enJOY it

an archived personal and craft blog from Elise Blaha Cripe.

  • BLERG.

    I could not fall asleep last night. No matter what. I even tried my new game of saying goodnight to every part of my body. Usually, this works and I conk out while naming stomach organs. (Not that I know all the organs, it is sort of like, "Good night spleen. Good night appendix. Good night bellybutton.") But last night I got all the way from my pinkie toes to my split ends and I was still Awake. With a capital A. Not so excellent.

    +++

    Cool internet love:

    + veronica's fantastic family is on Tara's blog. M, D & Ro, we should get family photos taken.

    + this tabletop is tremendous.

    + I love Cathy Z's new Design Do-overs feature.

    + this is old, but cool free fonts. I love the numbers.

    Have a happy, wide-awake, Wednesday.

  • number 4 : part 2 of 12.

    I am still working on and thinking about my 24 to do list. Though I wish I could go back and add "GET ENGAGED. PLAN A WEDDING." to the list. If only so I could cross something off.

    Our April date (one per month is the goal) was to go down to see the cherry blossoms. So romantic it even included sitting on a bench and resting our heads on each others' shoulders. It also involved one million people and accidently stepping on each others' shoes because there was no space to walk.

    Datenight2 Datenight22 Datenight23 The heart stamp went on the back of last month's photo. The calendar page is from the eggpress offset calendar. I stamped an "O" around the the date. On the back of the calendar page is a little section to write in "Dates to Remember." I used this to detail what we did for our second date.

  • loving of late.

    IMG_2421 IMG_2422

    You-are-Awesome mini prints from Kal. That YOU ARE HERE one is going in the bathroom which is Paul's favorite place to hang the random art I buy. Not kidding. I'll get something and he'll ask, "is that going in the bathroom?" As if the bathroom is the place where we like to bring company, sit them down and offer them a glass of wine to go with the cheese platter in the bathtub.

    It Sucked and Then I Cried by Heather Armstrong of dooce.com. I read her website and had to get the book. It was wild and also hilarious. It made me about 75% terrified to be pregnant have a baby. Which is great news for the next couple years. (Don't worry. I am not nearly terrified enough to not have kids. I am way to excited to be a mom.)

    ++

    Today is Monday. And Funday. I have oodles to do. It's the first day of the workshop and the last day I am taking names if you want in. Sign-ups will close this evening. And I promise, this is the last you'll hear from me here on the workshop.

    Have a happy Monday and a happy week.

  • happy easter.

    Easter
    egg scramble, a flower for a hat, carrot cupcakes, Hallelujah, He is Risen.

    Happy, happy Easter.

  • running on something today…

    IMG_2360 IMG_2356
    Back from my internet hiatus early.

    (I had to return to order a wedding dress from J.Crew that I will get to try on when I am home in Sacramento in May. It is a surprise for now, but it is Paul's favorite from the site.)

    I typed out my first couple days of lecture and tried out a few planned projects. I am feeling the creative energy coming back already. Just a little WOW for you, there are 86 people signed up for this workshop. And they come from 13 different countries.

    That is lighting a fire and a half under me LET ME TELL YOU.

    It will be fantastic.

    I love it, I love it.

    Thank you, thank you.

  • i have to share this before i turn off the internet for the day:

    At the end of March, we flew to Minneapolis MN for my cousin Jeanna's wedding.
    She emailed out a link to photos yesterday and I wanted to share…such a lovely
    wedding. Their photographer was amazing.
    0004vaughnblog
    0006vaughnblog
    0020vaughnblog0021vaughnblog
    0023vaughnblog
    0033vaughnblog
    More images here. Such an excellent photographer, such a fabulous wedding. Congratulations Jeanna + Craig.

  • eeps! i’m late!

    So it is a little after ten.

    There were so many fabulous decorating ideas. Mostly recommendations for paint + photos which I fully support. We are going to be here for 11 more months, so I am done with painting, but am committed to getting more art and photos up on the walls. Hopefully by May 1. That sounds like a good deadline.

    Thank you for entering and leaving comments!

    I decided to pick TWO random winners:

    Random Integer Generator

    Here are your random numbers:

    52	53

    Timestamp: 2009-04-09 15:07:08 UTC

    Which means:

    I
    love the idea of a photo wall. My husband and I are in an apartment and
    painting is not an option. So we let our wedding pictures brighten up
    our walls. All of the frames are black except for a few that are
    painted in an accent color!

    Posted by:
    Jennifer Monroe |
    April 08, 2009 at 05:33 PM

    Paper
    everything. Take leftover rolls of gift wrap and paste it on a
    cardboard box. Cut out shapes and decorate your walls. Line the insides
    of cabinets. Kind of like the nice surprise you get when a standard
    trench coat has a flashy lining. 🙂

    Posted by:
    Christina |
    April 08, 2009 at 05:52 PM

    Jennifer and Christina! You have each won a spot in my Get Crafty workshop. I don't think either of you are already signed up, so look for a welcome email from me by the end of the day.

    +++

    Sweet, I am going to turn off the internet until 5pm and continue working on the class and projects. I am so excited to get things rolling!

  • currently + currently.

    IMG_2339
    IMG_2341

    I really wish I could say the above photos are a before + after of our kitchen chairs. But actually I only have one of the four done. And actually, I only have enough fabric left to do one more. This was one of those projects that I closed my eyes and jumped in without giving it too much thought. The fabric is held in place with paper staples and packing tape. Not my finest hour. But it looks pretty good! And I adore the fabric. It came from good-ness, Leslie's wonderful shop. She is in the middle of moving so what's left is 40% off.

    When Paul and I first moved in, I had a million and one decorating plans. I have yet to accomplish 999,996 of them. But I have high hopes for our next place.

    +++

    Leave a comment on this post with a fun decorating idea and you will be entered to win a spot in my Get Crafty online workshop. If you have already paid, I will refund your money OR let you pass the free class spot on to a friend or fellow commenter. Winner will be chosen tomorrow at 10am EST.

  • roll on.

    IMG_2335
    I spent much of yesterday afternoon cleaning and reorganizing my craft space. It is all part of the Operation Get Yourself Together plan which also encompasses the Throw a Fantastic Workshop plan as well as the Help Natalie Make Wedding Invitations plan and about 15 other side missions. I feel like there are too many cooks in the kitchen. Which doesn't make any sense because I am a bit of a one man show. What I mean to say is Get Serious.

    But I am.

    And everything is coming together just lovely.

    To those of you who were upset that I had sun and you had snow yesterday, never fear. After that post it got very rainy and today we are back in the 40* weather again. The eastern side of the US can officially blame me for not knocking on wood after that post. Big mistake. Those shoes though are the real winners. I bought them last fall on sale from Piperlime but they are available now in a few different colors here.

    Today: We are going to battle the letterpress and produce wedding inviations. (Not mine.) We are also going to wear flip-flops in protest of this weather. Indeed.

  • we’ve got sunshine.

    Spring