11.30.2012

A Family Photo Wedding Diplay

More wedding stuff!!!! I'm sure I'm annoying with wedding DIYs at this point, but this post actually has to do with home decoration too. Promise.


One wedding decoration I really wanted to include was a display our families on their wedding days; a tribute to the families and weddings that made our big day possible! I'd seen a bunch of solutions on Pinterest (of course!) but I wanted to find a way to display the photos that I could re-use after the wedding.


I've always liked photos hung from string, and I thought I could reuse something like that for notes in the future, so you know what? That's what we made. A simple box with string! Sometimes the best solution isn't very complicated...

Tim made the box in about an hour using cheap fence wood ($1.08 for 6 feet!), nails, and some leftover walnut stain. The photos were hung from a mini clothes line made from twine and little eyelet screws twisted into the wood.



Six family photos and paperclips later - DONE.


And now? The little box lives as a shelf in our bathroom :)


I styled it with a few leftover wedding jars (more on that later), cute wedding cards, and the cross stitch QR code I made last March.


I kind of love it and am definitely feeling inspired to paint and decorate the rest of the bathroom!


And the rest of our wedding photo display? You know, the important part? The family photos? They made it into our hall way framed in the super affordable and pretty Ikea RIBBA frames.


I love the vintage film quality of the photos and it feels SO GOOD to have more art on the walls.




When we get around to printing our wedding photos, we'll hang them in similar frames on nearby walls. I'm so excited to have photos of our family around us - why didn't I do this sooner...?

(All wedding photos by Kaitlin Jane Photography | other photos by insideways.com)

11.26.2012

Tips For Making Your Wedding Hair Piece

Initially, I hadn't planned on DIYing my wedding hair piece. Mostly because I had no idea what I was doing and I figured it would be pretty easy to find something I liked. Not the case.


So yup, I ended up making my own and it really wasn't very hard!


Here's the hairpiece sans my head for your viewing pleasure.



It looks like one seamless piece, but I actually made the bird cage veil separately (using this GREAT tutorial by The Dapper Bun) so I could take it off later in the night.


Like so...


(Photo by Aleks Messier)

Because everyone has different tastes, I'm not doing to do a full tutorial for how to make this particular hairpiece, but I will give you some tips you can apply to any hairpiece :)


My first step was to explore Michael's and Joann's for supplies I thought were pretty. I landed on ivory beads on gold wire and fake peonies. I was shocked at how real fake flowers look these days! Pro Tip: Make sure you choose whites that match your wedding dress. For example, get ivories if your dress is ivory and bright whites if your dress is white.

For the hair piece's base, I used a plastic comb, BUT metal ones are better and I hear hairstylists like clips best - plastic is what I could find and it ended up working just fine. Note: I have thick curly hair, so I don't usually have a problem with hair clips etc. falling out.

Before I attached anything to the comb, I tried various layouts of my flowers and beads and attempted to hold them to my hair in the bathroom mirror.

Once I was satisfied with my general arrangement, my basic technique was to use thread and hot glue to attach the flowers and beads in any way manageable. Think lots of experimentation and gentle nudging. Really that was it, which is mostly important to know because it's not more complicated or scientific than that. You can get a really great result from not very much effort :)


I do recommend using thread instead of hot glue as much as possible. Hot glue can fall or melt in a hot car, but thread will stay where you tie it.

As a finishing touch I put a piece of ribbon across the comb so glue/thread bits wouldn't get caught in my hair.


If you decide to use fake flowers you will need to remove their green bases so your flowers can attach flush against your comb or clip. Carefully remove the base then run a needle and thread through the resulting hole to hold your flower petals together. You might also need a bead as an anchor in the middle of the flower.





The last tip: If you have a professional stylist do your wedding hair, bring your hairpiece with you to your trial hair appointment  Your stylist can give you feedback or suggest improvements based on their professional experience, allowing you plenty of time to make adjustments.


Though I was hesitant at first, I'm really glad I took this project on and got exactly what I wanted. Now I just need to find another occasion to wear it!

(All wedding photos by Kaitlin Jane Photography unless noted | hairpiece photos by insideways.com)

11.20.2012

Fortune Cookie Party Favors

Today I'm pretty excited to share my favorite wedding project - who am I kidding... they all feel like my favorite, but this is ONE of them for sure.



Candy filled fortune cookie party favors!

Since most of our guests were out-of-towners, Tim and I knew we needed party favors that were a) small enough to take home, b) not breakable or c) edible. Edible seemed like the best option - everyone loves candy (and I refuse to believe otherwise) - but we wanted to make things a little more interesting.. why not package our candy in handmade fortune cookies?!


(Video Still by FortyOneTwenty)

Here's what we needed to get going:
Tan felt
Cute Baker's Twine
Cellophane Baggies
3/4" Round Avery Labels (5408)
Hershey's Kisses


Then we got to making!


