DIY
I plan on doing many a DIY project for our wedding, 1) to save $$, and 2) because I just realized how crafty I really am.
Save the Dates
Invitations
Table Numbers
Escort Cards
Cake Topper
Jewelry for my maids
Favors
Maids Presents
Dying Crinoline
Drink Coasters
Save the Dates
Invitations
Table Numbers
Escort Cards
Cake Topper
Jewelry for my maids
Favors
Maids Presents
Dying Crinoline
Drink Coasters
My necklace
When I was shopping for my dress they had me try on different jewelry that they sold with the dress. I tried on one very similar to it and it was $65. I made this one for quite a bit less...maybe around $10. I got the swarovski crystals from Michaels with a 40% off coupon and bought the faux pearls from Hobby Lobby when they were 50% off.
My earrings
After making my necklace, I decided to tackle making earrings. I watched a couple tutorials online and decided I could figure these out. I bought the supplies at Hobby Lobby and Michael's on sale, and I love the way these turned out. Now I just need to decide which ones to wear.
Bracelets
I decided to make bracelets for myself and my bridesmaids. The first will be mine, the one in the center for my maid of honor and the one on the right will be for the other 3 bridesmaids. Its hard to see the color, but the pearls are pale blue and silver with pale blue crystals.
Bridesmaids Jewelry
I decided to make matching necklaces and earrings for my bridesmaids mainly because they all kept asking about it. They all preferred to wear matching jewlery which was fine with me. The crystals are dark purple to match their dresses. I liked the necklace so much that I made one for myself. :)
Cufflinks
I saw these instructions online and decided to take a stab at making these. I am going to have to remake a few of these due to the resin bleeding through the paper leaving splotches and also 2 of them got stuck to the box that I was letting them dry in. Luckily I have a few extra pieces to make this possible. I bought the bezel cups from Esty seller BrassGoldBeads, and the cufflink post from Ebay seller Serendipity*sales. I received these items from both sellers in about 5 days. Also, I ordered plastic mixing cups from fusionbeads.com for the EasyCast Clear Casting Epoxy, which I purchased from Michaels
Paper Flowers
I got the inspiration to make all of my wedding flowers out of paper from Martha Stewart.....yes Martha. I am not typically a Martha Stewart fan, but I was looking through her weddings website and saw these bouquets and decided that it would be fun to have some home made bouquets as a nice personal touch for the big day. Also, I really could not justify spending so much on real flowers when they are just going to die soon after we get married. I did some more googling and came across several websites for other instructions for paper flowers and got started. It is a bit time consuming, but I really like the end result and it was a lot easier than I thought it would be. I'll be making several different kinds of flowers as the months tick by and will update this as I make them.
Recently, I've been inspired by searching Etsy for paper flowers also and have fallen in love with this seller and will try to replicate those as well. I think I may use the Martha Stewart flowers for centerpieces, and the Etsy flowers for bouquets and bouts.
Recently, I've been inspired by searching Etsy for paper flowers also and have fallen in love with this seller and will try to replicate those as well. I think I may use the Martha Stewart flowers for centerpieces, and the Etsy flowers for bouquets and bouts.
Cake Stand
I bought this cake stand off a fellow knottie. Its a sheet of plexi glass, square candle holders and floralytes. I really like the look of this and am excited to have this detail for my wedding.
Day of Hoodie
Fellow knottie, jennyann28 made a fabulous hoodie that didn't scream "Bride" and I loved it and decided to make one as well. She included a great tutorial in her bio which really helped me out. I bought Tanzanite swarovski crystals from Michaels on sale as well as the ribbon and bought the hoodie from Old Navy when they were having a sale. This was much cheaper and more my style than other bridal hoodies I've seen, plus I can wear this on the honeymoon without feeling like everyone is staring at me for having "Mrs XXXX" in giant letters on my back.
Coasters!
We decided that we wanted coasters for the bar instead of cocktail napkins, so I decided to tackle this project. I did some searching on eBay and Etsy to find coasters and found a great price on eBay from seller dogluver1313 and followed instructions from Bride on a Budget. I love how they came out and I know they will add a special touch to the reception.
My Crinoline
My crinoline is my something blue. I wanted it to be pale blue and I love how it turned out. I used i-Dye Poly in blue and followed the directions on the packet. I dyed it in a big rubbermaid tote and it only took about an hour total to get it to this shade of blue. I love how it turned out! If you are looking for a tutorial, check out knottie ~mRm~'s bio here.
Napkin Rings
I wanted to incorporate paper flowers into the reception decor, so I have decided to make napkin rings a la Martha Stewart. Our napkins will be purple, so I chose to make these blue flowers as a nice contrast and incorporates both of our wedding colors.
Shoe Clips
I really like the idea of adding a little something, something to my shoes since they are pretty plain. I saw some shoe clips that would be a good size at David's Bridal, but they were $12 a piece. I was definitely not willing to spend that much money, so I decided that I would attempt to DIY these. I bought clip on earring backs from JoAnns on sale and found some buttons that looked about the right size and decided to try it. I cut the loop off the back of the button with my wire cutters and tried to hot glue that to the clip on earring. Well......hot glue didn't work, so thanks to some fellow knotties who told me to try E6000 glue I now have some lovely shoe clips!!
Cake Topper
Casey and I are both longtime fans of the Simpsons, so it made sense for us to incorporate them into our wedding. I had these Pez dispensers and decided to turn them into our topper. I ended up removing the springy part in the middle so that our baker could put dowels through them to secure them in our cake. I bought model car paint and some ribbon and went to town. I wanted to make Homer a top hat, but after many attempts decided he looked fine without it. I'm really happy with the final product and know that it will look nice on top of our cake.
Photo Booth Props
I decided that I wanted lips on a stick and mustaches on a stick, but I didn't want to pay as much as some sellers on Etsy were charging, so I made them myself. I found a great mustache template and instructions here. I ended up printing the template onto cardstock and cut the mustaches out. Then when I was ready to attach the stick, I glued the cardstock to the back of the felt piece for support and hot-glued the stick to the back of the cardstock. (hope that makes sense). The sticks are 3/16 craft dowels from Michaels (12-pack for $2.99!)
As for the lips, I ended up just winging it. I found this seller on Etsy for inspiration, and I ended up saving some of these and printing them out at different sizes until I got something that seemed like the right size to me. I bought felt as well as sheets of foam for the teeth/mouth, and just free handed those with my exacto knife.
As for the lips, I ended up just winging it. I found this seller on Etsy for inspiration, and I ended up saving some of these and printing them out at different sizes until I got something that seemed like the right size to me. I bought felt as well as sheets of foam for the teeth/mouth, and just free handed those with my exacto knife.
