Jonathon's Grad Announcements

Good Morning Friends...

Guess what?  It's almost the weekend!  Do you have any fun plans?  I forgot to add this to my blog earlier in the month, but check out how cute J's graduation cards turned out!  I gave them to him for his birthday which was just a couple of weeks before his graduation.  How cute is that chubby cheeked baby???  Our kids are going to be precious.  :)

I have a photo of him then and now somewhere but I couldn't find it this morning.  I will repost once I dig them up.  Enjoy your day!

Stationery card

View the entire collection of cards.

I Think I Love You Pink Peacock Paperie

Have you heard of Pink Peacock Paperie? They make super d'duper cute little 8" x 10" frameable posters for pretty darn cheap. What's even better, is they are instant. Through their website you pay for the high quality download and then take it to your printer.

I am majorly loving this I heart U alphabet print.


Too cute, no?

Writing in My Gournal

Lindsay: Whatcha doing?

Andy: Writing in my gournal, I write my thoughts in it everyday

Lindsay: Oh, you mean a journal?

Andy: Yeah, whatever. I guess I'm not all smart like you.

Hi, my name is Mrs. Ford and I'm a journaler.

I don't think I would have continued with this blog if it didn't serve such a strong purpose in my life. I love to write and I am a very visual person so the two go hand-in-hand. Its groovy.

However, sometimes there's just nothing like the feel of pen on paper. I love the physical actual act of creating words by writing something out by hand. Whenever I have written in a journal in the past, I generally don't go back to re-read what I've written. It's kind of cringe-worthy for me, like seeing your 13 year old self on video doing something very very embarrassing. No thanks. But I think in not looking back sometimes I loose something. We change so drastically each year of our lives, its important to celebrate that change and growth.

I stumbled across this journal {via Village} and think the concept would be really perfect for someone who may be afraid of re-reading lengthy or emotional old journal entries.

Basically each page is dated and has a spot for a short entry every day for 5-years. So every time you write in it after the first year you will have a short but hopefully sweet reminder of where you were and what was going on in your life on that very day the year before.

Pretty nifty, huh? Do you gournal?

DIY Patriotic Tricornered Hats

Thanks to DailyCandy, you can have your very own tricornered hat this Independence Day with little more than a printer, some scissors and tape. Now that's something to celebrate. Har de har har!






Happy 4th of July!!! Hope it sparkles ;)

DIY Floral Gift Tags from EatDrinkChic

Summer summer summertime! Check out EatDrinkChic for a fun and easy DIY tutorial on summery floral gift tags.

These would be so sweet for party favors or just to leave your sweetie a surpise love note. Awwww... You know you're going to.

Beautiful Adobe Illustrator Wedding Programs

The programs for our wedding are one of the DIY projects I am most proud of and most cherish as a keepsake. I put a lot of heart and care into them. I was so completely beyond happy with the results that I am now selling these wedding program templates on my Etsy site!


When searching for unique ideas I stumbled upon these amazing programs I saw on Green Wedding Shoes and was completely inspired.

How different and still personal are these? Those were the two words I was hoping to embody and I think this bride hit a total home run with her own wedding programs.

It was fun for me to put my love of my family and friends, photography, graphic design and paper products to use on something so personal.

Was there a DIY project that brought together all of the loves in your life?

DIY Detail: Handmade Wedding Program Booklets

The wedding program is one of the key elements of a wedding that should never be left to the last minute or to a quick fix idea. I know others may argue that this is an item that inevitably finds its way to the trash just as soon as the recessional ends. I, a confessed romantic, think however that the wedding program is an opportunity to transport your guests into the love and excitement you and your husband feel and aim to express on your big day.

The wedding program is the first impression a guest is greeted with when they enter into your event. It is the first opportunity to convey thanks and love and the general mood you wish your day to capture. The wedding program is about the ceremony itself; the very reason for all of the excitement and planning of nitty-gritty details. In other words, make it special!

For our wedding, I handmade 4x6 inch booklets that contained our wedding ceremony, photographs, bible quotes, bridal party info, family and readers, and a special thank you section. They were designed on InDesign and PhotoShop and then we had them printed at our local print shop and finally I stitched the booklets together. We wanted a look that was clean and easy to read but still had a soft romantic look. It was truly a labor of love and one of my favorite parts of our wedding celebration.




Love what you see but don't have the time or craftability to make something similar for your own wedding? Bespoke wedding program booklet templates that only require a trip to the printer are available for purchase on My Etsy Shop.

