:: Wedding Inspiration - Envelope Seals ::

I have always loved the elegance of wax seals. When I was 8 my cousin was given one for Christmas and ever since then I've wanted one for myself. Our wedding invitations are going out next week and what better way to add a touch of class to the invitations than with a wax seal?

We decided to cheat and save a little time by purchasing some amazing 'peel seals' online. All the hard work is done for you and all you need to do is peel the sticking backing off and stick them like a sticker! I will definitely get more made for my everyday snail mail adventures.

I can't believe it's 7 weeks until I get married! Time is really flying now! We're getting down to the last minute details. I'm trying to take time to enjoy it all and am refusing to let myself get stressed.

I find drinking tea helps calm me down, do you have any other tricks? I'd like to try yoga, but all the times at places near me are either during work or ridiculously late at night!

My Kitchen Tea is tomorrow and I can't wait to share some fantastic photos with you!

:: Finders Keepers Markets ::

This past Saturday I went to the Finders Keepers Markets with my friend, Halie. Oh my, it was wonderful! I love markets in general, but these ones in particular were fabulous. I restrained myself and only purchased a few things (even though I was desperate to break the bank!). They were held at The Old Museum which a beautiful old building that was once a museum and is now home of the Queensland Youth Orchestra, a rhythmic gymnastic club and a few other performing art groups.

I arrived at the markets just before opening time and was able to browse stores with ease as only a few people were there. Within the hour it was packed!

I love the blue, cream and tan decorations hung up around the three rooms. They added a really quaint feel to the markets.

I only took these two photos of actual stalls, because I wasn't sure if I was allowed. Does anyone know photography etiquette when it comes to photographing market stalls?

I was very restrained in my purchases. There was so much I could've bought, but managed to keep myself in check. Here is what I did buy.

This pack of sweet little cards from the Frankie stall.

This adorable scratchie card from a stall selling for multiple people, so I can't remember who made this one. Under the scratchie silver stuff it says 'Nt ll f the keys wrk but I'm gld this ne des xxxxxxx'. Cute, right?

This colourful card is from Able & Game. I love it's bright candy colours and cute print.

These lovelies are from Bespoke Letterpress Boutique. I may or may not be a little letterpress obsessed at the moment.

What did you get up to this weekend? Mr LG and I also put our Christmas tree up. Along with letterpress, I'm also obsessed with Christmas!

:: Award ::

In the past few weeks I have been gifted two awards from some lovely ladies. Thank you all so much! Here is the first award.

This award was given to me by Megan of Time After Tea. She is the author of a fantastic blog that I highly recommend! Gracie from Graciebellabutterfly also gave me this award. Gracie writes a ridiculously cute blog and you should really check it out if you haven't already. Thanks girls!

1. Why do you blog?

I love to write. Writing is my creative outlet. Ever since I was little I've had journals and notebooks lying around the place, and then when I discovered the Internet I quickly joined blogging sites like LiveJournal and now Blogger. This blog is my space to share all the things I love and enjoy with you.

2. Three best memories.

- When Mr LG proposed. We were eating lunch on our front deck and it was perfect. I never want to forget that moment and how I felt at that time.
- Meeting Hugo (my nephew) for the first time. It's incredible how much love you can have for someone when you've only just met them.
- Any time my whole family has come together to celebrate something or to simply hang out. I love my family more than I can express.

3. Four of the best fiction books you've read.

- 'Handle With Care' - Jodi Picoult
- 'My Sister's Keeper' - Jodi Picoult
- The Harry Potter series - JK Rowling (this counts as one book!)
- 'The Road' - Cormac McCarthy

4. Five best movies ever made.

- Atonement
- Donnie Darko
- The Notebook
- Seven Pounds
- Love Actually

5. Five things you can't live without.

- My family and friends.
- My life with Mr LG
- Smiles
- Photography
- Touch

6. If you could change your name, what would it be?

I've always loved my name. I don't know many other people called Jasmine, especially not with an 'e' on the end. I also love that my middle name is Holly AND that my future last name will be Lavender. Doesn't get any better than that!

7. Tell us a unique and interesting fact about yourself.

I'm an allergy kid. You name it, I'm probably allergic to it!

8. What do you love most about yourself?

I think it's my altruistic personality. My concern for the welfare of others helps me be a better person, I feel.

9. If you had a 'Freaky Friday' experience, who would you change places with?

I would like to trade places with my youngest sister. I admire how truly happy she is with her place in the world. Sometimes I forget how amazing this world we live in is, and I'd like the reminder that there's more to life than chasing temporary highs.

10. What is the best thing about being a woman?

I love that as a woman it's not frowned upon if I share my feelings and be emotional - I am allowed to laugh, cry, and get excited about the smallest of things and no one will judge me for it.

