Lots of things cookin!

Okay, so we're two weeks into Buckeye Season. I've already hit my mom up for a batch of her famous Buckeyes which Adam loves. When we got married (back in 2002) I had a Grooms Cake made for Adam and my mom covered it with Buckeyes. In total we had over 900 Buckeyes at our wedding and Mom made every single one of them.

Weddings and parties are in full swing. Recently Denise Busic, one of my clients, threw a "Knights and Dragons" party for her son Colin who turned 4 in August. Ofcourse she needed a perfect invite to match.

According to Denise, "They pelted the 4ft dragon with 300 water balloons. They were vicious! The pinata took forever. The girls gave him a good beating. I've been told to sabotage it in the future. They made shields for their family crests as a craft. And my neighbor drug over her bouncy castle. " Sounds like an awesome day for everyone.

Other exciting news is that I recently purchased a corner rounder. I have three dies to make different levels of corner roundness. It's a really fun tool and it gives an extra something to some invites. I've also been searching for new paper and ribbon. Almost everyday the nice UPS guy brings me something new.

I've been promising pictures of brides - I have a few saved up for another post.

What else? Well my friend Kat and I enjoyed a nice shopping spree on Sunday at the Flower Factory in Dayton. I have lots and lots of ribbon now. Beautiful burgundy, burnt orange, browns and greens. All beautiful. Kat is gearing up for the Fall Harvest Festival being held this weekend at Lake Loramie. She's having a booth to peddle her yarn and jewelry and she's been kind enough to make room for my notecards as well. In addition to notecards I will have my "Bag of Scrap" which is essentially a ziplock bag full of odd and ends, pretty papers, bits of ribbon, buttons and whatever else I sort of forget about but am relunctant to throw away.
Anyway, this is a big weekend for the Lake and it's a worthwhile trip. Check out the Fort Loramie Chamber website to learn more. http://www.fortloramie.com/index.php

I'm really excited for Sunday. The Country Living Magazine is having a Fair/Festival of it's own in Columbus. I've talked (okay forced) my husband into going with me. There will be antiques, crafts, demonstrations and good food. Who knows, maybe one day I'll have a booth at one of these big shows. http://www.countryliving.com/antiques/shops-and-shows/cl-fair-2008

A-hoy Strangers!

I've been meaning to update my blog, I really have. I was shocked to get online today and realize that it's been almost a month since my last post. While the hazy, hot (and dry) days of summer are still technically here, I do see autumn on the horizon. Since this is my favorite time of the year I'm happy to say good bye to festivals, water aerobics (thanks to my bride Leslie Stienecker who invited me to the pool and got me hooked) and even Turtle Sundaes from the Tasty Treet.

September I will say hello to Adams chili and my apple crisp, a couple antique festivals, the Buckeyes and a lot of exciting things in store for Sara Paper.

- I intend to have my price list and some photos online so all curious brides can check me out.

- I'll be unrolling Christmas card options! I have four new albums from carlson craft with some really great stuff. Lots of photos cards, funky modern colors and even some "green" options.

- Most exciting of all I'll be offering a 2009 Grand Prize. A Wedding Invitation packet worth $500! You don't want to miss this opportunity. I'll have more details after Labor Day.

- More photos of happy brides (and grooms). I've been storing them up.

And now a "shout out" to my husband Adam. He deserves all sorts of credit for his role in the Bremenfest Parade. His family and friends worked really hard on their float entry and won the prize for "Best Novelty" and the "Mayors Award" as well. They designed an incredible float complete with "canons" and smoke and pirates and well, all sorts of things. Adam felt it was important to be an authentic pirate and devised for himself a wooden leg. Luckily he wasn't so authentic as to sever his limb. But he endured the pain of walking a mile or two in a heavy and uncomfortable leg.

A New Addition - to the office

I'm so excited about my new addition I feel like I should mail out something akin to Birth Annoucements. I have a new dining room table set! If anyone has visited my office recently and sat at my table you were probably being polite when you didn't say, "wow, this chair is really wobbly". My friend Laura wasn't so polite, mostly because she thought she was the problem not the chair.

In the morning sunlight.

