This way to the wedding....

So a long while back, I completed our "this way to the wedding" signs! Here's how they turned out:

(Source: yours truly)

The large signs will be hung with purple ribbon from trees and the small signs will be hung with purple ribbon from small shepard hooks. Our guests will be parking in a field and have to navigate through some gardens and such.

I purchased the large wood plaques from Michael's and the small ones from Wal-mart. I bought some Krylon Satin finish Ivory spray paint (their satin finish paint is amazing!) and used that for the base color. I goofed big time on the large plaques and didn't sand them before I painted. So if you decide to take on this project make sure you sand before you paint! The use of a primer would have been helpful too but I made it work without it.

I then used some purple acrylic paint and brushed that on to the edges (not needed but I wanted to). Then took some eye hooks and screwed them in the top of each sign. For the lettering, I printed out the wording on my computer using the font of my choice. Using a standard pencil, turn the printed page over and "color" with the pencil over the entire printed area. Then turn the page right side up and line it up in the correct placing on your plaque. Use some tape to hold it in place if you need to. Using a ballpoint pen, trace the outline of each letter pressing firmly so the pencil transfers the outline onto the wood. Once done, I used an ultra fine sharpie to trace the pencil outline that was left on the wood. Then, I used a fine tip sharpie to color in each letter.

The lettering for the small signs were rub on letters. I ran out of enough letters of the thin font and had to use a different font (wasn't happy about that). If I had to to do over again, I wouldn't have used them. I would have stuck with the first method. But oh well. I am still pleased with how they turned out. What do you think of them?

Will You Be My ________? DIY Cards

Today I thought I'd share a DIY project with you. Unfortunately, when I made these cards, I wasn't thinking that I'd one day be blogging about them so I don't have pictures to walk you through the steps. However, I got my idea from Jenn over at With This Ring.... For the how-to go check out her post on DIY Jewelry Cards.

I loved Jenn's concept of the DIY Jewelry Cards and I knew I wanted to make some cards of my own...just not for jewelry (at least not to start with, more on that another time though). I wanted to make my MOH and my BM cards officially asking them to be in the wedding. Now my girls already knew that they would have the affore mentioned titles come the wedding before I was even engaged. But I still wanted to officially ask them. Plus I love all things DIY and crafty so it was a perfect excuse to make some beautiful cards for my girls!

I'll show you the pictures I took of my finished cards first and then tell you how I changed Jenn's original design to meet my needs and make them unique.

(Source: yours truly - click to enlarge)

First up is the card I made for Lindsey, my MOH. Secondly, is the card for Bridesmaid Javiera. Unlike most brides out there, I made these cards in colors that each girl likes. All the gifts I have for L&J are gifts in their favorite colors. The only gift for them that's in the wedding colors is the jewelry I'm gifting them (more on it another time). I wanted to make sure that the gifts I give them will be enjoyed and well used. And since neither of them have a deep passion for purple like I do, I chose to go with colors I know they like. The gifts are for them and therefore, they should fit each girl and her personality...not mine or the weddings. lol

Anyways, on to the changes I made from Jenn's original idea.
1) I chose to make the cards square.
2) I used the Scallop blade on my Fiskars Desktop Rotary Trimmer to give the edges of the cards a really unique look. (I found the trimmer at Tuesday Morning for $19.99 and then saw it at Michael's for over $50!)
3) I also used the scallop blade to cut the slit for the ribbon to go through the card, I really like the look that created.
4) I obviously did not make the slit for a necklace or holes for earrings.
5) I added a piece of the ribbon to the right flap of the card because to me it just didn't look right without it there.
6) Instead of using alphabet stickers for the girls initals, I found $1.00 inital stamps at Michael's and stamped their inital on the top right corner on the cover for the cards.

That's it! Pretty darn simple if I do say so myself. Even if you aren't too crafty or arty I think you could easily master this DIY project!