I pass this award on to:
Jamie of So Flawed
Chloe of Chloe in Reality
Allana of High Maintenance Hippy
Jess of the beat my heart skips

:: Wedding Inspiration - Wedding Rings ::

I don't know if I'm one of a few, or if every girl is just like me - but I have had my perfect engagement ring pictured in my head for as long as I can remember. When I was younger, I knew what I wanted and didn't know it was part of a particular style or period (I just knew it was pretty!). I now know the style I love is from the art deco period. I am so in love with almost everything art deco-ish.

For a while I toyed with the idea that I may want a coloured engagement ring, or maybe three stones in a row, or even perhaps a larger stone with baguettes down the band ... and yes, I toyed with these ideas while I was still single. Hey, a girl can dream!

When Mr LG and I went to look at engagement rings I didn't even bother to try on the art deco style I loved, because I was so sure it wouldn't suit me. But, Mr LG picked a ring out that he loved and asked me to please try it on. It was exactly the style I had always wanted!

That ring became my engagement ring a few months later.

This is my amazing engagement ring! I am currently without it as it is at the ring makers having a wedding band matched to it. I am having a half-band of small diamonds to match the shoulders of my engagement ring and I can't wait 'til January when I can wear both and proudly let all my family and friends know how much I love and adore Mr LG.

Do you have a favourite style of jewellery you love to wear ... or dream to one day wear? Another jewellery item I love is necklaces. I own so many of them and if I am out, you will rarely see me without one.

I hope you all had a fabulous weekend!

:: Pink and Green ::

A little while ago I participated in a Colours of the Rainbow swap hosted by the lovely Jess. It was such a fantastic swap - your partner was given your favourite colour and they sent you a package full of your favourite coloured goodies!

My partner was the gorgeous Allana of High Maintenance Hippy. Her favourite colour was pink. I had such a fun time putting together her package of all things pink!

 

 

 

 

 

I sent Allana a package full of stationery, a tea towel, decorations, a travel mug, a necklace, some musks and some ribbon. I also sent Allana's daughter a small package (the last photo). According to Allana, she was 'tickled pink' (ha ha!).

Speaking of corny jokes, you're going to be 'green with envy' when you see what Allana sent me!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Have you ever seen so much green deliciousness in one package? Allana put together an amazing package full of stationery, a tea towel (I love that we both gave each other a tea towel!), two gorgeous hand-made crocheted bow brooches (so adorable!), recipe cards, a cute little magnet, and the broken little guy in the last photo. Unfortunately he didn't survive the trip to my mail box which is such a shame because he would've fit into my kitchen perfectly.

Thank you again Allana! And thank you Jess for organising this swap!

Today was a fantastic day. Mr LG and I had our engagement photo shoot! I can't wait to show you the photos once we get them. We had a lot of fun on our old bikes.

How was your weekend? Did you do anything exciting?

:: Snail Mail ::

I have definitely been spoilt this week with lovely snail mail. I received three packages, one letter and some beautiful flowers. These lovely parcels have come at a perfect time as I am sick once again. I can't wait for Summer to officially be here!

Incoming:

 This cute card arrived from Jess in New Zealand. Love the flowers!

This awesome 90s stationery arrived from Perth with two CDs of lovely French music from Jenn. We had been talking about the hilarous 90s stationery we still had in our collections and now I can't wait to send her a letter on some of mine!

Mr LG turned up at my place with these lovely flowers for me. Immediately my sister asked him what he'd done wrong, haha! I absolutely love them and even more so because they were 'just because' flowers. So lucky!

This absolutely adorable card and onesie arrived for my new nephew. Gracie, you are incredibly sweet! Thank you so much!!

I also received the most amazing package full of green goodness as part of Jess's 'Colours of the Rainbow' swap, but I will post about that next time!

It's raining here, so once again my plans for swimming have been foiled! I took Mr LG to his first ever scrapbook store experience ... I think he may be scarred a little, ha! I hope you're all having a fabulous weekend!

:: Wedding Inspiration – Invitations ::

As you have all probably realised by now, I am a huge stationery nerd. I am so excited to be at the invitation planning stage of our wedding. I want to make the most perfect invitations, so that when our guests receive them they think, “Oh, that is so them.” A lot of people have said they are looking forward to our invitations because they know how much I love stationery … way to add serious pressure, guys!

I have been scouring the Internet for ideas and inspiration. There are so many lovely invitations out there, it’s hard to figure out what to do! I have also been scouring lovely paper stores and have bought home some delicious papers to make mock invitations with.

The green material is the base colour for my bridesmaids. Their dresses will have an overlay of a much lighter green to tie in with the floaty feel of the wedding.



Does anyone have any suggestions or ideas? All you married ladies out there, what did your invitations look like?
In other news, my younger sister has had her baby! She had a little boy called Hugo and he is the most darling thing I have ever seen. He has a full head of dark brown hair, dark brown eyes and olive skin. He was 7 pounds 12, and 50cm long. He is seriously adorable. My sister's not into photos being put on the Internet, otherwise I'd spam my blog with photos of him!

I hope you all have a fabulous weekend.