DIY Part III

What is my new project?  Funny you should ask!  I was recently on my most favorite site, Etsy, when I stumbled upon something I just knew I had to make.  They were ribbon wands with bells that are used to send off the bride and groom after the ceremony.  I loved the idea because it incorporates both the sounds from the bells and the look of beautiful streaming satin ribbon.  I Googled pictures of these being used at weddings and loved them!  After seeing the price at which people were selling these wands, I was provoked to research the material prices and figure out whether it was worth buying the wands already made or making them on my own.  

Well, what did you expect... the title of this post is "DIY Part III."  Of course I am going to make them!  

After many trips to many AC Moores and Michael's I have acquired the dowels, perfectly purple & white ribbons and mom has bought the bells.  I will begin assembly this week and will post pictures of the results.  Below is a mock up.  So far I have saved $40 by buying the materials instead of the finished product.  We shall see if this is all worth the work :)

P.S.:  I embellished the once naked "bride" and "groom"  hangers and they could not be any more adorable!  Take a gander!

Tasting at The Heldrich!

Unlimited Pinot at a beautiful hotel with delicious food = Nicole buzzed!  
We were treated like royalty by our planner and our server at the Heldrich when we arrived for our tasting.  T and I had no idea what to expect: Were we going to be in a huge hall with other couples or were we going to be by ourselves?  To our delight we quickly realized that we were going to be the only couple.  We started with wine tasting (YEAH!).  We chose wines that would be passed during the reception and others that would be at the bars.  In between sips and the server pouring me more delicious Pinot, we chose table linens and figured out the logistics of the night.  The first course came out and we were to choose between 2 salads.  We chose a delicious salad with a yummy veggie tart (SO GOOD!).  More pinot = more tipsy!!  The next course was the entree... all four choices were so incredibly tasty but we had to hold back because our planner mentioned that the cakes were up next!!!  

A week before our tasting, we had to give ideas of cakes and frostings that we wanted to try so we ended up send a lengthy list... this should be no surprise to you since I have a cake addiction and a cupcake business with the lovely Lauren!  

The wonderful server came into the private room with a huge, white, wavy plate full of scrumptious cakes and ramekins with dreamy clouds of frostings!!  Needless to say, this was a dream come true!  I had my loving fiance' beside me, a man bringing me plates full of cake and chocolate and another man refilling my pinot!  Pinch me!  The cakes were out of this world!  I couldn't believe how good the combinations of flavors that we chose complemented each other!  I am not going to share the the flavors just yet but lets just say if you like Java Chip Frappuccinos and cannolis, this cake will be right up your alley (it sure fits T and me VERY well!).  We also talked about the style of cake.  It will be at least 4 tiers with vanilla butter cream (no fondant) and branches going up the cake.  So exciting!

We could not be more happy with the service, food and ambiance that the Heldrich has to offer.  Once the cakes were tasted, the details straightened and my buzz in progress, we were on our way out of the Heldrich ecstatic about our big day!

DIY Part II

Since I posted last, I changed my name to Butter because I am on a roll!  Ok, enough with the corny jokes (and I have more where that came from ;-) ).  When it comes to DIY, I have tried to either make the little details left on my own or add my touch to the pieces that are already completed.  For example, I attempted to place little baby rhinestones onto our invites thinking they would create a bit more interest and texture but after showing them to T, he responded with, "You cannot even see them..."  Enough said.  I agreed and I wasn't going to waste my time and SuperGlue. 

The next victim of my serial DIYing was the program.  We originally wanted a single sheet printed front and back with the ceremony information.  Looking at it again I decided it would look better and more polished if I made a simple folded program that was spaced out rather than crammed onto one sheet.  After looting and pillaging (what I do best), I was able to place the art from our invitations onto the program.  I refined the text and even added a special little saying on the back.  T loved it!  The perfectionista reared her ugly head once again and I was looking for ways to improve the next elegant program.  Bows?  No.  Paper punches?  No.  Rhinestones?  YES!  Who can say no to rhinestones?!  And If you know me, I am never one to turn my back on a tiny sparkly circle that can be applied to anything!  I ventured into my craft bag and picked out my pretty rhinestones I was using to decorate the hair clips I was making a while ago.  A dab of glue, and voila!  A perfectly embellished wedding program fit for our day!  Now if we could only figure out the order of the ceremony...

