It's Rustic!

"It's rustic!" is my unofficial motto when it comes to cooking, entertaining, and decorating. I don't remember all the particulars of how this phrase became a motto... I believe it started at my mom's house when she was making a recipe that had "Rustic" in the title. Something went slightly awry with the recipe, and one of us said "It's OK... It's rustic!" And then we couldn't stop saying it.

"It's rustic!" is a lovely phrase, because it has the power to redeem a multitude of minor imperfections. Over-browned crust, mismatched dishes, frayed edges. As long as you don't turn anything into charcoal, you are pretty much covered under the umbrella of "It's rustic." In fact, when you adopt the attitude of "It's rustic," imperfections and general quirk actually become desirable. And that just makes life easier, now doesn't it?

So naturally, I've made "It's rustic" the catchphrase of my wedding. A rustic, country, living-within-your-means kind of wedding is what I'm going for. I thought about not posting any wedding stuff until after the big day, but then I thought "Why deprive myself?" For my blog readers who plan to attend the wedding, anything I share will be a primer on what to look for when they get to the farm; not a spoiler.

But the first thing I'm going to share is something you've probably already seen if you're coming. The invitation...

I made them myself, with help from Robin, who configured the basic layout and re-taught me what I used to know about how to use Adobe Illustrator. I purchased/downloaded the vector image for the border from a reputable (but darn expensive) website, iStockPhoto.com. The crawfish is a handmade stamp purchased from the Tyggereye Art shop at Etsy.com, that I used with white paint. Watch out - Mr. Crawfish (and Mr. Cute Border) may show up somewhere else later...

So the next thing I want to share is a project that incorporates two of my big inspirations for the look of the wedding decor: burlap and the uppercase cursive "L". Cursive L's are so pretty to me. And L happens to be the first letter of my new last name! So I made these monogrammed table runners out of burlap:

They will hang like so (sideways, not longways) over the white table cloths we are renting. I will have them spaced out quite a bit more than what you see here. I think they will add a nice touch. I've made 6 so far, and I plan to make at least 9 more. I used a stencil for the "L"...

And painter's tape for the stripes.

Well, I guess that's all for now. But don't worry, I have a few more tricks up my sleeve. Stay tuned for more wedding fun! For now I will leave you with a pic of my little black helper.