D.I.Y. Sweethearts Embroidery >> Guest Post by Violet Bella

Hi everyone, its Laura from Violet Bella.  I'm excited to be a guest on Melissa's blog during this exciting time in her life.  Ironically on the 22nd of this month my husband and I celebrated our 4 year anniversary!  It is amazing how fast time goes by after you say those long awaited 'I dos'.  For myself I can say marriage has been one of the most rewarding and challenging things you can have in your life.  The ups and downs are all a part of it, and all worth it.  Having my husband by my side during these last four years have been my savior, since I have since then lost both of my parents.  I'm so glad I chose to marry my best friend and someone I can truly be myself with.  He is my rock.

I thought I'd share with you a super fun DIY that would make the perfect wedding gift or memorabilia of your relationship. It is something I made for my husband the christmas after we got married. I don't have step by step photo instructions, so I'll just explain each step.

Step 1: Stretch your fabric on your hoop.

Step 2: Trace a photo of you and your loved one. I actually used two separate images to get this. You may need to be sneaky and take a profile pic of yourselves.

Step 3: Take a needle and poke holes all around the drawing you traced (including any writing you want on it). Make your holes just a few milimeters apart from each other.

Step 4:  Lay your drawing over your fabric, pin it down, and with a small pen or fabric marker (something that wont bleed) poke through the holes to make little marks on the material.  These will be your embroidery guides.

Step 5: Connect the dots with your embroidery thread.

I hope you enjoy this simple tutorial. If you make one I'd love to see it! You can find me on my blog,  Violet Bella.

Peace and Love,
Laura


I'm so grateful to Laura for sharing this beautiful DIY tutorial with my readers!  One of the first things I plan to do after my wedding week madness dies down is to make one of these for Robbie and myself.  Make sure you stop by Laura's blog, as well as her gorgeous shops Violet Bella and Roots and Feathers. 

I can't believe I'm typing this, but tomorrow is the BIG DAY!  This week has been an absolute whirlwind.  Tonight we have the rehearsal dinner, and tomorrow is the wedding.  It's all happened so fast!  More soon...

Yummy Autumn Pumpkin Bread >> Guest Post by Miss Indie

Hello friends! It's Mandy from Miss Indie. I'm so excited to be guest blogging here on Bubby and Bean!  Today I have a super yummy recipe to share with all of you. Fall is one of my favorite seasons....everything feels so comfy and cozy, and you're constantly surrounded by delicious scents of sugars and spices. To get my house smelling like autumn [and to satisfy that ever-nagging sweet tooth], I love to bake pumpkin bread. I'm totally a bread-a-holic and this one is ideal for the fall months. I've been looking for the perfect pumpkin bread recipe and finally found it over at Fancy House Road, so I thought I would share it with everyone! ♥

Ingredients:

• 3 cups sugar
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 4 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 (16 ounce) can solid pack pumpkin
• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 3/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
• 1/4 cup water

D.I.Y. Party Koozie >> Guest Post by Mucho Mucho Bueno Bueno

Hey-o!  I'm Kelly from Mucho Mucho Bueno Bueno.  A couple weekends ago I had the opportunity to go to Austin City Limits.  If you haven't heard of it, it's a rad music festival that takes place here in Texas. I don't know about you, but at a festival I want to carry the least amount of 'stuff.'  If you are a gal at ACL, you probably have a purse of sorts and if you're a dude, you probably have a backpack.  If you're a blogger like me then you'll have a camera added to the mix. The last thing I want to do at this point is hold something in my hands that I'll just have to hand off to someone in order to take a photo.  This is why the Party Koozie is such a beautiful thing.  Whether you are drinking water, beer, juice or whiskey, you'll find this useful.

All you need to make this is a Koozie of sorts (this one was free... want to guess why?), shoe laces, and scissors. It's so easy, I made it at the breakfast table before heading out to the festival.

Step one: cut two small slits, one on each side of the koozie.

Step two: take two shoelaces (you can do it with one, but it may make your neck sore) and loop them through the two slits. Measure out how far down you would like the Party Koozie to hang and double knot the laces.

Step three: Place drink in Koozie and...

BOOM. Party Koozie. 

Party on Garth.

XOXO!

Best. Idea. Ever.  Big thanks to Kelly for sharing this awesome tutorial with my readers while I'm knee deep in wedding week madness!  I'm a huge music festival goer, and this will come in handy next summer.  It would have also been great for my bachelorette party!   Make sure you pay a visit to Kelly and her sister Brandy's rockstar blog, as well as their super badass accessory shop. 

Wedding Inspired Etsy Picks >> Guest Post by The Curious Pug

Hello everyone! It's Alycia from The Curious Pug here doing a guest post for Melissa while she is preparing for her wedding this Saturday! Since love is in the air, I thought it would be fun to put together a few of my favorite Etsy wedding items. I know if I could do it all again, I'd most likely incorporate some of these items into my own wedding!

But first, a note to Melissa:
Melissa, I wish nothing but the best for you and your fiance and I hope that your special day is perfect! Thank you for inviting me to participate on your blog during such an exciting time!

