a very chocolate life

it holiday wreath time once again

2011-11-10T19:31:00.001-05:00

I have been REALLY wanting to change my Christmas decor colors (normally red and pink on our white tree) for a few years now but it's just too expensive and we don't have the storage space for any more holiday stuff in our little townhouse. So this year I decided to change things up by making a ton of paper ornaments from kraft paper and old book pages, both of which I have plenty of to use. And I can also use the champagne colored ornaments I already have to add some sparkle to the decor. So I am super excited to get this party started. Let the crafting begin!

Thanks to this great tutorial over at See You There I made this great toilet paper/paper towel roll wreath. Apparently this is the year for wreath making since I am also going to be making a book page wreath in the next few weeks. Both of these wreaths are super cheap and easy so definitely try them!

stringed ampersand

2011-10-30T01:14:00.000-04:00

i was super bored because my husband is traveling and wanted to do some art but something super simple so i could still pay attention to the movie i was watching. i'm not sure if i want to do any more for my etsy shop or not or just have this as a one-of-a-kind thing. i do really like how it turned out and so i adorned my letters with it.

calendar time once again

2011-08-29T21:01:00.000-04:00

it's time once again to create new calendars for the etsy shop. i don't normally do it until october but people seem in a rush to get 2011 over and 2012 on the walls. so here are the first two for the new year. these along with all of my quilling and pantone magnets can all be purchased in my etsy store here.

a little home and some harry potter quilling

2011-06-16T18:34:00.000-04:00

my family has some major harry potter love which inspire an art piece of the platform 9 3/4 sign from the movie. it isn't the same as the actual platform at king's cross and neither is the sign (unfortunately since the movie version is way more fun and awesome). my sister thought people would like it so i made it.

i am constantly trying to think of fun new ideas of things people would like to decorate their homes with while i am still riding this quilling obsession. so i also made a new HOME wall art that i really like as well. enjoy!!

both are available in my esty store here.

i've been a busy little bee

2011-05-27T15:29:00.000-04:00

i have been making a ton of new craftiness for my etsy shop and wanted to share.

some quilled LOVE

2011-05-14T14:57:00.000-04:00

available here

busy little bee

2011-05-13T18:44:00.000-04:00

i sold THREE ampersand pieces to the same lovely lady so i had to restock my etsy store. so i busted out some more and added these super great initial monograms. it's like a letter factory up in this house but i am enjoying the creative outlet when not doing my design day job. every girl's gotta have a hobby! both are available in my etsy store.

for the love of outer space and rocket ships

2011-05-10T00:55:00.000-04:00

another fun new quilled piece for little boy's or girl's who love outer space. available here.

my new favorite quilled ampersand

2011-05-08T16:49:00.001-04:00

i am seriously in love with this one to the point where i think i might need to make another one for my house. i shouldn't be surprised since i have been in love with this kraft French Paper for years and years and have had a pack of it in my office for years and years and i use it for all my favorite gifts and craft projects. so if you love it too then go buy it in my etsy shop!

another cool quilled letter. this time in red!

2011-05-07T15:03:00.000-04:00

i am loving how this empersand turned out. and at least i know if i don't sell any of these i can decorate my house with them :) available here!

more quilled madness

2011-05-03T18:11:00.000-04:00

today i made a super fun letter N for a girl's room that turned out so adorable. if i ever have kids their rooms are going to be covered in letters!! for sale in my etsy shop here.

another cool quilling item

2011-05-01T22:23:00.001-04:00

i'm really enjoying this quilling and made another item to sell in my etsy shop. enjoy!

and my very second quilled letter

2011-04-23T02:47:00.000-04:00

i'm really enjoying the outcome of quilling these letters and this is now my second evening in a row of making them. i did an M and i really love the outcome! once i take some pictures in better light it will also go up for sale on my etsy shop!

my very first quilled monogram and it's for sale!

2011-04-23T00:03:00.000-04:00

so i have taken up yet another paper craft these days, quilling! i'm enjoying it so far and was inspired by the insane work of yulia bordskaya. so i am going to try to quill every letter of the alphabet and make them each different colors and paper combos and sell them on etsy. wish me luck!!

here is my first letter project and it is available for purchase in my etsy shop here.

new pantone magnets for sale on etsy

2011-04-06T20:46:00.000-04:00

i have created some super fun Pantone magnets and have them for sale in my etsy shop. there are several fun color combinations and more to come,

wedding cake topper creation info

2011-03-25T15:01:00.000-04:00

for those of you who have asked me before about ponoko.com and how i did my wedding cake topper, they now have a sample store open that you can order samples of possible materials so you can be sure exactly what you want to make for your event. i wanted to share it with you guys. enjoy and go make some cool stuff!!

ponoko.com sample store

old books turned into pretty bows

2010-12-15T23:47:00.000-05:00

i have many books that i keep around just for art projects. i finally got to use some of them to make some gift bows that turned out so fantastic. i am loving them and wishing i had made them before i had already wrapped all of my christmas gifts. but next year i know exactly what bows i am using since i made a bunch. they are so cute i had to share them with you guys! i love paper crafts so much!

merry christmas to me ma

2010-12-13T00:52:00.000-05:00

i wanted to make my mom some wicked sweet flowers for one of her christmas gifts. so i asked her what her favorite colors right now are. brown and green. and i'm thinking "man! do i get my art side from her or what!?!" since i went through a brown and green phase for like ages. it was my logo colors for years. so i got my little crafting hat on and made her flowers. got her a sweet vase at michael's and am LOVING how it turned out. i even experimented with some new flowers from looking at random pics online of flowers. i did originally have white poppies but in the end i thought they detracted from the great colors going on. so here are the pics of the greatness i created. and shhhhh, don't tell my mom! you can click on the pics to see bigger versions! some were taken with the flash to show better detail and some weren't since it was a rainy day today.

my new new store

2010-12-03T03:52:00.000-05:00

i made a store on my website since etsy is being lame about drop shipping directly from the printer instead of shipping from my house. so you can get my calendars there now. pass it along.

http://www.melissadesign.net/shop.html

another new calendar - sort of

2010-11-21T00:31:00.000-05:00

a redesign of one of the new calendars but with blue and greens. enjoy!

you can purchase it in my shop here.

yet another 2011 calendar

2010-10-17T06:35:00.000-04:00

i just don't seem to know when to quit on calendar making this year. so here is another one. you can purchase it at my shop here.

time for new 2011 calendars!!!

