replay / vol. 5

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1. Cailen and my brother-in-law got married this weekend. It was an amazing wedding and she looked gorgeous!
2. I've been doing a lot of wedding prep for my cousin's wedding and that included planting 20 succulents.
3. I spruced up our new dining table with a little center piece arrangement.
4. I received these pretty postcards in the mail from Krista.
5. Made this garter for Cailen.
6. Patrick's bottom lip gets stuck like this sometimes and I love it.

chiced / 6

We went to the swap meet today. It was a gorgeous day, we enjoyed lunch, and found a lot of things that were on our list. That is the key to shopping at swap meets or thrift stores: a well thought out list. Without a list, you are likely to get things that you don't need or have the money for. No matter where you're shopping, you'll probably find something awesome. But be honest, do you need it? Have you been wanting it for more than a few weeks? All of these items that we picked up today are things that we have been wanting for the house or that I need for a wedding that I'm helping out with in August. What did you do this weekend? Do you ever go to the swap meet?

stunning

How gorgeous is this table?

Found here.

wedding hair

source

My brother-in-law is getting married to this lovely lady. We're in the wedding, so I've been thinking about pretty hairstyles that I may want to rock the day of. I seem to be drawn to any hairstyle with a pretty braid or braided crown. You can see more ideas on this pinboard.

shop update / quality over quantity

I've listed this birdcage veil in the shop, along with the flower girl headband. This is the veil that I recently made for a friend. I was so happy with how it turned out and so was she (which of course is my ultimate goal). I'm hoping to keep my inventory pretty limited so that I can really focus on each piece and how they turn out. I'm extremely happy with what I have in there so far. That's much better than a bunch of things that I'm not in love with (which is what it was like for me before). Quality over quantity is definitely my goal.

Also, for the first time (maybe ever) I'm realizing that people are hiring me because they trust my taste / design style..whatever you would call it. That may seem like a no brainer, but I didn't fully understand that until recently. See, I have this problem with worrying about disappointing people. It's something that I dwell on the entire time that I am creating something. It really gets in the way of being confident in what I'm doing. Lately, I've been able to let that go and just create. It is so freeing! It hasn't just changed the outcome of what I'm making, but made the whole process so enjoyable for me. That's when I do my best work- when I enjoy and feel confident in what I'm doing. So thank you everyone who trusted me to make / design something them. It has been a huge encouragement for me and I appreciate it more than you know.

xo
Chelsea

the shop's open

I've re-opened my shop! It's going to be a very long and slow process of restocking as I create new pieces.   A lot of people have asked about my shop and why I had it closed. Well, I needed a break from making wedding pieces for a while. I wasn't very happy with the style that my shop had taken on. Therefor, it was becoming more of a burden than something I was enjoying. When we moved, I couldn't even look at all of my supplies (I have a lot of them) without feeling anxious or overwhelmed.

Recently, I made a hairpiece with a birdcage veil for a friend that's getting married later this month. I loved how it turend out and it inspired me to start sketching out new ideas for the shop. Today I made this flower girl headband and decided to re-open the shop. I'm going to start with just headbands and hairpieces at first. I still don't have a lot of free time to dedicate to my Etsy shop. I am in a wedding this summer, I'm helping design and create all the decor for another wedding, and I'm trying to keep busy with Typewriter Boneyard.

In other news, I started watching Downton Abbey today. OH. MY. I am SO addicted! I honestly thought I wouldn't like it, but I'm all in. Sheesh! Because that's what I need- another tv show to be obsessed with.

Vintage Wedding Dress

This lovely dress is currently living in my closet. It was worn in this photo shoot, which was featured on Ruffled, as well as Engaged and Inspired. It is so beautiful in person with very delicate details. I just can't bear to send it to the Goodwill. That's why it's for sale through The Gown Swap. I think it would make a great wedding dress maybe for a small/ casual wedding. If you are interested in purchasing it, you can do so here. If you have any questions about it, you can send me an e-mail: chansen.213@gmail.com

farmer's market photo shoot.

A few months ago, Philip and I got to play bride and groom for a photo shoot and yesterday it was featured on the Wedding Chicks blog! It was a farmer's market inspired shoot at The Barn at the Flower Fields in Carlsbad. It was extra fun for us because we were originally going to get married there. We ended up having to change our venue (The Barn wasn't ready for events at that time). It's ok, we got pictures there anyway. Ha!

Leif Brandt took these beautiful photos. Being in front of a camera is super awkward for me, but it helps when your photographer is really fun and easy to work with. He was great at giving direction and making us feel comfortable all at the same time.

Katelyn Groth was our stylist. She picked out the prettiest outfits for me to wear. See the outfit with the pretty lace skirt and green top? Yeah, I still want to wear this everyday.

