My Favorite Fonts

I cam across this quote the other day and thought it was great!! It also gave me an idea for a fun blog post.  As a graphic designer I use lots of different elements to make my pieces stand out - Colors, Vectors, Patterns, and of course FONTS!! Fonts are a good way to add whimsy, glamour and structure to anything your working on. 

Like many people in any profession you always have your go to items.  A contractor has his go to hammer, a photographer has their go to poses, and a graphic designer has their go to fonts.

So today I'm sharing with you my go-to's 

Oh .. and the icing on the cake ... they are FREE!!

{click here to download}

{click here to download}

{click here to download}

{click here to download}

{click here to download}

{click here to download}

I have used these fonts many of times ... some are included in Wamp Design's Logo and some are being used for all my wedding stuff so you can tell I truly love them! 

Although these are my go to ones I often like to sift through ALL my fonts before making my decision.  With the hundreds of fonts I have installed on my computer this can often be a daunting task.  Until I found this gem!!! 

WORDMARK.IT

Simply type a word or phrase into the search bar and it will bring it up in all the fonts installed on your computer ... pure genius!! You can even click to select fonts you like and filter out the others to make your final decision.  This FREE tool is a pure life saver ... for me at least :)  

So there you have it ... my favorite fonts.  Hopefully you found one you love too! 

June Book Review

I'm a little behind on posting my June book review which is strange because I read through this book quicker than any of the others thus far.  I took the advice of Mix and Match Mamma and read

OH - EM - GEE this book was addicting ... I couldn't put it down.  It was so interesting and suspenseful and you really cared for this person as you read through the book.  I don't want to give too much away but it is about a girl going through some issues in life {bad issues} but something catches her eye while on a train and her day dreaming turns reality.

I recommend this book 110%! I rate it a 10 out of a 10.

Just a short and sweet little post today ... I have been reading three books simultaneously during the month of July so the next book review will be much longer ;)

Later this week I'll be posting some cute Back To School prints on Etsy as well as a blog post about my favorite fonts! Does anyone else get excited about fonts??? 

Fantasy Football Boards

Let me just start by saying ... football is a love of mine, or rather the Buffalo Bills are a love of mine. I have been following them since I left Buffalo 21 years ago.

Bills @ Miami ... quite a few years ago 

Bills @ Cowboys ... A Birthday Trip From Mike

Another Bills @ Miami ... I went to this game every year for 8 years straight!

Bills Home Game vs. Patriots  ... The coldest Mike has ever been in his life

Bills Home Game ... When Bri and I were in LOVE with Trent Edwards

Bills @ Jacksonville ... Mike and I's first road trip!

I'll spare you the many many more pictures that I have in my Bills Vault and move on to what I really wanted to talk about ... Fantasy Football.

I started playing years ago ... so many years that I don't remember how many ... I would guess 9 or 10.  Anyways I started my own league about 7 years ago to help teach my brothers and other friends how to play.  {side note: if you've never been in a league it is really hard to get someone to let you "learn" in their league ... people take this stuff seriously}

Unlike most leagues I hold a Live Draft {for those of you that don't play - a lot of leagues draft online in an automated draft room on ESPN or CBS Sports}.  During a live draft everyone gets together and we write down our pics on a draft board.  This is harder because you have to pay attention to who has already been taken and have your own rankings printed out {although I provide ESPN's rankings} and of course commentary from everyone else.  However it is SO MUCH MORE FUN - and an excuse to eat pizza and wings - as if you should need one.

My friend - and owner of a fantasy team in my league - Gavin had the great idea of creating a draft board and printing it out of a plotter {blueprint printer} rather than buying the Fantasy Draft Kit online which can be $100+

So that is what we have done each year

So why am I sharing this with you? Other than I love to share that I'm a Bills fan every chance I can get?

I am now selling these Printable Fantasy Football Draft Boards in my Etsy Shop



I have mine printed at Florida Blueprint here in Sarasota but any Blueprint Shop will do.  The one listed in my shop is a standard 12 man league with 16 rounds - however I can always accommodate larger or smaller leagues as well as additional rounds.

If you haven't had a live draft for your league yet - maybe this is the year to try it out!

Fun Bridesmaid Shirts

If you have had or been a bridesmaid in a wedding, chances are you have worn one of these cute tank tops ... 

I know I have 

Ha Ha ... That's Marie's mom taking a shot of Patron before the Ceremony - its the only picture I could find where you could read my shirt ;)

So when it came time for me to make my girls some cute shirts I wanted to do something different.  I have seen these awesome T-Shirts all over Pinterest and thought it would be a great idea to make them for my girls and use quotes that reminded me of them.