My most recent accomplishment was achieved today!  Last night I had been up late surfing Etsy (yes, I am addicted) and while searching "weddings" I came across these delightful wooden hangers.  I know what you're thinking, "Oh, no.  She re-discovered her BeDazzler and encrusted the hanger with rhinestones."  Though a great idea, no, that is not what I did.  These hangers were simple but so cute with wire shaped into letters spelling out "bride," "groom," and all sorts of other names.  I was taken aback and could just imagine my dress hanging on the "bride" hanger waiting for me to slip into it and get married to my best friend.  The hanger started at $25.  Showing T the hangers, he agreed that they were pretty nice but then he responded, "Go pick up wire and a hanger and I'll make it for you."  Lightbulb! I can make these myself!  So, of course, today I printed my coupons and made my way to Target and Michael's.  I came back, used one of the templates on Etsy (shhh!) and went to town!  Sometime later, the "bride" hanger was my result!  Ecstatic, I showed T and he liked it a lot!  I then made him a "groom" hanger.  Check them out!

TJ told me that I am impressing him with all of my crafty and creative work these days <3 I have to admit, I am surprising myself :)

DIY Bride

I never thought I would consider myself a DIY Bride... until today.

On my To Do list for the day was:

1. Print hotel and direction cards at Staples
2. Check postage on invites
3. Figure out tags for favors

 To conquer my first task, I went to my local Staples with my fabulously cute turtle USB drive (a gift from Holly) loaded with the necessary files for the cards.  I was to get 15 sheets printed front and back in color on a thicker paper but not card stock.  I met a very helpful Juan (names have been changed to protect the idiotic) who helped me choose paper weight, color and finalize the files that were to be printed.  Juan mentions that there will be a "file transfer fee" to transfer the files from Word to PDF... absurd!  I could have done that at home for $0, Juan!  I guess the cute turtle USB gave off the aire that I was not tech-savvy (which I am!).  I unhappily gave my okay and continued choosing paper.  As I chose a lovely 67lb white cover stock, Juan dropped the bomb... I mean price.  He told me that printing front and back on the cover stock on their "special" printers would cost $2.00 each.  I thought in my mind, "that sounds a bit much... and I don't have a coupon for this".  I quickly called T and while waiting for him to answer I devised a wonderful plan to get a round this $30+ trip to staples for 15 sheets of paper.  I posed to T that I could by a ream of the same cover stock and simply print them at home!  We agreed and a $6.00 ream of 67lb cover stock was bought.  As I drove away I suddenly thought back to one of greatest Will Ferrel movies, Step Brothers; "So many activities!"  

By activities, I am referring to the many uses for this cover stock such as tags for favors, tags for bells, programs for the church and the list goes on.  As I returned to a computer, I looted and pillaged a particular website that will remain nameless for the time being and customized adorable tags for the yummy favors that will be for our guests.  Yet another light bulb went off when I thought of my craft-savvy friend Lauren and her paper punches.  After printing out a 50% off coupon for ACMoore, I ventured out once again and purchased a circle punch that I then used to punch out the favor tags instead of sloppily cutting them out by hand.  Genius!  You better believe that I will be using this paper punch and cover stock for the bell tags as well.  These two purchases are the gifts that keep on giving!  My dad gave me one of the greatest complements by saying, "Wow.  You should become a wedding planner and do this!"  One day Dad, maybe.

So thank you, Juan, for giving me a minor myocardial infarction from the price and inadvertently persuading me into buying my own paper therefore becoming a DIY Bride!  The ideas are endless and even as I finish this post, I am thinking of all the details that I could enhance.  I will be up for a while :) 

Oh yeah, I ended up going to the Post Office, too... I didn't forget!