2010-09-27T19:28:00.000-04:00

so i spent the last few days designing new large 2011 calendars. i liked them all so much i am selling them all on my shop here. i'm also doing a calendar for my family with everyone's birthdays listed. it's a tradition i used to do and got out of when it got too expensive. thanks to cafepress.com and sites like it i can do it more cheaply now. so tradition rises again. welcome to the holiday season and lots of creativity. have fun guys!!

calendar 1

calendar 2

calendar 3

our forest in the living room

2010-06-15T01:20:00.000-04:00

after seeing an amazing post on design sponge of walls painted with birch trees here, i knew i had to find a place to do this in my house. it looked too amazing not to copy. so our newly christened "green monster" wall that we finished painting the weekend prior got the treatment.

i found a stock photo i liked of trees on istockphoto.com and then manipulated it in illustrator to fit the wall space i needed to fill. then i printed the image out onto 3 separate sheets of transparency paper since my wall is super long and it wouldn't fit the image on one and project large enough. then i projected the image onto the wall and traced it out with chalk. i tried to keep the chalk within the lines so i could just cover the chalk with the paint.

i found that using a smaller artist paint brush absorbed less paint and went on more smoothly. i was using the flat green wall paint we had leftover from painting just mixed with some flat white paint of the same brand to make the color lighter. it took 2 days to draw and paint all of the trees since my wall is so enormous and had about 20 trees on it.

it turned out awesome. i left the bird in from the original istockphoto image since i thought it added a little cheek to the wall.

the husband loves it too which makes it even better. it turned out great and makes the room so much more fun and interesting to look at without the use of a million frames on it. which is good since we didn't know how to fill such a huge wall without making it busy as crap. mission accomplished!! so if you think it looks awesome then you should jump on in and try it yourself!

finally finished painting and tiling

2010-06-09T23:48:00.000-04:00

since we moved into our townhouse back in december we have been trying to get all of the painting done so we can finally get everything out of boxes and up onto the walls. the painting is finally done (except for my husbands office which is for him to decide on colors for) and we tiled our kitchen backsplash to fancy it up. everything looks great. now i just have to put up shelves and we will be set!

our big green monster wall of awesomeness

the new awesome kitchen tile. i thought my arms were going to fall off trying to get the grout into so many spaces!

close up

the paper towel roll art i made for the hallway upstair

the rolls had printing inside them so i had to paint the insides white which was a total pain in the butt.

i wanted it to be bigger but i ran out of rolls. so i think i will either add more to it as i get more rolls or just add entirely new pieces to the wall itself.

our fabulous little herb garden. growing stuff feels so fulfilling!

red crepe poppies

2010-06-09T23:41:00.000-04:00

a client that i do graphic design work for saw my crepe paper flowers and asked me to make her some. they turned out awesome.

final bouquet pics and office flowers

2010-03-04T03:52:00.001-05:00

i finished the bouquets for amanda and they ship out to her later today. i fell so in love with the poppies i made for her that i made some for my office along with some tissue paper flowers to brighten my day. everything turned out awesome and i hope she likes them as much as i do. it's cool to be a part of someone's big day even if you aren't actually there.

the bride's bouquet

close up of the maid of honor bouquet

the poppies i made for my office

the tissue paper flowers i also made for my office

thanks to you great people

2010-02-20T01:52:00.000-05:00

i was googling the blog to see where it has been linked and found some awesome comments from other people about the paper flowers i made for my wedding. i just wanted to say thank you to everyone for the awesome comments! it's so sweet and i am happy i could help other people maybe make their own flowers. i know i am enjoying being able to have flowers in the house all the time that don't die and make me smile because i made them. plus, my husband just can't get over how awesome they look and tells me so all the time.

thanks to amanda for including me in her special day through flowers as well. it's exciting knowing i can make something people will enjoy and keep on enjoying. it's also pretty cool to hear people oooh and awww about how great they look. we all like appreciation for our hard work and i have always wanted to make things for people who appreciate them and the effort that goes into them. i haven't decided if i want to actually start advertising to make them on etsy or not. the process requires a bit of constant contact between myself and the person i am making the flowers for since i like to make sure they are loving each step i am taking because it's the biggest event they will ever plan in their life. so, the idea of someone just going online and deciding to purchase a bouquet from me seems a little flat when i know i will need to be communicating with them often.

who knows, maybe i will just do them every once in a while for people via word of mouth or people who read this blog. either way i am enjoying making other people smile just with a bit of paper.

you guys rock and get crafting!

crepe paper poppy diy

2010-02-18T01:49:00.000-05:00

so i am making a paper flower bouquet for a girl who saw what i did on here and wanted to make one. she thought it would be easier on her to pay me to do it so she could focus on other wedding insanity. she LOVES poppies and wanted them in her bouquet. so i decided to give it a shot at making them since it didn't seem too hard after looking at photos. i would love to know how to make them anyway since i think poppies are awesome too. turns out they are the easiest flower i have made so far and i love how they look. i wanted to share the DIY with you kids so you could make some too. i apologize for the photo coloring. i made these at night (when i do most crafts) and the indoor lighting SUCKS for good shots.

first you need a few pieces of brown crepe paper. the piece on the left is for the fringe in the center of the flower. the other 2 are basically the same size. one you will ball up and put in the center of the other to make the flower's center. i tried to make it more like a gamburger patty than round so it would be more like the shape of the center of a real flower. size is based on how big you want it to be and how big your flower is. i didn't measure a single thing for this entire process. you can go by the squares for inches if you need to since they are on a cutting mat.

put the crepe ball in the middle of the piece and wrap the outer piece around it so it looks like a tadpole basically.

crepe paper tadpole

the piece for the fringe was already folded in half when i took the photo so ques on length. cut little snips in it.

put your tadpole center on a piece of floral wire with floral tape.

then wrap the fringe around the center piece and tape to secure.

this is how it should look. i put the top of the fringe pretty close to the top edge of the center ball to keep it looking proper and nice.

now you need 4 pieces of double sided crepe paper. i just use spray adhesive to stick 2 pieces together with the grain going in the same direction. i used both sides the same color for this project. doubling the crepe makes it hold your shapes better. cut the petals to whatever size flower you like. then use your fingers to stretch and shape the petals working from the middle out. don't pull too much though.

then wrap the first petal around your center.

place the second petal directly opposite the first. place the remaining two petals the same way but 90 degrees from the first two. you want the petal's center to be where the edges of 2 petals meet.

wrap all of the petals with floral tape securely.

voila! easy and freaking sweet!!!

how amazing do these look!?!! for the ones i made for myself i put brown glitter on the centers to add some sparkle. i find any excuse to put glitter on something.

enjoy these fabulous darlings all year round! i hope you have fun playing with them. and don't forget that not all poppies have dark centers so they can be lighter if you like. just google poppy images and get inspired!

more pics from the pros

2010-01-11T21:15:00.000-05:00

our photographer uploaded some more pictures this week and i am loving them SO much. i wanted to share them with you guys.

sparklers

lanterns and pom poms

the flower girl loving the glow bracelets

centerpiece. the double stick tape kept coming off on the ribbon because i made them so far in advance. fyi. if i had known it would come off after 3 months i would have glued it.

luminaries out from of the church

the flowers for the girls

i couldn't believe how bright the flowers are in color and how pale in black and white. but it looks cool to me.

the church

the pomanders hanging in the drinks area

mints anyone?

really cool shot of the ceiling in the reception hall

the crosswords we made

our cake topper i love

my bouquet. the more i look at it the more i love it and am thinking about making them for other people. maybe sell them on etsy?

i hope i could inspire awesomeness. at some point i need to list a bunch of the stuff online for sale on etsy or ebay.