I do have one recommendation for you though. The decorative paper I chose for BM J's card was a little heavier than the paper for MB L's card and because of this, once it was glued onto the stock paper and I folded the card it caused the decorative paper to crack. I ended up have to go back and put ribbon over the folded edges of BM J's card to cover this up. So when you pick out your paper, opt for thinner options if possible!

Are you going to create a DIY Jewelry Card holder like Jenn created or are you going to change the design and keep it a true card design?

Thank You, Thank You Very Much

Couldn't help but steal some Elvis words for this post!

Again, I'm breaking the away from what's normally done with stationery. Usually everything coordinates perfectly. From invitations, programs, shower invites and table numbers to escort cards and seating charts. But when you're working on a really tight budget you just don't have that luxury...at least I don't. Not to mention that I DON'T CARE if my stationery items don't match! I like no, I love each and every thing I've bought to date and have managed to keep at least one thing consistent with all items...PURPLE.

All this jibber jabber brings me to my thank you notes. I found them at Wal-Mart in the craft department and again....they were ON SALE! Woo! I love how when I'm not looking for wedding related stuff I just stumble upon it...and find great deals too! They are from Martha Stewart (her wedding line). Who I will admit at one time I absolutely could not stand. However, since her little stay at "Camp Cupcake" I find her much more enjoyable to watch...she's just not so anal about everything anymore and frankly she was a b**** before her stay there! :D

Anyhoo, back to the thank you notes. They were originally priced at $10.96 per 40 pack. However, I happened to find them on sale for $7.99 per 40 pack!! I bought all four packs they had. They are from her wedding Eyelet collection. I had been scouring the net to find thank you notes that I liked and were within my budget but it just wasn't happening. I wanted something unique, something with more eye pleasing details to it than just a while piece of card stock with the words "thank you" on it. These thank you cards are exactly what I was looking for and I was able to turn them into a little DIY project to add some purple to them too! So without further adieu here they are!

This is what they look like straight out of the box. (Source: yours truly)

Eyelet detail. (Source: yours truly)

And this is what they look like now that I'm done with them! (Source: yours truly)

New eyelet detail! (Source: yours truly)

How'd I do it? It was so simple! Just measure the width of the cards and then the height of the eyelet design and cut paper strips (of your color choice) to those dimensions. Then take a handy dandy double sided tape runner and place some tape at each end and in the middle of the strip and place it on the inside bottom of the card. Don't place it directly behind the eyelet design or your tape runner strips will show through...and yes, even if you use clear it will show! That's why you adhere the strip to the bottom of the thank you note. You get the pop of color through the eyelets and then it's still there when the invitation is open.

Cutting the paper strips. (Source: yours truly)

Applying the tape runner. (Sorry it's blurry!) (Source: yours truly)

I love how they turned out. With the addition of the purple behind the eyelet design I think it looks so much better and makes the detail of the eyelet pop! I got this simple little DIY embellishment project done in about an hour and a half. And I incurred no additional cost because I had the purple paper on hand already! So what do you think? I adore them! :)

Are you finding some of your wedding related items when you're not even looking?

Priceless Photos

I love the new idea of Flickr photo sharing cards! I first stumbled across the concept over at www.weddingbee.com. Miss Candy Corn, Miss Cream Puff, Miss Lemon, Miss Penguin and so many others created Flickr accounts and photo reminder cards so their guests could share their pictures with them after the wedding! How awesome is that!?

As a photography lover, I want to be able to see the photos that our guests are able to capture at the wedding. They are scattered in many different locations and can capture different angles, scenes and moments that our photographer won't be able to get; because lets face it, they can't be in every single place...as much as I wish they could be. ;)

Back at the beginning of the month I sat down and designed our Flickr cards from scratch. Because I'm poor and can't afford Photoshop, I used PowerPoint. I have discovered that working in PP on a Mac opens up a lot more editing options than you have when working with it in Windows. Here's what I came up with, the first image is the front of the card and the second is the back. Remember you can view the images larger by clicking on them.

