Beautiful Bolero... Part Deux!

Who knew there would even be a part deux to this post? Not this girl. But guess what - I'm getting my beautiful bolero!! No, I didn't win. I never win anything.* But I got lucky this past weekend (not like that!) and got an offer I couldn't refuse. The offer? "I can make you a bolero." So I thought long and hard about it... for like a milisecond, and that was only being like "whoa, is she serious??" and the deal was done.

Bridesmaid Amanda, Bonnie & I went to my bridal shop (where I bought my dress) last weekend because they were having a jewelry trunk show. Really all I wanted to do was try my dress on again, with some of the 800 green jewelry options I now have in my possession. My real dress won't be ready until April, but I never got any pictures of me in the sample! Done.

You like? :)

Sorry, the FH reads my blog!

So after that trip is when the infamous offer was made and we decided right then and there that we were taking a (10 minute) roadtrip to go get the fabric for said bolero! Done and done.

The fabulous Bonnie of Un de Six is going to make me my dream bolero. Why? Because she's awesome. Am I friends with a super cool clothing designer who is custom making my dream bolero? Yes. Be jealous. I would be if I were you.

:)

-C
xxx

*I really don't. Seriously, if I counted how many wedding-related contests I've entered (and subsequently not won) in the past 5+ months of being engaged I would probably cry. Ok, maybe not cry, but I'd at least get slightly annoyed.

Greenspiration

As my blog gets bigger, and my reader reach expands *joyous tear*, I'm starting to take a second look at my posts before I publish them. I hope nothing I post bothers anyone, but please people just realize that I've been told I'm funny by so many people at this point that I'm under a lot of pressure to keep that reputation up. Ahem. So, what shall we talk about today. Hmmm... how about inspiration boards? Safe enough topic, no? The boards below are not only be-a-u-tiful, but there's also something I'm doing at my wedding in each one!

Wedding by Color

Lily and Company

Kelly Oshiro Events

SJB Wedding & Events

Well shoot! Looks like I'm not the only one doing the whole black, white and green thing! And here I was thinking I had come up with something no one had ever done before... :) It's ok, I know mine'll be unique. If for no other reason than all my terrible DIY projects (that you all will have to put up with my posting pictures of for the next 7 months) that I insist upon doing.

Lots of bloggers make inspiration boards online and post them for the world to see, and that's really awesome and all, but for some reason I'm terrible at it. I am creative and good with technology, which should be the perfect formula for creating such a thing, right? I mean, some might even say I'm trendy, fashion forward, a FANTASTIC dresser, and just all around super cool (no? just in my dreams?). Well, I don't know what's wrong with me, but I realized some time ago that I'd much rather look at all the purdy ones other people create than make my own online inspiration board. BUT, I do have my own real life one! Now that, for reasons unknown, I can do. I can cut little pictures out of a magazine and pin pieces of ribbon to a cork board with the best of 'em. Mine is a bit different than most, though, in that it's straight up inspiration, not just color inspiration. Oh, there are plenty of pictures of green beauties on there, but there are also pictures of invites and programs I aspire to do my best impression of, that unfortunately the magazines I pulled them from didn't have listed in every color (how dare they!).


There she is! It's not full and I'm glad it's not. I've still got 7 more months of magazines left! What would I do if it was full already??

Get another corkboard, that's what.

-C
xxx

PS I found the clip "Emerald City" in one of the mags and that's kind of what I've been calling my theme in my head... except for the fact that my wedding's not in an urban setting whatsoever. Minor detail.

Behind the... Yellow Veil?

