image via ruffled

Two words: Wedding. Blogs.

They have become my guiltiest pleasure and the biggest black hole for large chunks of time. I blame my obsession on you, Jamie (;

And here’s the best part: I’m not even engaged…! HA! But good lord, you better believe I’ve already got the whole wedding planned out, right down to the last detail. (And never in a million years did I think I would be that girl!)

My two faves at the moment are Ruffled + Green Wedding Shoes.

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Moral of the story: When my Pinterest feed starts blowing up with anything remotely related to weddings, send for help!

And in the wonderful world of Project Life, I decided to merge weeks six and seven into a single spread. I felt like I was falling too far behind and I could barely remember what happened yesterday, much less two weeks ago. Quarter life amnesia. But I’m glad I did because I was able to get it all done in only a few hours and now I can focus on this week. Ahhh, feels good.

Feels like a big Valentine’s color palette explosion, no? Ha! I really am making a concerted effort to stay away from the “scrapbook-y” look ( what I refer to in my head as “cut the crap” – haha), like I’ve mentioned before. And that is not to say I don’t love scrapbook supplies. I LOVE them. I just feel my style is headed in a new direction and I think Project Life is the perfect place to expand on that exploration. Man, I love to get all philosophical about my paper, don’t I? (;

I had a good time including some of my latest Etsy purchases, including a note from Jamaica and two tags from Paper + Parcel. I also had to get a refill my favorite washi tape because lord knows I can’t PL (new verb) without it.

All good things.

As it turns out, I’ve taken a serious liking to designing address stamps. In the year and a half that I’ve lived in Utah, I’ve already made three different address stamps for myself. THREE. Does a person really need three different address stamps for the same address, you ask? What can I say, I love a good zip code (;

So when some of my closest friends asked me to design some stamps for them, I decided to make a go of it on Etsy. Here are just of few that I recently listed:

Even more can be found here!

Happy Saturday! Best day of the week! Woo!

1. Happy mail from Jamaica’s shop. The packaging was even better in person! Now I can’t wait to use these in my Project Life.

2. On Sunday, I decided to repaint the canvas hanging in my master bathroom. It was made from layers of book paper, mod podge, white + neon pink paint, and an episode of “Secrets from a Stylist.” Sometimes it just feels good to paint. A new change of scenery in the bathroom is simply icing on the cake.

3. Valentine’s Day Cookie Exchange Party at work. We take treats very seriously around here.

4. Project Life. I’m thinking of combining the last two weeks into a single spread just to consolidate everything. Haven’t decided yet.

5. A very clean apartment = a very happy Ann-Marie.

6. Cookies + a letterpress card from a super awesome girl.

Front row of the plane! What’s up! Haha. Normally I don’t sit anywhere near the front, but since it was a last minute trip and all the other seats were sold out, front row it was!

Journaling spot + sticker from Crate Paper’s new Storyteller release. I’m OBSESSED with this line.

Studio Calico wooden house adhered to the top of the page protector.

Snapshot stamp from Amy Tangerine’s new Sketchbook Line.

Letter/Number stamps from American Crafts’ Confetti Line. Wooden camera misted with Mister Huey Custard Spray.

Funny story: I had to bring a few of my essential crafting tools home last weekend for the save-the-date assembling extravaganza. Well, going through security in SLC was a breeze (I’m chalking it up to Utah being the craft capital of America). But going through Long Beach, different story. Apparently they have never seen a Crop-A-Dile before…ha! The TSA lady was like, “is there a stapler or a wrench in your bag?” HAHA. Oh, I had to laugh and let her examine the Crop-A-Dile more closely. Long story short, it made it back home with me.

Not-so-funny story: Whitney Houston. Ugh, I’m so bummed about it. I was walking into Target on Saturday night when John texted me with the news (he knows I love me some Whit), and I literally exclaimed “NO!” Then I watched the Grammy’s last night and it was even more sad. Depressing.

This past week has been extra fun because I’ve had the pleasure (and honor!) of designing John’s sister Jamie’s Save the Dates for her upcoming nuptials. I love all things wedding/design/crafting-related (duh), so putting these together has been an absolute blast.

Tonight I’m leaving on a jet plane bound for California so I can reunite with my long lost love: Paper Source. Wait, I mean John! Yes, John (;

Tomorrow Jamie + I are going to get craf-tay! You know I’m always down with that. But I have to say, all this wedding planning stuff is FUN. I’m thinking I might want to partake sooner than I thought…? (and don’t tell anyone, but I already bought 150 striped paper straws for my as-yet-to-be-determined wedding – ha!).

Wishing you the happiest of weekends!

For some reason, when I photograph pictures of myself, I always come off looking hilariously (and horrifyingly) red. Excuse the sunburned effect.

I broke out my little alpha stamps! You know, the ones you can get in the dollar bin at Michaels. I forgot how much fun they are!

I apologize for the blurry photo, but I have to point out how much I love black + white images. It definitely helps calm down the color explosion that I usually have going on. Oh, and that date up there was created by the new Dear Lizzy rolling stamp! Trust me, you guys NEED it.

Camera stamp from Urbanic and pennant tag from Elle’s Studio.

New Studio Calico wood veneers!

I love these brads from Crate Paper. Just cut off the prongs and you’re left with what is essentially a fabric button.

Things that I’m loving: typing on vellum and stapling atop a few strips of washi tape. Cutting memorabilia down to small sizes (i.e. the Zupas brown bag). Placing embellishments on top of the page protectors. Digging through my stash and using things that I had forgotten about. Painting over patterned paper to create white space for journaling.

I’m definitely trying to keep my pages looking as “non-scrapbook-y” as possible. I feel like that’s the general direction my style is leaning towards these days. Of course, there’s always going to be patterned paper + the random assortment of embellishments, but for the most part, I want it to have more of an “office supply” feel than that of a typical scrapbook. I don’t know if that makes any sense? Ha!

For this week, I’m hoping to have lots of fun memorabilia since I’m flying home for the weekend. Must remember to bring the Instax camera… (:

I love sitting here with my laptop on Saturday mornings after I get back from the gym and I have nothing but free time lined up for the rest of the day. The colors in the thrifted tablecloth and the cluster of bowls make me so happy.

I really really love this apartment. It will be a sad day when I leave, but then again, there’s always the fun of starting fresh in a brand new space. Sometimes I find myself mentally redecorating my old San Diego apartment, so maybe you never really leave your former residences behind? Either way, I love it here.

Now if only I could uproot it and place it in front of the ocean…

Remember when I hated cooking? Yeah, I don’t either.

These days I look forward to spending time in the kitchen and making dinner. My skills are basic at best, but I’m okay with that.

Right now my favorite thing is eggs with lots and lots of grilled veggies. Spinach, kale, tomatoes, onions, squash, tofu, mushrooms, peppers, and anything else I can throw in there. While I work on that, I have kale and eggplant roasting in the oven. (Disclaimer: sometimes I think kale chips taste like a handful of crunchy autumn leaves, but for the most part, I love them.) I don’t really eat meat, so these meals are all about the veggies.

Other culinary delights I’m currently loving: Oatmeal and chocolate chips. Almond milk. Cuties. Tall skinny vanilla lattes from Starbucks. Uinta Beer (local Utah brewery with THE greatest packaging design). Vanilla Nut Coffee from Dunkin’ Donuts.

What kind of snacks do you guys enjoy?

Oh, how I love this holiday. I know it’s over-commercialized to the max, but if you could just look at it as an opportunity to revel in pink, red, and chocolates, I’m sure you will be just as obsessed as me (: