Madcap Frenzy: graphic design, DIY and everything in-between: It's been a year...

(1 year married: August 23rd, 2008)

It has officially been a year that I have been married to my beloved hubby, Wren. We tied the knot on this day last year at around 11am-ish. I so far have enjoyed my time with my husband and we have been through some pretty rough ups and downs this past year. Right now I hope to be enjoying and relaxing on the beach at our one friend's beach house (which we spent a few days during our honeymoon at) and sipping a margarita (hopefully). Honestly as I write this, it is not our wedding anniversary yet, however my hubby is sneaky and I know he would check my blog to see if I've posted anything that I am doing for him on here before our anniversary, so I am not having this being scheduled to be posted till the day of the anniversary. (Ha!)

(Here's the card in all it's glory. lol)

Since the so-called "traditional" 1st year wedding anniversary is something to do with PAPER, I used just that. Right now we are trying to save every penny we have to pay off our credit card, put stuff into savings, and just to be safe in case Hubby doesn't find a job by the time his unemployment runs out. He also is planning on going back to school, so we want to save up for that too. So, on that note, I went the 'cutsy/poor' route as some say. But this puppy had LOTS of time and effort put into it. I stayed up this past Saturday/Sunday and worked on it from the time I got home from work (roughly 1:30am, since I worked the night shift) to about 8:30am. We then ran over to our old apartment to get a few things moved, then I proceeded to crash into bed at about noon. haha. So I was determined to get it done all at once, hence why I stayed up all night.

(I liked how the hempy twine looks with these bold colors.)

I made him a card, "scraplifted" if you will, of a card design by Nichole Heady. You can see her card here.

(I decided to add a charm and button that were not in the original design, to add some personal flair to it.hehe)

( I also added a simple sentiment on the inside right top corner of the card)

I loved the simple layout and I was determined to make one for our anniversary that was similar. Since our wedding colors were Red, Black, & White, I decided to make the card and the gift those colors primarily.

(here is the cover of the coupon book/album)

For the gift, I had gotten this tag/envelope kit to make a coupon book. I decided I would do roughly 5 coupons (I ended up making 6, that's why the one looks different from all the others) for things I would do for him/get him. This project was one of those things that I had some great ideas, and I'm still not 100% sure it all worked out.

(I love 3-d elements like these shiny Thickers letters. So fun!)

My problem was A) I wanted each envelope to be decorated in the theme of what the coupon was for. However, after the second envelope was decorated front and back and the cover and back of the album were done, I realized I REALLY didn't have the time or energy to create 5 or 6 front AND back of envelopes, plus the coupons. So I kinda cheated- I ended up only using 3 envelopes and the front goes to one coupon and the back to another coupon. Luckily the ones I had already done sorta worked for some on the coupons, so I didn't have to totally re-do them.

(It's the Ring of DOOMMMMMM! haha..I mean Ring of Love. :D)

Problem B) the ring that came with the kit wouldn't open no matter how I tried. I also did not have little rings at all! So I decided to use safety pins all around it to attach each page to the ring. Now that I think about it, I should of used ribbon instead of safety pins, but Oh, well. It's done and gone. :)

(Page 1- to go with coupon for "Home cooked meal, since my Hubby is usually the cook)

(each pocket has the coupon in it)

(Most of the coupons looked generally like this one, with some variations to match the pocket. I typed out the individual "Coupon good for" on my computer and just printed it out for these)

(page 2- Back massage coupon)

(Page 3- I will do dishes for a week)

(Page 4- Picnic under the stars)

(Page 5- I will record his lines so he can practice for the play, "Rope" which he is in. And I will just all around help him practice for the role.)

(Page 6- An I.O.U. to allow him to purchase a video game of his choice. He is a big-time gamer, however we try to limit what he can buy, just like with my craft supplies. lol)

(It became pretty thick after everything)

Okeys, I know this is a LONG post, so I'll spare you all more blah blah. Keep your eyes peeled for more news on the next Digiments release. Digiments team was given a vacation during August, so pretty soon here, the September release will be ready to roll. I'll keep you all posted.
Now I'll leave you all with a few shots from my wedding, since most people I am sure that read this, didn't follow my blog way back when I got married and originally posted pics. :)