(Source: yours truly)

(Source: yours truly)

When I sat down to design the cards, I had no vision as to what I wanted them to look like. I was just going to play around a bit, maybe come up with a few different options and see which one I liked most. This was my first and only design and I just love how it came out!

The tree design came from the kiss the groom. They have this thing called The Kissing Tree...you should really go check it out! It's a generator that places your text in the heart on the tree. So cool! I found it on another brides blog a while back but I can't remember which one, I loved it instantly and made a lot of trees.

For the Flickr card though I had to use a photo editing program to erase what the kissing tree placed inside the heart. The text I wanted there wouldn't fit using their site so I did it myself. It's kind of hard to read in the image but in the tree it says "Kristal & Charles May 1, 2010". And the top quote says "A great photograph is a full expression of what one feels about what is being photographed in the deepest sense, and is, thereby a true expression of what one feels about life in its entirety. ~ Ansel Adams" I've seen lots of flickr cards with the popular quote "A picture is worth a thousand words" but I wanted something different...hence the Ansel Adams quote.

I'm still undecided about how I'll get the cards to my guests and if I'll embellish them with any purple ribbon but I have time to figure those things out. If you have suggestions though let me know!

What do you think of my card design? Have you created a DIY project with no vision in mind and totally fell in love with your first attempt?

Get With The Program!

In addition to getting my bubbles and invitations at Michael's while I was on vacation back in early March, I also scored our ceremony programs! As I did with our invitations, I changed the color of ribbon used on the programs so it coordinates with our colors. And just like I did with the new ribbon for the invitations, I got it all cut to length while I was on vacation. A number of weeks ago, I decided I would go ahead and tie it around the programs so that's done too. When it's time to print the cover of the programs, I can just slide the ribbon off, print and then slide it back on. Here's what the sample program looks like with the purple ribbon I added (it was originally white).

(Source: yours truly)

I didn't get a picture of the inside of the program because until I design and print them, there's nothing to see. However, the kits from Michael's came with inserts for the inside of the programs and I plan on using them because I think it gives the programs a nicer more elegant touch.

The cost you ask? I'll have to check my receipts when I get home but I believe the original price on them was $15.99-20.99 (I can't remember but it was somewhere around there). They were on clearance for around $11.99 I think but they rang up at $9.99 per box of 40! And the ribbon I bought was on sale for $0.33 a spool! Unfortunately I didn't keep up with how many spools I used so I can't do a price breakdown including the new ribbon but I still think it was a steal and I love how they look!

I know the programs don't match our invitations but because of the price I couldn't pass them up and I was still able to incorporate our main color; purple.

Did you opt for a program design that doesn't perfectly coordinate with your invitations and other stationery?

DIY Centerpieces!

Believe it or not, I've already started working on the centerpieces for the reception tables! Yes I suppose I am crazy since the wedding is over 300 days away! lol But since I have the time and the materials I'd be a fool not to get what I can done now rather than wait. I'll have my hands full closer to the wedding. My mom's running joke is that I'll have everything done and planned out two months before the wedding and will then have nothing to do! lol And honestly, she's probably right or at least close. When I have things I'm working on for a big project they eat at me till I can get them accomplished. You have no idea how hard it is not to get the invitations done now! lol But I'll wait on those as hard as it is. Anyways on to the centerpieces!

I originally wanted to do submerged centerpieces. I love the look of them! Plus, they make a big statement without having to use tons of flowers...which is ever so helpful on the budget. Here's a picture of a submerged centerpiece I love.

(Source: unknown)

As much as I love the look of submerged centerpieces it soon became clear to me that I wouldn't be able to incorporate them. Why? Because of budget reasons, time and labor. My mom is doing all my floral decor including the bouquets. I read on a florists blog that submerged centerpieces have to be put together the day of the wedding at the wedding location to avoid messing them up. This picture got my attention and I instantly fell in love with the look.