  

First I searched for just the right quote for each one of them and pinned them to my Secret Wedding Board {side note: if you are a bride I highly recommend the secret wedding board for ideas you don't want people to steal or gifts you don't want people to know about} 

I wanted to maintain the slouchy grey shirt look - I purchased mine at Forever 21 in the basics section.  I got grey for the girls and white for me.

Next I went to Michael's Craft Store and got printable iron on transfers.  Now here is where I had to change my game plan - I wanted to just have the letters but come to find out there is no "transparent background" iron ons.  Then I was like "well maybe i'll cut out all the letter individually" but with seven girls and some long quotes I would still be making them after the wedding.  So I went with the ransom letter look.

This was the first time I used printable iron on transfers and they were quite easy to work with.  I simply printed what I wanted, cut it out accordingly, peeled off the back {didn't do that on the first one and the iron let me know about it}, placed a piece of wax paper over top and held the iron on for a short minute.

I put the bridesmaid on the lower right hand side of the back 

The girls loved them! Here we are getting ready to head out to my Bachelorette Glamping Weekend.  I did actually cut mine out by hand since it was only one word ... however it still took me about 15 minutes to do so 

These were some from the girls that couldn't make it.

So those are my fun bridesmaid shirts ... hopefully it gave you some inspirations for something cute for your girls or maybe just for some fun shirts.

Places To Eat

With the majority of our guests coming from out of town Mike and I wanted add a special touch to their invitations when we sent them out.  One of our favorite things to do {especially when we travel} is try out new places to eat.  In fact we watch Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives more than any other show and we ALWAYS make sure we eat at one of Guy's places when we go somewhere new.

Since we don't have a Triple D joint in Sarasota {that we deem a good one} we thought we'd come up with a list of our own to share with our out-of-towners.  A lot of people have mentioned that they are planning to come for an entire week or long weekend so we wanted to give some options.  After we brainstormed I came up with this: 

While I do not have this currently listed in my Etsy Shop - by going to this listing and notating that you would like the Favorite Restaurant Wedding Invite Insert I would be happy to create one just for you and your love.

We made sure to include the phone number and average cost so no one is caught off guard.

If you live in the area or plan to visit the Sarasota area be sure to check out these places

Peach's Restaurant 

O'Leary's Tiki Bar

Publix Grocery Stores

Owen's Fish Camp

Francescos

Pacific Rim

Lee Roy Selmons

On to the rest of my wedding projects!! 

Life Lately

A couple weekends ago I got to hang out with this little fella at the beach ... such a good kid and loved the sea shells!  {P.S. This is Marie's sweet little boy}

Play time didn't last two long cause I have been working on project after project lately.  My parent's have decided to do a major remodel of their home and in the process my mom has unearthed 

EVERY PICTURE SHE HAD EVER TAKEN

She has enlisted my help to go through them all, put them in some kind of order and then load them up in a bunch of picture boxes {because there is WAY to many to do albums}

I'm still in the middle of this project and Wamp isn't much help :/

I have also been helping my sister-in-law-to-be with some pieces of furniture that I pulled out of the Hoarder Pile.  We have sanded and painted and recovered and we are almost done!  We get together every Monday to watch the Bachelorette {p.s. if you watch the bachelorette check out this blog - she does HILARIOUS recaps of it} so this has been an every Monday project in the making.

Speaking of Bachelorette - last weekend was my Bachelorette Glamping Weekend {which I will post about separately} but we had some Chinese food a couple days before and this was my fortune! 

Moving on to the 4th of July weekend ... Mike and I went fishing {which coincidentally we did last year as well so I think we should make it a little tradition} fishing was actually our first date :)

When we fish we bet - First, Biggest, and Most 

{FYI - Chelsea if you're reading this, I think the Eidels still owe us a dinner from our fishing date ;)}

On our first date ... I won and he had to cook me dinner, which looking back now may have been on purpose to secure the second date ... hmmm

But on this day .. he won .. ALL OF THEM 

Even though I had to give a 10 minute back rub for each bet ... it was worth it for a fun day with my love.

After fishing we had a family BBQ with both of our families ... we had SO much food.

Burgers - Chicken - Hot Dogs - Mac & Cheese - Baked Beans - Watermelon - Oranges - Chips and Dip ... YUM!

We also had a family game of P-I-G ... Mike's sister Brittany won :) 

From Left to Right: Me, Mike, My Brother Luke, Mike's Sister Brittany, My Mom and Dad - Mike's Mom Played Too

That is what my life has been like lately ... oh and Wamp ... well she is always around - We ate lunch together the other day :)  She was eyeballing my tuna sandwich.