm/hoedown wedding isn't gonna be a hoot! think carmel apples, corn maze, autumnal, hot dish and bars kind of event. so keep friday october 3 open!

wedding update

so here's option 2www.douglas.co.us/eventscenter/Louviers_Village_Clubhouse.html

this space is only $300 but only holds 100. you do get 2 smaller rooms along with the school cafeternasuim space (nice stage), bathrooms and a kitchen. there's a bit of lawn too. it shares space with a library so the public uses the same front door to get to the library upstairs, but only from 8-noon. kinda cute bit since i work at a library and my former library boss hooked us up. it has much more availability than the farm so we could go back to a saturday wedding. another plus, since it's cheaper, we can splurge in other areas. downside, fewer people can fit. it's not as close to the house as the barn, but still within an easy distance.
i think the country farm theme would work here as well just not as hoedown-y as with the barn. maybe this could be more of a eastern seaboard theme only neither of us have been to the eastern seaboard. don't worry, i have no shortages of theme ideas.

wedding update

well, there's not much to update. i'm still trying to nail down a venue which will also determine the date. i feel like no progress has been made and that i can't move forward on anything else until i get this step done. i'm such a theme party person that i want to wait for the venue to decide on the theme. pretty nerdy , i know.

so option 1: the green farm barn at denver botanic gardens at chatfield.

super cute right? this site has limited availability in the fall due to other events so we'd be looking at a friday evening wedding. it has a bathroom and a sink inside and not much else, but you do get the outdoor patio plus the lawn areas. they also provide a wedding package for $1300 that gives you this as well.

the polly steel nature center which is a cute little farmhouse that they suggest for your getting ready giggly girls area. full kitchen for warming up things, keep coats and bags in here, another bathroom.

this is the first place i thought of since it's close to the house, and we worked out a down home, country farm theme. potluck reception, picnic blankets on the lawn, fiddlers, drinking tea out of mason jars. bonus is that the corn maze is going on to offer some fun and games for attendees. so a bit pricey but a lot of fun. i like this idea because the fiancee and i come from country farm backgrounds and it's a bit of a homage to our roots. i also love the casual, relaxed aspect of it. the fiancee doesn't mind the cost so much as he knows i am trying to be very budget conscious, but i still cringe at the price tag, espicially when i start adding up all the other things that go into the wedding. my wedding coordinator/gay husband tells me that even with our pie in the sky plans, we are still having a wedding well under normal costs.

so, that's option 1. more to come and as always, comments are appreciated.

back to painting

yes i am still in full swing with wedding plans and doggie day care plans, but i could not look at my much manicure needed hand any longer. so back to dog paintings. this blog will definitely have more wedding updates as it will be a very crafty event.

we're gettin hitched!

it was a lovely valentine's day here in colorado. i thought i was getting flowers, but when i came home there were four rings lined up on the kitchen counter where i always put my bag down. they were his grandmother's and the sneaky pooh had gotten them some time ago. although i think they were given to him, more than asked for. tee hee!

dachshund

min pin

This one is painted on a piece of lumber that i had been dragging around for a while.

golden retreiver

I'm going to try to get some large canvases this weekend so i can do some more. these take about 2-3 days to do especially if done on a larger scale.

new pup art

mike and i are going to open a doggie day care since we both love dogs and are unhappy in our current jobs. as well as the day care, we want to have a shop of sorts. besides dog food, toys and accessories, i want to sell my dog paintings. i started doing some different breeds and have been playing with my painting style as well. they will still be in bright colors and larger scale since that is what i like to do. if these turn out well, i think i'd like to try to sell prints of the original paintings. these recent pups are from a book called "97 ways to make your dog smile"

i hope that isn't some kind of copyright infringement if i sell the paintings. hmmm i'll look into that. anyway i love how these dogs are all smiling with big happy faces.

so, i'll be posting paintings as i finish them and more on the doggie day care as events unfold.

modern flora

"how about orange" has designed some fabulous fabric called modern flora. as soon as i saw it i knew i had to have some. i don't know what to make with it yet since i want to make something to really show off the pattern.


when i do decide on what to make, i'll try it out on my other new thing. mike got me a vintage sewing machine from a co-worker's estate sale. it came with all the acoutrements but no manual and i was having a time trying to figure out how to use it. i finally found a manual today at a local sewing shop that hopefully will solve the problem.

her blog is in my crafters link as "How about orange"

brand new bag

i loved this bag in Lotta Jansdotter's book, "Simple Sewing." when i cut it out, i was afraid it would be on the smallish side, but no. it is very roomy and could easily have more than one pocket inside. i like the front sideways pocket too, i wasn't sure if i would.

next time i will make the handles a bit longer so i can wear it on my shoulder. the other issue i had is that it's not reinforced in any way so it loses its square shape. i did put cardboard in the bottom to give it some stability. it could definitely have something in the sides since i like square bags to not flare out.

sock and glove

i saw this book on the web months ago but in Japanese. i'm so glad it's in English now. Super cute ideas for making stuffed animals out of socks and gloves (obviously). here's my first attempt.

it kinda looks like piglet from winnie the pooh, i think. one sugestion i have is to not use really stretchy socks or gloves. they have too much give and become stretched thin when stuffed. i think i'll raid the boyfriend's sock drawer for some tube socks and see if that works better. in my attempt to use everything and not throw anything away, this guy was stuffed with the sewing trash (thread ends, fabric cuttings, leftover bits of foam)

he's on his way to Vermont as well. they probably think i'm crazy for sending them so much stuff.