Making that hair Bling!

I was at the mall the other day and I saw these beautiful hair pins with crystals and beads. I thought they would look lovely with my curls and my dress. So, I asked the sales girl how much they were... I gasped... $35.00 each plus tax. I would need at least 6 of them... they were sooooo small...There was no way I could spend over $200 just for some hair bling. So, I decided that I could make my own hair bling!


First, I must give you some back ground information. One of my hobbies is making jewelry. I've been making it since about 1996 and I am pretty good, but it is an expensive hobby, it is hard on my eyes and finger-tips, and I never found a way to make any real money at it; so, it remains a hobby. I made my best friends wedding jewelry a few years ago, and I've made lots of bridal party jewelry. However, due to time restrictions I did not make my own bm's jewelry; instead, I found someone who makes a similar style to myself and I hired out! Okay, so I got a little off topic.

The point is that I have tons of swarovoski crystals and gold wire just sitting around my house. So here is what I managed to come up with:





9 crystal hair pins! I have no idea how much they cost me; the pins were left over from my hair trial, the crystals and gold wire I bought years ago and was just sitting around not being used. So, in a way they were free. I made 3 of the 9 pins with Pacific Opal crystals, which is the color I had my bridesmaids jewelry made of. This is a fun project that I did while watching TV, it was very relaxing and a bit theraputic as well!

Bustles, Buttons, and Beads

I got rid of the butt button! I decided to take a risk and fix the bustle on my dress myself. After perusing many websites on the topic of bustles, I figured that the simplicity of my dress would allow for a single point french bustle that would not require a professional seamstress to do (see image below on the right). First, I had to remove the butt button and the loop from the dress.

Though this was easy, I was not pleased with the black/grey residue it left behind. I tried using Oxiclean on the spots, but it only faded it and did not actually get rid of it. There are two things keeping me from crying about this A) from a distance the stain can not be seen B) I still have to take my dress to be cleaned and pressed before the wedding.

I bought the supplies I would need for my bustle at JoAnnes:

• very fine bead needles (thinner than regular needles since the fabric is so fine)
  
• clear thread
  
• clear nylon snaps
  
• off white ribbon
  
• Stop Fray glue

The rest of the supplies I already had at home: Off-White thread, pins, swarovoski crystals, scissors, seam ripper.

After removing the button I cut a length of ribbon and sewed a snap on to it; I then sewed the other part of the snap to the underside of the dress on the lining (underneath where the original butt button was) and a small piece of ribbon above that to create a loop.

Then I took the ribbon with the snap attached and sewed it to the underside of the first layer of my dress -- in the same spot where the original loop was. By folding the fabric in half so the seams met, I was able to determine that this was the center of the fabric. I used the clear thread here and then added a crystal to the outside so it would be easier to find. Picture on the left is of the underside of the dress. Picture on the right is what it looks like from the outside -- the crystal does not photograph very well, but it can be seen and felt easily.

To bustle the dress: Lift the outer chiffon layer where the crystal is and bring up underneath itself to where the button and loop are on the dress lining. First snap the button, then pull the ribbon through the loop and tie. The first picture on the left shows what the loop and snap look like underneth the chiffon - if you look real close you can see the black residue. The other pictures are of the dress bustled.

Since I'm not wearing the dress, you can't see the whole effect -- but this is pretty much what it will look like. I used the Stop Fray on the ribbon and let it dry before testing the bustle. It took me about two hours to do this -- a little slow because I was so concerned about messing it up.

Let me know if you have any questions! I am not a seamstress, but thankfully I was in girlscouts for 10 years and I learned a little bit about sewing by hand and I learned that I can do anything if I put my mind to it!

My beautiful box...

My card box is done! I ordered a custom card box from Etsy seller SheaChicDesigns and received the email today that the box is finished. I sent her pictures of my flower arrangements and bm dresses, and then let her design it on her own.

Isn't it lovely! I can't wait to see it in person.

Now that summer school is done, I've been frantically completing all of the diy projects that I've been planning for the wedding. Time to stop talking and start working. I will post about them later in the week (hopefully tomorrow), but for now here is a list of what is in the works:

• Finish the Escort Cards
• Finish the Seating Chart
• Make the Table Name Cards
• Finish the Bustle on My Dress (I've decided to do it myself - gasp!)
• Make My Veil
• Make Crystal Hair Pins
• Design and Make Programs

In addition to all of this, I still have a gazillion phone calls to make. I have to order a wedding arbor (I thought I had found a place, but they've stop returning emails and phone calls). My aisle runner came in the mail today, so now I have to decided if I will leave it as is, or try to personalize it. Fh and I also need to do some shopping for the honeymoon.

Today we took our second dance lesson! It was so much fun; I can't wait to do it for everyone.

Okay, that is it for now. I will be posting lots of pics and other stuff throughout the week.

Escort Cards, Step One...

So, after rethinking my entire daisy sucker in a bucket idea, I've finally decided what I would like to do about escort cards. First, I decided that I would like the cards to be different colors to represent what the guest would be eating. Silver for Beef, Gold for Chicken, and White for Vegetarian.

Then I had to find a way to tie in my turquoise color and my daisy theme. I did this by having my student aid (gotta love free labor!) use a daisy punch on stardream card stock to create little daisies.

We then used Martha Stewarts glue pen to glue the daisies on to the upper corner of the card -- one on each side to give it a 3-D effect.

The next step... adding the guest names and table names. This was a simple project to do. I already had the daisy hole punch from work, the cards cost $2.25 in packages of 25 each from Paper Source, so I spent a total of about $14.00 on the cards, the lagoon stardream paper used for the daisies was 50 cents -- it was a sample sheet I purchased from Blue Dot. I spent about $4.00 on shipping, so in all the cards have cost me $18.00 so far. Stay tuned for "Escort Cards Part II".

Let's eat cake...

On Saturday on one of my bm's, N, went with me to LA. We paid the balance on my flowers and we finalized the details on the wedding cake. I burnt my hand today, so I really can't type very well; therefore I will be keeping this short. We took some pictures at the bakery and I finally got a decent one of the cake.

N is on my left - in front of the bakery. The sample cake has 3 tiers, but mine will only have two tiers. i love the lady bug! It is white cake with a fresh strawberry fillng. The icing is whipped cream. What kind of cake are you having?

Duck, duck, goose!

Tomorrow my fmil and my mom are coming over to do the seating chart. Wow, I can't believe it is already that time. I think I am starting to get nervous; I had a migraine this morning and now I have a tummy ache. My escort cards came in the mail today, not that it means much because they are blank... the rehearsal dinner invitaitons also came (they are also blank), and our guestbook came! It was a busy day for USPS. I will take pics of everything tomorrow and do some updates. The seating chart adventure shoud be interesting. My venue only holds 13 tables, with a maximum of 10 people per table. We wanted 8 per table, but it looks like we will need to have 9 per table.
More updates to come soon...

Random butt button...

So, my fitting went great -- the dress fit perfect and there is even a little room for me to lose some weight, not that I plan to, but I have a tendency not to eat when I am nervous. Fitting aside though, there was a different problem that I had not anticipated. I call it "the random butt button". When I discussed with K (my bm that did the alterations) the bustle, I expressed to her my desire to use a clear snap and to do a "pick up bustle", preferably underneath "french style" (see drawing on left).

Only one layer of my dress needed to be bustled and the fabric is a very thin silk chiffon, so there would be no weight on the button. Well, when I tried on my dress I noticed a very large dime sized button on my butt -- not what we had discussed (see image of butt button above).

Above are images of the bustled butt button. It turns out that my moh told K that she was concerned about not being able to find the bustle and told her that she thought the snap would come undone. So, rather than K calling me to see what I wanted -- she did my bustle the way my moh told her to! When K saw the disappointment on my face (moh was in the other room) she immediatly knew she had goofed and apologized for not calling me first. When I mentioned it to moh her response was that she thought that it didn't really matter as long as she could see the button easily to bustle -- I mentioned that I had three other bridesmaids to help and one of them put the bustle on my dress, she then said that she thought a snap bustle would come undone. I dropped it with her at that point. However, this morning after thinking about it I called K and told her that I want to redo the bustle, the way I originally planned. The only problem is that the fabric is so thin and is fragile where the original bustle button and loop were sewn, that we won't even be able to take the original thread out without leaving a decent sized hole.

So, K thinks she can leave the thread in and create the new bustle over the original. I'm not even going to tell moh -- I'm just going to have K bustle it for me on my wedding day. K is very apologetic for not calling me about the changes. I still can't believe that my moh thought that she had the right to make changes to MY wedding dress!

I am still very upset about this; I love my moh dearly, but I can't understand why she would do this. She didn't even call me and tell me that she had made the changes, and K didn't think to call me and tell me moh had asked her to make changes. And, no she is not blind and she sees perfectly well with her contacts, and I have three other bridesmaids that can help, and my dress only has one bustle!!!!

Okay, vent is done. I'll write more later.

Final Fitting!

Today is the day I get to see what my dress looks like on with all of the alterations completed and the bustle! I will bring a camera.

On Friday I went with my new doc to my venue so she could see the layout and to ask questions. Well, I learned that my idea for the chocolate daisy escort cards will not work! The venue sets up the table with the escort cards next to the guest book, so when people arrive they can sign the book, drop off their gift or card, and pick up their escort card. This stops any "bottle necking" when entering the reception. Well, that would mean that my guests would be holding a chocolate daisy sucker through an outdoor ceremony and cocktial hour in August -- not going to work! So, instead the venue will place one sucker on each plate as the favor and my guests will just pick up a regular escort card. Problem solved. So, now what do I do with the 21 silver buckets I bought?

One month to go!