Maybe I should change my blog name to Behind the Yellow Veil? I've started noticing an odd obsession I have lately with just about anything yellow. My love for green will never die... but I think I might have to say yellow is now my second favorite color. Last spring I bought a mustard yellow jacket... I then had to have an umbrella to match (white with yellow flowers)... then when I was in the market for new rain boots I became obsessed with a pair that are yellow, white, black and grey (by Kamik).How freaking awesome are they?? I mean, it was a hunt spanning from North Jersey all the way down to Southern Maryland to find these boots in my size. The mission was successful and I love them. Then Valentine's weekend I bought a new work bag... yup, mustard yellow. I really hate the term mustard yellow by the way. Mustard's gross. But, I suppose it describes it better. Otherwise you could be picturing me with this stupid neon yellow bag or something. Oh, right, and my bathroom has somehow become a haven for my yellow obsession, too. I've tried to limit it to sunflowers so I don't end up just throwing everything yellow into the miniscule bathroom that we have. Cuz that could, quite literally, get real ugly, reaaaal fast. Yeah... and I'm wearing a yellow and purple shirt today. I think that was when I truly realized I had become obsessed. If someone stopped me on the street today and asked what my blog name was (because, you know, that happens all the time), they'd be like "But, strange person I stopped on the street to ask what their blog name was, yellow appears to be your favorite color!!" They would be wrong. I would then have to tell them that at the moment, I think yellow is my favorite color to WEAR, but my heart will forever belong to green.

Ok to now prove my allegiance to green and assure it that I'm not leaving it for yellow, I've gone and found some super cute green potential bridesmaid-type-dresses (not for mine, they already have theirs). In order from most to least expensive:

Isabelle Oliver - The Asymmetrical Dress

ModCloth - Grecian Green DressThe Limited - Sleek Strapless Dress

LuLu's - Beyond Gloss Dress

LuLu's - Hello Sunshine Dress

oops... how'd that get in there... :)
(I may or may not have already purchased this one...)
If anyone's in the market for a green bridesmaid dress, or non bridesmaid, or actually any color really, check this site out:
http://www.camdendrive.com/green-dresses.html
Sites that let you sort by color rock my world. For obvious reasons.

-C
xxx

Bridal Brain

This is your brain:
This is your brain on weddings:Seriously, I think there might be studies on this. There are studies on a lot more stupid things, so there must be. I think there should be a disease called Bridal Brain (or something much more clever). Something happens to us the moment we get engaged. (I'm going to generalize here and say that all brides are like this, but really I think it's a certain type of bride. One that wants to plan her own wedding I think would really sum it up. If you don't care about the small details and don't want to plan your own, you'll obviously be in a very different mindset.) The world seems to stop. You can't work, can't sleep, can't do anything... without thinking about your wedding. And just because in my case it's mostly about the decor because I'm crazy like that, doesn't mean the same doesn't happen to other people who are more worried about the guest list, the food, etc. The disease is brutal, and causes you to bring up your wedding like it's some guy you've just started dating.

You'll be in the middle of a conversation about hotdogs*

which makes you think of pigs in a blanket
which then makes you think of hors d'oeuvreswhich then makes you think of weddingswhich then makes you bring up something unrelated about your wedding

Does this drive the non-engaged person in the conversation insane? Probably. No matter what the conversation topic, somehow the engaged person's brain always finds some way to relate it to their wedding. We just can't get it off our minds. We can't help it. It's a disease I tell you. BUT, if you are anything like me, it will happen to you someday and you'll see just what I'm talking about. Remember now, when you're getting annoyed by yet another wedding reference by your friend, that this will (more than likely) be you someday. I'm being completely truthful when I say it is NOT (for most people at least) about always talking about yourself and being the center of attention (or being a one upper). It may look like that, but really it's not. Wedding stuff is just always on the brain and so if there's any sort of connection to a present conversation, our brain will make it.

I'm a planner. I plan things down to the tiny details. Some people don't, so they don't get why you're so worried about those tiny details, especially so far from the big day. I like to focus on the tiny details first, as a matter of fact, specifically to get them out of the way. I'm sorry if I'm driving some of you crazy. I didn't realize I was driving anyone crazy but myself. I actually was under the illusion that I was making things pretty easy for everyone (again, except for myself). As a matter of fact, it comes as a shock to me that I'm not. I guess even me talking about my own stress bothers others. I'll try to keep it to myself from now on. I think the only person to whom I can truly relate right now is my bridesmaid Amanda, because she's planning her own wedding and is very much like me in that every detail must be covered. I actually aspire to be more like her as a bride-to-be because she's basically DONE since she started everything so early, and she's still got 4 months to go.