Row 1 - For the ceremony:
1. Tri fold wedding program. 2. Natural moss wedding ring pillow. 3. 20 assembled aisle pom poms.

Row 2 - To wear (for her):
4. Dark angel wedding hair piece. 5. Custom kissing lovebird necklace. 6. Wedding garter.

Row 3 - To wear (for him):
7. Rustic woodland boutonniere. 8. Photo cufflinks. 9. Rustic fairytale wedding boutonniere (3).

Row 4 - For the cake:
10. Whimsical wedding cake topper. 11. Custom wedding cake topper. 12. Custom bird cake topper.

Row 5 - For the guests:
13. Succulents in pails (12). 14. Edible wedding favors. 15. Green wedding favors.

Row 6 - Decorations:
16. Burlap bunting. 17. Easels centerpiece frames (4). 18. Rustic wedding sign.




Big thanks to Alycia for the sweet note, and for sharing this amazing collection of Etsy wedding goodness with my readers while I'm in the middle of my own wedding week madness!  I adore all of these items - almost makes me wish I had a little more time to incorporate more goodies into my own wedding.  Be sure to stop by Alycia's blog - it's full of inspiration, real life musings, and crafty goodness!

Guess Who WON the Huge Group Giveaway?!

Big thanks to everyone who entered the Huge Group Giveaway!  It was so fun to read all of your entries and see what each of you chose for your favorite things about fall. The winner was chosen via random.org, and that winner is...

CONGRATULATIONS sms9889!  Lucky number 13 is officially the winner of 5 amazing prizes from Little White Chapel,  By Katherine Elizabeth,  Violet Bella, Hiking 26 and Diaper Cake Dazzle!  Please contact me at bubbyandbean {at} gmail.com with your address.  (The winner won through her extra Twitter entry, but I loved her original entry and wanted to post that too... What's better than bonfires in the fall???)

I hope you all will take a minute to check out the amazing shops and blogs who so generously contributed to this giveaway!  And if you didn't win this time, don't worry...  There will be another fabulous giveaway in the works soon!


Back to wedding week madness for me! I have a very sick fiance right now, and Bubby dog hurt his leg, so we had two emergency doctor visits yesterday. I'm just keeping a smile on my face and saying that we're just getting the craziness out of the way early in the week. :)  Check back later today for another amazing guest post from Alycia at the Curious Pug!

It's Cool to be Normal >> Guest Post by Moorea Seal

Hey!  I'm Moorea from Moorea-Seal.com, here to remind you that being a normal girl means that when you attempt to do fashion posts, you might get a few great shots but for the most part, your photos will look like this:  normal, flawed, human, not-modelesque, and that is ok :)

Let me share with you some of my most not cool moments.  I hope you enjoy and laugh a little!

I hope you enjoyed this moment of not cool personal fashion photos!

For cool jewelry handmade by me, normal moorea, visit my shop!

To follow my normally dorky comments and occasional links to cool things, follow me on twitter.

loooooove, Moorea <3

Huge thanks to the lovely Moorea for sharing this awesome + funny  post while I'm in the midst of wedding week madness!  I have to agree - it's cool to be normal!  Make sure you check out Moorea's fabulous blog and shop.  She makes some seriously amazing jewelry.

and so it begins...

It's Friday - woohoo!  As you know, Friday is normally reserved for my Friday is For Favorites feature.  Today, we're taking a break from Friday is For Favorites so I can let you all know what's going on for the upcoming week here at Bubby and Bean.

You've been reading about my wedding planning for many months, and one week from tomorrow, the day is officially here!  It still doesn't quite seem real. Our wedding is almost a 100% DIY wedding, which has been such a fun experience.  I've really enjoyed scouring wedding websites and magazines for inspiration, and the opportunity to work on some really special projects outside of work has been amazing.  

I won't lie - it's been a lot of work too, and there is still a massive amount of stuff to be done.  I'm one of those people who wants to 'go for it' with everything, and it's been quite the balancing act between the working full time on the businesses, caring for our sweet old Bubby dog, and my fiance Robbie being gone for the past month for the band's fall tour.  Robbie gets home Monday, and my BFF/Maid of Honor Jen arrives Wednesday morning, so we'll be able to hopefully bust things out before our out of town guests start arriving.  We've got a lot of events, appointments and parties leading up to our wedding day, and I'm really looking forward to getting the rest of our errands and project-making done so we can relax and enjoy this wonderful time in our lives.  Right now, I'm still working on my dress (should be done in the next day or two!), finishing up the programs and menu cards, and putting together our playlist.  I also still need to shop for bridal party gifts, figure out accessories, and I have dozens of half-finished decorations to complete!  It seems a little last minute, but looking back, we've worked hard on this the entire year, accomplished a lot, and I'm so happy that we've been able to put together something so major all by ourselves.

