Features and Treasuries.

Some of my craftiness was featured this week in various places on the world wide web.

On Big Wedding, Tiny Budget's website they featured our burlap table runners here:
http://www.big-wedding-tiny-budget.com/diy-wedding.html





On etsy, my Potentially Cold Feet Sock Wraps have been featured on a few treasuries, most recently, an Art Deco Wedding Decor Treasury here:
http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4c855458b4676d91070a869e/art-deco-wedding-decor?index=0




Pretty exciting!

Burlap Bird's Nests.

When I saw these burlap bird's nests at The Country Chic Cottage I had to attempt them myself.  First attempt, was terrible - as I didn't use disposable bowls, rather my own cereal bowls!  Needless-to-say that left me with quite a mess.  This weekend, however, after a bit of advice from Angie at The Country Chic Cottage, I came out with ten awesome candy dishes for my guests' dinner tables!  (In the pic is a nest of reese's peanut butter cups - but we'll be using jelly beans and foil covered chocolate eggs that look like bird's eggs.)

More DIY Craftiness Going On....

Now that school is just about over, I have a ton of time on my hands - which is a good thing, as I also have a ton of DIY projects for the wedding to do!

Today, I made the first burlap table runner. I ♥ it! I'm getting much better at sewing straight lines, too! It took forever to sew, well what seemed like forever - 2 hours. After finishing the first one, I realized I couldn't just sit there banging them out one after another, so I took a DIY break to... DIY!

I also "made" clothespins for our photograph clothesline. By made, I mean I glued some cardstock strips onto dollar store clothespins. I like how they came out and it adds some purple to the decor, which I felt has been lacking. I'm certain we won't need all 144 for the clothesline - 72 photos? Probably not. - but I'm sure I will find some other way to use them between now and then.

Other awesome wedding related news - the town has blocked off the grange for the whole week prior to the wedding, so we will have plenty of time to decorate! Holy relief, Batman!




Photograph Clothesline Clothespins




(That's Shirley!)




1st Burlap Table Runner











PS-I do have DIY failures, too. I attempted to make burlap bird's nests this weekend and succeeded in glueing a ton of burlap to our cereal bowls. That one has gone back to the drawing board. =D

Burlap and Ruffles! Oh my!

As you may already know, David and I plan on DIYing our own table runners or tablecloths from burlap that I will be sewing and he will be screenprinting with something swanky. Well, I've just been overwhelmed with more awesomeness that I want to include too! Burlap runners with.... RUFFLES! Gah! I'm pretty sure I could do this, you know, sew the ruffles on our table runners. I'm at least going to attempt it, when we get to that point. Classes will be done in 5 weeks and I'll have a few weeks before summer session begins. So my plan is to do all the DIYing that we will do here during that time.

Yay! Burlap with ruffles!

A bouquet just for me.

I saw this bouquet online today... It looks like it was made just for me. Right down to the Mary medallion. I'm going to try to make mine very similar to this one. ♥

Budget Bird's Nests.

In my never ending quest to reduce the budget of our wedding I'm constantly searching DIY blogs and sites to find ways to create looks that I love for less.

Most recently, I've been enamored with bird's nests. I'm not totally sure where it came from. It could be because we have a cute pair of birds on our STDs and RSVPs or it could be because birds live in trees and we have a heavy tree theme going on or it could be because of the freedom a bird implies and I've always been a wandering soul. Whatever the reason, I'd like to have bird's nests as part of our centerpiece decor with little, pretty eggs in them. To do this would cost about $40, not a ton of money, but money none-the-less. I'm not so excited about spending money on "stuff" that I am going to either throw out or try to sell to other brides after the wedding. Enter the DIY.

I found a cute little project this week for DIY bird's nests made out of burlap. Well, we're already going to have a ton of burlap to make our table runners and other miscellany from. It would be completely practical to use the scraps to make bird's nests for our table too! But then there are the eggs. I still didn't want to buy fake eggs that were just going to get tossed so I shared this with the brides on a wedding forum and they suggested I check out the post-Easter sales. Well, duh! Why didn't I think of that? I could buy Easter colored jelly beans, put them in my scrap, burlap bird's nests and they would be tasty little treats and not be wasted!

So, I did just that. I bought some chocolate eggs that are wrapped in tinfoil that looks like robin's eggs and some pastel colored jelly beans today for a grand total of $9! I'm halfway to some fantastic bird's nests for our tables. Here are some photos of the DIY bird's nest project. I think when I make mine, I will use a different shaped mold so they're a little deeper than hers.

Ceremony Aisle.

I don't know why, but I keep waffling all over the place for the aisle decor for the ceremony. I loved the idea of the feather flags, but they were too expensive. I loved the idea of 36" white balloons filled with helium and weighted down with mason jars filled with rocks, but, if there is wind, they will be all over the place and super distracting. I thought a minute about spreading flowers, specifically lavender buds, but they're so tiny, that it will hardly be noticeable.

So, as of right now, I like these ideas: mason jars with some rocks in them on the ground to mark the aisle and twine strung between the chairs, down the aisle, with little burlap triangle flags on them (maybe with an S monogram stamped on the flags, maybe not).

Today, I experimented a little with the idea. I attached fabric flags (scraps Dave had screenprinted for me, for a quilt) to twine and I really like it. They were very easy to do and I really like the look of them. Here's a pic of the flags I made, as well as, some of the inspirations I got all this silliness from!

Burlap.

Dave and I are still planning on making our own table runners out of burlap and screenprinting them with our monogram for the guest tables at our wedding. I found this really cute burlap heart today and thought these would be fun to make with the burlap scrap! Then, my mind wandered off, and I thought I could make an S monogram for our head table or something. Then, further my mind wandered, and I thought I could make a little boy and a little girl out of the burlap scrap to hang on the bathroom doors! Ha! How cute would that be!?!? And I'd totally use them again as dolls on our guest bed. I'm not thinking regular dolls, more like gingerbread people shaped.

I got a sewing machine off of craigslist for free a couple weeks ago. It didn't come with a manual and it's been forever since I've really used a sewing machine. (I did make a pillow for Dave for Christmas, but that machine was all set up to go - I just had to sew some straight lines!) So, I've asked my friend Galen to come over and set it up (he's a crafting mad man!) and hopefully I can start doing some sewing of my own soon! Here's the pic of the heart that has inspired me to do more with the burlap!

Centerpieces & Table Decor.

I couldn't sleep this morning. I was up at 430am! So I sat in the dark living room, with a kitty by my side, looking at craft websites for inspiration. I stumbled upon the most amazing website - ever!

www.save-on-crafts.com

This website has just about everything I think i will need for inspiration and supplies for a beautiful, rustic, crafty table decor.

Here are some ideas that I am enamoured with:

♥punched-tin cans and mason jars with lavender votives (I just bought 112 votives online for 25 cents a piece, with shipping!)
♥tallish, cylindrical vases or milk jugs (all from thrift stores?) as the "center" filled with this branch with bird's nest (see below), lavender sprigs, and some other twiggy things (also see below)
♥lavender buds in the bottoms of the vases and mason jars (maybe some sprinkled on the tables, too?)
♥river stones scattered about (that i plan on snagging from/returning to the Fowler River, near my parents' home)
♥burlap table runner screenprinted with some variation of the block letters photo that Dave and I took in the redwoods (runners sewn by me, screenprinting by dave) I think the ink should be dark lavender, to keep tying the purple in.

Entrance & Table Center Pieces.

I like the monogram entrance idea... I think if we made a big "S" from some salvaged wood and made it look weathered and hung it with a big ribbon on the door into the grange that would be really awesome.








On the tables I'd like a narrow burlap runner (if the tables are wood, which I think they are) (or maybe a brown paper runner, as seen in the last photo) with candles in mason jars and the same punched tin cans from the wedding aisle. Also some jars or plain glass vases with cotton branches and other twigs. (Maybe flowers if that is in the budget, but I don't think they will be.) We would screen print an image of our names on the burlap that is made from blocks and we would make it look worn, old and/or shabby chic!

Wedding Aisle

I like these white feather flags (but they're $250 for 6 to rent, so I may end up passing on them). I also like tin coffee/soup cans punched with trees. I think it would look great to have the feather flags and cans along the aisle. I've also seen some rattan squares used as an aisle... I'm not too sure and think the expense would likely end up too great. I've also seen burlap runners and even though I look forward to using elements of burlap in my wedding, I don't think I'd like it as a runner.