Anyway, on Sunday I was in sort of a stupid mood. Poor Adam had no clue what my problem was so I decided to spare him. I went on a jaunt to Wapakoneta to bum around the antique shops. It was at Gild the Lily (102 East Auglaize Street - lots of great items there) that I found the most perfect table and chairs. Deep mahogony wood, antique-ish character (however, I couldn't tell you when it was crafted) and beautiful aqua upholstery. I loved it, though I reasoned in my head that I don't have anything aqua in my home for it to match. I have red curtains for crying out loud. And an orange office chair. Still, I sat on each chair and was pleased that only one had a flawed arm. It was a fabulous price, proof that if you spend years searching and longing for such a treasure it will eventually happen. I called Adam (who was even more confused as I was suddenly in a good mood) and got the okay to make the purchase. He picked it up yesterday (Special thanks to brother Munch for helping Adam carry it into the house - sorry I couldn't chat) and I'm just thrilled. Somehow, aqua fabric and all - it just works.

A closeup of the fabric and the craftsmanship

Just a fun picture. A vase (or vaaaase if you want to be fancy) from our wedding, a doily I believe made by Adams grandmother and of course the top of the new table.

Me, being goofy - I guess I should get back to work now.

Some recent brides in all their glory (the guys look pretty good too) Jason and Neily (Dingledine) Iannantuono

Married May 31, 2008 in Chicago Illinois

(aren't they all beautiful)

Caton and Teresa (Dubbs) McLear

Married June 14, 2008 in New Madison Ohio

(in an impressive motorcycle themed wedding - you should have seen the pics)

Photo by Stockton Studio, New Madison, Ohio

Kurt and Chrissy (Homan) Albers

Married June 14, 2008 in St. Sebastian, Ohio

(on probably the first HOT day of the summer in an un-airconditioned church)

Photo by my old buddy, Todd B. Acker, Sidney, Ohio

A Weekend Getaway!

All sorts of fun. Brides getting married, the weddings a fleeting blimp on the course of their marriage. Some will get to enjoy the rest of their summer in newlywed bliss. Other have the summer to sweat out the rest of their wedding plans.

My husband and I finally took a little weekend getaway. A nice relaxing jaunt to Cincinnati, or more specifically across the river to Covington, Kentucky. We spent Saturday walking the streets of the Main Strasse Village http://www.mainstrasse.org/, lounging at the hotel pool and finally an evening at Newport on the Levee http://www.newportonthelevee.com/ where we enjoyed excellent German food and beer at the Hofbrauhaus. http://www.hofbrauhausnewport.com/.

Imagine our surprise to be seated at a table next to a fellow New Bremen resident! Talk about trying to get away. And then later we enjoyed chatting with three Navy Men and their wives, one of which originally hailed from Coldwater. These men served in Korean War and were enjoying a nice reunion. We had fun talking to them, especially Adam who worked so hard to find the ladies a nice felt tip pen so they could add their marks on the already written on table. These ladies were so nice that when they left they came back into the hall and presented Adam with his very own Hofbrauhaus mug. The big one. I forget the whole story behind it but I know Adam was sweet talking and pretending it was his birthday. Anyway, we got a great kick out of it.

We spent the rest of the night meeting new people, including the band, Monica with her harmonica and her brother Joe, and a nice group of Dayton students celebrating their friends 21st. Apparently too, the Hofbrauhaus, and I guess Cinci in general, is an excellent place to have a bachlor/bachlorette party. In fact, we met a bachlorette party participant on the bus on the way back to the hotel. She was from Bradford. So future brides take note and make the trip to Cinci to have some fun.

We capped off the trip with a visit to the Freedom Center, the Reds Museum and finally shopping at the Ikea just off of 75.

Now it's back to work and I'm very excited to be brainstorming with a new bunch of brides with fabulous ideas!

Another Random Spotlight

Well, my grand plan of updating this blog and keeping a regular rotation of client spotlights is out the window. It's just not happening. It seems I only do the spotlight when something newsy is going on. Well today I have such an opportunity to share.

My Random Spotlight client is Bev Hurlburt of We Speak Communications. Bev recently ordered stationery for her business. She is a motivational speaker and from the looks of it, has a lot of important stuff to talk about.

Check out her website, http://www.wespeakcommunications.com/ and try to catch her in action. She is speaking this Sunday, June 22 at the Bethany UMC in Celina at 7:00pm. This evening is free and open to the public.

Starting to Feel like Summer

For weeks now I've been talking about my "Spring Brides". Looks like we're almost into summer. Where did the time go? One of the things that make my life feel like summer is the Farmers Market. The market in St. Marys started on May 31st. It was a beautiful day and my friend Kat and I enjoyed a relaxing morning on the bridge.

Me, showing off my notecards which I peddle at the bridge

Here we have Kat, showing off her wares of hand dyed wool,

baby shoes, jewelry and all sorts of stuff.

I encourage everyone to attend our Farmers Market. It's held every Saturday from 8-12 at the Covered Bridge in St. Marys. You'll find unique items, yummy food (not to mention free samples) and entertainment.