1. Cut out a felt circle. I used an embroidery hoop to trace my circles.


2. Sew the circle in half, leaving a little bit near the edge un-sewn.


3. Fold over your felt. This might be the most difficult step to visualize or photograph, but I promise it works when you try it - it's magic!


Now for the innards.


4. Print the fortune cookie sayings and cute messages onto the Avery Labels. (We printed our fortunes on a light card stock paper so they felt fancier.) Then stick your labels onto the bottom of the Hershey Kisses - they're the perfect size!




5. The assembly process is next. Stuff the candy and fortune into the cookie and stuff the cookie into the bag. Tie with twine.


And there you have it - a very easy and affordable party favor. This next photo shows it in action (thanks Shannon!).


It seemed like these were a lot of fun for our guests. At the very least, Tim and I enjoyed opening all of the leftovers and eating the candy :)

11.16.2012

The (Almost) Perfect Blue Wedding Shoes

The hard truth is, I'm a perfectionist who can't leave well enough alone. So when I ordered the perfect (but not quite) blue velvet wedding shoes from Mod Cloth, I couldn't help but sneak out a needle and thread for one small tweak...


See that left shoe? How the bow is all wild and free? See that right shoe? How that bow is all nice and cooperative? Have you had enough of the questions?


That's right. I altered my SHOES. I'm a crazypants.



Ignore the cat hair aka more evidence of my crazypants status.




Ok it's a very very small change, but the thing is, it made a pretty huge difference and only took me 15min with supplies I already owned - a needle, blue thread, and scissors. Plus, it felt pretty great to change my shoes from almost perfect to perfect with my own two hands :)

I wouldn't even post this except I want to point out that as a bride or customer, you don't have to settle for what comes out of the box when you purchase something. I'm often tempted to wait for the perfect thing to come along or to feel guilty for spending money on something I have to alter. But you know what, if it's a little "off" just change it!

Easy peasy.

11.14.2012

Our Wedding via FortyOneTwenty

OMG I I have a huge writing block right now, but I'm way to excited to wait until I get my mojo going. I'm blaming being absolutely blown away by the beautiful video FortyOneTwenty made of our wedding day.

GUYS LOOK!!!!!



Tim and I agonized over investing the extra money in hiring a videographer for our wedding, but I am SO GLAD WE DID. The guys at FortyOneTwenty are real deal artists, totally got our style, and were an absolute pleasure to work with.

San Diegans - if you're looking for a videographer, hire these guys.
The Rest of You - if you're looking for a total happy-cry-fest, check out all of their other videos. So good.
Matt and the other guys from FortyOneTwenty - THANK YOU FOR BEING SO FREAKING GOOD AND FOR CAPTURING MY WEDDING DAY EXACTLY AS IT FELT AND EXACTLY AS I HOPED IT WOULD LOOK. You're the best.

Ahem. Sorry for shouting.

11.12.2012

Dining Nook Revisited

It's been about a week since I posted a Dining Nook Reveal. Well, since I can't leave well enough alone I already have a pretty big update!


The first thing you might notice is I've added a wood border to the shark print. Thanks to great advice from a helpful commenter, hopelesshade, I realized binder clips on rice paper might not be the best long-term solution in terms of preserving the print. After a little brainstorming, Tim and I headed to Home Depot and bought thin strips of wood (from the moulding section) for $.69 a foot - $15 total. We cut four strips down to size, sandwiched the rice paper between them, then clipped back on the binder clips.


vs.

The result is a more evenly distributed tension on the print that still maintains the schoolhouse look of the binder clips!

Change number two was the addition of a fiddle leaf fig tree (from craig's list for $40) and a rug (from craig's list a few months ago for $20).


The tree adds a ton of height and a little life to the space while the rug grounds the dining table. I have to admit, the rug might not provide enough contrast for me... It makes for a lot of warm tones against the warm wood tone of the chairs, so more changes might be afoot. I'm sure I'll never stop tweaking the space :)


The last change? Curtains! Due to several sad twists of fate (including this one), these are the first curtains I've ever hung in one of my apartments. What!?!? True. Obviously I took a huge risk with these white sheers from Ikea - nope. But I really do love them - they add the perfect amount of height and softness to the room.

Fun facts: This was Tim and my first trip to Ikea as a married couple! How did I get him there? Nerd alert. I choose Ikea as an outing for my birthday this weekend. Don't worry, I'll never change.


Yes, I'm aware they don't quite reach the floor and yes, it's a little bit of a bummer. For now, they're going to remain high water curtains, because truth be told, you don't really notice the gap when you're in the room. BUT I might add a little lace trim so they reach the floor some day :)

Shall we indulge in some before and afters? I think so.

Just after moving in...

One week ago...

And now!

The room feels hugely different and I'm getting pretty jazzed about parts of the apartment really looking like "us." Finally having some curtain success is encouraging me to try them out in another room.

Anyone else out there obsessively changing the decorations in one of your rooms?