stuff for sale: (contact me if you want info by leaving a comment with your email or a link to your blog or something)
- centerpiece vases
- the pomanders from the drinks area
- the glass votive candle holders and some of the candles from ikea
- wood branch pencils with orange ribbon
- gift envelope box with brown and orange glitter spots
- sparkling gems used in the centerpiece vases (also hanging on pomanders)
- 2" brown satin ribbon (in 8 ft and 3ft strips)

diy vinyl wall decal

2010-01-04T01:50:00.000-05:00

now that our master bathroom is done and i am adding finishing touches, i wanted to add a few monogram decals to the room. my inspiration was this one over at etsy.com. being the craft master that i am (and the fact that i own a huge roll of white vinyl my mom gave me way back when) i wasn't about to pay for something i could make myself. and in the future if i want something other than white i can use the vinyl to cut out a stencil and just paint whatever on the wall so i don't have to free hand it. nice!

i designed what i wanted in indesign (i am a professional graphic designer so i have this software and normal people don't but could maybe use something else) and printed it out. i originally made mine reversed because i thought the vinyl had a sticky layer but it didn't so i had to cut on the side that would be showing. no biggie. i taped the printout to the vinyl and cut it out with a sharp (new blade) exacto knife. i rule with the exacto.

you then remove whatever parts you want the wall to show through.

i then covered the front with painters tape since it isn't super sticky and would release easier.

after you cover it with tape remove the original paper backing to expose the vinyl's sticky side.

then just stick it wherever you want it and press down so the vinyl adheres. i wasn't getting as good of adhesion as i would have liked because of the stupid gloss in the bathroom paint but it should be ok. at least i know it will work perfectly fine in the rest of the house since it is all flat paint with no shine to mess things up.

remove the tape slowly while holding the vinyl with one hand so it doesn't pull off the wall.

voila! instant free awesomeness. at least for me it was. if you are lucky, you will rule as much as me and it will be free too. have fun kiddies!!

my side

the hubs side

the bathroom (with all our junk on the counter). please ignore the slacker looking crafter behind the curtain!!!

townhouse decorating

2009-12-30T00:22:00.000-05:00

it's been a bit since i have updated about the house seeing as we have been trying to get out of living in the land of boxes and confusion. we have gotten some rooms done and i wanted to share the before and after photos. neither of our offices are anything but large storage rooms at the moment but hopefully we can get some of it handled during christmas break.

the downstairs guest bathroom before when it was brand new

we knew we wanted to paint some room orange to match the great rugs my husband's aunt made on her loom for a wedding shower gift. so we did the downstair bath which we now call the "cheetohs" bathroom. that's my wedding bouquet decorating the toilet.

the inspiration rugs

the bathrooms were the easiest things to get accomplished so we did them all.
the huge poster on the wall behind the door that i got when i was in college.

the upstairs guest bathroom before

and after

the master bathroom before

and after. the bathrooms are my favorites so far.

the water closet in our bathroom

the master bedroom

the curtains my handy man hubby hung

my office before

and after paint but not organized yet

this years tree with champagne, gold and silver ornaments. i still love last years pink/red combo best.

the lights we put outside

dot loves having carpet instead of wood floors

while looking for dot's "accidents" on the carpet with a blacklight we noticed how cool the tree looked.

getting to see teaser pics from the pros

2009-12-10T03:02:00.000-05:00

i am SOOOO excited to have seen some of the pictures on our photogs facebook tonight. they turned out so freaking amazing that i am wide awake and giddy right now. when i make our albun it is going to be pimp! i am so glad we paid for a pro and eased my mind. here are some of the freaking great shots from kurz studio photography!!! enjoy!

my shoes and bouquet. the more i see it the more i love it and am so glad i made it so it lasts since it's all paper.

my shoes were awesome. thanks ebay!

the flower girl's pomander

my flower for my sash. i glittered this thing out and added swarovski crystals to the center.

veil just chilling on the couch until it's time

the boutonnieres i made for the guys

this picture is so freaking cute!

church pom poms

we're hitched!

love this photo!

that's one photogenic street lamp right there

another favo

i thought it was too funny she put the rings on one of the glow bracelts for the kids since i was wearing them from the second i got to the reception hall and my new niece kept bringing me more.

something orange and brown threw up in here

escort cards

the crossword puzzles i made

the banners i also made

drinks sign and pomanders i made (are you getting the hint!?! i practically wove the linens)

pomanders next to drink sign. i have to figure out what to do with these. i don't know if i should use them somewhere in the house or sell them on ebay or etsy. my bouquet is already in the downstairs bathroom making it look even more awesome with the cheeto orange wall color and the brown towels.

oh my stars and garters those look good! and yep, i made those too.

i didn't eat a single cupcale until 2 days after the wedding. i didn't even want one. i was so sick of making them.

i need to find a use for our b & m cake topper that i LOVE.

the table numbers and holders i made.

yay for glow bracelets!

woo hooooo

i hope you all enjoyed the pics and i will put more as i get them. we are still in the process of living out of boxes and trying to get out of them but it's tiring and you can only do so much in a day. and the current insanity is getting the christmas shopping done and mailed in time. if only our family were all local! happy holidays ya'll!

post wedding updates

2009-12-07T00:44:00.000-05:00

we are still waiting on the pics from the pros (of course) but here are a few pics snapped by the people at the shindig. the lantern leds didn't light as bright as i would have liked but i didn't care. the groom was forgotten and ended up missing my entire walk down the aisle. so now we have a story to tell our kids. we are still in the insane process of moving into the new house and getting everything put away which seems like it will never be done. i can't imagine there being a day when i don't need to be unpacking anything. it's also interesting getting used to living in a place with stairs when i haven't since high school. my legs are going to look FABULOUS!!

i didn't eat a single cupcake until like 3 days later because i was so sick of making them. i wish i had 2 ovens for this process. i also managed to mess up the frosting for the lemon and it was WAY too sweet so i had to fix it on the day before my wedding. next time i will make sure i have enough lemons! everything tasted fabulous and it was all box mix with homemade frosting. publix provided the cake to cut since the one i did looked wrong to me and i am a perfectionist.

one of my bridesmaids being crazy with the crossword puzzles and tree branch pencils we put at each seat in honor of my love of crosswords.

the lanterns and pom poms over the dance floor area. i am pretty sure we still have leds on in the bags from the wedding and it's been over a week since it happened.

centerpieces. i don't even want to think about how much stuff i have that i need to list on ebay now since i don't need 200 ikea tealight holders!!!

the eat, drink & be married banners. everyone loved everything and brian was talking about me making everything all night which i thought was adorable even though i didn't know until later since i was dancing all night.

happy wedding planning people and i'm happy to answer any questions!!

day before becoming someone's mrs

2009-11-27T23:35:00.000-05:00

what a LONG day today was!!! i went to bed at 5:30 am after baking all night. i HATED how the cake i made for us to cut looked so it got scrapped and the recipe for the lemon frosting turned out wrong. brian thinks it's one of those recipes that doesn't multiply well. so when i went to bed at 5:30 am i had a mini-breakdown because i was so upset about both issues. i managed to wake brian up coming to bed and he knew something was bugging me. i freaked out but he promised we would work it out. and in the morning, he did. he got everyone to come help decorate so that we could get it done fast and i could fix the cupcakes. all i had to do was scrape off the messed up frosting and do new. it turned out yummy. we bought a plain small white cake from publix to cut up and i wrapped the same ribbon we have everywhere on it and will stick the topper on it tomorrow morning when i go in to put the LED's in the lanterns and set up the cupcakes. then home to shower and go with the girls to get dolled up. we had rehearsal and i am getting more nervous about everyone watching me walk down the aisle and stand up there. i am terrified of being in front of crowds even if it is family. so tonight i hope to get much needed sleep and pray for calmness in the nerves of the ceremony.

