Another set of wedding dish towels

A couple of weeks ago I posted about these Anthropologie inspired wedding dish towels that I made for a friend's bridal shower. I decided to list a set on Etsy and offer the choice to customize the trim colors. I liked the random assortment that I chose but I thought someone might like to coordinate the towels with the bride's wedding colors or kitchen colors. Plus, it is more fun to change things up a bit the second time. 

I was so excited when I discovered that someone had placed an order and had their own color scheme in mind. She requested a funky and fun combination of mango, light blue, dark brown, and citrine. I bought every roll of cute trim that I found in these colors and played with the different combinations until they were exactly what I had in mind. 

I may like these even more than the original towels. I just shipped them on Saturday so I hope the buyer is just as happy with the results as I was. 

Fun Find of the Day

I haven't been in Urban Outfitters in a while and yesterday I was in the area so I decided to stop by. Occasionally, I find clothes and shoes that I like in there but I really enjoy browsing through their fun accessories. Since Urban Outfitters is a sister store of Anthropologie, some of their items are very similar (or the exact same) but some how Urban Outfitters is no where nearly as dreamy as Anthro. While browsing through the gadget and houseware items, I came across these little notepads. As an advid organizer and list enthusiast, I was thrilled. I had seen the "All Out Of" notepad online and meant to order it but I guess it slipped my mind. I constantly have a grocery list in the making, and this had everything you could think of listed on it, along with extra space to write in other items. The list even has hummus (exciting to a Nutrition major)!

Next I saw a "Cook This" notepad. It had a place to write down recipes along with the shopping list for ingredient, prep notes, and a place to evaluate the final product. You better believe this made my day. Aside from this blog, I also have a food and nutrition blog where I create healthy recipes and make-over typically unhealthy meals. If you are in to that sort of thing, I would love for you to check it out at Nosh N' Nutrition. I have a feeling I will be back soon for a second notebook.

There were some other notepads that were pretty funny but I decided to just get the ones that were useful. When I saw the "Pack This" notepad, I had to have it as well. I am constantly forgetting important things when I go on trips. The check list is just as complete as the grocery list and I am headed to the beach in a week so I'll get to put it to use.

Each notepad was $7 which is a little pricey but I think it is definitely worth it. I just love lists, especially when they are cute, neat, and organized.

Anthropologie inspired dish towels

Within my group of friends, wedding season is coming into full swing. I have 4 friends getting married between March and July so many of my recent projects have been gifts for bridal showers and reception decorations. I have previously made the Ballard inspired "mr." and "mrs." pillows, the Pottery Barn advent calendar, and the moss initial wreath for wedding gifts. The most recent shower I went to was a kitchen shower. Sticking with the kitchen theme, I decided to make dish towels. I am in love with all of the towels at Anthropologie (along with everything else in the store). The designs are all so unique and each look as if they are hand made. 
First I bought a set of solid white flour sack dish towels at Wal-Mart. They were $5 for a package of 5 towels. I cut 2 squares out of one of the dish towels, each small enough to fit on a piece of cardstock computer paper. Then I taped the fabric squares to the center of the paper. Next I created my designs. I decided I wanted one of the towels to have an image of a wedding cake. I put my years of doodling experience to use and sketched a wedding cake. I scanned the drawing on my computer, printed a test sheet to make sure the image was in the center of the page, and then printed it on the material (taped to the card stock). 

For the second towel, I decided to create a list of wedding anniversary gifts. I had seen this on one of the Anthro towels and thought it was so cute and actually useful. I didn't know what the traditional gifts were for most of the anniversaries so I figured other people probably didn't either. 
Once I had both of the images printed, my mom stitched each fabric square on a dish towel (Again, I really should start sewing). I asked her to not stitch directly on the edge of the material, so that the edges would be a bit raised and have a shabby look. Next I picked out the trim at Hobby Lobby. I'm sure the employees were ready for me to leave because I had the towels and probably 50 different rolls of trim spread out all over the counter. After trying out a million combinations, I found exactly what I wanted. 

So this project ended up being a joint effort with my mom; I was the designer and she was the seamstress. I wish I had taken more pictures of the process of making the towels, but for some reason, that sort of thing just slips my mind sometimes. I loved the finished dish towels, as did the bride-to-be. I have a feeling I will be playing around with more designs to make some more of these.