DIY Weekend

This weekend my mom, aunt and cousins came up for a visit to find a mother of the bride dress, bridesmaid shoes for my little cousin and to CRAFT ourselves silly. Mission accomplished on all fronts!



I thought I'd share some of the DIY crafts we completed so far:

Here are our out-of-town guest bags for guests staying in one of our hotels

The pomanders turned out so nice! These little ones will be part of our altar decorations.

These larger flower pomanders will decorate our pews.

Headbands for our flower girls - that's my knee not a bald head like my mom thought in the photo.

Flower girl headband propped on a Kleenex box.

Not only did my family get all of this done, they took more stuff with them. I have the best family in the world and I'm so glad they are going to be a part of our special day.

DIY – Paper Pomanders

First Photo: oncewed.com, Laurie Canotto

Second and Third Photo: vintageglamblog.com, Amanda

FI and I have been affected by the economy like so many others – we got notice that his work term will end in November after 8 years on his job. We still have a wedding budget and are doing better than many others, but we’re looking for ways to cut dollars.

Our plan is to cut our wedding spending overall to make sure we still have funds after the ceremony. One idea is for me – crafty me – to handle the ceremony décor. And since I’m allergic to everything, including flowers, I’m looking at making some version of a paper / ribbon pomander to hang on the pews.

What’s a pomander? A flower ball. Don’t worry, I didn’t know what that was before this wedding.

Tell me what you think?

Love Songs

One of my DIY projects is signs for my table numbers. Each table will be named after a song lyric since FI and I met in our college and choir and we LOVE music. In my quest for table "names" I have re-discovered so many songs and discovered some others.

In Honor of the King of Pop, here is one of my favorite songs by the great Michael Jackson. Listen carefully and you'll hear where Usher, Ne-Yo and many others get their inspiration. And it's written by Stevie Wonder, so you can't go wrong there.

Michael Jackson - I Can't Help It
Written and composed by Stevie Wonder and Susaye Greene.

Looking in my mirror
Took me by surprise
I can't help but see you
Running often through my mind
Helpless like a baby
Sensual disguise
I can't help but love you
It is getting better all the time

I can't help it if I wanted to
I wouldn't help it even if I could
I can't help it if I wanted to
I wouldn't help it, no

I can't help it if I wanted to
I wouldn't help it even if I could
I can't help it if I wanted to
I wouldn't help it, no

Love to run my fingers
Softly while you sigh
Love came and possessed you
Bringing sparkles to your eyes

Like a trip to heaven
Heaven is the prize
And I'm so glad I found you
You're an angel in disguise

I can't help it if I wanted to
I wouldn't help it even if I could
I can't help it if I wanted to
I wouldn't help it, no

Calligraphy - Schmalligraphy

FI and I are hastily trying to get our invitations out the door. I am busting through our invite list and addressing invites, no small feat.

Since I'm typically fairly crafty I figured I could teach myself to calligraph (is that a word?) my invitations. Then I bought some short-cut, cheater calligraphy pens - the kind with no ink insert, sort of like a marker. I was primed and ready to go, and let's just say the result was not so great.

Now, I'm using those fancy pens I bought but without the technique. They're coming out, um, okay. I'll post photos of the end result.

Save the Date!

So, if you're checking this out you know that my hubby-to-be and I are furiously planning for our Georgia wedding in the fall.

Above is our DIY, vintage save-the-date postcard. Well, they were sort of vintage - we actually got them printed but to look vintage. I got the idea from a couple on the knot (their on-line bio got moved, or else I'd show you, but here's an example of one along with ours. My fiance did a good job with printing, right?