Garrick and Sarah's Wedding - DCWV

On Saturday I gained another sister, a sweet friend who I have considered a sister for a very long time already. I was happy to help with the wedding and reception in any way I could, and these are the projects I had a hand in. 

First, this is the card I made for the bridal shower.

1. Start with a white cardstock base (DCWV cardstock).

2. Add a strip of gold washi tape (or patterned paper if you prefer) 2/3 of the way up.

3. Collage flowers mostly below the tape.

4. Add DCWV bling centers to the flowers.

5. Punch small butterflies from DCWV glitter cardstock (Royal Garden stack) and adhere throughout the flowers.

6. Add an alpha sticker sentiment.

I was assigned to make the boutonnieres. Because burlap was a recurring element to the wedding decor, I turned to DCWV's burlap stack. I also used leftover bits from the wedding dress, and silk flowers and jute twine from other decor projects.

1. Hand-cut a large leaf from the burlap paper.

2. Glue in a bit of lace edging.

3. Glue in woodsy flower picks.

4. Roll satin to make a flower bud; glue in.

5. Tuck in a silk hydrangea flower.

6. Pinch bottom of leaf and secure in this curled shape with glue.

7. Add a jute twine bow.

8. Add a pin to the back.

I also made the corsages. I used these eggplant purple Satin Swirl Flowers from my etsy shop, Precocious Paper. I also added the same lace and woodsy flower picks that I used in the boutonnieres. I added tiny leaves hand-cut from DCWV's burlap stack, too.

The center pieces were simple. 

I cut burlap labels from DCWV's burlap stack using my die-cut machine and Spellbinders dies. They worked like a dream! My sister and new sister-in-law simply used a hot glue gun to attach them to the glass bottles, then tied ribbon and jute twine over the labels.

Embroidery hoops were another common element in the decor, so I learned a new stitch and embroidered e's for each table.

The burlap stack came in handy for the cake topper, as well. I used my Silhouette Cameo to cut a banner template, then we used the template to cut the pieces from the burlap paper. I didn't try, but I strongly suspect that this burlap paper is too robust to be cut by a Cameo ;).

1. Using a template, cut out banner shapes from burlap paper.

2. Punch holes in each of the top corners (we used a crop-o-dile).

3. Add alphas (cut by Silhouette Cameo).

4. String banner pieces with jute twine.

5. Attach banner to dowels.

We also used my Cameo and the burlap stack to make this "thank you" banner. The happy couple plans to use a photograph like this for their thank you cards. You can't see it very well here, but I also made the flowers on her wedding gown's sash :).

This is the wedding card I made. I opted for a romantic, layered, monochromatic look. 

1. Start with a white cardstock base (DCWV cardstock), size 4.25 x 5.5 inches.

2. Adhere a block of patterned paper (Everlasting Love Stack) to card, size 4 x 5.25 inches.

3. Layer a piece of burlap (Burlap Stack), some tissue paper, vellum and a shipping card in the center.

4. Add a bit of white washi tape to the edges of the layers.

5. Adhere flowers to tag.

6. Adhere DCWV pearl bling to the center of the flowers.

7. Add sticker sentiment to tag (SRM Stickers).

We had a lovely time, but my favorite part (besides seeing how happy Garrick and Sarah were) was definitely spending time with my sisters putting it all together. Thanks to DCWV for the help in making so many projects! Be sure to pick up that burlap stack, crafty friends - it's seriously amazing! Have a great day! Tessa

I must love my boys...Student Council, Fancy Pants

Hello! We had a busy, busy week, and even busier weekend. I have a new sister! I'll share wedding details tomorrow, including a few DIY projects I had the privilege of contributing :).

Colten, my oldest, tells me Tuesday morning before school, "Mom - I'm running for student council president. Posters were supposed to go up yesterday." Yesterday?! How long have you known this?! Apparently, since Friday. Grrrr. So, we took a couple of minutes to search Pinterest for good campaign slogans. He picked one and I added the supplies to the day's wedding prep shopping list: "Don't blow it! Chews Colten Buys for president!" Luckily, Colten didn't have much homework that afternoon, so we got to work. First, a photo shoot:

Second, I set him up with my Silhouette Cameo. I laid everything out on the computer, but he did the rest - loading the cardstock and the mat, clicking cut, etc. He hates pulling the leftover cardstock off of the mat as much as I do ;). I helped glue down the letters and the photos, but he laid it all out on the posters for me. Lastly, he glued on the empty bubble gum packages and wrote out the rest of the words. The next morning, we got to school early and helped him put them up all over campus.

There was some drama with kids tearing off the empty gum packages, and accusations of Colten passing out the gum for votes, but Colten rose above it all and did his best to enjoy the process. Oh, the joys of politics! As much as that tough stuff hurts this mama's heart, I was happy to see him learning from the experience. The results came in Friday, and...he did it! We referred to Colten as Mr. President often during the weekend ;).

Raising these boys is definitely an adventure, a journey bringing lots of craziness - and happiness, too. I'm up on the Fancy Pants Designs blog today with a mini album all about them and their journey. To see more, and to read about how easily it came together, check out the Fancy Pants Designs blog here.

Thanks for stopping by, and remember - come back tomorrow for some DIY wedding projects!

Wedding, Part 1 (and a winner!)

After pulling together my photos from my sister's wedding, I decided to write up two separate posts for sharing. Today's installment is what I made for wearing - corsages, boutonnieres, etc. Tomorrow's will be all about the wedding decor. Elizabeth's colors were orange, aqua and ivory with a touch of brown. The theme was vintage - handmade - outdoors. Inspired by Martha Stewart boutonnieres that I had seen online awhile back, I created these boutonnieres for the groomsmen and fathers:

Made of sticks from a tree on my parents' property, feathers, and beaded sprays from hydrangeahippo, everyone thought these were the coolest boutonnieres they had seen in a long time. One groomsman with an attitude thought they were weird, but hey - what does he know? Obviously nothing ;).

I simply attached two twigs together, added a feather, then added the sprays. I wrapped them all together at the bottom with a satin aqua and brown polka dot ribbon by American Crafts. I've had this ribbon for years and am so glad that I held onto it!

The leaves are made from pages of Elizabeth's favorite book (an another theme in the wedding decor), Pride and Prejudice. I glued them to the back of the boutonnieres and then added a gold jewelry safety-pin. A corsage pin would not have held these.

The groom's boutonniere was a bit different. Karl's had a larger feather, as well as a special touch to his leaves. See it? Sorry for the poor photo - I had to get him his boutonniere as soon as it was made and didn't have time to photograph it properly.

I managed to find a part of the book that read "Elizabeth accepted..." How perfect is that?! For the bridesmaids, I made these necklaces:

Not only did I make the flower (a ruffle blossom that you can find in my shop here), but I also made the beaded part - holy moly, making four of these was good practice! I am not a beader, but I think they came out pretty well. Just don't look too closely ;).

I made similar flowers for the mothers to wear as corsages:

And then petite little hair clips for the two little nieces (their dresses were aqua):

It was so much fun to make things I don't ordinarily make, especially for my sister. Tomorrow I'll share more Pride and Prejudice-inspired things and a handy way to hang muslin from the ceiling. See you then!

***

WINNER: For those of you who played along with my 500 Facebook likes giveaway, I am sorry for the delay in posting a winner. We had yet another wedding last weekend (other side of the family). The randomly selected winner of a $10.00 credit to the shop is...

DEBBIE SUSEE!

Debbie, email me at precociouspaper (at) yahoo (dot) com and I will let you know how to redeem your prize.

Catching up at GCD Studios

Happy Monday! I've had a couple of posts go live at the GCD Studios blog that I didn't have a chance to mention here, so I thought I would share my projects today. First, a color palette-inspired layout:

This photo/color palette was my starting point:

The layered patterned papers and die-cut lace are by GCD Studios, as well as the brads and cabochons. The journaling is hidden on the tag behind the photo.

My latest project was inspired by this image that I found on Pinterest (source):

I basically made another wand like the one here, but with butterflies instead of flowers. All the patterned papers are by GCD Studios and the wand is by SRM Stickers. You can see more photos in my flickr photostream here.

The DT has been sworn to secrecy, but GCD has some really great things coming up! They are going to wow the floor at CHA-Winter :). Well, I'm off to get a very productive Monday in full swing. I hope yours is a good one! Tessa

Wedding Wand

Hello! I wanted to start this week off by sharing a project that was on the SRM Stickers blog on Friday:

SRM asked me to play with their new wedding stickers. As soon as I received the assignment I knew exactly what I wanted to make - a bouquet! I started with an SRM wand and filled it with pearl candies.  Next, I took a 5 inch styrofoam ball and bored a hole the same width as the wand through the center.

I glued over 40 handmade paper flowers to the ball and added the wand. I embellished the wand with a strand of vintage pearl trim, felt leaves, ribbon and a tag with one of the new stickers.

I love how it turned out and am already planning other versions - fabric flowers for a birthday bouquet, silk flowers for a get well bouquet, etc. You can see the original post at the SRM blog here.

I hope your weekend was wonderful and that your week is looking bright, too :). Thanks for stopping by - I love all my visitors and appreciate the time you take to see what I've been up to.  Have a great day! Tessa