Wedding Retrospective: pew markers

If you look directly behind my head in this picture, you can see one of our pew markers.  They were very simple to make; the hard part was deciding on a final idea for them.  We wanted something simple and elegant - no lace, no bows.

We (and by "we" I mean Mom and I) wanted ten markers.  So, we couldn't spend a fortune on each piece.  We needed something that we could find in bulk for a good price.

In keeping with the theme of the favors (to be seen in a future post), we decided to go with Mason jars as the base of the marker.  We easily found ten around the house.  The best part of using Mason jars is that they're totally reusable.

We then proceeded to wrack our brains about what would go in the jars.  Fresh flowers from the florist were a little too pricey for us - we preferred to spend our floral budget on the girls' bouquets (my amazing aunt crafted all the boys' boutonnieres for us!).  We next priced faux flowers at Michaels, which were shockingly expensive.  But, as luck would have it, on the way out the door, we spotted some pre-made 'bouquets' of hydrangeas on sale for about 70% off.  What was more fortunate was the colour - brown!

We were then off to find the finishing touch - two inch pink ribbon.  This we found at our florist who sold it by the metre.

We decided we'd hang the jars from the pews with some 'rustic' twine.  Hint:  go to the dollar store for twine - we tried agricultural supply places first and apparently most twine is blue these days!  Not the rustic look we were going for!

Here you can see the finished products (minus the twine for hanging).  Ribbon was wrapped two or three times to deepen the colour (the best colour we could find was a sheer pink) and secured with double sided tape.

The hydrangeas were trimmed using wire cutters so that they would sit snugly in the mouth of the jars.  This project definitely worked well with the fullness of the hydrangea - a single bloom per jar was sufficient.

Post a comment if you have any questions!  For more of my wedding posts, look here.

More Corner Brook

So, first off, I realized last week that it's actually Corner Brook, not Cornerbrook.  That was a very longstanding misconception of mine.  All is well now though...

So I went for a long Sunday drive today.  Ok, so it's Monday, but you know what I mean:  a relaxed, ambling drive, going lower than the speed limit, the locals on your tail and rolling their eyes...  I was on the lookout for more great scenery and it was not hard to find.

The above photo was taken on a bridge that takes you from Corner Brook to the other side of the inlet/bay that Corner Brook perches on.  Continuing along that route, I got a great view of some of the larger mountains in the area.  Looks like we have snow afterall!

I also came across the railway museum in my ambling.  Having grown up in PEI, I think I am even less familiar with trains than most people my age.  Anything I know about trains comes from one Gordon Lightfoot song or another.  Well, these machines are huge.  They really capture the imagination.  Not hard to see why train travel has such a romanticism about it.

Hope everyone is enjoying their Thanksgiving, wherever you may be.

Pico de Gallo

This tasty treat was actually made up several weeks ago now... I just remembered it when browsing through my iPhoto.  It preceded a nice feed of tacos.

I just made it up and I can't remember the exact amounts of anything... but I will attempt to write out the recipe below.

Pico de Gallo

2 Cubanelle peppers (green), seeded, finely diced
1 large tomato, seeded, finely diced
1/4 red onion, finely diced
juice and zest of 1 lime
~ 1 tsp coarse sugar
~ 1 tsp coarse sea salt
chopped fresh cilantro, to taste
freshly ground black pepper, to taste

 
Toss and serve with tortilla chips.  This recipe is quite juicy.  If you prefer it drier, I think you could combine the salt, peppers and tomato, wait for 20 - 30 minutes, drain the excess liquid, and then continue adding the remaining ingredients (adding more salt, to taste).

Mittens

Remember, way back, I said I was currently knitting the Give A Hoot mittens?  Well, I finally got to finish them last week.  And not a moment too soon, it seems, as the temperatures took a dip this weekend.

I took them along on my walk in the park.  There turned out to be some excellent backdrops for my photo shoot!

Fall in Cornerbrook

I'm up in Cornerbrook for a few weeks.  That's on the West coast of Newfoundland (about a 7 hour drive out the Trans Canada from St. John's).  Fall seems to have arrived up here, unlike in St. John's!  I went for a little walk today and needed to share the fall colours!

The landscape is much different here than the East coast of Newfoundland.  The forests are more like those in the Maritimes - a lot of mixed growth and deciduous trees.  There are still rocky hills, but they're less barren than the East coast.  So in a way, Cornerbrook kinda reminds me of home this time of year.

Today I went for a walk in Margaret Bowater Park, just around the corner from where I'm staying.  The trails are beautiful and groomed.  The path runs all along the river as you can see in the photos above.

I saw this little sight on the trail and it reminded me of a book from my childhood: A Child's First Book of Poems.  I know at least two readers who know what I'm talking about!

One last picture.  I got new glasses a few weeks ago.  Here you go:



Hope this post wasn't too random for you!  You'll hear from me again soon.