Wedding DIYs

This is going to be a long one!!  

The wedding is finally over!  It was a stressful, exciting, amazing day, but I'm glad it's over and I can finally call Alex my husband!  We had a wonderful honeymoon and we've finally moved in to our house!  Without further adieu, it's finally time to to share all of my DIY projects for the wedding!

To start--you can't have a wedding if you don't invite people, right?  So, after figuring out what I wanted to do and seeing how much the pre-made, ordered invites actually were, I decided to make my own.  I've seen it a lot on Pinterest and it really wasn't too hard.  So I went to Hobby Lobby and bought some card stock, twine and glue dots, then ordered doilies from Amazon and got to working!  While I found doilies at other stores, they weren't as intricate as I liked.  I made the outline on Microsoft Publisher and used our printer's photo printing option to print them off in the correct size.  The information cards are made from the same cardstock, just cut smaller!

Finished product!  It took quite a long time, but I love them!

One of the next things that had to be done was to pop the question to my bridesmaids!  I knew I wanted to make something that the girls would wear to the wedding.  So, I found these cute little lockets on Etsy (shop: BrassKicker) and bought the pearls, chain and clasps from Hobby Lobby/Michaels and put it all together!  But what to put it in?  I bought these little glass tubes and dresses from Michael's and added a hook onto the cork and put the necklaces in them!

My most favorite project was definitely my bouquet.  I always knew that I wanted something different that involved using antique brooches.  I have been eyeballing the fabric flower and brooch bouquets for years, only to realize that they can cost just as much (if not more) than real flowers.  SO, I decided to make my own.  I used a lot of different types of fabric flowers from almost anywhere you can imagine...Michael's, Hobby Lobby, and even Marshall's and TJ Maxx. 

 I bought way more than I needed because I wasn't sure what all I wanted/needed or what would look best.  The individual flowers were mostly hair clips which made it very easy to attach them to the bouquet.  I used wire to wrap the non-clip flowers and attach them to the base.

I used the flower ball as a base.  The peony bouquets were obviously used as the stem handle. 

I pinned the brooches to my favorite flowers and then just started clipping/wrapping the flowers onto the flower ball!

At the end, I wrapped some twine around the "stems" to complete the handle.

Finished product!!!

I also wanted to add something special...

For the family members that couldn't be there on our big day, I had them with me the whole time!

While we are on the topic of flowers--I made the guys their boutonniere, too!  Since we got married in a barn, we wanted something country-esque.  So, what better than bullets?  I glued the pins to the bullets and wrapped them with a little bit of lace.  I bought the flowers from JoAnn Fabrics and just shoved them into the bullets and there you have it!

The wood tags were bought at a boutique store and I wood burned their names onto them! 

I also made the mom's and grandmother's corsages.  Very easy, just bought the pearl bracelets and glued the flowers (from Michael's) onto ribbon wrapped around them!

We planned to use a wood slab for our cake topper, but didn't end up using it because it had flowers on top!  I used my woodburner to make the B.

Gifts!  Of course I had to include a little DIY into the bridal party's gifts! 

Woodburned the bridesmaid's names into the wood slabs for their hangers (which were purchased from TJ Maxx)

This is what the tags from the previous picture ended up being used for!

A few of my favorite decor pieces were these old windows and shutters that I bought from various antique shops!

Thankfully the panes were about the same size as a piece of printer paper, so I just printed out what I wanted to say and wrote over it with a chalk pen. Made it look very nice since my cursive is not great!

Please ignore the off-center picture...it fell off during the move and was just quickly stuck back on!

This was one of the most time consuming projects I took on...When I originally bought this, it was just the frame.  SO, I added the chicken wire to hang the pictures on.  Since our lovely staple gun was not working (and probably wouldn't have worked well anyway-it would need very small staples), I had to use thumbtacks to attach it.  Also, have you ever worked with chicken wire?  It hurts.  But the end result was work it :)

 For the favors we had wildflower seed bombs!  I bought the seeds off Etsy (shop: FreeMountainDesigns) and used the leftover cardstock from our invitations!  Hot gluing was the easiest way to attach them since they weren't completely flat on the back :)  Apparently they work, too, because Alex's work family had planted theirs while we were on our honeymoon and they already started growing after a week!

Based on the Etsy shop's included instructions!

We decided to do the "cord of 3 strands" ceremony.  We had a spare piece of wood that we stained and I used painter pens to write the verse on.  We bought the rope from Michael's and drilled two little holes in the back to attach it with wire.  It turned out well and can now be a very meaningful piece of decor in our house! 

If you or anyone you know want to do this, THIS is the reading we gave our officiant to use while we braided the cord.

Okay, I think that's actually all!  It was a lot of planning and projects but it was well worth it!!  Hope you enjoyed it all! :)

Let's catch up...

Wow, has it really been 6 months since I've posted last?  So much has happened since then!  I got engaged, one of my best friends got married...okay, so I guess "so much" is the wrong wording...but it's all super exciting and important stuff!  Here's a few things I've been working on these past few months..

I was my friend Kelsey's maid of honor so, along with the help of her other bridesmaids, we put together an awesome Minnie and Mickey Mouse themed bridal shower!

I made the banner with black doilies, scrapbook paper and ribbon!

I used these little notes in a scrapbook I made for the bride that I gave to her on their wedding day!  Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of the book; I'll have to ask her for one when they get home from their honeymoon!

This game is always fun-- "Pin the _____ on the Bride and Groom"  We did this at my other friends wedding with "Pin the Moustache on the Groom"

I've also made two more wedding signs for friends that got married

That's all for now!  I'll post some of the things I've been doing for our wedding in a few days!

A Time for Giving!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone!  I hope everyone had a fantastic day spent with loved ones, good food and presents!  Here are a few of my projects and presents that I used as gifts!

Another bracelet made from and antique piece of jewelry!  This time I used two clip-on earrings to make into a bracelet for myself, and my sister!  Also, I'm obsessed with cameos. :)

So obviously I didn't actually make these.  I just thought it was a very cute way to present gifts to my friends!

Last year I made a graduation tassel ornament for myself (the one on the left) & this year, now that my boyfriend has finally graduated, I made one for him!

This was one of the gifts I made for my boyfriend.  I got this idea from pinterest (of course) and decided it would be a cute way to "wrap" Alex's graduation ornament!  It's called an "exploding gift box" and unfortunately the link on the pin no longer works so I can't share it!  Had I not made this box about two years ago (yeah, I've been saving it for quite some time now...) then I would give more detailed instructions!  Sorry!

Welcome Y'all!!

I finally added the final touches to the wreath I made a few months ago! I found this wooden Texas in Canton and went searching for ideas!  I finally found one that I loved and rolled with it!  I think it turned out nicely. :)

Banner!

A co-worker asked if I could make a banner for her grandson's 1st birthday.  I've been in a super creative mood lately, so of course I accepted!

I went off of the invitation that they sent out that had blue chevron and a red wagon on it!  Super cute!  Here is what I came up with!

Obviously the name is supposed to be under the "Happy 1st Birthday" but I
didn't have a space large enough to display it for the picture!

You can actually see the little wagons in this shot :)

Craft night!

So many posts in one week!  Here's the bracelet I made at the craft night my friend and I had last night! I'll post the wreath I made later, once I figure out what I want to add to it!  Enjoy!

Super easy!  I had these metal keys that were originally for scrap booking, with the glue dot on the back and what not, and I decided this would be a super easy key to make into a bracelet!  Hope you like it!

One man's trash is another man's treasure

Okay, so here's the deal with this project...our neighbor down the street is moving and was throwing out loads and loads of junk.  Well, me and my junk-loving self + my mother, decided that this "junk" should not be thrown out for nothing.  We literally got about 50 picture frames that this person was just going to throw away.  Judge if you will, but that's just crazy.  If you don't want them- have a garage sale, give them away, take them to Goodwill, I don't care, but throw them away?!  Just...no. 