Oh yeah, and another side effect of this disease? You start to forget lots of things because, lo and behold, your wedding is taking up too much room in your brain. So while on the outside, you may look the same as you always have, on the inside you're not paying attention to that meeting you're in because (somehow) the carpet inspired you of a way to do your centerpieces (making this up, I didn't really get inspired by carpet... not yet at least).

Anyway... I hope this will at least provide a heads up to those who are yet to be engaged. This is what you're in for. Planning your own wedding is extremely stressful - and may strain relationships and cause memory loss.

-C
xxx

*You would NOT believe how many dirty pictures come up in a google search for "hot dog". Seriously people??

Proud Mama

In the beginning, they were just boxes from (necessary, of course) purchases...

they slowly started to morph together...

until they were as one.

And then I made them pretty :) wait for it...

wait for it...
Voila! I present to you my fabulous, completely hand crafted, so very GREEN cardbox!
(Yes, the lace is also green!)

I will be embellishing it, but haven't decided exactly how I want it yet. So this is my partially finished, but at least covered, made out of Amazon boxes and thrifty find fabrics, cardbox.

I love it! Just, uh... don't get me too big of a card (the slot's 5 1/2 inches long - should fit most vertically)! lol

And in case you're wondering...

The bottom box is a "tuck top" so I can just pull it out and out come the cards!
You like??

-C

xxx

Bouts Bouts Baby

I meant to type up this post first thing this morning, but then I happened upon Endless and got waaayyy too distracted by all the green shoe options! I swear I checked there a couple months ago and they had nothing! Today a quick green shoe search (love websites that have the color option in their search!) turned up about 1,600 shoes. Of course, probably about 1,000 were hiking boots, but I'm currently in the middle of looking through the "pumps" search that turned up 246. *swoon* Don't worry, it wouldn't be right if any of the gorgeous shoes I found actually had my size. So looks like none will be purchased today! Damn me and my average shoe size. But check some of these beautiful babies out:

And now back to posting. So this weekend I took a bunch of my craft "ingredients" home to see what I could come up with while watching back to back Criminal Minds episodes with my laid up mom. We always joke about how my Grandude "supervises" reaaaally well, because he can't do too much these days at the ripe old age of 83. Sure doesn't stop him from telling us the right way to do things from his chair! My mom was definitely supervising me this weekend, which is fine, I understand. She's gimped up and has to hobble around (or crawl on the floor... got some pictures of that!) to do anything. So when I say that "we" did any of these projects, I mean I. She watched and occasionally cleared a space for me to work in.*

Like I said, I brought a bunch of supplies home, not knowing exactly what I was going to get the urge to work on. Then I randomly started working on the Bouts (part deux - for the grandpas and future father in law). I honestly have this new obsession with floral tape. It makes me feel awesome (is that weird??). Let me clarify - it makes me feel like I'm a pro faux bout maker. I started just bunching together some white flowers (trying to make them look a little different than the groom/groomsmen bouts) and the next thing I know my fingers are flying and 3 bouts are floral taped and it's onto hanging out with my new BFF Gluey the glue gun. I busted out some off white ribbon, wrapped and glued away, and the next thing I know I'm putting some light green ribbon around the flowers in some funky manner that just so happened to end up looking like a heart. Score! So now, for the moment you've all been waiting for, here's the final (for real this time... I think) installment of the bouts:

My BFF (Gluey) and I hung out a lot this weekend... we also worked on the super secret mystery project that I guess I stumped everyone on! There's not much more I can show without giving it away, though, but for now, I'll show you it constructed but not yet covered...

Can you guess what it is now? Yes, those are Amazon boxes. Don't judge me. I'm repurposing! And heck, why not?? Wait til you see it covered... on tomorrow's post!

-C

xxx

* While I was there this weekend I favorited my blog for her on her laptop. She read all my posts while I was there - hilarious! I heard my full name several times (CYNTHIA FAYE!). Followed by laughter, of course, lol. The day after I left she went dress shopping... don't worry, she ended up buying 2 dresses and is taking both back. The saga continues... :)

Towering Above the Rest...

