Keeping Up with Kaht and Devin: Wedding Invitations!

No turning back now! Devin and I mailed out our wedding invites this past Monday and they are on their way across the country {and world} to our family and friends. Looking back on the experience of making our own invites (like literally..we made everything), I don’t regret it. I only had one meltdown where I shredded a piece of paper, cursed out loud and tossed it into the air. My poor younger brother just stared at me as confetti rained down around us and then he went and did the dishes. (Without being asked!)

Devin, bless his heart, said all the right things as we were cutting, gluing, embossing, and sewing the various parts of the invitations: “Darling, we must have saved a thousand dollars doing these ourselves!”, “Truly, these handmade invites reflect who we are. I don’t think a stationary store could have captured that.” and “Don’t worry, I will take care of gluing these corners and embossing these cards. Go fiddle!”  He is truly someone I can rely on to follow and help me with all of my crazy ideas and endeavors. {Thanks love;)} 

As I dropped off the big box of them at the post office, the kind gentleman behind the counter reached for the box and said, “Oh, let me take those for you.” As he gently tugged the box, I was reluctant to let go. Not because I doubt the wedding and my marriage to Devin, but because I did not want my perfect little creations to go out into the rough, dirty world of the United States Postal Service! ‘Be careful,’ I whispered with a grin and shrug and let them go. 

We are planning our wedding around fall colors, country settings, and vintage items, so we wanted out invites to have a vintage country feel to them. The vellum and leaves are sewn onto the handmade paper we made a couple of months ago. Each handmade envelope is hand stamped and gold embossed with our design. The envelope liner is a photo from last autumn that I took while on a stroll and complimented the leaves on the invites so nicely! The RSVP postcards were designed with a stamp I found at a craft store in the bargain bin (yay!) and then we glued lace onto the back to give them texture and a vintage feel. A lot of work, however, we are so pleased with how they turned out!

Without further ado, our invites:

I simply love the texture and raw edges of the handmade paper!







Truth here: can you tell what our stamp is supposed to be? :)





And because the green leaves were so fabulous, I could not resist a few ring shots :)



xo K

Any Day Now! Jess' Belly

Jess makes pregnancy look easy. She has embraced this time in her life and simply glows every time I see her. She might deny it, but even at 9 months (any day now!) she still moves around like she is toting a feather pillow attached to her stomach and not another human being. She does not complain, she does not roll her eyes, and she hardly misses a step when chasing after her 2.5 year old, Jane. It is really amazing!

Truly it has been my ultimate joy to be a part of Jess’ pregnancy from the day she told me, “You might wonder why I am gaining weight, so I should tell you…I’m pregnant.” :) I had hardly noticed, but was completely head over heels excited for her and her family! We immediately started documenting her belly on a monthly basis and watching her and Baby Iggy (boy or girl, we don’t know!) grow has been amazing. Really…she makes it look easy!

Jane is really excited for the new baby to arrive. Sometimes there is concern about older siblings not welcoming the new baby, but Jane is completely ready to be a big sister. Early on in Jess’ pregnancy, Jane would refer to her mom and her belly as two separate things: “Bye Mommy. Bye Belly.” Now she recognizes there is a baby in there and talks daily about the baby arriving soon. Adorable!

Have a beautiful weekend everyone! And keep Jess in your thoughts as Baby Iggy is bound to arrive any day now! {No doubt she’ll make that look easy too. :)}

This was a fun shot for many reasons, one of them being that the baby kept moving and literally knocking the rings off! We had to keep rebalancing the rings. It was pretty amazing to watch though. :)





Jane's first time drinking out of a hose. Dad was a great teacher!



This is one of my very favorite images: just so peaceful.









Jess was blessed with these beautiful blue eyes. Glamorous!

Big sister to-be :) 
xo Kaht

To-Do-Less Weekend

"Oh beautiful fiance of mine, what do we have planned for this glorious weekend that we get to spend in one another’s company?” Devin e-mailed me (and I slightly embellished). “Gaze lovingly at one another…” I replied coyly.

This shocked Devin as I normally shoot back a long list of things we MUST accomplish in our two days off. But seeing as it will likely rain this weekend, our to-do list is quite short. It mainly consists of stuffing our invites into envelopes (we’re nearly done!!), going to a friend’s cookout, maybe weeding a flower bed if the rain lets up, and waiting ever so patiently for a phone call from our friend who is due any day with her second child.

Wow! A weekend of gazing lovingly at my dearest…Amazing! Last weekend was a whirlwind that I’m not quite certain I can recall every aspect. We were up late Friday night cutting, gluing, and trimming invitations, up early Saturday to plant tomato plants in the family garden that of course led to us planting the whole 70’x70’ garden plot, to being up late Saturday evening cutting, gluing, and embossing envelopes, to a busy day on Sunday with Church, putting in the garden fence, and fiddle lessons. I even got pecked in the head by a robin after I got too close to her still occupied nest. (I was looking for an old egg shell {long boring story} and I truly thought the babies had grown-up and flew the coop!)

A small to-do list weekend sounds quite lovely.

Devin's feet, not mine:)

After Planting the Garden                                                After a Nice Clean Shower

Friday Lethargy

Today I feel super uber lethargic and just can’t seem to shake the funk. I think it was all of the “Ah-HA!” moments I experienced yesterday at Daria and Andy Bishop’s All-Star Program: E-Sessions 101. So many new things (and good things) and I am zapped. It was a really awesome afternoon! But, truly, today nothing could give me energy….practically nothing. That is, until I took the mail to the postage machine and had to print labels off. 

When labels are printed they shoot out the side at practically 100mph. Okay, perhaps I exaggerate a little, but out they shoot and I feel that I must try and catch them as they come flying through the air. I totally had 5 labels to print and I….caught…each…one. ::victory dance:: ‘WHOA!’ you think…I know you are impressed. Really though, I felt a rush and a little more alive, all because I caught 5 mailing labels. Oh the simple pleasures in life.

Here is the handsome beast that greeted me when I arrived at Daria and Andy's session. 
Yeti was quite a nice welcome. Showed me where the best seat was, helped me unpack my notebook, and even offered to carry my refreshments for me. What a good dog :) A big thank you to both Daria and Andy (Yeti too!) for opening your home for us to sit and your minds for us to pick. I think we all took away something awesome and new!

xo K

My Life Musical

Sometimes I fancy my life to be a musical where I might just burst out singing at any moment. And of course since this would be my life musical, I am a wonderful singer who knows all the words and the perfect song for the utterly emotional moment at hand.

Just this morning while on my morning walk along this pretty country road, I just could not help but have an overwhelming sense of happiness (oh man, here comes a song) for life. “La la la la!” Perhaps it was the birds singing or the little bunch of wild flowers in my hand, but seriously… When you are walking along you think and you notice things around you and the sounds and smells….hot damn! Life is beautiful! Everything melts away. That bad customer service agent is no longer at the forefront of your mind as numeral uno on your anger list. No! Perhaps they just were having a bad day and well…who knew what cup of tea they were drinking. I’ll just send some positive energy their way and call back laterJ Life truly is lovely and that makes me want to sing (and dance).

The other day while Jane and I were visiting our friend Bo’s house, not only did we get to collect salamanders in the pond and help transplant baby flowers, but we were sent home with two Sun Gold tomato plants! (One for me and one for Devin.) I was so excited over these lovely plants that there was a little bounce in my step (and song on my lips) as we headed home. Bo has some fabulous “Thank-You” pastries coming her way now. Thank you Bo!

So today and tomorrow and for the next million years, I hope you have a chance to see how beautiful life is and perhaps sing a little song about it! :) xo Kaht

Bo, Jane, and Lucy Dog in Bo's beautiful garden last summer.