Day 20 & CAKE TOPPER...

Can you believe it?  20 more days!  UGH!  I have been waiting forever for this event (wait, that could be an understatement since I have been technically waiting for this day since I was 5).  Bill and I have been engaged since October of 2010 - wow, forever ago.  So now that this crazy day is 20 days away!  AHHH!  Exciting!  I cannot believe it is almost here.

So, now, what did I do today?...

CAKE TOPPER!

And it looks amazing.  My inspiration is from this:

  

So cute!  Of course, instead of buying it, I had to do my own.  So, I did.  Here's how.

Bought/Get supplies

• Floral wire - both bare and covered
• Cute ribbon flowers
  
  
• Ribbon
• Silver beads
• Wood base
  
  
• Fabric
• Small puffy balls (what are those called?  Pom-poms!  I'm dumb and not erasing what I wrote originally just in case you guys thought I was a genius or something)
• Wool Roving
• Needle Felting Needle
• Glue gun
• Drill

I first worked on the birds.  Have you ever Needle Felted?  If not, try it!  It is tons of fun and easy too.  What you do it you get Wool Roving (at your nearest big craft store - the big JoAnns, Beverly's and Ben Franklin is where I found stuff) and a needle-felting needle (also at the store.  Just NOTE, this is NOT your average needle.  It has barbs on it that essentially work the wool into a knot).  Get some foam to protect yourself!  Then teach yourself by looking up needle-felting on YouTube.  I watched this video and felt pretty confident afterward:

You essentially just jab the heck out of the wool to shape your creation.  It is JUST like using clay, but NO mess and you are using a needle.  It is fun and so addicting.  However, not for kids.  The needle is really sharp and I have poked myself a bunch of times.  So, please be CAREFUL.  And have fun, cause it is.  

So, I created my birds using the needle felting technique.  They turned out super cute, I love them.

THEN, I created the stand.

1. Curved the covered floral wire to form the arch.  Marked where I wanted that on the stand.
   
   
2. Drilled the holes into the stand to fit the arch.
3. Took the wood base and covered with fabric.  Glued that on.
4. Cut holes where the floral wire/arch would fit.
5. Took the arch, twirled ribbon around it.  Glued that on.
   
   
   
   
6. Attached the arch to the base.
7. Started placing flowers in random spots.  Just to get an idea!  I didn't glue them them on!
8. Wrapped green flower wire in a few spots, and then curled them around to get a vine affect.
   
   
   
   
   
9. Once flower placement was made and wire was on, I tied green ribbon to the arch to be the leaves.  I cut the ribbon to appear like a leaf and melted the tips of the ribbon very slightly to prevent fraying.
   
   
   
10. Also wrapped green flower wire in a few posts and attached a silver bead, just to get a shiny thing on the arch.  
11. Glued the flowers on top of the leaves
    
    
    
    
12. Glued other random things to fill in and add color - Pom-Poms to be exact
13. Tied the ribbon on top.
14. Placed the arch on the stand
    
    
     
15. Glued flowers at the base
16. Glued ribbon around the base

DONE!

In the picture there is a faux cupcake since we are going to be doing cupcakes at the wedding.  Our birds will be put on one special cupcake. 

Day 21...

Today was very low key.  We did very little to work on the wedding.  Well, it seems like a little.  Here's the list:

• Talked to DJ - we created our awesome master plan for the wedding music and schedule.  Look forward to some chicken dancing!  :)
• Discussed ceremony music with Bill.  That was pretty painless - "I want this song."  "Ugh, really?  We have to play THAT BAND at our ceremony?"  "Yes.  Sorry."  "Fine."  "Fine."  "I can't believe that that band (or person) is going to be in the ceremony."  "Sorry, but that's what we're doing."  I love negotiating.  :)
• Worked out

A nice, lazy Sunday.  See you tomorrow!

Day 23/22...

Ok, so I guess I need to add these two together.  Posting on Fridays & Saturdays will be hard since those are the days Bill and I party!  Just kidding.  Those are the days we tend to go out, though.  You know, date nights and such.  Gotta keep the relationship alive! ;P  So, here I go:

Friday, Day 23:

Ordered our B+T book.  B+T book?  Yes, I did a story book on our lives.  It is all inspired by this picture:

Super cute!  These are all the movie ticket stubs that this couple saved!  And they scanned them and put them in a photo book.  Well, guess what?  I SAVED most of our movie tickets, and other memorabilia throughout our relationship.  Why not do it too, then?  So, I did.  The book is more than the movie tickets, though - it is a collection of pictures, cards, and short descriptions of what it took to get us to this point.  I love it, and I hope our guests love it too.  I also added pictures of most of the guests who will be at the wedding, because they helped us get to this point.  I can't wait to get it, I look forward to it.  