here are some photos of the decorating we did today. it's all done and ready for a shindig!

the escort cards

table set up. the oranges look severe on my camera but i will post the pics from the pro when i get them.

the kraft paper door covers i punched holes in for hours. the light looks super cool coming through.

the cupcake table

working on cupcakes

2009-11-27T01:39:00.000-05:00

to save money i am baking cupcakes myself. it's taking longer than i thought but nothing to be done about it now since it's already started and the wedding is in a day. i have finished baking the chocolate and vanilla but managed to run out of chocolate ganache (even though i tested the recipe and quantity so i guess i got a little crazy with the piping bag) and am waiting for some more too cool down to ice the rest of the chocolate cupcakes. then i can move on to the vanilla/lemon. i have managed to completely empty the fridge and get everything in the door compartments to make room. thankfully the ganache is thick and doesn't have the tendency to melt as the buttercream and the cream cheese frosting might, so they get to sit in the living room while the vanilla/lemon and the carrot cake cupcakes stay in the fridge. i'm cooking the strawberry cake for us to cut so i could get a little bit of a break since it takes longer than the cupcakes to bake. once the cake is done i can move on to cooking the carrot cake, icing the vanilla and icing the carrot cake after it cools. phew. AND i have to get up at 8:15 am to go decorate for the reception. i hope brian appreciates the effort i am making to save us some money!!!

first day of decorating

2009-11-26T21:53:00.000-05:00

we put up the first part of the decorations on tuesday night and do all the tables and everything tomorrow. here are some pics from the reception hall. it is SO weird to see it all coming alive like it's been in my head for a year now. i can't wait until tomorrow when it's all set up!!!

mom and katy putting up banners on the cherry picker despite their fear of heights. they are troopers!

i can't wait to see this in candle light with all of the lights in them.

the lanterns and the pom poms over the dance floor.

the banners on the long wall.

holy banners batman!!!

2009-10-26T18:50:00.000-04:00

after procrastinating as long as i could i have finally had to suck it up and paint the banners for the reception hall. the ceilings are like 20 feet and there are normally "Jesus"ish banners on the walls. they are nice enough to let us take them down and put up some of our own since the church ones don't really look right with the decor. i have to hang these in sets of 2 since they are kraft paper and the normal banners are about 64" wide. so we are using 2 30# panels side by side. i have finished the first set of 2 and am waiting on another set of 2 to dry. they are going pretty quickly with acrylic paint since it dries so fast. since i cannot lay them all next to each other to show how they will look all together you will just have to wait to see pictures from the actual wedding. for now, a teaser of the 1st set. super cheap and huge impact. i think they are like 11 feet tall. they take up the entire living room which is the only place i can do them side by side. i don't know how brian is going to move around in here when he gets home. i might have to relegate him to the bedroom.

2009-10-08T00:35:00.000-04:00

i have made another super fun wall calendar. it's huge and fabulous and you can buy one here.

2010 calendar

2009-09-29T06:07:00.001-04:00

since i have all this free time now that my paper flower crafting is done, i decided to make a cool 2010 calendar after seeing one online that was huge but only one color. i also made it available to purchase via my etsy shop. you can also get it on my cafe press shop which let's you choose faster shipping.

here is a close up of each day to show the holidays as well

i love how it turned out and i am getting one printed for myself once we finally figure out our post-marriage living situation. i can't wait!

thanks to the visitors

2009-09-27T04:20:00.000-04:00

i LOVE the fact that so many people i don't know read this blog and get inspired. that's such a great feeling as an artist and crafter. and sadly, in regular life it's rare for people to tell you that you inspire them. so thanks to all of you guys reading this in blog land. now that i am done with all these freaking flowers i hope to get inspired to make more cool free stuff for you to make pretty things in your own lives. after all, everything should be pretty if we can make it that way.

the flowers are done!

2009-09-26T02:35:00.000-04:00

i am FINALLY done with all of the paper flowers!!! unless, of course, i think of something else i want to use them for. i hope my bridesmaids love them! i am so happy to have them done and that they turned out great so i can not stress about it. and now i don't have to worry about someone else making them and me not loving my bouquet or how to preserve them or the other drama with real flowers (including the moola they cost). i'm glad to get my evenings back for a while since they have been absorbed in flower making for a week or two. i am also glad i am only using flowers for myself and the girls so i don't have to do insane centerpieces or anything!! i would lose it. brian loves them which makes me feel better about things since i really only care about his opinion of things. and hey, i get to brag about how awesome i am at making flowers now :)

my bouquet is done!!!

2009-09-24T18:24:00.000-04:00

i am so excited! i finished my bouquet. it looks fantastic if i do say so myself. and super cheap compared to the real thing (which is why this got done in the first place). i even did a good job covering the stems with ribbon on my first try. i love it. my pictures look super color saturated but i can't figure out why since they look ok on my camera display. it might be the time of day i shoot but you can't see much details because of it but it still looks awesome and i love it. i am UBER proud of myself for how it turned out. here are the pics. i highly suggest trying it yourself ladies!!!

isn't it freaking gorgeous!!!!

here is the tutorial i used to show me how to do the ribbon on the handle. it was super easy. i hot glued the last part before tying the bow then i glued that to the stem too just to make sure nothing unravels. i had made kraft paper leaves to finish the bottom off and cover the fake stems but they were too big. so instead i glued pieces of ribbon to hang around the edges and cover the underside after gluing a crepe paper circle over things to cover more. i REALLY didn't want all of those wire stems showing in pictures and i hate the lacy plastic cone type things they make for this job. you could probably use a really nice doily or something else round to cover it as well. i just cut a hole in the center to slide onto the stem then hot clued it to the wires and flowers to hold it in place. then i glued the ribbons over top. i cut them long so they would go over the handle part to give it some bulk. i wrapped that with floral tape then covered with the ribbon in the correct way from that tutorial. it gave me more bulk to hold onto which is nice.

as much of a pain as it was to make flowers every day it was worth it. now i have to make the 4 for the bridesmaids. i hope they love theirs as much as i do since they can decorate with them later on. it would be super fun to make these for other people if i had other colors of paper. i made the martha stewart tissue paper flower bouquet kit to get some ideas and i loved it so much it's now in my hallway as decoration. i absolutely LOVE the variation of the pinks and wish there were more oranges in tissue and crepe. but alas, there aren't many options unless i am buying in bulk and that costs like $24 for 480 sheets which i don't need at this point and time just to get some extra colors. especially, since the point of this was to save money. but overall, we budgeted $700 for flowers and now we are only buying the altar flowers. i probably spent $75 max on everything to make these flowers myself. a good job if i do say so myself!!

