Upside down wedding cakes?!?

So here's one sure way to make your wedding cake stand out and maybe shock your guests a little.... try getting one upside down! As I was browsing the net, I came across a few cakes and noticed that some brides are throwing tradition to the wind and opting for these unique cakes.  Sometimes they are even hung and called chandelier cakes.   I just love how pretty much anything can be done with cakes these days! Its truly amazing!  Check out a few pics I found of some upside down cakes. 

 

Photos found on various sites.

Quick Wedding Planning Tip

If you are planning your wedding and you are in the "renting linens" phase, here's a quick tip that I didn't know. Make sure you look into the cost of purchasing your linens vs renting them. Alot of times, depending on the type of linens you desire, renting and buying cost the same! Go figure, huh?

I didn't have a clue about this before planning my wedding, wish I would have known. So I thought I'd share that. And the greatest thing is if you have no use for them after the wedding is over, sell them online! Another bride will be happy to take them off your hands! :)

Bumble Bee Themed Party

This upcoming weekend I have a bumble bee themed party I'm decorating for friends of mine from college.  The party is for their cute little 1 yr daughter, Tatum.  Its been fun putting things together.  Cant wait to show you a few of the items I made for it!  Here is the official party logo I came up with.

 Stay tuned next week for pics of how everything else turns out! :)

Stepping Out on Faith: Gray Ellis (Cari & Angela)

Today's Stepping out on Faith feature is on Cari Martin and Angela Henderson of GrayEllis.com.

Former Job: Education 
Passion: Fashion

When did you discover your passion? 

"We both discovered our passion as little girls...mixing and matching pieces.  However, we felt a STRONG sense of community and didn't think fashion lined up with that goal!"

What career field were you both in before branching out and how long did you work in other jobs before branching out to start your own business?  

"We were both educators and that's how we met.  We taught for 3 or so years then branched out and started retailing (8 years) and were working at same boutique and realized we could do this!!"

What was your "breaking point" when you knew it was time for you both to do your own thing?
"We knew it was time when we learned all we could from the boutique we worked at.  Angela was the store manager/buyer and Cari was the visual merchandiser.  One day at the boutique we started changing around the store..merchandise etc...and it just FLOWED and it felt amazing.  It's a POWER we have working together...that was the day!"

What has been the best part of stepping out and running your own business?
"The best part is having a VOICE in the world, letting people get to experience "OUR" point of view, being our own boss, and showing women they can take risks."

What advice would you give others who are ready to step out?
"HAVE FAITH....Papa (that's what we call GOD) always makes a way!!"

Anything else you want to share?
"GRAY | ELLIS is an honor of our grandmothers...our ancestors...the women that paved a way before us...we are grateful...PLEASE...SHOP IT UPPP!!"

You can check out the ladies' recently launched online boutique at www.grayellis.com!! Let's show support!! :)

My Dream Machine

So the other day while dropping off my sewing machine at the shop for maintenance, I was introduced to my "Dream Machine".   I've always wanted to get another sewing machine... something that could handle more heavyweight projects.  And what do I come across in the store..... the Bernina 330! Isn't she a beauty!! I even took a "test drive" of her and wow is there a difference from my machine! Bernina is one of the top brands of sewing machines but they aren't cheap.  This new 3 series starts around $800 but if you are an avid sewer, you'll get your money's worth from it!

I'll be paired up with my dream machine one day! Until then....I'll keep dreaming! :)

Homemade Brown Sugar & Honey Facial Scrub

Lately, Ive been looking for some new skin treatments to try.  While I was on one of my favorite hair, skin and makeup blogs (MoptopMaven), she mentioned a homemade scrub she uses twice a week so I decided I'd give it a try.  She suggested trying 1 tablespoon of raw honey and 1 tablespoon of brown sugar.  I looked online and saw this is a popular homemade scrub and some people add lemon juice. Honey adds moisture and the brown sugar acts as a gentle exfoliant.  So for my first homemade scrub I went with:

1 tbsp on brown sugar
1 tbsp of raw honey (I got this from Whole Foods)
A splash of lemon juice
(You can also add a lil vanilla extract and/or oatmeal as well)

Mix ingredients together in a bowl

This is the consistency final scrub should be.

Next I massaged the scrub on my face for a few minutes then washed off with cool water to seal my pores.