And, just for an FYI, I did a lot of research for the type of photo book to use.  This website gave a lot of detailed information that I loved and helped me pick.  So what was it?  MyPublisher.  It was a program that I downloaded and opened up to work on every now-and-then.  It was pretty easy and turned out nice.  Yes, it wasn't perfect, but I am happy with it overall.  I just can't wait to find the final product!  I'll let you know how it goes.

Worked out, Tracy Anderson style.  Did my arms, did some cardio. Oh yea.

Cake Plates are DONE!  Yeah.  I bought epoxy glue to make sure they stick, and they are stuck.  They also look really awesome.

Saturday, Day 22:

Guest book pages are designed!  I thought that this would take WAY longer, but it didn't.  It was fun and I am VERY happy with how it turned out.  Wait, are you thinking what Bill was thinking?  "I thought we have a Guest Book with the B+T book?"  Well, no.  That is a book that tells our story to our guests.  The Guest Book is what our guests will fill out so we remember their presence at the wedding FOREVER.  What our guests will do it complete a page in a fun and creative way.  I will not show you the pages I created, but I will show the inspiration of them!  Here you go:

 

CAKE PLATES

I love these things - so cute, so rustic, so pretty and fun! And easy! And cheap! What's not to love about them?? We are going to be doing cupcakes (not my first choice, which was pies. However, pies were complicated, expensive and, well, too awesome. Cupcakes are good, easy and the lady we are going through rocks. Her cupcakes are amazing. So, what can you do???). This is what one of them looks like:

You take a candlestick holder and glue an antique/thrift store plate to it. Easy!! And fun. I didn't think of it, I think I saw it on some random DIY wedding website... Oh, here is what I just found that could have been the source:

IntimateWeddings.com

This site give an amazing step-by-step. I started to glue them down but want to wait to see if the glue really works. I picked a cheaper one and may need to go heavy-duty on these. This is how they look ready to be glued:

and all together...


The post-its are to determine how many cupcakes will fit on a plate. So nice, huh? And look at this. The AMAZING website, BHLDN.com, which is Anthropologie for weddings, sells plates similar to these. Check it out:


And they go for $70 to $90 dollars... each! I like their twist which is colored, antique glasses. However, a candlestick holder and plate from Goodwill? Cheap and just as nice. Don't get me wrong, I love BHLDN.com and if you haven't seen it, check it out and droll a little. But just a small trip (or two) to your local thrift store can save you tons of money.

Day 24...

10 more minutes left in day 24... Wow, what a day! Let's see, what happened. Oh, yes...

8:00 - Wedding License

Wow, I never really thought of marriage being so "official". Bill and I had to fill out an online application, make an appointment, sign a document, raise our right hand and sware to an oath, and then pay $70 for the license. The whole time I was thinking, "this is crazy! so formal and bureaucratic!" But then I really thought about it. Hmmm... Marriage between two people is a sacred bond, whether one is religious or not. However, it is also a political bond. Think of centuries ago when marriage was not just from love but from a joining of two families and the growth of those joined resources. I even think of my grandmother's parents who were not only husband and wife, but uncle and niece! A union to keep their valued property in the family! (Oops, now you know my interbreeding family past. :/ ) And then the issues of citizenship and being able to be a part of a country solely through marriage. I wonder how many times someone has applied for a license just to jump through that citizenship loop-hole. Goodness, and I shouldn't need to get into the issues of marriage equality. Not too long ago a large number of states refused marriage licenses for interracial unions. Oh, and do not get me started on Gay marriage. We all deserve the right to marry who we love... Ok, I'll stop on that thought. So, now that I think about it, I am really lucky that I can go to the County office of records and sign that paper, give that oath and pay that money. I am lucky cause I get to do it to the man I love and for the only reason of love. No one is forcing me, no one is telling me no, and we both really want this. I am quite lucky to be a part of this bureaucratic craziness after all...

10:00 - a dear friend's mother's funeral

Last week, a dear friend of mine lost her mother out of nowhere. It really makes you think and treasure all that is near and dear. You never know when someone will just leave this earth... You never know, so treasure every moment.

2:00 - eye brow waxing!

For the first time! I just made a good amount of appointments to "beautify" myself. You should have seen me at the Origins store yesterday. I think I am ready and have a nice plan to get myself all pretty and perfect for the big day. I talk more about this later...