you can buy this kit online. i got mine on etsy but then kicked myself when i went into michael's and they had it ON SALE and i would have saved shipping. i didn't think it was still easily available. but this is what you can make from the kit. they have one flower in there i couldn't figure out based on the directions (the ones with the ball in the center) and so i cut the tissue in half and made the flowers my own way which you see in the photos. the kit is only like $5 so go get one!!!

crepetastic

2009-09-23T20:24:00.000-04:00

i FINALLY got my crepe paper in the mail for these flowers. i did have to glue two different colors together since double layered paper is expensive and doesn't have the colors i wanted. it was easy though even though i still have 3m adhesive spray on me for God knows how long. the flowers turned out awesome and i did a little test bouquet last night and was LOVING it! now i just have to make a bunch more small roses for the girls bouquets because everything for mine is done.

this wasn't my test bouquet just an easy way to show how good they all look together.

here are the ones i made.

tulips - i used the martha stewart kit templates from the kit i bought online on etsy

huge roses, medium roses and normal sized roses (the pic of the brown one i did was blurry so i am not posting it and they don't look that different except for size). the brown roses also looked almost black next to the oranges so i am not using them because it looked too halloweenish. i used a template from martha stewart for the big roses from this link. for the medium ones i made my own template from a photo of someone doing the rose kit from martha stewart and the directions here. for the normal sized roses i got a template from the tutorial here.

peonies - these turned out to be harder to do based off the martha stewart instructions and i only like them from the top not the side. i guess that doesn't matter since i will be using them in a bouquet and you won't see them from the side. i made a template to match the image off one of the diy photos since i couldn't find a template for the petals anywhere.

combine these with the tons of tissue paper flowers i have already made and i am uber excited and proud of myself with how they turned out. i can't wait to give them to the ladies since they can keep them and use them for some cool decoration by sticking them in a vase. yay for me!!! if you try these you won't be disappointed!

new flower photos

2009-09-18T19:28:00.000-04:00

i took some outside photos of all of the flowers i have made so far to have better light to show them off. i'm now waiting on the crepe paper i ordered to make those flowers to go with these. i don't have a clue how many i will need so i just made a bunch since i have 5 bouquets to make. i'm probably going to list the pre-made flowers on my etsy shop for non crafty people who might want something different (and cheaper) than real flowers. enjoy!

lots of flowers

2009-09-16T02:10:00.000-04:00

it has been paper flower chaos in this house. i found the information below on marth stewart's website and decided to try to make these flowers. after trying all but the last one (with the curly pieces) i felt like letting people know about how easy or hard they are to try.

The Martha Stewart Info is to follow with my comments in Orange.

How to make flowers and leaves for the above bouquet:
A bouquet like ours requires about 25 flowers and 10 leaves. Once you have arranged them, cover the stems in wide ribbon. You will need tissue paper, a rotary cutter or scissors, 24-gauge green cloth-covered floral wire, white craft glue in a bottle with a needle-nose tip, two Styrofoam balls (1-inch and 1 1/2-inch), artificial stamens, and green floral tape. Purchase supplies online or at crafts or floral-supply stores. If using a rotary cutter, work on a self-healing mat.

Double Leaf
To make three double leaves, stack tissue in three hues of green. Cut 2-by-3-inch rectangles through all layers; fold in half. Trim tips into points; unfold. Twist each sheet at center. Fold 18-inch floral wire in half, slip over center of leaf, and twist. Fold tips toward each other, and curl.

i didn't try making any of the leaves since i don't want greenery in my bouquet but i bet they are all super easy.

Long Leaf
Stack tissue in two hues of green. Cut 2-by-3-inch rectangles through both layers. Apply glue along the upper third of a 9-inch piece of floral wire; sandwich between tissue layers. Let dry. Cut a leaf shape. Separate layers of tissue.

Folded Petal
Cut several 1 3/4-by-2 3/4-inch and 1 1/4-by-2-inch rectangles from tissue paper; fold each in half lengthwise; cut one end to be rounded, and twist other end to shape. For the center, roll white tissue paper into a tiny ball; cut out a square from white tissue paper, and wrap it around the ball, twisting tissue at its base. Attach the twisted end of the ball to a piece of floral wire by wrapping with green floral tape; add petals one at a time (start with small petals and end with large ones), taping twisted ends onto floral wire. Trim floral tape; spread out petals.

this flower looks pretty good when done but it was a pain in the butt to get all of the petals on in some kind of decent order since it has a LOT of petals and the twisted part isn't very long that attaches to the wire stem. the center is easy to make and could be used for different flowers too. it looks nice when done but is a little more delicate and easy to bend the petals. i hated doing it so much that i only did 2 before switching back to the bubble flower below that i had made already before finding this list of flowers.

Bubble Petal
Each bloom requires 12 (or six pairs) stamens attached to floral wire with floral tape and five 4-by-2 1/4-inch pieces of tissue paper. For each petal, wrap tissue halfway around 1 1/2-inch Styrofoam ball, forming a half-sphere; twist ends, and remove ball. Attach one end of a petal to the base of stamen with floral tape. Add the other petals one at a time. Trim pointy ends. Gently pull petals away from center.

i found this one to be pretty easy to make. i actually did 3 more smaller petals on a 1" styro ball that was in one of the pictures online. i like it better because it doesn't look as sparse. i made my own stamens by just cutting 12 slices into a longer piece of tissue and twisting them. it is good to bunch the tissue up before twisting it or it has a tendency to tear near the twists. i made a TON of these as you will see in the last picture which is my final count for today. i don't know how many flowers i will end up needing so i stopped to wait on the crepe paper coming in the mail to make the flower ideas for that type of paper and then put them together and hopefully have more than enough. i'm also debating making some flowers out of scrapbook paper that have patterns on them like the kits you can buy at the paper source here which are super cool looking.

Rolled Petal
Cut a 16-by-3 1/2-inch strip of tissue paper; make 2-inch accordion folds. Trim and notch one end of tissue through all layers, as shown; unfold. Insert floral wire into a 1-inch Styrofoam ball; place ball near bottom of tissue strip. Roll tissue around ball; twist bottom. Remove the ball with tweezers. Wrap floral tape around the twisted tissue and wire. Trim the floral tape.

this one was a simple concept and it might have looked nice finished but i couldn't get that far. it was IMPOSSIBLE to get the stupid styrofoam ball out like they tell you. and you need it to make the nice little bubble twist on the bottom. i didn't feel like wasting a ton of balls on this by just leaving them in the flower so i didn't make even a single one after i got frustrated trying to do the first one. since i have to make these things myself to save us money i refuse to do any flowers that piss me off in the process. i want to enjoy my wedding process and it's not worth it to me just for a flower when there are easier, more interesting ones to be made.