Yes, we will be married in one month and to celebrate we went to the court house and got our marriage license today. It was the easiest thing ever! Actually today was a very exciting day, in addition to getting our marriage license, the chocolate I ordered to make daisy suckers arrived and the sample paper I ordered for our table signs and escort cards arrived. So much wedding overload! Unfortunatly, the ink rubbed right off the paper I ordered, so now I have to make a decision: Do I have my heart set on Stardream Lagoon paper? If I do, how will I print on it? I could print on vellum and use it as an overlay, but then why buy such pretty stardream paper? Should I just go with a non-metallic paper? I need to figure this out soon.

I made a sample set of the daisy suckers; they are in the freezer right now. I'll be checking on them as soon as I log off.

My fmil called me at exactly 5pm tonight to remind me and fh that we would be married in exactly 1 month -- how cute is that!?

I'll write more soon -- please let me know if you have any suggestions for the stardream paper.

It is better to give...

...than to receive? I've always loved giving gifts. I'm the type of person that not only puts a lot of thought into gifts for other people, but also collects gifts for friends throughout the year. I love wrapping them and I love giving them. But lately I've been wondering why; I mean, why do I love giving gifts? I think it is the great feeling I get when I watch the smile and expression of surprise on someone's face when they open the gift. But isn't that selfish? I mean ultimately I get joy out of gift giving, so isn't that just another form of selfishness? And what about gift getting? I never realized how much I love receiving gifts until I discovered the gift registry. It is addictive. It is a guilty pleasure that makes me feel so so guilty, and last night it got even worse. Last night I discovered the "manage thank you notes" button on my Macy's registry.

If you haven't discovered it yet, stay away, far, far, away. This button even has a warning, but did I listen? No. Before you can go to the thank you note manager you must check the box saying that you really want to go there, and then you can click on it ... and there it is, in all of its glory: a list of who bought you what and when they bought it!

Our THANK YOU CARD MANAGER tracks what gifts have been purchased from your registry and by whom, even if you have yet to receive the gift. While this is an invaluable tool for organizing your thank you notes, you may want to wait until after the occasion to use it if you like surprises. If you prefer to use this feature now please check the box below before proceeding (you can always act surprised later).

I've become addicted and my fiance has too. A typical night of watching t.v. and playing on my laptop: "Oh, honey look! Aunt M got us a Waterford pitcher yesterday, and Uncle B got us a potato masher!" And then there is the unbareable "name not provided", which becomes a guessing game for the evening. And then there are those gifts bought by people who haven't rsvp'd yet...hmmnn...

Are there any other registry stalkers out there? How do you cope?

Two shoes, blue shoes...

No, this is not a new Dr. Suess rhyme; it is the solution to my wedding shoe dilemma! I'm not going to repost everything. So here is the short version: I've decided to be a two shoe bride, and possibly a three shoe bride. I will wear what I call a "Cinderella" shoe during the ceremony. This is the shoe my mom loves, and the heel is a little higher than the shoe I love. This is important because my wedding is outside and I won't let anyone hem my dress, so the higher heel will help keep the dress off the ground while outside, and my mom is happy because she won't be worried about people staring at my feet during the ceremony. Oh, yes, did I tell you that? She is seriously paranoid that if I wear blue shoes during the ceremony everyone will be looking at my feet instead of at me and my fh! The blue shoes have a lower heel and are much more comfortable, so I will wear them during the reception. I love these shoes! I had them dyed to match my bm dresses, and my bm's will be wearing silver shoes. I am also considering buying flip flops or slippers to keep under the table "just in case". So here are the shoes... what do you

think?

With this ring...

The rings are done! It took two tries, but they are perfect. I did my best to take pics with my camera using the macro setting, and I forgot to clean my engagement ring before taking the photos, but I think they turned out pretty good. If you look closely you can see the camera reflection in his ring.

Each ring is engraved, his reads "Baby it's fact" and our wedding date, mine reads "our love is true" -- I tried to take pictures of the engraving, mine didn't turn out, but the pic of his is okay. The choice of words comes from our first dance song "Baby it's Fact" by Hellogoodbye.

There are quite a few people who think I am strange for wanting sapphires in my wedding band, saying that it "wasn't meant to be" when the band was made wrong the first time; so, I'm hoping these pictures will show everyone just how amazing the two rings look together.

I love this look so much and I can't believe it is mine! I hope that does not sound too materialistic, but I have never owned anything like this before. This is by far the most amazing piece of jewelry I've ever seen or owned!

Uh oh it's raining again...

Finally, my shower post! My moh did an amazing job, and honestly my pictures don't do her justice. She took tons of pictures, so I will post those when she gives them to me. The theme was English Tea Party in a Daisy Shower -- okay, so I made that up, but you'll see what I mean. She had her backyard decorated with hanging white shower curtains, bright pink gerbera daisies, and buckets of shower stuff as center pieces. Of course, none of my pictures show this because I didn't think to pick up my camera until we moved inside!

My fmil and two fsil in sundresses and hats -- and lots of gifts.

Three of my bm's model the pottery barn robes I bought them as thank you gifts (my fourth bm is out of state).

My moh had each guest make a scrapbook page for me which she will add pictures to and give to me at the bachelorette party. All the good pics will be in the scrap book!