My Week Through Instagram: Week Eighteen

Week eighteen of 2012 has come and gone and tonight I'm going to recap it. But first, how was your weekend? For me, Saturday was completely devoted to my brother's graduation from LMU in LA. I am so proud of him and cannot wait to see where life takes him next. He is so amazingly talented and creative so I know his journey will be exciting to see. I'll share pictures from the graduation this week. Today I continued work on my big wedding deadline. Sadly I discovered a minor error (fault completely my own) and so it's going to take me a bit longer than expected to get everything done. It's a bummer but I'm so close to finishing. Just a few more days work.

Here was my week:

Sunday: On Sunday I was preparing a DIY project which involved my air plant. I was letting it soak up some water before shooting pictures. I'll share the project this week. I just love air plants. I think I'm going to get a few more. They are almost easier than succulents to maintain. So that basically means they are the easiest plants ever.

Monday: I styled and shot some packaging pictures on Monday. I made up this paper pom flower with red stripe waxed paper that I found at Michaels. It is quite the simple gift topper.

Tuesday: The Lakers' second playoff game against Denver was on Tuesday and I just had to support my team. I am a pretty passionate fan so I go all out. The Lakers shirt wasn't enough. I had to compliment it with my purple cardigan too.

Wednesday: A huge stack of wedding programs getting completed. They have burlap covers and are tied with pink string. Here are a few behind the scenes shots.

Thursday: Putting the place cards in alphabetical order and getting them ready for display.

Friday: The place cards will hang from this cascading ribbon display branch. I love the two-tone colors of light pink and peach.

Saturday: A scene from LMU's packed graduation. It was a beautiful day in LA and I think everyone was enjoying the nice weather and optimistic atmosphere. An atmosphere of possibilities.

So that was my week eighteen. What did yours look like?

Follow me on Instagram if you like. My username is laurenelisecrafted. Or see all of my pictures on the computer through Followgram.

New Discovery: Red Stripe Waxed Paper

Happy Wednesday everyone! We are half-way through the week. How is it going for you? My to-do list is still pretty large but I'm making really good progress on all my wedding crafts. Yesterday I got a big chunk of the programs done (I shared this sneak peek on Instagram) and I'll share more official pictures on the blog soon. So I'm feeling good there. But once that is done (hopefully by this weekend) it will feel so good to devote a little more time to blog posts and DIY projects. And hopefully incorporate a few fun photography projects in there too. A few days of rest are definitely needed.

The other day I was styling and shooting a few packaging projects in my studio and in the process I made up this paper pouf gift topper with some fabulous red stripe waxed paper. I bought this material awhile ago and kind of forgot about it. 

It was the perfect material for these poufs because it is thicker than tissue paper but light and airy and still easy to fluff up the fringe. You might remember the black stripe pouf I made for Whisker Graphics a few months ago. I made that out of a Bitty Bag which is a lot like a glassine bag which is essentially waxed paper so these two poufs are similar in material. Check out the tutorial on the WG blog to see how to make these poufs yourself. They are so easy! You just need three components.

I am pretty excited about creating some other things with this waxed paper. I think it is technically meant for wrapping up sandwiches and foodstuffs. It would be a fun accent at parties to wrap up treats in. But I can imagine other innovative ways to use it too. The red stripe is so simple and definitely the thing that attracted me to it at the craft store. I bought it at my local Michaels in the packaging area (it's by the brand Celebrate It) but I also found this sweet paper goods and party supply shop Hooray Design Co. that also carries it online.

What would you make with this waxed paper? Or what would you like to see make with it?

Did you like that font I used? It is called Jacques and Gilles and it's my new favorite thing.

Do you like that cute little squiggly arrow you see? That's a free (and awesome!) download from Ez of Creature Comforts. It is a set of arrow brushes that you can download and load into Photoshop for personal use. So fun!