Thankfully, some really incredible bloggers will be helping me out next week so I can focus on wedding madness.  Starting Monday, and going through Saturday, there will be a guest post everyday from some of my absolute favorite blogs.  I'm so excited for you to read their posts - there will be DIYs, recipes, autumn and wedding themed inspiration collections, funny outfit outakes, and all sorts of other goodness.

I will also check in when I can to keep you all updated.  I'm so grateful to be able to share my wedding with my readers.  I almost feel like you're here with me!  Because of our crazy schedules and Bubby dog, we'll be saving our honeymoon for early next year (likely February).  This means that the week following the wedding I'll be able to share pictures and stories here.  The other good news is that with things less hectic, I'll be able to respond to your comments and check out your blogs again.  I appreciate reader comments so much, and I've felt a little bad lately about not having the time to reciprocate like I usually do!  Soon enough, life will go back to normal again, and I'll be back in good blogger karma mode. :)

Wow.  I just realized that the next time I sit down to write a full post, I will officially be Melissa Baswell Williams!  Craziness.  Thanks so much for being a part of this special time!

Don't forget to enter the Huge Group Giveaway for your chance to win 5 prizes from different artists and shop worth over $140!  Winner's name will be drawn Sunday night and posted here on Monday.

wedding celebration sale at mountains of the moon!

My team over at Mountains of the Moon (my clothing line) wanted to do something special for our customers in celebration of my wedding next week, so we put together this wedding celebration sale, as you can see in the promo above.  I thought it would be fun to share it with you all as well. :)  If you love vintage-inspired clothing made from all eco-friendly fabrics, just click on the image above to take a peek at all of our pretty fall goodies.  If you find something you like, just use the code WEDDING when you check out, and you'll get 25% off your entire purchase!  The code is good for absolutely everything on the website (except gift certificate purchases). Enjoy!

Sponsor spots for October have been booking up faster than any other month!  Right now, there are only 4 spaces remaining.  I'd love to help you share the story of your small business, blog or Etsy shop next month!  For more info and stats, or to reserve your space, visit the sponsor page right here. 

Huge Group GIVEAWAY // Win 5 Amazing Prizes Worth $140!

I am absolutely thrilled to announce September's group giveaway!  Five of Bubby and Bean's beloved September sponsors have offered up an incredible variety of unique prizes from their shops, and one lucky Bubby & Bean reader will win ALL FIVE of them (worth over $140)!

A handmade Vintage Jewel Necklace by Paige of Little White Chapel, featuring gorgeous antique brass and your choice of glass gemstone!  A classically elegant piece of jewelry with a stunning stone available in clear, aquamarine, or sapphire.  $35 value. (Shop/Blog)

A $25 Gift Certificate to Violet Bella!  Violet Bella features handmade jewelry, clothing and art for the free spirited. Laura's gorgeous work incorporates bits and pieces of nature and a feel of the past with a modern twist.  $25 value. (Shop/Blog)

An original Hiking26 Dress/Mustache Logo Tee from Hiking26!  Available in unisex or womens style, you'll get your choice of Light Pink, or Dark Heather Grey, and be supporting a super cool project. $26 value. (Website/Blog) 

An original Painting 'Vintage Study No.4' from By Katherine Elizabeth!  This adorable painting is one of Katherine's studies in taking a vintage black and white image and turning it into a painting. A darling piece of art  for any lonely wall, this rough and cobbled matted acrylic on bristol is perfect for any nostalgia lover.  Approximately 11x15, it is matted in white with 2-1/2 inch border. $30 value. (Blog)

A Handmade Mini Diaper Cake by Jessica of Diaper Cake Dazzle!  This adorable mini "cake" will be made to order with colors of your choosing!  Includes 20-25 Pampers Swaddlers size 1 diapers, 1 receiving blanket, and 3 handmade burp cloths.  Even if you're not a mama, this item makes an amazing gift! $25 value. (Shop/Blog)

To enter this Giveaway, just leave a comment with:

(1) your favorite things about fall (it will be here in 2 days!), and
(2) which method you use to subscribe to this blog.
THAT'S IT!

*If you're a new reader, just make sure to follow/subscribe first using Google Friend Connect or one of these readers.

You can also gain ONE additional entry for EACH of the following -
*Each "optional" entry must be in a SEPARATE comment in order to be included.

>> Visit any of the shops from this giveaway and tell me your favorite item.
>> Like Bubby & Bean on Facebook.
>> Follow Bubby & Bean on Bloglovin'.
>> Follow me on Twitter (please list your username)
>> Tweet this:
     Win 5 prizes in Bubby & Bean's Huge Group GIVEAWAY >>
     http://bit.ly/pGJVtg via @MotM_EcoFashion
>> Follow me on Pinterest
>> Mention this giveaway on your blog.


The winner's name will be randomly drawn via random.org and posted here by September 27th, so make sure to check back to see if you won! 

Big thanks to the seriously amazing shops/blogs who are giving Bubby and Bean readers the chance to own these fabulous prizes!

GOOD LUCK!

UPDATE:  This giveaway is now closed!  Please check back on 9/27 to see if you won!