Xyron 500 = A Crafty Girl's Dream Come True!

I wanted to share the Xyron 500 with all my fellow crafty girlfriends! This little machine is truly one of the best purchases I've ever made. I actually purchased this from Michaels (I used a 50% off coupon and paid maybe $15-20 tops) well over a year ago while I was planning my wedding. I mostly used it to make stickers but it serves many purposes: laminator, magnet maker, sticker machine, and the list goes on. You can buy refillable cartridges at Michaels (again, use those 50% coupons ladies to pay only around $9-10 per cartridge). They are easy to load and the machine is super simple to use.

Just to give you some ideas for how to use the Xyron, check out my pictures above. You'll see I attached wrap-around labels to my wedding invitations, added family and friend pictures to my table numbers for my wedding, added stickers to bags with mummers' supplies for each table of guests at our wedding for their surprise appearance, and applied little personalized gift tags to my bridesmaids giftbags to be given at our rehearsal party (click on each picture to see more closely). AND I continue to use this machine as I create projects for myself and friends currently. You can't go wrong with this purchase!

Stay tuned for some upcoming projects including:

1. My new personalized address labels

2. Back to School notecards (especially for teachers)

3. Adrienne and Muhammad's save the date cards

4. Inside pictures of my new house

I'm also beginning to work on but won't be posting for a few more months:

1. Terri's baby announcements (baby due September 2009)

2. Kathy's baby announcements (baby due October 2009)

3. Adrienne and Muhammad's wedding invitations (wedding May 2010)

4. Jamie and John's wedding invitations (wedding June 2010)

5. Fall festival invites (Bo wants to have a fall party at our house this year but I'm trying to talk him out b/c guess who will be doing all of cooking, cleaning and preparation??? I do love entertaining though....hmmmm. We'll see if these ever get printed!)

6. Thanksgiving invitations for my family (I'll be hosting my favorite holiday at my house this year and cooking my first turkey ever!)

7. My Christmas cards (I'm going pink and green this year!)

8. My mom and sister's Christmas cards (starting to gather some ideas already)

Wow, that's a lot of work ahead of me! I better get busy b/c once summer is over, that means planning lessons, grading papers and back to grad school. Not too much time left for Lime Design....BOO HOO!

Old Window = New Picture Frame {Before & After}

I love mixing old with new. As a matter of fact, that is the style I am going for in my home. It's a very old house, and I love it's old charm, but I also love modern conveniences such as new windows, appliances, furnishing and what not. So why not mix the two together?!

I've been dying to get my hands on an old window for a very long time. Finally my father-in-law gave me one that he had been saving and I began my picture frame project immediately! I wanted to display some of my wedding photos, so I sanded and painted the old frame black. Then I had my favorite wedding pics enlarged, and I cut them down to fit behind the glass panes in each of the six panels. I love the way it looks above the fireplace! The old window gives the frame an antiquey feel, but the new paint and pictures add that mix of newness - perfect combo!

Wedding Anniversary = June 22nd!

My first wedding anniversary is in a few days, so I thought it would be appropriate to post a related project that was just completed a few weeks ago. This is not something I made, rather had someone make it for me (I am not that crafty!). Bo and I ordered a monogrammed aisle runner for our big day last June. Loving monograms the way that I do, I really wanted to find a way to use this monogram in our home without it being cheesy. So, after contemplating several ideas, I decided to have the runner made into a Christmas tree skirt. I chose the cream quilted fabric, thread colors to coordinate with the original monogram, and mapped out a design with chocolate brown ric rac (still not sure how I feel about the circles....I think I would have liked it better if they were limited to just around the cut-out hole for the tree, but I guess it's kinda cute and too late now anyway!) and had a seamstress put all of my ideas together. Can't wait to put this around my Christmas tree this year! You can see the runner pre-tree skirt in the above pics.

I'm also working on another random project for my new home that involves some of my favorite wedding pictures and an old window! I'll post it when I'm finished!

Laptop Cover

The creative juices have been flowing lately! In addition to my invitation/card projects, I've also been working on some other random projects. I found one recently in Martha Stewart's magazine. It's a simple cover for my laptop made from an old cableknit sweater. No pattern necessary - just cut sweater to fit the laptop, turn inside out and stitch sides and bottom together, and attach a cute button! I used black thread to match the black button as a sort of "clasp" if you will. Since I transport my laplop to grad school and back, the cover serves as protection against scratches, etc. I completed this project in about 1 1/2 hours!