I went home to visit my ma this weekend/get some projects done since it was a 3 day weekend. It actually helped that my mom and bro only have laptops so there's no computer constantly set up to taunt me and distract me from getting things done. This week I'll be posting pics of a few things I accomplished/just want to show you. I know you can hardly stand the suspense. Try to remain calm.

Anyway, last week I saw this picture of a cupcake tower and got uber excited. You see, I have one that looks just like it! And it was FREE. That's right, FREE, and KICK ASS because it was my Meamaw's. I love incorporating not only repurposed items in my wedding (and everyday decor, might I add), but especially love incorporating repurposed Meamaw items. It helps me pretend like she's there in some way. I found it in her garden shortly after we were engaged and immediately thought, "CUPCAKE TOWER!" So to the right is someone else's cupcake tower in action (don't know where this photo is from, so unfortunately can't give it credit where credit is due, but someone posted it here on Project Wedding), and below is mine! I told you I'd be posting about my finds because I get so damn proud of them! *sniff*


It's funny how two (great) minds can think alike. I mean, people are repurposing things left and right for cake/cupcake stands, but it's really funny (to me...) that I just plucked this out of my Meamaw's garden, something she's had for a gazillion years, and someone else appears to have done the same thing (although I'm pretty sure she didn't take it from my Meamaw's garden).

We're going to paint ours black* and either do a semi circle around it like the action shot above or put some on raised cake platters... or both! Any suggestions for the overflow? Obviously we are having cupcakes. Sorry for ruining the surprise if you were planning on attending my wedding. You'll (probably) never guess what kind though! So there's still a reason to come :)

-C
xxx

*FYI, my wedding colors are several shades of green (duh) and black. White and off-whites mixed in as well. Painting lots of the thrifty finds black.

The Little Things...

Martha Stewart Weddings

I'd say I started purchasing wedding books about 2 years before getting engaged. You know, when I was single, hadn't even met my fiancé yet, and had no prospect of getting married anytime soon. I told you, I'm just obsessed with weddings!

SHAMELESS PLUG ALERT: If anyone ever wants me to plan or design or do anything at all for their wedding, I'm more than willing. I'm more than able. I'm already there.

In all my wedding research prior to actually getting engaged I never would have dreamed that I'd be looking into the way I'd be folding my napkins. Really? Who's going to care how they're folded? Are the men who attend even going to notice?? The answers are: yes, really - probably not many people - and probably not even one. Maybe if I were renting my linens I wouldn't care. I mean, it's not life or death, if they don't get folded special they don't get folded special. But damn you Martha Stewart, I never even would have THOUGHT about folding my napkins anything but triangular (and probably wouldn't have thought about it until we were setting them out) if you and your 10 (actually, 9) Napkin Ideas hadn't come along. Thanks a lot. Who really needs another task to add to their wedding planning list? Certainly not me. I've got enough to procrastinate already, and now I find myself looking at different ways to fold a frickin' cloth napkin.
To be honest, I'm a bit embarrassed that I now have a "special" way I'm going to fold my napkins (yes, I already decided on one, no, it's not on this page). Can you just see my fiancé's face when I tell him? Or, rather, when he reads this and finds out, since I haven't told him yet?? (love you!) Don't worry baby, I wouldn't trust you or your groomsmen to do the fold right anyway. Bridesmaids - get ready for some foldin'! You too mom. Any other female volunteers who'll be in town right before the wedding are welcome to join the fun, too :)

-C
xxx

Stumped??!

I'm going to assume by the lack of comments and emails on the last post* that I must have stumped you all. And that, well, that is just... awesome! muwahaha. That also means I'm not telling you what it is. When I finish I'll post it, but what I'd really like to do is keep posting teasers about it. But I won't. At least not today because I have something else to talk about!

This past crafty weekend I finished the boutonnieres!

Ok well, the groom and groomsmen bouts at least. Kind of forgot I'm making different ones for my grandfathers and Tim's dad. But I'm just going to call that a completely different project. They're going to look different, so they can be a different project, right?? Right.

This is the groom's bout.