Curly Petal
Cut a 16-by-3 1/2-inch strip of tissue paper; make 2-inch-wide accordion folds. Make 3-inch-deep snips in tissue to create fringe. Wrap unfringed end around floral wire. Secure with floral tape. Run scissors blade along pieces of fringe to curl; fluff.

i didn't try this one but i'm sure it would be cute. i think it would be TOO easy to tear the paper when trying to curl it with scissors and i didn't want to do all of those curls just for a single flower. so give it a try and let me know how it works for you.

and here are the ones i have made in light and dark orange so far. i just sat and assembly lined them and i have 36 done. i just sat down and did a ton of centers. then a ton of small petals. then a ton of big petals. then just put it together the same way. i taped a bunch of stamens on the wire stems. then i taped on the 3 small center petals on. then the larges. this process works better for me than doing each entire flower one at a time. it went pretty fast. i made about 36 in 2 days only doing them at night while brian slept.

the light in my dining room is very orange at night and that is where i take all of these photos when i am done working on things at like 3 am. so you can't tell much difference in the colors in this shot. but you CAN see how pretty the flowers look.

paper flowers and jewelry making

2009-09-14T16:11:00.000-04:00

when browsing michael's crafts with the future hubby i ended up in the bead section. i have been trying to think of anything i can do to make money to help out with wedding costs and have made earrings in the past. so, it was decided i should make some more to sell on my etsy shop and see how it goes. i enjoy the process of making them and i think they are super classy and simple (the ones i am wearing for the wedding are similar and what inspired me in the first place). so go get some and tell your friends.

now, on to the first attempts at tissue paper flowers for the wedding bouquets. i used the tutorial on martha stewart for this. i have been doing google searches for days finding any how to's or templates for tissue, crepe or scrapbook paper flowers. i found this picture which took my breath away with it's awesomeness. here is the link with a list of other great ideas as well. the crafted bouquet link has the directions for the flower i made last night as my first try. pictures of the process are below.

i used 22 gauge floral wire and 20 gauge floral stems. the stems are nice because you don't have to worry about straightening out the coiled wire but they cost more. you can probably get them cheaper at a floral supply or on ebay. i just got them at michaels since this is the first try to make sure i can do it.

i wanted some small "filler" flowers and i actually used scrapbooking flowers that were a wedding shower gift to go with a scrapbook album my fiancee's family gave us. they had a jar of extra flowers they used to decorate the cover of the album that were the perfect small size. and they were paper, so it worked out perfect.

i used one long wired and then several small pieces wrapped around the main one to create a small bunch of the flowers. i wrapped the tips with floral tape so the hot glue would have something to grab onto.

i put a small dab of hot glue on to stick to the end of the wire. i did this while listening to girls go crazy on "bridezillas" which made it hilarious because i was doing patient work while listening to ladies with no patience.

here is the final result for the filler flowers. they are super cute.

as i mentioned, i also made the flower from the martha stewart tutorial. i couldn't find artificial stamens at michael's so i had to make my own. i just cut 12 small pieces into a little piece of tissue paper and then twisted each part. this was how it was done for a different kind of flower and i just used it here. twisting the paper was a major pain since i couldn't get good friction between my fingers and the super thin paper. i wrapped the uncut part of the paper around the wire stem and taped it on with floral tape.

i then just follow the instructions to wrap a 4" x 2 1/4" piece of tissue around a 1 1/5" styrofoam ball and twist the ends. which turned out fine. i actually made 3 smaller ones to go inside using a smaller ball. and then 5 of the regular sized ones to make the larger petals. and here is the end result. i LOVE it. now to make a ton more and try out all of the other ideas. i have crepe paper coming in the mail to make flowers like this, this and this.

gotta save some more money

2009-09-12T22:07:00.000-04:00

the month of september has been rough in our house. my friend carmen tells me it's because mercury is in retrograde or something. we have had to spend some major money on stuff that we hadn't planned on. avoiding a car wreck that happened right in front of me, i managed to shred 2 of brian's tires on the debris. which meant we needed to replace all of the tires. brian also had to get some stuff checked out with his throat because he was having some weird reflux type action. and those scans with a camera aren't cheap.

all of this extra money, along with a really slow year for graphic design, has forced me to see what i could give up and maybe do myself. the only thing i could think to cut was the flowers. so i sat down and hashed out how to make the boutonnieres for the guys. i also made the corsages for the mom's. i'm getting some ideas of tissue and crepe paper flowers to make the bouquets myself as well. all in all saving us hundreds of dollars by not having fresh flowers (even though flowers are one of my favorite things ever). of course it will cost me a few bucks to buy the crepe paper and the floral tape and wire, but nothing like the $700 we budgeted for flowers. and this way too we can all keep our bouquets and maybe make something cool with the paper flowers later on since i know having a random bouquet in the house is a bit odd. i would take the thing apart and maybe frame them in a shadow box or something. it should be cool.

anywho, here is what i made last night and today to save us some dolla bills ya'll.

i did some small pom poms (to match the huge ones) with ribbon for the moms to wear. the ribbon is the same as on the unity candles and the cupcake stands. i also added a little swarovski crystal in the center for some sparkle. i used a broach pin on the back to keep them on securely. total cost = $0 since i already had everything.

i have been asked how i pimped out my boring styrofoam cupcake stands that i bought for super cheap on ebay. i glued the same tissue paper being used in everything else to cover the tops where the cupcakes will sit. i glued the ribbon around the edges to cover the rough area of the tissue paper. i think it looks fabulous and i don't mind the white because it breaks up all of the orange and brown. i actually made these a few weeks ago but just shot the photo.

here is what i did for the DIY boutonnieres (i didn't know how to spell this word properly until last night when i was searching etsy for ideas and not spelling it correctly). i once again turned to the supply of sculpey i have had since college.

ahhh sculpey how i love thee. just roll out some long snakes and spiral them as long as you would like them to be.

i wanted the spirals to look like fiddlehead ferns (which i love) and match the spiral action we have going on everywhere else. i did double spirals for the groomsmen and single ones for the ushers and the little boys handing out programs.

after i baked them i painted them. according to sites online it says you should use liquid craft acrylic. i decided to try this using the paint i bought to paint on the kraft paper banners that i still need to make. the paint was joann fabrics brand and WAY too thin and would have taken like 5 coats to cover. i ended up mixing in some tube acrylic to thicken and coat better. i used sculpey to hold them standing up while they dried.

for the decoration on the boutonnieres i made some little orange bows to go with the ribbon that would be wrapped around the bottom (that ribbon is the same in all of the candles that will be in the centerpieces).

to make the bows (this was my first time doing these) i cut strips and then hot glued the ends together to make a circle. then i held the circle standing up using the tips of scissors for weight (since this would be easier with 2 sets of hands) so that i could put a dot of hot glue inside and glue 2 centers to each other. this made the bow area.

to make the little dangling parts on bows, i tied a loose knot then put the main bow part inside and then pulled the knot tight. this again, was because it was the easiest way to do it without a helper. once the knot was tight i pulled one of the bands down to be on the same side as the other to match. then just cut them on an angle. and voila!

how super cute is this thing!?!

i wrapped the bottoms of the spirals with the dotted ribbon, hot gluing it along the way. then i glued on the little ribbons. i also ran some plain white glue on the back just to keep it extra secure since i am paranoid about ribbon coming loose.

i think they turned out nice and brian likes them which means the most since he and his guys will be wearing them. i do wish they were shinier but the last time i made some to test i used gloss mod podge to coat them and it made them tacky when next to each other and pulled the paint off if 2 of them touched. so i left them flat just in case. you can't mess around when it comes to making your own wedding DIY perfection.