(Source)

But how on earth would I recreate something even close to that!? There's no way I can afford orchids...as much as I'd love to be able to. While browsing Save-on-crafts.com my vision came into being with my mom's help. Here is my completed vision:

(Source: yours truly)

What do you think? I absolutely LOVE them!!!!! I am so glad that what mom and I had envisioned in our heads really worked and looks so amazing, stunning, beautiful, and expensive!

So now I bring you the materials list and step by step instructions on how I made my centerpieces.

(Source: yours truly)

Materials Needed:
A) Clear Glass Cylinder Vase 10 1/4" tall and 3 1/2" in diameter.
B) Natural Curly Willow Branches 27 to 30" long.
C) Purple & White Preserved Orchid Blooms 2 1/2" wide (3 blooms per vase).
D) PVC Grass Onion Bush 24" tall.
E) Glass Nuggets of your color choice (mine came from Michael's but they no longer carry this purple color).
F) Natural Sheet Moss 1.5 oz. bag (make sure you get natural and not artificial).
G) Mini Glue Gun and glue sticks (not pictured).
H) Scissors (not pictured).
I) 7" Round Centerpiece Mirror (not pictured).

(Source: yours truly)

Instructions:
A) Cut curly willow branch to just under the height of the vase (9.5 - 10 inches).
B) Cut two pieces of grass from the bush.
C) Curl the grass using scissors (keep them closed), just like you would curl curling ribbon.
D) Place enough glass nuggets in the bottom of the vase to cover the bottom and allow for the willow branch to stick down in them.
E) Using a mini hot glue gun glue an orchid bloom into place on the willow branch. You decide on where and at what angle to glue the bloom, it's entirely up to you. Start either at the base or top of the branch though when placing the first bloom.
F) Let the glue set for a few seconds and then place a small pinch of the sheet moss over the glue. Make sure you can see no hot glue and be careful not to burn your fingers! Tweezers can be used to aid in this process.
G) Repeat steps E and F two more times placing the remaining blooms on the willow branch. Again, it's up to you to decide on where to place them, how to angle them and how much space to leave between each bloom. (My centerpieces will be going on round tables at the reception so I tried very hard to make it so each of the blooms faced a different direction. This allows every guest to see a bloom no matter where they're seated at around the table. In picture "G", I rotated the branch three times to show this.)

(Source: yours truly)

Once you've followed the above instructions, you can do the next step in whatever order you find to be easiest.
A) Place your willow branch with the blooms inside the vase and insert (on at a time) the curled grass. You decide on how you want it to look. (I chose to stick the end of the grass into the glass nuggets and then let it curve around the inside of the vase. I tried to get one piece of grass to start from the base on both the left and right side.)
B) Then repeat with the other piece of curled grass.
This part can be a little frustrating and tricky because there isn't room to get your hand into the vase once the willow branch is in place. You may find it easier to put the grass in first and then put the willow branch in.
C) Sit back and admire your work!!!
Note: I prefer that the top orchid bloom not stick out above the top of the vase so if yours does just cut off a little more from the bottom of the willow branch to shorten it. *If you have any questions about the DIY process feel free to leave me a comment or send me an e-mail!

When I placed my order with Save-on-crafts, I was initially worried about how fragile the orchid blooms would be. However, they stand up pretty well when working with them. I didn't have any break while putting them together. I will say though that you need to order a lot more blooms than you really need because through shipping, some of them get the tips broken off.

COST BREAKDOWN FOR ONE CENTERPIECE:
1) Cylinder Vase $3.99
2) 7" Centerpiece Mirror $1.12
3) Glass Nuggets $0.50
4) Curly Willow Branch $0.33 (it's actually less than that because you don't use the whole branch for one centerpiece)
5) 3 Preserved Orchid Blooms $1.26 ($0.42 per bloom)
6) 2 Pieces PVC Grass $0.0093124 ($0.0046562 each piece of grass, $1.49 a bush w/ 320 blades of grass)
7) Natural Moss $0.12 ($2.99 for a 1.5oz bag-I'm making 24 centerpieces so I divided 2.99 by 24 to get the price.)
GRAND TOTAL PER CENTERPIECE:
$7.33!
Note: I already had the hot glue gun and glue sticks on hand so I didn't incur a cost for those.

