I hate to say it, but in my life, I’ve probably sent more Evites than printed invitations. Birthdays, house warmings, dinner parties have all fallen to virtual letterpress–but weddings, this is where I will draw the line. Our big day is nearly six months away and that means it’s time to hunt for pretty Save the Dates.

I’ve browsed around on a bunch of different stationery sites but in terms of selection, pricing, and convenience, Wedding Paper Divas has definitely impressed me the most. They represent some of my favorite boutique stationers like Oh Joy and Cat Seto but back them with around-the-clock customer service, quick shipping, and an online editing system for easy customization.

In narrowing down our options for our Vermont winter wedding, we wanted something that hinted at the snowy season and rustic venue but without the obvious snowflake and pine cone conventions. Here are the five designs we’ve narrowed it down to (colors and fonts come later); let us know your favorites!

(Above) Cupid’s Mark by Petite Alma

Speckled Stones by Oh Joy

Sweet Peonies by Louella Press

Striped Leaves by Oh Joy

Falling Petals by Good on Paper

After a year of thinking about my guest bedroom valance project, it finally came to fruition. Why did it take so long? Because it took me forever to convince Mike that this über-DIY project was feasible. The plan was to build a window valance out of wood, wallpaper it to match our accent wall, and secure it to the inside of the window. Easy? We were about to find out.

Measurements
What helped kick-start this project into action was that we happened to find two pieces of discarded 50” wide x 14” tall wood–dimensions that were basically valance size. The height was perfect and the width just needed to be trimmed down a bit.

To make the window seem larger, we measured so the panel width would extend 3” beyond the window frame on each side, making the total 40” wide. Now it just needed a way to connect to the wall. The answer was create a short table-like structure to sit over the top of the window frame. Five-inch side boards would hopefully act as a base for a sturdy rectangular valance.

Building the Wooden Structure
We broke out the circular saw and cut our three pieces of wood (the front panel, and the two identical five-inch side pieces). We checked to see if they lined up properly then sanded them until they were smooth.

Now we were ready for assembly. We ran a bead of wood glue where the side panels met the front but for the ultimate stability, we screwed four L-brackets on the inside of the valance.

Prepping the wood for wallpaper
We sanded the wooden structure one more time and gave it a coat of wallpaper primer to make sure the paper would adhere nicely to this unconventional surface.

Wallpapering
At first it seemed like we had more than enough wallpaper to cover this tiny valance, but when we matched up the pattern we barely had paper to make it around the wood. With zero wiggle-room, we booked the wallpaper (the process of activating the paste to maximize stickiness), pasted it to the  primed wood, and cut the excess with a Xact-o knife–very carefully. After four hours of drying time, it was ready to hang.

Hanging the Valance
This part was a bit of a two-person juggling act, hence the lack of photos. The plan was to connect our valance to the wall with more of the trusty L-brackets, connecting from the inside of the valance to the outside of the window frame. To do this, we first held up the valance, making sure there it was centered and an inch from the ceiling, then we marked the spots where the four L-brackets would be the sturdiest and drilled into the wall.

Voila!
We have a window treatment that carries the bold pattern of our wallpaper around the room and gives our window a polished look! Now, I’ll admit that this project was definitely time consuming but I’m proud to say, it’s not that difficult to do and way cheaper than having a valance made.

I’ve never purchased art for the matting, until now. Set a quarter-inch deep with a massive white border, the matting makes this tiny picture seem so grand. Prints rarely even come this small (or warrant such a big frame) but if you look into the collectible world of early 20th-century cigarette trading cards, you’ll find more. Scenes of beautiful women, baseball players, cinema stars, and other popular imagery used to be printed on stiff pieces of paper and slipped into cigarette packs to keep the fags from bending and add a little Cracker-Jack surprise to the smoking experience.
Though I would have probably purchased this frame even if I didn’t adore the card inside, the 1940s subject matter was a definite selling point. A Japanese woman lounging nude in a living room, with jelly rolls proudly exposed, sitting on a side table admiring her red high heels—what’s not to love? Plus, the Marimekko-like blue floral carpet is pretty spectacular. The simple pen drawing is wonderfully graphic and the scene a bit mysterious.

I found this piece of art at this adorable boutique called Bucks County Dry Goods in Lambertsville, NJ but you can be sure to find antique cigarette trading cards on eBay, as well.

I adore having plants and flowers in the yard but tending to them is not how I’d like to spend my time. So my question this summer has become: How to have a pretty garden with the least amount of effort. And with a bit of research on resilient plants for east coast living, we may have just figured it out.

Before
Our shared-yard had been neglected for over two years but, thankfully, the tenants before us structured a garden with lazy people in mind. They tiered the perimeter of the yard with wood and stone to make nice raised plant beds so even when the garden starts looking pretty chaotic, it still has decent structure. They also made the brilliant choice of buying the most self-sufficient, gorgeous, shade-loving plant: The Hosta. I know this photo looks a little grim but any lush green you see on the ground is all hosta.

With good structure and hearty plants on our mind, we headed to the nursery and started anew.

Hanging Lattice
We love that our former tenants placed lattice along the back wall but they fell a little short when it came to the sides. To cover the not-so-cute chain link fences we put up more lattice (that’s our lovely neighbor Bridget helping us secure the wood) and planted clematis to grow over it. Clematis has exotic, star-shaped flowers and vines that supposedly climb like crazy. So in a year or so, the hope is to see just a hint of lattice and a wall of fabulous foliage.

Amazing Hostas
Knowing the kind of abuse the hostas can take, we naturally bought more. This time we planted Blue Cadet Hosta to get a little more color and height.

Promising Lily Turf
So our garden didn’t turn into a hosta farm, we decided to branch out with a bit of Lily Turf. These spunky grasses will supposedly spread out to make nice groundcover, grow violet-blue flowers in the summer and dark berries in the fall. We are banking on them being fairly independent in the future but for now we are watering them regularly.

Hydrangeas and beyond
In the front left of the yard and along the back wall, we planted white hydrangeas. Tall, wide, and packed with flower clusters, hydrangeas have presence. And in white, they should still provide a little shimmer at night.

I’ll report back at the end of summer with hopefully some progress to share but in the meantime, if anyone has any good gardening tips . . . we are all ears!