i also went ahead and wrapped and marked the ties all of the guys will be wearing. they look adorable. eat your heart out martha stewart!

i'm hoping to think of some more freebie things to post but i am not sure what to do just yet. when i get inspired i will post something. if anyone has any ideas or requests just make a comment and i will see what i can maybe do to help out.

time to ship the invitations

2009-09-09T19:45:00.000-04:00

today i put together, labeled and shipped the invites. they look fabulous and i hope the people getting them like them. here's a photo of the fronts and backs of everything.

a: front of envelope with wrap around label
b: back of envelope with return address
c: back side of the rsvp postcard
d: front of rsvp
e: front of invitation
f: inside of invitation

table numbers

2009-08-25T16:25:00.000-04:00

after going through about 3 or 4 versions of table number layouts, i finally am happy with them. they looked a little flat straight out of the printer so i glittered them up (as i tend to do to anything i can) and they turned out fabulous and sparkly. the #16 one is right out of the printer whereas the others are done after i made the numbers glittery. it makes a big difference and it looks cool because it makes the numbers stand off the page because of the glue so it's not as flat looking. when something comes out awesome i get so excited that i wish i had more weddings to help out with to see stuff in different fun colors!

new wedding shoes!!!

2009-08-21T15:03:00.000-04:00

i had gotten wedding heels already but they were close toed and i should have known better because they always kill my feet. i found out how much these hurt at my dress fitting and alteration and decided i had to get something else. it sucked because my original heels are super hot bebe's in dark and light brown and orange, so they matched perfectly. they were also a bit too small but they don't make them anymore so i was out of luck finding another pair anywhere. i couldn't find any orange heels that i loved so i decided to try chocolate brown. BINGO!!! i got these today from ebay and they are cute and comfy and i love them! yay shoes!!!!

DIY table number holders

2009-08-21T03:26:00.000-04:00

i was printing out several of the paper projects for the wedding today including the "drinks" sign to hang over this ugly roll up shade to the kitchen in the church's reception hall. i also printed and circle punched all of the cupcake toppers as well and attached the large toothpicks to them. they turned out awesome and i can't wait to see them in the different cupcakes. it was ironic i was doing a food project while watching the first episode of "top chef: las vegas".

during this process i realized that i needed to see how i liked my table card numbers. i was worried they would be too large and i wasn't sure where to place them since i have a bunch of candles on the table and don't want to catch things on fire. i also wasn't loving the design for them and i actually changed the design 2 times after printing them and looking at them. i don't have pictures because i didn't print the final version because it's late and i am super tired and have to take the dog to the groomer way too early for this night owl. so, after i got myself caught up with battlestar galactica season 4.5, i went to work on some holders for the table numbers. everything i saw online was more than i wanted to spend and they were just boring. so, i put my crafty noggin' to work on what i have in the house that could be turned into a holder. (brian says i have a lot of stuff that i don't use. he doesn't realize that artists will not get rid of supplies that they could use at a later date. and this post proves it. so there b!)

in the end these cost me absolutely NOTHING to make because i had everything on hand. the sculpey i have had since i was a computer animation major in college. the spiral paper clips i bought ages ago before they were easy to find at some boutique store. and the glitter, well i ALWAYS have glitter. martha stewart glitter is my absolute favorite crafting item. i would cover myself in it if i could. i love things to be sparkly. it's why i get along so well with my soon to be niece who is 7 years old. we both love pink and sparkles. that's what happens when you spend most of your life trying to hate pink. it comes back with a vengeance later on. people are lucky i don't own a bedazzler or brian would wake up with gems on his clothes.

my sculpey was super old and stiff so it took some elbow grease to soften it and roll into balls. i then flattened it slightly by pressing it down with my palm. i also tried to round it up towards the middle some as well. make sure to take off your engagement ring when doing this because this stuff leaves a weird film on everything. i bake it on aluminum foil and worked on my crappy dining table that i don't care if it gets messed up.

i'm not sure what the current sculpey package looks like since these are probably circa 1997-9ish. you could use colored or super sculpey if you want i guess. the colored might look cool since you could do all kinds of stuff with that. you could also do some cool stuff if you rolled it out thick then cut it with a cookie cutter and inserted the paper clip. just a thought.

then i inserted my spiral paper clips and pushed the clay together around it to hold it securely. i baked them in the oven according to the box which was 275 degrees for 50 minutes. it's 15 minutes per 1/4" of clay thickness. i then let them cool (battlestar galactica dvd time). make sure to vent your house well because it definitely gives chemicals off after a long bake like this one.

once cool, i gave them a coat of gem tack glue and covered with martha stewart brand glitter because it's super fine and has a ton of colors. i didn't paint or seal the sculpey first since the glitter covers so much (like fingerprints or weird dents in the shape). i also didn't put anything on the bottom because i didn't feel the need to waste glitter on something you won't see.

they turned out so sparkly and great and i am SO happy i could save us some money.

these would also be super great place card holders as well. it took maybe 1/2 a box of regular white sculpey to do 22 of these. happy wedding crafting!

thank you card freebies

2009-07-30T01:41:00.000-04:00

i wanted to make something that went with the envelope wraps but didn't want to do anything super complicated since i really should go to bed soon. so, thank you notes were the order of the evening.

i prefer to print these on a card stock paper. 2 folded cards per page.

colors are reversed since i wanted to make them more varied.
they fit an A1 sized envelope which is 3 5/8" x 5 1/8".
i have marked where you need to cut and fold.
the insides are obviously going to be blank.
ENJOY!!!

click the image for the download pdf file

freebies - dots envelope wraps

2009-06-09T01:30:00.000-04:00

some more free envelope wraps i made while watching tv.
click on the image for a link to the pdf file.
these just need to be printed on adhesive paper and cut out.

freebie - envelope wraps

2009-06-08T22:26:00.000-04:00

so, i have been doing a ton of online DIY hunting. i am loving so much of what i am seeing for weddings. everything is beautiful and inspiring and there are great resources for free images and other cool things. so i decided to make some freebies of my own.

here are 2 envelope wrappers in some super fun, bright colors.
there are both white and black backgrounds to choose from.
you can download the pdf files by clicking on the image. the text is editable.