I cannot believe I was able to use real orchid blooms (although they aren't fresh they're real!) in the centerpieces. I absolutely love how they turned out and I'm so glad I was able to make them myself! And the best things about them....the cost was low, they can be made in advance and I can give them to special people as gifts if I so choose, sell them or use them to decorate! LOVE THEM!! :)

So let me know what you think...Do you like how they turned out? And can you believe I made each one for under 8 bucks!?

Did you have a DIY project that saved you a ton of money and turned out exceeding your expectations?

Where Do I Start?

I have sooo much to post about that I'm not even sure where to start! lol I don't want to overload you guys but you have to understand that I've had tons of ideas stuck in my head and now they can finally come out! I guess this will be a kind of random post so just hang in there. :)

Over the weekend, I was finally able to get the supplies I needed to be able to make my DIY Light Box. It was really easy to make and as a result, I've got tons of pictures to share with you. If you're interested in making a DIY Light Box just check out this tutorial. The only thing I did differently was use a hot glue gun to glue the interfacing fabric to the box so I wouldn't have to worry about it sliding off. I highly recommend doing that if you decide to make a light box and use if often.

So now on to the pictures!

As promised in More Purple and More Sparkles, I have some more pictures of the brooch I will be using on my bouquet.

(Source: yours truly)

Next I'll be showing off the gorgeous earrings I found when I got my dress! I absolutely love them and cannot wait to wear them!

(Source: yours truly)

Next up...my bubbles! I found these at Michael's back in March while I was on vacation with mom and snatched them up! I bought 6 tubs of 36 wands for a total of 216 bubble wands. I also bought some purple ribbon to tie around the tops of the wands to give them a personalized look and to incorporate my main color. No, I wasn't engaged yet when I got these but I'm really glad I bought them when I did. They seem to be really popular and Michael's has trouble keeping them in stock in large quantities. While on vacation enjoying doing nothing much but going to the beach and relaxing, I went ahead and put the ribbon on all 216 wands! That was awesome because I was able to get that DIY project out of the way so I won't have to worry about it now!

Why I want bubbles instead of rose petals, rice, confetti, sparklers, etc...because you get pictures like this one!

(Source)

What the bubbles look like when you buy them:

(Source)

And what my bubbles look like now that I'm done with them:

(Source: yours truly)

I found the wands looked nicer with the ribbon around the base of the "love knot" instead of through the "love knot". I simply wrapped the ribbon around the base of the love knot and double knotted it once. I didn't think it was necessary to knot it twice as I believe once will hold just fine. I love how they turned out!

Ok, I think that's it for this post.

Are you using bubbles, sparklers, rice, birdseed, confetti or something else for your send off?

Up next: I'll give you a look at what I'm thinking of as far as the guys attire is concerned.

Hair Bling

When I went to the bridal salon and found my dress and veil, Carolyn my amazing consultant suggested that I have a comb above my veil. I liked the sound of her idea and this is ultimately what she had me try:

(Source: my friend Javiera)

I did NOT like the look of the beading on this comb. There were too many pearls and I just plain didn't like it. Not to mention that unless we read the price tag wrong it was $115.00! Are you serious!? So yeah, that comb was a no go but I did like the overall look of having some detailing there. So my quest for a comb began. I scoured Etsy, Ebay and the net in search of the perfect comb. Found a few ideas here and there but nothing that I really just loved. And I kept running into that high price issue too. I can't believe a plastic comb with some metal and beading detail could be so expensive!

One day while scouring Etsy I came across this beauty:

(Source)

Beautiful no? I think so. I was in love. Those are vintage rhinestone earrings on the comb. Very cool way to re-purpose them! And the price was just right at $17.50 with free shipping! Woo hoo! The listing said it was 3" long and I wasn't sure if that would be long enough because I didn't have my veil in hand at the time. I immediately e-mailed Carolyn and asked her to measure the comb she had me try on the day I was at the salon. She got back to me saying it was 4" long. I debated for a little bit as to whether or not I should go ahead and get the comb from Etsy even though it might not be long enough. I decided to get it. I mean for $17.50 I had to at least try it!

