More wedding preparations and my DIY rose petal paper cones

It is wedding week ... again :)

 

I spent the weekend brushing up on my DIY skills ... This adorable bride (seriously, I just love my brides and this one is just the sweetest thing) wanted to have rose petals thrown after the ceremony. I thought it would be fun to make paper cones to put them in and hang them behind the aisle chairs. You guys know I am not a huge crafter and when it comes to DIY projects, most of the time I would prefer to just buy it already done. But these weddings inspire me to get out of my comfort zone a bit and attempt things I would normally not do. I have to take my hat off to all those Etsy ladies (and men?) that make things and sell them so inexpensively because this stuff takes a lot of time! 

Etsy

I found this gal - she is selling 50 "book page" paper cones for $30. I think that is a really good deal ...

And look at what this gal makes:

Etsy

Aren't they gorgeous? She sells these for $2.15 each.

Okay, so back to my little project:

This bride is a literature major and I wanted to tie that into her wedding.  A few weeks ago, I saw some vintage books filled with Shakespeare's plays at the flea market and thought they would be perfect to use for the cones. 

My first attempt

I tried making one just using the paper from the books but it was a little too 'blah' so I decided to line the cones with the paper and use something a little more colorful for the outside. It added another step (well, a couple more steps) but it was well worth it. 

I picked up a sheet of scrapbook paper - in the only color that was close to what I was looking for ... but wasn't entirely happy with the color. So I scanned it into my computer, put it into my photoshop program (iPhoto) and tweaked the color (made it brighter) and printed it out in 8x8" sheets. I cut the book pages to 8x8" sheets and glued the two papers together with a simple glue stick, wrapped the cone and hot glued one corner to hold it together. I think they came out great!

Thankfully I only had to make 40. 

The maid of honor's dress was used to match the place cards. The cards are color coded so the servers will know which meal each guest ordered.

The place cards will be tied on to the silverware. The reception is next to the ocean and the wind was going to blow the cards all over the place... so I thought tying them to the silverware would look really pretty. This is the general idea:

This is going to be a spectacular wedding ... we will be hanging 1,000 cranes ...

And this beauty that the mother of the bride made will be on the guest book table. 

I have been playing around with different vignette and sign ideas and framing quotes that the bride sent me to use in her wedding.

I saw these at the flower market last week and am hoping they will have them again this week!

That is all the sneak peek you get ... The wedding is Friday - you won't have to wait too long to see it finished! Happy Monday everyone ... have a wonderful week!

Wedding preparations

What a week! I knew it would be a busy one but didn't expect it to fly by so quickly. I am juggling quite a few balls in the air right now and this week they all stayed up nicely. 

In between my regular design projects, I am stretching myself to do some crafty DIY projects for the upcoming weddings. I picked up a new chair at the Flea Market last weekend and painted it to match one of the wedding colors. And I painted some frames.

I also painted some of the furniture that I had used for my daughter's wedding four years ago ... it was a breeze with Annie Sloan's Chalk Paint. I used French Linen. A new knob from Anthropologie finished it off.

And do you remember this chair?

I found it on Craigslist ... it was in pretty bad shape.

I stripped it down ...

And painted it French Linen too ...

And then sent it out to have some blue velvet put on it.

It came back yesterday all dressed up and ready for a wedding. Happy Friday Everyone!

Origami hearts

I love Valentine's Day. Not so much as a romantic holiday, but a fun day to celebrate love and friendship. I have so many sweet memories of making valentines with my daughters and it is one tradition that I never want to stop ... even if my girls are now grown.

I am working on a wedding where we will be hanging 1000 cranes and it inspired me to do a little origami of my own. Origami hearts, that is. I didn't make 1000, but I did make quite a few. 

I filled each heart with a little love note and put them in boxes for my daughters, my granddaughter and my Goddaughter. 

I put my granddaughter's in a little suitcase box that I found at Target. It is in her favorite color (green) and I made her heart's out of ladybug paper.

I used paper from the craft store and some that I already had and then picked up a few more specialty papers from Paper Source. I also used some wrapping paper and pages torn from an old book ...

 I got the directions on how to make them here.

And just like when I used to make valentines with my girls, I worked late into the night to finish the ones I will be giving out to some special friends ...

I hope you are feeling very loved today! Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

Holiday preparations

The holidays are upon us (or quickly approaching) and while I am still focusing on Thanksgiving, I have started getting my living room ready for Christmas. You know, dress it up a little.

I took my HomeGoods chair down to my upholsterer and had him make her a new outfit out of navy velvet. I found the pillow at a charity boutique last week. They seem happy together.

 I also finished writing on the Thanksgiving pots with chalk...

And wrote our names on the pumpkins in gold. But the best part ...

The menu is done and the shopping list is ready. I have a ton to do and staying organized helps me stay calm.

Thanks for stopping by ... I'm sure you have a ton to do as well!

Happy Monday everyone :D