To Dye For.

This ‘weekend,’ I did what many a bride before me has attempted…the act of coloring my crinoline.

(source)

As mentioned, this is not any new concept that I came up with; in fact, it is gaining tons of popularity – so much, to the point that there are several etsy stores that will ‘do the dirty work’ for you, long as you purchase your own crinoline, choose the color, then send it over!  Such vendors include: 2BirdStone & WeddingCabaret, if you’re so inclined =)

This being said, it is a super simple DIY that I have been putting off for quite some time, due to the fact that I was scared I would A. Ruin the crinoline, B. Ruin the washer (I used this tutorial)  or C. Regret the idea as soon as the fabric hit the dye.

Thankfully, A and B did not occur, and C is the furthest from the truth!  Witness my crinoline dying journey…

1.  First I set out the supplies: rubber gloves, two bottles of Aquamarine Rit Dye (I ordered this off the Rit website because I couldn’t find this color anywhere!), the Crinoline (this I ordered from eBay – it’s David’s Bridal Style 603) and bleach for the after wash of the washer, if need be.

2. I then filled the washer with hot water.

3. The next step was hard to photograph (pouring in dye) so, I apologize, but you’re just going to have to visualize that!  But after that, I placed the crinoline in, which was a bit of a task due to its’ size, but this is what it looked like …

4. After the shock of seeing blue liquid in the washer, it was smooth sailing; just let the washer do its thing, and every 7-10 minutes, I opened the lid, donned the rubber gloves and untwisted the crinoline.

5. Before I knew it, the process was already done! I scooped up the garment, marched over to the bathroom, and hung it up to air-dry. And the color was PERFECT!

As you can see, this DIY was one of the simpler ones, when it comes to the process – but no matter, because I love how it turned out!  The color reminds me of something dreamy and ethereal in a way, which is really the perfect complement to a wedding dress – literally, cloud 9!

Of course, I have some tips if this is something you may want to attempt in the future:

• Know your fabric! Early in the game, when I first came across the concept, I Googled my little heart out to find the cheapest crinoline available for the task – and I came up with some $20 and less options on eBay.  While those MAY work, many of those are polyester, which doesn’t take dye very well.  All DB crinoline slips are nylon.
• Wash the slip first! Whether it’s used or unused, you don’t want your garment to forever have dirt/yuckness on it, so just wash it before you start; bonus, garments SHOULD be wet before being dyed, so I killed two birds with one stone on that one.
• Just do it! Don’t over think it  Besides, if it is something you want to do, why not?  You only get married once!

Have you ever attempted and succeeded at something that appeared daunting?

Read Full Post »

more WEDDING CRAP!!

…as Eric so lovingly dubs my wedding craftage…hah.

This ‘weekend,’ I purchased the materials for Whimsical Wedding Pinwheels, an adaptation of these adorable cake toppers for decoration (as I already have DIYed our cake topper!) and (yet!) more elements for my TBD centerpieces (which, as an idea, seem to evolve into something new everyday! which is exciting.)

Only 148 more days! <3

Read Full Post »

…and another post.

I know, 6/22 must be post-a-palooza day…but I just wanted to post a link to a really cute project I found online that I’d love to incorporate to our reception decor; not as a cake-topper, since we’ve got that covered, but I am sure I can think of something! =D

Clothespin Cake Topper

Read Full Post »

What A’bout’ this?

I know you all are on the edge of your seat regarding the guestbook sequel, but you’re just going to have to wait a little longer!

Buuuut….today, I am going to show off my latest project; button boutonnieres!

I was inspired by a lot of images in etsy of button bouquets and knew I liked that look and wanted to emulate it in a smaller version. So, I melded two online tutorials; one for boutonnieres by Mrs. Green Tea on weddingbee and one for button bouquets on the M&J trim blog and voila! It was a fun, low-cost project that I recommend to anyone =D

Here’s what I used:

• Bag of assorted buttons, purchased at Michael’s 
• Green Floral Tape
• Green Floral Wire
• Scissors
• Needle nose plier (I stopped using it halfway through)
• Cardstock (not pictured)
• Assorted Ribbon (not pictured)
• Glue gun (optional)

First, pick a variety of buttons that fit in your color scheme; I stuck with off-whites, browns and accent blues to match my color scheme.  Then, pick buttons that ‘fit’ next to each other:

Next, cut a small length of floral wire:

From there, string your desired buttons thru, looping the wire thru the top button, pulling tight to ‘divide’ the wire in half.

Then…repeat!  I put about 2-3 buttons on each ‘bloom.’

Once all buttons are strung on the wire, I followed the M&J directions to take the plier and twist the excess wire…but I quickly found that I have HULK-like strength, which snapped the wire.  So, on my next try, I just twisted it by hand, which was fine!  You can see how it’s twisted in the next pic, where you can also see, that like usual, I got really into making these and made a BUNCH!

After making that gaggle of stems, I divided them into six different piles; as I had six ’bouts’ to make…at first, I thought I’d do four stems each, but I quickly found that it seemed a little busy; so I saved the four  stem for the FH and three for the others.  At this point, I adhered to Mrs. Green Tea’s directions, and wrapped two stems together at a time, then cut out leaves from a freehand drawing.

On each third stem, I floral taped it to the cardstock leaf…and as Mrs. Green Tea warned, if you’re not used to Floral Tape…remember two things: it doesn’t SEEM sticky at first, but pull it taut and wrap it tight for the best result!  My fingers got too sticky icky to take a pic at that point.  But!  After wrapping it with the tape, I covered it with ribbon, picking a separate ribbon for each.

I used hot glue to secure the ribbon ends, then used contrasting ribbon to create a bow halfway up the ’bout;’ so each had a different personality:

I was beyond excited how they turned out and this project definitely proved to me that if you cannot find what you want, and you have what feels like too many ideas, the best thing to do might just be throwing it together yourself! =)

Read Full Post »

SIX MONTHS OUT!

I got two emails this morning – one from theknot, and one from project wedding, reminding me that at 6 MOS, apparently it’s time to ORDER YOUR INVITATIONS.

Well, Eric and I have been busy on this task, because we are DIYing them!  We’re still on prototype phase, but the RSVP cards that I have “custom ordered” from Eric are awesome!

Sneaky Peaky!

 

Also, yay wonderful news, as updated in several locations, we are official with our amazing photographer, Amanda, as we now appear on her availability calendar!

Happy Thursday, everyone!

Read Full Post »

Almost 6 months out!

Hi, Eric and I are back from Iowa, and I am back to planning!

It was nice to have the extended weekend to not be doing wedding stuff, but fun enough, we had two engagement reception-type events while we were there! It was fun, I was able to meet more of his family on both his mom and dad’s sides and we even received our first gift, a bottle of red wine right there from Iowa! Of course, we *had* to drink it there, since we carried on our luggage, but I did keep the cork as a memento =)

I have two things to share today:

‘Petal runner’

In lieu of an aisle runner, since we’ll be outside, in the grass, I was thinking of lining the ‘aisle’ with petals, and in my search for feasible options to accomplish this, I came across this site that ships freeze-dried flower petals for that very purpose (among others).

Secondly, just wanted to share this pic I found on Project Wedding…

…just because it’s pretty…and I like her hair =)

Read Full Post »

the kusudama..potential ceremony decorations.

Turned out well!  The whole process took about 3 hrs, but I did have to cut the paper, as I made this prototype from 4×4″ squares from the Spring David’s Bridal catalog.   

Linkies for my newest project:

http://foldingtrees.com/2008/11/kusudama-tutorial-part-1/

http://foldingtrees.com/2008/11/kusudama-tutorial-part-2/

Read Full Post »

diy goodness

working on the save the dates at the moment…programs…finishing cake topper…yay!

Read Full Post »

Yay yay inspiration.

Okay, as I was sitting there, typing out a progress post for my other blog, and I was trying to think of a cute way to present th wedding programs…and it hit me!

Little Golden Books!

I am going to combine the ceremony and reception goodness together and make a fun program/little book.

=)

Read Full Post »

DIY stuff =)

I have started with some crafty DIY, starting with (will post pics once complete):

• Ring pillow – I was inspired by many, many photos online and in magazines.  I decided on making it look very ‘cut-out’ with felt in a heart shape. I cut out two chocolate brown hearts, lined the edges with light netting, and stuffed with puffy pom-poms.  The design will read ‘Eric + Krissy” in cut-out felt letters, and the “+” will be created with pool blue ribbon.
• Cake topper – I had so much fun with these!  At Michael’s, I bought muslin dolls and used felt to design a suit and dress, and used colored skeins to create hairstyles…and used the netting for a veil, and used teeny flowers to make a small bouquet & hair piece.  Fun!  I also bought a little wooden stand, and painted it pool blue and accented it with a metallic champagne gold.

and

I also plan on DIY the following:

• Table name signs – pretty sure I will go with my first idea of places.
• Favors – probably with sweets – i.e. candies, hot chocolate mixes.

Read Full Post »