My final verdict for this homemade scrub...... I love it!! Its not harsh at all and it definitely leaves your skin with a smooth, soft feel.  Make sure you use this on clean skin.  This is great to do once or twice a week along with your regular skin regimen.

Pretty Fonts!

Anytime you are creating invitations, stationary, or party materials, choosing a good font is always key! Nowadays there are literally thousands of fonts to choose from.  I LOVE pretty script fonts...so girly!  But some of the really pretty fonts can be pricey.  There are a lot of sites like 1001fonts.com where you can download tons of fonts for free though.  I have compiled a few of my favorite fonts. These all come from www.myfonts.com where you have to buy them... check them out!

Champion font

Aphrodite font

Luxus Brut font

Miss Robertson font

Mynaruse Royale font

Silken font

Suave Script Pro font

One Year Anniversary, already?

My how time flies.... one year yesterday, I married my best friend and love of my life! I swear it feels like we just got married yesterday.  God has truly blessed us with a wonderful first year of marriage and to celebrate we took a trip to Italy!

It is always nice to visit other places and I find it so interesting to see how different everyone lives in various parts of the world! Alot of people smoke in Italy so besides having smoke blown in our face every other step we took, we had a blast taking everything in! We visited Rome and Florence.  While we were there we toured the Vatican, Coliseum, Uffizi Gallery, and a few other places.  We also took a Cooking and Wine Tour in Chianti, Italy where we saw how wine is made and learned how to make pasta ourselves!  I also got to check out the biggest fabric store in Rome, Bassetti Tessuti.  It kinda reminds me of Mood Fabrics in NY.

Check out a few pictures we took!

 

Run with Passion

 I was on my friend Nicole's blog this morning and she did a post on her husband and how passionate he is about running.  She closed with this below and I LOVE what it says!

 

RUN WITH PASSION. 

RUN FEARLESSLY. 

RUN TILL YOU ARE OUT OF BREATH.

 RUN TILL IT HURTS.

RUN TILL YOU REACH THE FINISH LINE.

AND THEN RUN SOME MORE!

 

This is such a great reminder how passion can drive you and how you should NEVER give up on your dream!  Let it continue to drive you to never stop!! Sometimes it's hard to stay motivated even with something you are passionate about especially in the face of constant rejection or when it seems like things aren't going the way you hoped or when you just aren't feeling it on a particular day.  But keep running!! Run like there is no tommorow.  Run like your life depends on it! DONT STOP until you reach your goal and then dream and run some more!!!  Kick discouragement and doubt in the face which is nothing but the enemy trying to cloud your mind! And most importantly, remember where your passion or dream came from!  The Lord wont give you talent, a gift, a passion and not give you the ability to make it come to pass! Keep HIM first and truly all things will be added! 

Have a great weekend yall! ;)

P.S. I'll be taking a lil break next week but will be back blogging on Oct 18th!

New Beginnings - Stepping out on Faith!

Last Friday marked the end of one chapter of my life and the beginning of a new one!  After putting in 8 years, I'm officially no longer in corporate America and I'm finally truly stepping out on faith to pursue my passion!

To celebrate this new season in my life, my wonderful hubby planned a lil surprise gathering with a few of my friends.  I was soooooo surprised (can you tell by the pic? lol)!!

I am so beyond thankful to have such supportive family and friends in my life!  I know there will be ups and downs of this journey I'm about to embark on but it definitely makes it all better when you have people around you to encourage you along the way.  Here is a pic of the cake they got me and a pic of all of us!

Stay tuned for my new collection of bags on the way!  :)

Anniversary Photoshoot

In about two weeks, my husband and I will be hitting our 1 yr anniversary! I tell you I don't know where the time goes.  It feels like this year flew by! But I am so thankful to the good Lord for such a loving and sweet husband and this past year has been one of the best years of my life!  To commemorate our upcoming anniversary, we decided to do a photo shoot with none other than my fav photog, Nicole from Girl Photography and she put us to work! lol  I have a new found respect for models because photo shoots are definitely not easy.

I thought of the idea to do a photo shoot because on our actual wedding day, we didn't get to take many as many pictures as I would have liked to of just the two of us.  So I decided I would put my dress back on for the shoot and do a more casual look...kinda like the type of pictures couples do the day after the wedding.  Luckily even being about 10 lbs heavier now than I when I first got married, I was able to still squeeze in my dress lol.  We shot our pictures at the 30th Street train station in Philadelphia along with a few other locations downtown.

Check out a sneak peak of a few shots Nicole took: