Nashville Wedding Invitations - the sweet life - Amber Housley - Designer Mom Crafter - Sweet Life Designs

Nashville Engagement Shoot at the State Fair

Meet Sheri. Sheri is my every day girlfriend. Because literally I see her day in and day out. :)

Four years ago we met at our corporate job. I walked in to her Creative Director office with proofs of a direct mail piece for a client and instantly was thinking in my head,  "wow this this girl is way too cool for me. Totally out of my friend league." Cool artsy design eye glasses, all these awesome design posters on the wall....

And a few weeks later she inquired if I'd be interested in joining a bunco group a few friends in and out of the office had started. We would take turns hosting parties (hello! love them!) each month and there would be a small amount of gambling involved (totally where I had just moved from! Vegas Baby Vegas!) and possibly some wine drinking (no comment necessary).  

Instant friendship!

And now we spend our lunch days touring and tasting restaurants all over Nashville...discussing invitations and design....AND planning her November wedding.

Here's a peak at some of my sweet and uber talented friend Sara E. Rose's photography skills in action at the Tennessee State Fair for their engagement shoot last week. You MUST visit her full blog posting and see all the wonderful pictures that capture Mark and Sheri so perfectly. 

 

Sheri and I can't wait to share her invitations and details with all of you SLD fans and clients in November!

Three Times A Charm

Three years I have been married to the most amazing husband and father I could ever ask God for. He supports me, he grounds me and I'm thankful for the 7 year journey we've been on since we first met. And wow, what an awesome road that lies ahead!

I still remember our wedding day like it was yesterday. 

He asked me in the car the other day what I would have done differently. And I couldn't come up with really anything definitive. Actually, I take that back now reflecting on it...Rocco, our yellow lab, definitely would have been in the ceremony! ;)

Him. Me. Our Family. Our Friends. It was a perfect September day. 

Feeling so lucky and loved by this charming man three years later. Happy Anniversary honey. Love you!

 

Photography by Dove Wedding Photography. As appeared in Southern Weddings in June 2008. 

Nashville Flea Market Vintage Finds

Hello gorgeous purple apothecary bottles!

It was four years in the making, but I finally made it to the Nashville Flea Market at the Tennessee State Fairgrounds last month! Held on the last weekend of just about every month, you can find a menagiere of junk - both old a new. We (alongside my buds Sara and Amber) set out in the wee morning hours (7am!) on Saturday to see what goodies we could find. And yes, the Starbucks drive-thru was a necessary requirement on our voyage. ;)

I’m used to “swap meets” -the West Coast version of flea markets - and this one too had the usual booths of stuff you really didn’t need but end up walking home with. ;) I scored a pair of $5 (!) grey flats for Fall. I passed on the As Seen On TV items..

The real good vintage old stuff is in the back corner, under the covered outdoor areas. I was able to bargain on some glass bottles for a bathroom shelf pharmacy bottle collection I was starting, but a lot of the stuff, the vendors wouldn’t budge at all on. Some of the things I had my eye on: Victorian tin ceiling tiles that were wrapped around wood to be used as a wall art, old stained glass windows I’d love to use for wall art (but sadly too much for my budget with them starting at well into the $100s), old movie sign marquee letters.....but no budging on the price. :( So, I decided it was fate and just moved on.
Sara scored an awesome retro quilt in oranges, browns and green colors - perfect for her upcoming Fall mini sessions....for get this, FIVE DOLLARS! And that was the asking price. What an awesome find! Yes she will let me borrow or ELSE!

By the time we left around 10:30am, the crowds were picking up and the sun was high overhead -- the perfect time to wrap up a fun morning with the girls. I can’t wait to return this weekend!

Nashville StudioWed Open House Next Tuesday

Bride-to-be's, don't miss out on the next StudioWed Open House on Tuesday, September 13th from
6-8p.m.This is a great opportunity to mingle with all the fabulous vendors of StudioWed and have one-on-one time with them - including ME! ;) LOL.

This month's feature are the wonderful videographer teams of Focal Point and McNeal Wedding Films. Check out some awesome clips here: http://studiowednashville.com/nashvilleblog/nashville-wedding-events/open-house-meet-our-videographers

You can register to attend the FREE event here: http://studiowednashvilleopenhouse.eventbrite.com

See you there! 

 

Toddlers and LaLa Land

My little dude runs now. He zooms up and down the hallway his little shoes thumping down the hardwood floor. Scales the scary staircase. Pounds on my studio’s french doors. And squeals with glee if you surprisingly show up to STOP whatever he is doing at the moment.

And I exhale and smile. Just yesterday I was wishing his little squishy baby legs would walk.
Today I am catching my breath or sighing in relief when there is a little moment of quiet stillness.

The other weekend I was invited to a friend’s baby shower. I personally designed the invitations, helped with some of the details. I was really excited to see the decorations and visit with friends. And I brought C with me because I was happy to let him play with some of his little buddies.

Rule #1 Mommyhood: Things never going accordingly to plan. Deal with it.

15 minutes later I was in the car with tears streaming down my face and my visiting from out of town friend consoling me. I had to admit I was jealous because no one else was chasing their toddler around. Weaving in and out of groups of ladies chatting, I was keeping him from touching buttons on the hot stove, pepperjack cheese cubes out of his hands, putting wine bottles back in wine stands, away from glasses of mimosas.

I couldn’t do it. So I smiled, scooped him up and took the easy way out.

My friend pointed out that no one probably even noticed us. But I did, and I cared about what other people thought. I had this happy little rosy picture in my mind how he would sit on my lap playing with a little toy...I would chat happily with my friends...we would all ooh and ahh over the cute pink baby things. Yes, I was living in la-la-land. Toddlers don’t exist in and la-la-land.

And so I had to get real that day and embrace this new stage of parenting we have entered. I remember when I was pregnant my Mom and everyone else would always say, “oh just think of how you’re going to lose all that weight chasing him around!” So does this mean I’ll be back to a circa-2006 size 4 by Christmas? ;)