ENJOY!!!

save the date

2009-06-08T20:42:00.000-04:00

i forgot, in my plethora of posting, to add a photo of my save-the-dates. we did postcards to save on cost without having to pay full postage or buy envelope. i designed them myself and had them printed online on the cheap. i LOVE LOVE LOVE them.

welcome to the lovefest

2009-06-08T02:09:00.000-04:00

welcome welcome welcome
to the online documentation of the planning process and insane DIYing of brian and my wedding. while i already have a site on theknot.com as well as projectwedding.com, i wanted one that i could use to show continuously updating images of the planning process. and i thought about posting freebies for other brides-to-be to use in the future. i actually have gotten a lot of the things done already and we are at the point of getting our rentals nailed down.

the color theme for our wedding came from a photo i saw of some beautiful bright orange flowers on a chocolate brown bridesmaid dress. the flowers just popped. i was sold (which is saying something since i fall in love with every color combo i see). it also happens that my favorite food is chocolate and brian's favorite is oranges. so, it was meant to be.

i originally wanted to have fresh oranges in vases for the centerpieces since orange groves are in my blood. one problem, local oranges aren't in season in november for the wedding. another problem, it's a night wedding and the fresh fruit centerpieces that i have seen look best in daylight. since i am a complete night owl and unwilling to get up early (even for my own wedding) we are going with tons of candles for the centerpieces. we have already purchased everything for the table decorations except for the hurricane vases (florida wedding... hurricanes... candles... irony?) which can only be purchased at michael's crafts. they only like to keep 2 of them in stock at a time for some reason so we buy them in sets of 2 with coupons i get in email all the time for 50% off a single item. the tables are going to be a festival of candlelight. and i LOVE candles. i mean really, what girl doesn't?

since i am a crafty diva when it comes to making things from paper, i knew i was going to be using those skills to cut some costs. i bought 2 colors of orange tissue paper wholesale online in bulk. these were in the exact size asked for in the DIY instruction for pom poms on martha stewart's website. i have loved these things since i was a kid and they sold them as huge, multi-colored flowers at cypress gardens. my mom couldn't ever justify buying me one for how much they cost but now i have a wedding bursting with them. the church has 44 pews total, which means that i made 22 total for the church (i wanted them on every other row). we are also hanging 44 (interesting number repetition going on here!) chinese lanterns in the same 2 tones of orange, over the dance floor along with 44 of the pom poms in the same 2 colors. the reception hall has an insanely high ceiling and i wanted to hang all of this to bring it to a more cozy level. it's going to look amazing! at least in my head it will.

the problem of lighting all of those lanterns cheaply arose since the LED lights for the purpose cost $4.95 each ($217.80 for 44). so, in my hours of wedding DIY search time online, i found a website for things called "throwies" that certain arty types have been using as freestyle light art on buildings. basically, all i would need to adapt these to my purpose would be some tape, the LEDs, batteries for each LED, and some paper to break the connection so they could be turned on and off. these things were SO easy to make and i was super excited to have made my first electronic DIY project. they ended up saving us $132.44. pretty sweet if you ask me since my job is to save brian as much money as possible because he is basically covering all of the costs because i am just a poor little artist after the bills are all paid.

as i used so much tissue paper for these freaking pom poms, i wanted to see what else i could make to save cash. i found a site that used the same pom poms on martha's site (the smaller ones for napkin rings) to cover a styrofoam ball and make a pomander (or kissing ball). so i saved about $35 making our flower girl tara her very own, for keeps, flower ball. i wanted something she could keep and that was glittery and fabulous since she and i share a love of such things. plus, it would be a cool memento to hang in her room. and every time i look at it i seem to think of something else sparkly to add to it. but, i think i have finally finished it in my own mine at this point. from this idea i also made 2 larger pomanders to hang next to the "drinks" sign i am going to make to decorate the reception hall. i would attempt to draw this in photoshop so that you could see what i am talking about, but i suck at drawing on the computer seeing as i don't have a pen tablet and a mouse is terrible for this purpose. so use your imagination kiddies.

our reception hall also happens to have 8 huge wall banners all about church related. Jesus-type stuff. they are letting us take these down and we are putting up huge banners of kraft paper that i am going to paint large designs on. i just have to work on this project when my mom is home so that she can move her furniture and help me stretch them out and paint them in her bowling alley sized living/dining/family/tv/everything else room. plus, it will be nice to not have to do all of that painting myself and my mom is also an insane artist (though non-practicing as of late) who can paint like a mad woman.

we are also using the same kraft paper from the banners to cover the multitude of doors along the main entrance to the reception hall. there are 5 sets of glass doors and we are only using the center set to enter. we are putting tons of mini lights on the plants and pillars to light the way from the church to the hall. mom had a great idea to use the kraft paper with holes punched in them that the light could come through. so, i measured the doors and got to work. i put a set of paper up on the wall and used a projector to enlarge the swirl images that we are using on all the invites and paper goods onto the kraft paper. i traced the images and then used an awl to poke a bajillion holes inside it. when i hold it up to the doorway in my hall with the light coming from behind it looks A-MAZ-ING!! i can't wait to see them all up. especially since it killed my arms to do all of the holes and i would never do it again unless prodded relentlessly or something.

i was originally going to make a tiered wedding cake for us but the idea of transporting it became scarier than a serial killer in the basement. i made a 2 tiered test cake that was much easier than i expected but heavier than you would think. and seeing as i was going to need several layers to feed the 180 people, i knew i couldn't handle the stress of it. solution: cupcakes! i am making a small cake for us to cut and jam into each others faces (or should i say brian's face because he isn't messing up my makeup without consequences) and cupcakes for everyone else. cupcakes are fast to back, easy as sin to decorate and give people flavor options. because if you are anything like me, you like variation in your sweets. plus, boxed cake is actually pretty freaking good. to spice things up i am making the icing from scratch because the pre-made junk is too sugary and gross. so far, we have settled on devil's food with chocolate frosting (because i am chocolate obsessed), white cake with lemon frosting, and brian's favorite carrot cake with some fantastic cream cheese frosting. because really, who doesn't love some cream cheese frosting? people who don't like themselves very much, that's who! and we only want people who love to party at this wedding, that's for sure!

as for the box to put that money and other card sized gifts in, i bought a martha stewart plain white box for this purpose. it was all boring and white so i colored in every dot in brown or orange and then covered some with glitter. i never get tired of covering things with glitter. maybe brian should just sprinkle himself with some glitter when i am mad at him and all will be right with the world once again!?! it's worth a try. and in my glitter fix i bought plain candles for our unity candles and glittered up the ribbon being used in the centerpieces so everything is matchy matchy how i like it.

i also designed the b&m cake topper to match our invites and had it cut from acrylic online at ponoko.com and it turned out awesome. the cupcakes are getting super cute paper punched circles that tell you which flavor each is and make them look fabulous. i don't know what i am going to do when i am not making fabulous things for my wedding once it's over. i might have to volunteer myself for friend's weddings. watch out people!

i do happen to have a photo of the invites that i designed the day after i got engaged, along with the rsvps, the wedding favors, the groom's tie as well as the gorgeously wrapped bridesmaid gifts. BUT, since these are all going to be a surprise for you crazy wedding guests, i am not posting it for you to see. i have already told you too much, so i might either have to kill your... or un-invite you. or not.

the linens have been selected and they rule. brian has to figure out what to buy his boys. i still have to figure out what to buy my bridesman (since my brother is standing on my side) and i refuse to buy him yet another gift that is for or involves video games as a wedding present. we have to go talk to the lighting rental peeps. get ourselves some glasses for wine and beverages along with the dance floor and a cherry picker to hang all that orange hanging junk from the ceiling to fancy it up. i know i am forgetting some things but i will add them as we accomplish them along with any fun pictures of the chaos. right now i am simply hoping david's bridal gets the correct size dress in for me on their second ordering attempt. and that this dress is longer than the other one so that i can actually wear heels. the first dress they ordered would be short on a 4 foot tall person. i'm not sure how this happens but hopefully the next time is the charm. fingers crossed and prayers a plenty. and only 2 more meetings with pastor and we are a go with Jesus!