Now, while most were newer, more plain picture frames, this one jumped out at me.  It had that vintage/antique feel that I just love!  The only problem was that it was a little chipped and I wasn't a fan of the color.  So I decided to repaint it and make it my own!  Here's how that went...

This was the original frame.  Very pretty, but the color was kind of a yellowy, dingy white with more brownish accents than gold.  Plus the edges were chipped so it needed some help.

This was the frame I used for inspiration.  It's from Hobby Lobby if you are ever so inclined to purchase it!

So to start, I painted it black for the base coat.  My plan was it paint it black, then spray paint it white and sand some of the white off so the black would show.

And here it is after I got the white over it.

Now, as I said, I wanted to sand the white off so some of the black would show through.  Well, that didn't work so well.  Maybe I sanded too hard, or the black acrylic paint that I used wasn't strong enough, I don't know, but it ended up sanding all the way back down to the original color.

SO!  Plan B: re-paint it black using black spray paint this time.  So I did that and about an hour later spray painted the white over it.  Before the white was completely dry, I took duct tape (yes, I got a bit ghetto and used the first thing that came to mind)  and used it to peel some of the white off.  AND IT WORKED GREAT!!  

Final product!  I'm not sure if you can see it, but the paint is a little crackled along the inner ring. I probably didn't wait long enough between coats or maybe the damp air (it had been raining) caused the paint to crackle, I don't know.  But I actually like it!

So that's that!  It took me a while to get it done, but I personally love it.  I hope y'all do, too!!

One last thing...the whole time I've been writing this post I've had the Miranda Lambert song "Old Sh!t" stuck in my head.  If you've never heard it, it's pretty great and expresses exactly how I feel about antiques and old junk.  The link is below; viewer digression advised as it does say the "S word" multiple times.  Listen or don't, I just love it :P

http://youtu.be/wnDiQ-v4D_I?list=UUJQplYDHQjYbmADXC-_y27Q

Crafty, crafty, crafty!

Goodness, it has been another good while since I've posted anything!  Life and responsibilities always seems to get in the way.  Anywho, I've worked on a few projects since the last time I posted so here they are!  I'm going to end up having to post a second entry to talk about one of my projects in more detail, but please check it all out and enjoy!

Painted silver tray for a friends birthday!

My co-supervisor retired this past week!  We threw her a camping themed retirement party complete with airstream camper invitations, picnic blankets, cast iron skillets as serving pieces and mason jars!  I made a few of the decorations such as the invites, food labels, the banner and Texas wood piece!

The lovely selection of food and the banner I made for her!  All of our co-workers chipped in to give her a wonderful cash going away present!

This was a first, I wanted to try out my ModgePodge photo transfer medium to see if it worked out!  Good news and bad news-- It worked great in the sense that it transferred the photo beautifully! It did not, however, dry clear like I expected it to and I had to make a boarder around it so that you couldn't see it quite as well.  Some of the white was removed using nail polish remover, but rather than risk screwing up the picture, I just stuck with the outline idea.  It was a learning experience; now I know! 

We all signed the back so that she could take us all with her to Mississippi!

Been a long time!

It has been quite a while!!  Most recently I made another sign for the soon-to-be newlyweds!

Kiss me, I'm Irish!

I know it's a few days early, but here's my office decor for St. Patrick's Day!

Floating frame with burlap, clover from the dollar store and "luck" written in paint pen!

Love is all you need!

Love is in the air!! Here are a few random projects for February!

Valentine's Day tree from scrapbook paper scraps!

Dollar store "silver" platter chalkboard!

Last but not least, more chalkboard art!  Loving the silver platter with my faux mercury glass :)

Mini Wreath!

Well, I did a little re-vamping on my Texas Tech wreath.  I ended up buying some little metal floating frames and I think the Texas Tech ornament just fits in those better so I pulled out some twine, lace and metal flowers and this is what I came up with! I love it! Hung it in my office today :) Hope you like it!

Love it!

Not the best picture, kind of a glare but tadaa!