And this is the groom's bout next to a groomsmen bout - so you can see the size difference.

Should I post a tutorial? I can't decide if people want to know how I made them or not. Does anyone think it would be helpful to someone out there?

-C
xxx

*Thanks for all the emails I've been receiving - keep 'em coming! It makes me so happy that people enjoy the blog, and actually find me funny for some reason.

Green as in Repurposing

To me, nothing feels better than when I find use for something I've kept for so long not knowing what I was ever going to actually use it for. I mean I get SO excited. Like, "SEE, told you I'd find a use for that egg carton!" Ok maybe I don't keep egg cartons, but I keep a lot of things that a LOT of people would throw away.

On Friday, I read Bowie Bride's blog post on her wedding crafts. side note: I can't believe she's doing everything without a tutorial - what a rockstar! I got inspired by the idea of going through your house and finding things you can repurpose for your wedding. It didn't hurt that we got snowed in all weekend, so I actually couldn't go anywhere to buy anything for projects and had to use what I had on hand! I was way too excited to venture to the basement only to find a massive picture frame that I had taken the picture out of years ago, but couldn't bring myself to throw out. I decided to make it into a massive bulletin board where I will stick escort cards into (or a table listing onto, whatever I decide) for my wedding, and then use it in our house afterwards. Who can't use a bulletin board, afterall?

Luckily I've been saving wine corks for years, because I knew I had to eventually find something useful to do with them instead of just throwing them out. UNluckily I've been saving for 4 years and it looks like I may still not have enough! I've been planning on using them in other wedding projects, so have enlisted the help of family and friends in saving theirs, and now will need even more! For the bulletin board, I decided I wanted to make it mainly corks from foreign lands (or it may just turn out to be corks from other people, since it's going to take so many!). One of my bridesmaids brought me back a bagful from Singapore last summer, and my future mother in law gave me a bunch the last time I was over in England. Needless to say the frame was a bit too big and I need a lot more corks to fill it! Any donations to the cork fund are greatly appreciated :)

this is as far as I got - I need more corks!

I've been sick all weekend, and even stayed home sick from work today, but did manage to get a couple projects done/started/progressed this weekend. Taking yet another cue from Bowie Bride, I'm going to leave you with a wedding craft teaser. Anyone care to take a guess as to what these are going to be??

- C
xxx

Clothing Optional?

Just a bit of a silly rant... my mom is having trouble finding a dress for my wedding. She doesn't realize she's having trouble finding a dress, but I do. She's verrrrry laid back about it, in no rush to find it, and knows exactly what she wants:

she wants to match the wedding party
she doesn't mind if she matches the wedding party
she wants a long dress
she may be ok with a shorter dress
she wants to make her dress out of fabric she bought
she wants to buy her dress from a store
she has absolutely no interest in actually going to a store to shop for said dress
she wants me to help her pick out a dress
she hates every picture message of a dress i send to her

I know where this path leads, and it ain't nowhere good. My family is notorious for lateness/putting things off. I actually think somehow my Uncle Randy (Wendy can verify) may have somehow missed that gene. The rest of us are screwed. My excuse is that it's genetic. But the reason is not laziness, it's more trying to fit in as much as possible into a small time frame. For my family, there really aren't enough hours in the day, although one could also probably say that we just have poor time management. But it's genetic! I'm telling you this right now, there is a very good chance we will all be late to my wedding. We were, afterall, late to Meamaw's funeral (it's how she would have wanted it, we went to her favorite thrift store that morning). My Aunt Cheri was so late to my Uncle Tim's wedding that she never even made it. You see what I'm saying...

So how does this fit in with dress finding? Let me tell you a little story about my senior prom dress. I'd love to upload a pic of it, because it turned out beautifully, but I'm at work and don't have one here. My mom made my dress. I picked out the pattern, we picked out the fabric, she measured me, and got to work... eventually. I can't pick on her too much because the lateness gene also applies to starting projects later than anticipated because of other projects that started later than anticipated, and so on and so forth. Also, yes, it is hard work and my mom works full-time, and sometimes very, very late. But, alas, the end of the story has me, in tears, hair done, half an hour late for prom pictures, waiting for her to finish my dress.