Check them out and please let me know what you think!

Bespoke Paper Goods on Etsy

Go on and TAKE IT... Take another little piece of my heart now baby! Own your very own bespoke paper party goods from Becoming Mrs. Ford now available on Etsy!

EXCITING NEWS! New bespoke items include swizzle sticks, menus, escort cards and wedding programs. Spread the news to any brides looking for something handmade, unique and full of love. Thanks!

DIY Detail: Personalized Swizzle Sticks

Now that we have all of our beautiful professional wedding photographs back I can start sharing with you some of the most personal and special parts of our wedding: the details! Most of the "wedding books" will tell you that personalization is the numero uno thing that makes an event stand out in it's guests minds. When creating the details for our wedding I thought of the 3 easiest ways to personalize and then I went to work. 1) Color 2) Monograms 3) Photographs. I really think the handmade details are with what made our day special and memorable to us as well as unique for our guests.

Originally I was inspired to make these fun swizzle sticks from a similar idea I saw on one of the big wedding blogs but I knew I wanted to do something a little different. Because J and I were trying to incorporate our amazing engagement photos into our big day without doing a LONG and sometimes boring slide show, I thought these would be a fun addition and really helped to set the tone for some of the other details like the menus and wedding programs.

J and I made each one by hand with love . I created a template on InDesign for the photographs, we punched the embossed monogram circles and then assembled them with the wooden sticks. Finally, Jonathon wrote on the sticks themselves. We ended up with 5 different pictures, green and kraft brown monograms and various words of love as described by 1 Corinthians: 13 such as love, patience, kindness, etc.

It was a wonderful experience making these with Jonathon and I felt that they added such a personal touch to the first stop for most guests at the wedding... the bar! I suggest making something similar for your next party, or if you don't have the craft gene, you can always order them from me through my Etsy Store!

Our Cute Bachelorette & Rehearsal Party Invites

Welcome to wedding week! Eeek! Everyone keeps asking if I'm stressing out or getting nervous but so far I am cool as a cucumber. I am just trying to stay that way. I think once ALL of our friends and family descend on Palm Desert I will start to feel overwhelmed and amazed and probably about every emotion out there all at once, but for now I am just enjoying the last few days of my engagement. We have been doing a good job of spending time together doing a good mix of work and relaxing. It has been a really amazing time together.

I wanted to share some of the adorable mail we recently received with you. My Almost-Mother-in-Law designed and created the very cute invitations for the rehearsal dinner (shown on the left). The envelopes matched those of our wedding invites and had very sweet green vellum confetti inside along with a vellum map of the restaurant, hotel and main highways down here. So adorable. She did such an amazing job.

I also received an invite to my bachelorette party (shown on the right, I'm glad I'm invited!) from my Matron of Honor Lindzee and thought they were so darn cute and festive that I had to share. I love how both of these gals stayed true to the overall look of our wedding without even asking me a thing. That's love right there!

I am SO excited for both of these upcoming events, and I am stoked that I will have these sweet invitations to treasure for a long long time.

License to Wed

It's all getting REAL real out here in LA LA Land! This week we were sworn to write the truth at the LA County Clerk's Office where we filled out paperwork to allow us to legally get married and change our names! It is so exciting!!

We snuck a photo at the counter while we waited for our paperwork to print. This was definitely NOT the courthouse I would have chosen if we had eloped, although there was a ceremony in progress while we were there!

The very very soon to be Mr. and Mrs. Ford!

Mr. Ford has the paperwork in his hot little hands. Let's make sure to not lose that. We still need to notarize something, sign something else, have witnesses sign it, mail it back, and then WAIT. That's LA County for you. :)

We thought it was worth celebrating. Let's PARTY!!

Paper Garland Banners

We are trying to wrap up the last DIY details for our reception this week and one of the last projects for me are the signs, banners, and garlands that will be on display at our reception.

I was inspired by the adorable bunting garland from our wedding shower, so I designed a few garlands and had all of the text printed to make something similar. I have been searching the internet for inspiration to make the garlands unique. Below are some of my better finds.

Glittery Rejoice Banner

Better Together Banner

Retro Banner with ribbons

Happy Easter Banner

I especially like the idea of all of the ribboned bows between signs like in the second to last retro garland. Hopefully I can create something cute that is cohesive with everything else. I can't wait to see all of our details completed and on display on the day of the wedding. I have been working so hard to make everything personal, I hope it all comes together just perfectly!