4:00 - finally did my Tracy Anderson video for the day

Oh, and Tracy A deserves her own blog post as well. I love her, but I am also getting really sick of her. After Bill, Tracy is the most consistent person in my life. I see her everyday. Every stinking day... Much on her later.

6:00 - finally got my butt out the door to do cardio

I walked. Couldn't get myself to run. Hey, it was 40 minutes! My goal for these 25 days is to exercise EVERYDAY. And to do a portion of the Tracy A video everyday (the arms. I want ballerina arms.)

9:00 - finally started some real wedding tasks that were on the list

This was good and productive. I started and almost finished a big task... CAKE PLATES! So cute and perfect! And cheap! I'll give a tutorial on the cake plates on the next post. :)

11:00 - ordered fun stuff (he he) online

Victoria Secret. That's all I'll say. Was able to use a few gift cards, he he... Also bought Bill's swimming trunks cause we need suits to GO TO HAWAII! I keep forgetting that we have a Honeymoon after the big day. That will be SO nice - a break from the planning, dieting, working out, stressing... Cannot wait.

Oops, it's 12:30am. We are now on day 23! But, I'll leave day 23 till tomorrow. This post is technically day 24. Ok? Ok.

Nighty night.

CRINOLINE...

I would be lying if I said I am starting all of the detailed things today. Over the past two days I have been working on a few projects. I have to share and teach you so you can do it too! I really only say this because I learned how to do these on the internet, so now I have to contribute to the community by putting my tutorial on the web too!

Here I go...

Crinoline:

I bought the dye from Jo-Ann's. Goodness, I love that place. The dyes were different than what I researched. I looked into RIT and Dylon, but both had me hesitant since I constantly heard that the polyester/nylon fabrics didn't hold the dye well. Also, I really wanted to do it in my washer machine since I do not have a stainless steel sink and my bath tub is an antique and, well, I am not comfortable with discoloring it at the moment. So I wanted something that could be used in my washing machine.

Well, guess what? The brand has dye that dyes polyester! And has printed instructions for the washer machine! Yep. Seriously. See?



So I bought one poly dye and one just regular dye for natural fibers, both in a nice rich yellow color (by the way, iDye has a nice variety of colors, just like RIT). From there I went to my moms (she lives out of town, which means I go there for an over-night trip) where I did a little research and then changed my mind. According to the iDye website, the most effective way of dying polyester is to use the stovetop. Great. I need to cook this slip like spaghetti. Thus, I discussed the situation with my mom, she filled a few pots with water and we started the task.


We didn't have a pot big enough, and I didn't want to render any pot "unusable" after I soiled it with dye, so we took the very hot water and filled my mom's laundry sink with it. I put both packets of dye into the hot water, shoved my slip into the hot, yellow mess, and the let it dye!


The instructions said 30 minutes to 1 hour for letting the dye set. I decided on 1 1/2 hours. I really wanted a yellow crinoline! I made sure to give the sink a nice stir every 15 minutes (with gloves and long sticks since the water stayed really hot the whole time!). Here it was after that nice, long bath.


Once done, I threw the slip into the washer machine with some Woollite and gentle cycle. My mom then hung the crinoline to let it dry, I was sleeping during that task. And, well, this is what I woke up to!:



Overall, I love the slip, the color is PERFECT and it looks fun under my dress. :)

it starts today...

Today is the day that I begin my daily journal of the last few days of our wedding. Why not? Why not create a daily blog to list the crazies, the busy-s, the fuss? A place to see the progress? A place for me to vent so I do not have to vent or get really excited to just Bill? Why not? So, let's go...

Here are the details so far:

• Where: Mendocino, CA
• When: June 25, 2011
• How: I get my dress on, walk down the aisle, say "I do" and then party
• Why: Cause I love that guy with all my heart and it's time to take this relationship to the next level (it's about time!)
  
• What: A wedding, big dummy
• Who: Me, Bill and quite a few close friends

So, as you can tell, I only have 25 DAYS until the big day. Surprisingly, I am not freaking out. However, I am getting busier with all the things I have to do. Thus, I will write as the tasks unfold and as I prepare... for the big day! We have a long list, I have a full agenda, I am not going to rest until the details are settled. Oh, and should I mention that the rest of the items are just details? The big stuff is taken care of:

venue, check;



invites, check;



Bill's suit, check;

(That's not it, but you get the idea)

my dress, check;

(also not my dress, could you guess that?)

vendors (cake, food, DJ, flowers, hair, photographer), check;

So, yes. A lot of stuff is figured out! And now on to the smaller things. Watch me figure things out, put things together, gets things sorted out (sorta).

And thus, I begin...

25 days until the day! YAY!