PLEASE let her find a dress by July, or I may force her to wear something like this.

Mom, I realize you may be reading this right now, laid up at home after knee surgery and all, and I hope you know I'm not trying to be mean. I also realize that you probably won't be able to find the comment button so no one will ever be able to see you defend yourself (muwahaha). But please, for the love of god, don't still be looking for, or making, your dress this August. I WILL force you to buy something, or, alternately, you may be the first MOB, nudists excluded, to wear her birthday suit to her daughter's wedding. :)

-C
xxx

Green Bling

I'm looking for the perfect green bling to wear with my dress (in case you're wondering, the dress is not green!). My fiancé says, "You need jewelry for the wedding?" and then something to the effect of don't I have something already that I could wear. Silly boy... unless it's heirloom or something that's really special to you - odds are every bride is going to buy special jewelry for their special day! Anyhoo, it should come as no surprise that I want green earrings. I don't care if they're emerald or just green gems, but I found a picture in a magazine of a pair of gorgeous earrings and I am now on a mission to find them for a much more reasonable price elsewhere. My problem is in my head they're perfect, and I'm trying to match them exactly, which seemed easy enough because they are just the stone on an ear hook (or whatever you want to call it). There's nothing else to the earrings. Easy, right? Well, one of the things I loved about them so much were that they are BIG... or at least in my mind they're big, they weren't pictured on a person in the magazine, so I guess I don't really know that they're big. I just WANT them to be big! Don't these look so big and beautiful? But then I find out they're .75", not big!!

This is why Etsy will be the death of me: Do you have any idea how many items come up when you type in the search "Green Earrings"? 59,713. "Green Drop Earrings"? 3,757. "Green Gem Earrings"? 1,023. Sounds like I'm getting closer to what I want, right? Wrong. The problem is... I would consider them "drop" earrings, but a seller on Etsy may just title them "Green Earrings", which brings us back up to the 50,000+ earrings I have to dig through for my perfect pair! And by trying to trim down the search, I add "gem" to the search terms, but then I'm cutting out all the sellers who didn't add "gem" to their item listings. Another issue is that I keep getting caught up in the pictures and how pretty they are... and then I buy them... and then I get them and they're AWESOME, but either they're too small or too casual. It's a good thing I don't mind having extra green earrings on hand :) and luckily, for the most part, Etsy is really cheap.

These are two pairs that I've bought in my search, that I don't mind having because they're beautiful, but they are definitely too small!

And then there's this pair that I "favorited" for a while and were eventually sold. They're pretty close to what I want, but, again, too small.

Can't there just be a big, green, earring store that I can go to and find my perfect earrings at?? Ok fine, I'll admit it, I'm being a little picky. But I'm justifying that by telling myself I shouldn't settle. You shouldn't settle on a husband, shouldn't settle on a dress... so why settle on earrings? Just as important... right? Right?? Well, that's what I'm telling myself anyway :)

Close Call - Way Too Close!

After reading a post over on Weddzilla today, I thought I'd share my own near-tragic ring story.

A little over 2 months after we got engaged, I was shopping for jewelry with one of my bridesmaids and realized the stone was loose in my ring. I started to panic a bit, but she said not to worry, that hers did the same thing before she got it fixed. Apparently when you get it fitted, sometimes the process can jostle the stone - apparently they also don't like to tell you this! She told me I should go back to the jeweler and just have them adjust it, but not to worry, I wouldn't lose it.

A couple weeks later my fiancé was visiting me and it was pretty much the first thing I told him about when he got off the plane. He said we needed to get to the jeweler that week and make sure they fix it.