Nellie Chan was the event coordinator of the shoot and she did all of the floral design. It was my first photo shoot with her, though we've worked a lot of real weddings with her. It's amazing to watch her work- she is beyond amazing at her job. Not to mention, she has flawless taste. I love being apart of anything that she does!

Not so sound like a diva, but I don't like anyone doing my makeup except for Channing. Yeah, it's true. Lucky for me, she was our makeup artist for the day!

Cami is my hairstylist that I go to on a regular basis and she did my hair that day. (She even weaved thin pieces of leather into my hair.)

There's more! You can see the entire gallery here.

Here's a few pictures that Philip took behind the scenes:

This is my friend Azy just doing a little calligraphy. No big deal. Haha. (She has a bunch of sweet hidden talents.)

pinterest picks: delicate wedding

Left to right (starting from the upper left):

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12

All from my Pinterest board

Cailen is going to be my sister soon (!), so I've been having fun talking wedding ideas with her. I am especially loving all of this delicate inspiration.

I hope you are enjoying this week. I am getting sick from not stopping (or sleeping). Sadly, tonight's not going to be any different. Jake and I played at the Farmer's Market yesterday. It was definitely a learning experience. It was super super hot yesterday (and humid)! Being outside in the heat all day, singing for 4 hours straight, and standing in one spot for so long was physically exhausting. I felt like a train had ran me over by the end of the day. Also, we got pretty burnt out after having to play our set a few times. However, it was still fun. I have never felt that comfortable performing before. I wasn't nervous at all (yay!). Hopefully we will play another show soon.

Time to get back to work! Hopefully, I will be back tomorrow :)

shop update.

There are a couple of new headbands in the shop. Both are made with vintage lace appliques and detailed with pearl beads. The ribbon makes them very comfortable and easy to wear.

Lace Crown Headband:

Christine's Lace Headband:

shop update

There are two new items in the shop this morning: Twiggy Dessert Picks and Lynette's Paper Feather Hair Comb.

These dessert picks come as a set of six: 2 flag picks with button charms, 3 small flag picks, and 1 custom banner. This set would be great for engagement shoots or the dessert table at the wedding. You could use them in pies, cupcakes, or use a few on top of the cake.

This hair piece is very delicate. The paper feathers are made from the page cutouts for Philip's lamps. Dried baby's breath lays across the feathers with two small flowers on one end. There are small pearl beads inside each flower.

All of my paper pieces in the shop are now coated in a matte protective finish so that they are durable against any kind of moisture or liquid. Because if you're as clumsy as I am, you'd rather be safe than sorry.

custom cake topper.

I sent this custom topper out earlier this week. Look at those little love birds ♥ If you have any questions or custom requests, please e-mail me: chansen.213@gmail.com

♥

Philip and I had a great day yesterday. I made a fort in our living room [inspired by this D*S post] and a nice dinner. We hung out at home and then went on a little trip to Influx for coffee. It was a really relaxing night which is something that we seem to be missing a lot lately.

Happy Anniversary to my best friend! I love you ♥

Real Wedding.

A couple of our best friends got married this last December. I was so excited when Summer asked me to help make a few things for the wedding. I made the guys their boutonnieres and this little bird duo was their cake topper. Nathan is the photographer behind Ocean's Ink Photography (and the groom). He took these amazing photos for me. Aren't they lovely? You can see more of Nathan's work here.

Giveaway!

The Dainty Woods is giving away three hair pieces and a bridal hair piece! Check out Bow Ties and Bliss's to win! They have a lovely site that features beautiful weddings and great inspiration! Check out their site and enter to win these pieces!

we're back.

So many exciting things going on around here this week. It's just that were out of town and without Internet. Now I get to share them with you :)








I was so giddy tonight when I was visiting 100 layer cake and happened to spot one of my ring bearer book stacks!! Remember Kristen and Ben? Well, their GORGEOUS wedding was posted today. You should definitely check out the post. There's a lot of beautiful pictures. They did everything themselves, the location is just breath taking, and everyone looked fantastic!

Also, we wanted to say a huge thank you to Rebecca for posting about Philip's shop. She bought a lamp after one of her sweet readers sent her the link. The name of the book was Archer in Hollywood. Her sons name is Archer and they live up in LA, so it was a perfect fit :)








Speaking of lamps, Philip has some new pieces in the shop. There were more but they've been selling within hours of him listing them!








And lastly, one of my boutonierres was featured on Emmaline Bride this week. They did a woodland inspiration post and I got to be apart of it. Emma was sweet enough to invite me to be a featured artist for their site. They just recently had a make over and it looks great! Check them out for great wedding ideas!

We're adjusting to having to get back to our daily routine. Part of that for me is being consistent with the blog, which I'm slowly getting better at. Check back this week for shop updates and other exciting things. Good night.