Taking a Break... Sort of!

Even though I have several more wedding projects on the list (place cards, programs, candy buffet cards, flower girl baskets, etc.), I decided I would take a break from the wedding projects today. Sort of. Today I worked on gifts for my flower girls and ring bearer. I also worked on two things for myself for the honeymoon!

For the flower girls and the ring bearer, I wanted to make/give something that they would be able to use at the reception. I decided on a crayon roll, but then I though, well, maybe these older kids are too cool for crayons. So, I decided on colored pencils... but then I realized that you have to sharpen colored pencils and that is such a pain. Finally, I settled on the Crayola twistable pencils! Since I was making up my own pattern, I had to do a lot of math inside my head. (Really, I need to start writing the patterns down, as I can never remember them when I try to make them again later.) Basically, from three fat quarters of quilting fabric you can make two of these rolls. For the two flower girls, I used a navy blue floral by Erin McMorris for the outside and coordinating fabrics for the inside (see photo above). My ring bearer was harder to choose fabric for. I had in my class two years ago, and I know he likes cameo print and skulls. Who knew that they made cameo skull print fabric?!?! Not my taste, but I know he will love it!

Next, I decided to make a colored pencil roll for myself, in my favorite colors, black and white.

Just kidding! It is a make-up brush roll! Same idea, but I made the pockets in different sizes to accomodate the different brushes, etc. I had some extra room at the end, in case I ever end up with more brushes. This will be perfect for my trip to Hawaii :)

And yet another roll! Okay, this one really folds up instead of rolling up. And... I actually wrote this pattern down! It was a bit more involved than the rolls. I really needed something to store all of my jewelry in when I go on the honeymoon. I always just stick it in a bag and everything gets all tangled up. My plan was to create a roll (which ended up being a fold-up) with a ton of pockets in different sizes.

It is hard to tell from the photo, but the inside of this jewelry fold-up has lots o' pockets (the large print floral fabric is where the pockets are). Some are teeny-tiny (1" square), some are medium (2" square, 2" by 3"), and some are large (2.5" by 5"). I didn't use zippers because, well, I hate sewing in zippers. Plus, my zipper foot is missing (very convenient!). I also added a layer of batting between the outer and inner fabrics for padding to help protect the jewelry.

Not a very productive day in terms of getting any wedding projects crossed off the list... but a productive day overall, I think!

Candy Take-Out Containers

Tonight I was tired, tired, tired of sewing. I spent the whole morning sewing the squares that will go under the centerpieces. My poor little sewing machine was kaput.

So, with my sewing machine glaring at me from across the table, I decided to work on adding the Thank You tags to the take-out containers for the candy (from the lovely black and white candy bar, yum!).
I made the tags on the computer and printed them on linen-textured cardstock. Then, I punched them out with a scalloped square punch. Finally, I punched holes in the top and added black grommets. Were the grommets necessary? No, but the tags do look a whole lot nicer with the grommets. I love, love, love grommets. I think I have about 20 different colors of grommets!
After adding the lovely grommets, I cut the blue ribbon and threaded it through the grommet hole.
And tied the tags to the wire handles on the take out containers (all 120 of them). Whew!

Tomorrow... I think I am taking a break...

Today's To Do

It is only 9 o'clock in the morning, and I already feel like I have gotten a lot done!

I have assembled all the paper chains from ormolu. They will go around the vases in the centerpieces.

I formatted the document for the placecards and entered in everyone's information. Still a lot left to do with these (edit, print, cut, punch circle, adhere fabric, insert into corks)...

Also, I checked the weather for my wedding day (scatter storms, ick) and got two packages ready to ship.

My to do list for today:
1. Finish sewing table centerpiece cloths (squares of black and white fabric, different for each table, approximately 17" square)
2. Sew borders onto my beach quilt (see photo above -- more on this quilt later)
3. Errands (post office, Archiver's, package from apartment office, Michaels)
4. dance lessons!
5. finish take-out containers for candy

I'm sure there are about 10 other things I am forgetting... We'll see how much I get done!

Boutonnieres. Oh, how I hate spelling that word.

Really, I do hate spelling it. I was never good at spelling (the best grade I ever got in spelling on my report card was a C+), and "boutonnieres" gets me every time. I hate that word. I would rather spell "man-bouquet" -- which is really what that thing is, and even though "bouquet" isn't easy to spell, it sure beats trying to spell boutonnieres, which I have yet to spell correctly without using spell check. So, I have decided to call them man-bouquets for the remainder of this post!

Anyway, moving on... Today I worked on man-bouquets. I know you are dying to know every step (and if you aren't, just pretend for me, okay?). I have tons of photos so you too can make your own man-bouquet!

The back part (a leaf) is loosely based on this tutorial from the ever-crafty Martha. However, I found that using just one layer of wool fabric created a floppy, flimsy leaf. I need something with more structure, so I created my own steps.

