Clyde Steamer Trunk Bar: $649.99
Source: www.worldmarket.com
One day, while surfing the net, I came across this beautiful trunk bar. I fell so completely and irrevocably in love with it, that I vowed to one day own it. It comes with a hefty price, though, so I resigned myself to just bookmarking it on Pinterest until I not only have the space, but the moolah to accommodate this. I couldn't resist showing a friend my object of desire, and my friend immediately said to me the magic words: "You can do this yourself. Steamer trunks are a dime a dozen on Craigslist for $40."
Less than 5 days later, I've acquired this beauty for $20:
These are my 2 of my 3 gorgeous babies. Can anyone guess who the third baby is? Tee hee. Anyway, back to business.
My workstation and materials: Black paper, cream cardstock,
with the Thank You emblem on it, a template, and ice cream.
Status: Tonight, I completed 20 stock thank you cards.
What's left: Adding the corner stickers to hold the photos, writing our thank you messages, handing out the cards. Possibly starting this whole process over again if we discover yet again that we've counted wrong. The crazy thing about weddings is that no matter how many times you count and recount, you're always wrong somehow. >=/
What my station looked like before I cleared it out to look more like a
hardcore crafter's station.
Disclaimer
The Thank You cards take a very long time to make and require a lot of commitment. It's definitely easier said than done, but I believe the reward is pretty great. =P
You're probably wondering why I decided to make my own Thank You cards instead of just buying them. That was my original plan, because any sane person would be planning to buy a bunch of Thank You cards and filling them out right after he/she comes back from the honeymoon or within 2-3 months of the wedding. Unfortunately, for me, it's an issue of size and culture. As a Vietnamese bride, I'm sort of required to take pictures with every guest as they enter the reception, and then provide those pictures to them during the reception. Unfortunately, I couldn't afford to have that kind of picture service, so I thought, "I'm just going to print out the pictures after the wedding and attach them to the thank you cards. No big deal." Wellllll, it turns out, finding Thank You cards that can fit 4" x 6" pictures is pretty rare. In fact, I couldn't find any. Thank you cards are all 3" x 5" nowadays. Hence, my dilemma.
So here's the deal: I'm a person with many interests. Many, many, many interests. On top of that, I LOVE to craft, design, dream, etc. As a result, I have many goals, which is supposed to be a good thing. My only problem is, I never have the motivation or drive to finish them. For example, I have another blog, called The Eventless Planner, with which I had planned to update once a week. Did I keep up with it? No. Hence that makes the top of my list of things to keep up or accomplish.
I have several options: 1. Buckle down and tackle them one by one, and put myself on a "new goal lockout." This is not fun. As it is, I am already on a "new yarn acquisition hiatus" which has been broken recently when I accepted yarn from a wise friend who recognized she was in too deep with the knitting thing. 2. Have children and expect to automatically become superwoman, as child rearing is known to give women an inhuman amount of motivation, productivity, and energy. As a scientific person, I do, in fact see some flaws to this theory. I'm just being hopeful. Or 3. Make my private struggle public through a blog and hopefully the need to not be a public failure is strong enough to motivate me to complete my ongoing projects. i.e. this blog. I'm not sure if I have a strong sense of personal pride, but we'll see.
My excuses in the past have been varied: 1. I was living at home with my mom and brothers who require attention, and I tend to put their needs above mine. 2. I needed my own space, etc. Once I move out, I'll be so much more productive. You'll see. Yeah... It's been close to 10.5 months, and there's still unfinished projects from before I moved out. 3. I was planning a wedding (mine) and was involved in 2 other weddings. Who had the time? This is bull, because the other two brides were also in grad school at the same time...on top of being involved in multiple weddings =/ 3. Once I have my new laptop, I'll blog all day. Wrong. I just wanted a new laptop.
As you can see, I have a tendency to be either unabashedly self-indulgent or to bite off more than I can chew. Here's an abbreviated list of projects/goals/etc. that I currently have and their status:
Goal #1: Post once a month in The Eventless Planner. Just any kind of post. Any length. Just once a month!!! (sounds easy, right?) Status: Last posted on February 10, 2011. For updates on this goal, I will link a new post once a month.
Goal #2: Finish MIL's throw. Status: Started about 3 years ago. Last time I worked on this project was probably January 2012. About 50% complete. Deadline: Done by Xmas, dammit.
Goal #3: Transfer files from old laptop to either new laptop or portable hard drive. Status: Last attempted before wedding (December 2011). About 75% complete. No deadline established.
Goal #4: Actually get legally married. Status: Not even attempted yet beyond joking about BIL getting a license to be an officiant. Deadline: Done by Xmas, dammit.
Goal #5: Finish Thank You cards. It's shameful, I know. I am so completely, utterly ashamed. Status: Finished with all the family and parent's friends category. Trying to finish thank you cards for friends and coworkers. Need to print out and make some more cards. Do I sense a tutorial??? Deadline: Done before 1 year has passed.
Goal #6: Mother's scarf. Status: 25% done, but want to redo. Not feeling the pattern. Deadline: Done by Xmas, dammit.
Goal #7: Post photobooth pics online and send link of album to weddings guests. I'm so embarrassed. Status: 0% done. Gah! Deadline: Done before 1 year has passed.
Goal #8: Steamer Trunk Bar. I'm turning a steamer trunk into a bar, much like this Clyde Steamer Trunk Bar from World Market. Status: 5% done. I bought a steamer trunk, that's about it. There's no deadline on this one. It is what it is.
Goal #9: Embroidery hoop earring holder, as inspired by a Pinterest pin. Status: I've bought the materials.
Goal #10: Complete the origami flower ball thingy as demonstrated in this video:
I don't know why I started it. Maybe because it's badass! I also don't know why I want to end it. I just want to end it. Status: 25% complete. Deadline: none in sight.
I think I'm going to stop at 10... I will add more that are waiting in the wings but were less prioritized. Please stay tuned as I update on certain goals and their status. Ciao!