Once I had it in hand and had my veil also I soon discovered that it was in fact too short and didn't look right. But I knew when I bought it that I would be taking that chance. I e-mailed the seller to ask what kind of glue she used to put it together and explained that I was going to have to get creative and use the earrings on another longer comb. I was a little apprehensive about removing the earrings from the comb because I didn't want to damage them in the process. However, they were pretty easy to get off.

I was now on the search of more vintage rhinestone jewelry to see if I could find some pieces to extend the existing design. I started my search in my very own collection. When I was little, my Grandma gave me almost all of her costume jewelry...which included several pairs of rhinestone earrings and a few rhinestone necklaces. To my astonishment I had a pair of earrings that went perfectly with the earrings from the Etsy comb! I was so happy! Now the hard part. How to make a new longer comb, use the same design that the Etsy seller had come up with, incorporate the "new" earrings and make it stable and strong. Unfortunately, I didn't think to get pictures of the earrings from my Grandma before hand or pictures of the DIY process. However, here is a step by step guide of what I did:

-I ran into WalGreens after work one day and they had hair combs on clearance 2 for $2 so I bought two packs. They were black wire combs like they used to make years ago. They weren't the right length but I was confident that I could somehow combine two combs to get the length I needed. My mom who is also very crafty helped me with that part and actually unwound the wire on one of the combs to make one comb and then re-did the wiring. It came out to be the perfect length!
-After carefully working the existing earrings off the comb I was able to remove them without harm. I had to take the earrings from my Grandma apart to be able to work them into the design but that was fine by me. However, I was having a hard time trying to visualize the design layout over the new comb I because the earrings kept sliding off due to the fact that the comb is curved. To solve this problem and to make sure I would be able to get them glued in the right place and also to add some stability I did the following:
-I sewed the earrings onto some thin black fabric using clear nylon thread so it wouldn't be seen. This allowed me to get the design layout just as I wanted it without having to worry about gluing pieces in the wrong place or have them slide out of place once glued on the comb.
-Once I had everything sewed in place, I took some Judi Kins Diamond Glaze (Water based dimensional adhesive) that I had on had from some glass pendants I had made. I brushed it on the back of the fabric knowing that in doing so it would cause the fabric to stiffen (it dries clear). This also served as fray check so I could trim the black fabric down so it wouldn't show.
-Next I trimmed all the way around the piece to remove the excess black fabric. That was a little hard because of the angles and curves and because I had to be really careful not to cut any of the threads on the back that hold the earrings to the fabric.
-Then I decided to glue the whole piece onto another piece of black fabric to stabilize it even more. Before I did the gluing though I brushed Judi Kins Diamond Glaze onto the new piece of fabric so that it would be stiff before I began gluing. Once glued (used a hot glue gun) and dried, I again set out to trimming the access fabric.
-Once that was all done it was time to glue the whole piece onto the comb. I used a hot glue gun to secure the design piece to the comb. And then added a strip of Grosgrain black ribbon over the glue line so nothing could get caught in my hair.

The earrings that came on the comb I purchased from the Etsy seller are in the same general area on my new comb as they were on the one I originally purchased. I added pieces of the earrings from my Grandma to each end to extend the design and also added a piece to the middle to create a "tiara" like effect so that it would have a little more height to it and because it looked like something was missing there. Here's the finished product (forgot to get pictures of it in place with the veil but you can visualize):
The below picture shows the earrings from the Etsy seller and pieces of the earrings from my Grandma. Sorry it's crappy quality, I'm too poor to have Photoshop.

(Source for the above 4 photos: yours truly)

So what do you think? I LOVE how it came out!! Going into this DIY, I had no idea that I would end up with such great results!

Were you stunned by the results of a DIY project you attempted?