THAT NIGHT, we went to a basement bar (very cool place, almost like a cave, but relevant because of how dark it is) with a bunch of friends. At one point I went to the bathroom, and when I came back happened to check my ring (because at this point I was getting obsessive about checking it), my fiancé did the same, and it was GONE! We immediately went into action - he dropped to the floor of the bar to look for it, I ran back to the bathroom to look on the floor and around the sink (friends with us actually thought I had thrown the ring at him and run off for some reason, lol). I was JUST SHORT of sticking my hand in the trash can (ewww) when I thought I'd come back and see if, by some miracle, he had found it. Guess what - he did! Here's the part of the story where I'm supposed to gush "Myyyy Hero!", except that he'd like that too much :) Anyway, I guess it's true because he did find it... on the floor... of a bar... a VERY dark one at that.. and we were very lucky we both noticed it so quick. He didn't milk that at all... still doesn't... no, not even a little bit... lol.

I immediately put the diamond in a zipper pocket of my purse, and took it to the jeweler to get fixed a day later. They seemed to be not very surprised... which makes me completely believe my friend about the jostling during the fitting process. They didn't actually admit fault in the matter, but did say they would fix it for no cost soooo that to me says "it's our fault". Anyway, I can't exactly say I blame them for not telling people about it every time they size a ring because I think they'd have a lot of paranoid bride-to-be's on their hands. I still completely trust them, and the guy did offer to add a few prongs to the inside of the ring to prevent it from happening in the future. I did have to pay for that, but only a measley $65 or so, since we did not originally get the ring from them. Small price to pay for your sanity (although the paranoia is still present, it is slowly fading).

And here she is, safe and sound:

Close call!

-C
xxx

Beautiful Bolero Giveaway

I just entered the bolero giveaway on Mismikado's Journey Down the Aisle. I am dying to win the poison black raw silk bolero!



Click here if you want to enter, too!
http://tinyurl.com/ye9tnhk

Weekend Recap

This weekend Amanda (one of my bridesmaids) and I worked on wedding stuff together. She's getting married in June, so I helped her do some inventory, and she let me use her super kickass paper cutter to get some work done on my invites! We watched several episodes of Bridezillas back to back while doing wedding crap. It really is scary how crazy some people are (and that there are men crazy enough to marry them)! But, alas, it's pretty addicting, probably for the reassurance factor that you are not that bad. No matter who may call you a bridezilla during your wedding process *cough* fiancé *cough*, it makes you feel so much better about yourself seeing how absolutely insane these people are! I'm thinking of subjecting fiancé to an episode or two the next time he lets that term slip out - because he clearly doesn't know what a bridezilla is if he thinks I'm one!

Aside from cutting a lot of paper yesterday, I also worked on the following projects:

- deciding on the final design for my invites

- boutonnieres

- corsages for MOB and MOG

- LED throwies for my lanterns I have yet to buy

I think it was a very good thing that we decided to have a "Wedding Crap Day" at Amanda's house. I hope we can make this a habit. Even though I didn't help her much physically, just being there helped her to get things done, and vice versa. I find that when I'm home by myself I have the good intentions of getting a lot of wedding things accomplished, but never seem to get anything done. I get distracted by the cleaning my house needs or other such chores. For so long I chalked it up to having so much time that I didn't need to get anything done just yet, but that thought has got to go! I'm officially down to a little over 7 months to go and I have a list of DIY projects a mile long! It's time to get my bum in gear and start DIYing like it's my job. I've found that if I wear sneakers around my house instead of my comfy slippers, I'm less apt to sit down and more apt to do things, so I'm going to start doing that more often. Hey, whatever works, right?

Here's a pic of the bouts that are so close to being finished! They just need a final drop of hot glue or two in a couple key places and they're good to go. All except the groom's have the buttons on them now, I'll post another pic when they're all done! I'm very proud of them :) All I used were silk flowers (that I got for a nickle at a church yard sale), the leaves from the silk flowers, bright green ribbon from Michael's, floral tape (another yard sale), fishing line (yard sale), and buttons from Aunt Cheri's button jar*. The buttons have a sort of British look to them, which is why I added them (my fiancé and all of his groomsmen are from England). What do you think?

*Buttons from Aunt Cheri's button jar may make a later appearance as well. The jar is a collection of buttons from relatives who have passed away and passed on their sewing materials, because my family does not throw out anything that can be useful! There were some GORGEOUS buttons in there that I'd love to use in corsages and maybe even my bouquet! It was a nifty (and thrifty) find!