First, make a leaf template, preferably from cardstock. I just cut until I came up with one in a size and shape I liked. Next, cut a piece from the wool that is twice as wide as your leaf template. Then, cut a piece of wunder-under fusible web (I used the stuff with the paper backing because that is what I already had, but you could probably use the kind without the paper backing) that is half the size of your wool fabric piece. Using your iron, fuse the wunder-under to one half of the wool.

Next, cut a piece of floral wire (I used white to go with my color scheme). Pull up the paper backing (which I didn't do in the picture, so you could still see where the fusible web is) and lay the floral wire in the middle of the fusible web. Fold over the other half of the wool and iron. The wire should be sandwiched inbetween the two layers of wool.

Now you have little wool lollipops! Yum! Or not...

Lay the leaf template on top of the wool lollipop, aligning the bottom of the leaf with the bottom of the wool. Cut around the leaf template.

Tada! Wool leaves!

Here are the other ingredients for the man-bouquets. There are three different colors of silk shantung leaves, which were cut from a smaller leaf template with pinking shears. A stem was adhered to the back with one of my favorite glues, PVA. The white berries were cut from a larger stem and taped together with floral tape (white) in groups of four. The small flowers are also taped together in groups of four (two white, two black).

Stack the silk shantung leaves on top of the wool leaf.

Then, stack the berries and flowers on top. Use floral tape to tape the whole bundle together. I bring the floral tape up onto part of the grey wool leaf to pinch the bottom together (which you might notice in the next photo).

Sorry for the fuzzy photo, I must have forgotten to turn on the macro mode! Anyway, next I cut the wires to the same length, about 1.75 inches below the leaf.

Time for ribbon! To cover the bottom, I cut a small piece of the black grograin and folded it over the end.

Next, I wrapped a longer piece around the stem...

And adhered the top end using one of my other favorite adhesives, a small glue dot!

To make a nice neat knot on the front (I felt the stem looked a little blah), I cut another piece of ribbon, about 6 inches.

I tied it in a knot and cut the ends on a diagonal.

And you are done! Repeat 12 times! One groom, five groomsmen, one ringer bearer, two dads, two grandfathers, and one extra just-in-case.

Phew.

After all that, I was going to work on my beach quilt, but I realized that I didn't buy enough fabric for the backing. Which is the problem with making your own patterns and keeping them all in your head. Some day, I will write all the patterns down. But until then, I need to go to the fabric store again.

Less than two weeks... Oh My!

Whew. I have been insanely busy with the long school year, trainings, and of course... getting ready for the wedding! Less than two weeks to go, and I have TONS of handmade wedding ideas to share with you. First up, the invitations.

What a process. Printing, cutting, gluing, punching, tying, oh my. Above, you can see the hand punched tags with each guest's name (they were tied with ribbon on the outside of the inner back folder, which also had a patterned band around it) and the envelopes with the hand-cut black liners.

Here they are, all ready to go! Stacked up neatly inside a box and ready to carry to the post office. What a relief!

And, there I am... putting all my hard work into the hands of the post office. Yes, I had to be corny and take pictures of me and my fiance mailing the invitations!

So, finally the invitations were done and I could begin working on all the other handmade aspects of the wedding... table numbers, candy buffet signs, boutonnieres, necklaces for the bridesmaids, place cards, flower girls baskets, take-out containers for the candy, centerpieces... Check back for more!

Invitations - Part 1

The big day is quickly approaching (less than 3 months!!) and I'm finally getting started on all the handmade projects. First up, invitations. My good friend, who is just as detail-oriented as I am, came over to help on Friday night. We were up until late, late, late, (uh, so late that she started gluing scraps to her forehead and I had to stop cutting because I couldn't see straight) and while we didn't finish, we did get a good chunk done.

Here you can see some of the assembly of the invitations. The glue we are using is actually an adhesive tape web thing. It is awesome!!!! Sticks quickly and there are no bumps or lumps.

These are some of the assembled strips -- the black and white pattern on top of black cardstock.

Next, each the tape-glue stuff is applied to the back of the cardstock strip, and it is adhered to the reply card (it is also being put on the invitation itself). I left the edges long so that it could be trimmed to fit the card, which is a whole lot easier than measuring each strip precisely.

And, here is a big stack of reply cards, all ready to go! I made about 100, which is a bit more than needed, but it is always better to make more, than run out later.

Today I worked on the invitations themselves, but I ran out of the glue-tape stuff. So... I'll be working on them again tomorrow night, and hopefully I'll post more photos!

Wanted: Blue-Grey Long Earrings

The shade of blue on my dress is an icy blue-grey. Here are some gorgeous earrings that would work wonderfully with my dress:


All of her work makes me feel faint, it is so lovely and sparkly -- these beauties are no exception. Eva Earrings by Elaine Hayden Jewelry


Love these gorgeous labradorite earrings by Creative Treasures by Donna.


Even though pale green isn't really in the palette, I do love this combination -- the colors are so subtle. Sanai Earrings by Firelily Jewelry