Strassing My Shoes and The Crafty Blues

This past weekend I attended a Craft Bridal Fair at a local craft store. They had calligraphy lessons, bouquet arranging, centerpiece ideas, DIY favors and a lot of other fun DIY wedding ideas. I stuck around for a few of the demonstrations but the aisles of fun were just calling my name! So, as I slowly walked up and down every single aisle my mind started whirling. There were so many great ideas I came up with that I became dissapointed that I could only have one wedding.

With my cart full of craft items (only a few things actually for the wedding) I rounded the corner to go down my last aisle... the clearance aisle. Now, if you are anything like me the clearance aisle of a craft store is just a treasury of stuff that you don't need but have to have... after all it's on clearance - who knows if you will ever be able to find it again!?!?!

Well, ladies, I found the most wonderful, exciting items for my wedding... Christmas Ornaments! No, I am not having a Christmas Themed wedding but these babies were .25 each and FULL of possibilities. With enthusiasm I snatched every single one the had... and now? I have no idea what to do with them. *Sigh*

I guess over the next couple of months I will have to think about what in the world I can do with these. I am sure I will think of something!

NOW... My last post I talked about strassing shoes. During my trip I picked up hotfix rhinestones and started my journey of placing thousands of rhinestone on a pair of shoes. I worked on it for a couple hours last night and here is my progress so far:

BEFORE:

NOW:

It is a little frusterating getting all of the small rhinestones on the shoe but overall, its still kind of fun. Let's see how I feel in a few days!

But still, what in the world am I going to do with 20 large, silver Christmas ornaments?! I'm off to brainstorm......

DIY Wedding - To Do or Not To Do... That is the question!

As I continue my "wedding research" I have fallen in love with so many DIY projects that I have seen! All of you brides out there have many creative and fun ideas! I keep telling myself that I shouldn't start too many projects... but you all are making it SO hard not to be inspired! With the wedding less than 8 months away - I have decided this...

I am only planning on getting married once. This is the only chance I have in my entire life to create things exactly how I want them and have a roomful of people appreciate my vision. I do not want to look back at my wedding day and think "I really wanted to do this... but I didn't/ran out of time/couldn't figure it out/was lazy/etc."

So... even though I was not originally going for a DIY wedding - I think it may end up that way! Here are just a couple ideas that have inspired me!

1) Rhinestone Shoes... Oh how I love thee. This is one of the few projects that I actually think is worth the time and money it will save me. Before I even picked out my dress I had my shoes picked out. They were beautiful Benjamin Adams "Gaga". Well - $375 seems a bit steep but if you know me (and my love for shoes) I was willing to pull out the cash. Luckily, I happened across this picture:

Apparently Miss Eye Candy has a LOT of time and patience (not to mention a steady hand!)... and it was just what I needed to take the plunge! So after reading her comments I found out that she got her stones for a fabulous price (Under $20 for 10,000 stones!) and the shoes were on sale too! So, I happily hightailed it over to The Crafts Outlet.com and ordered my stones. Now... If I only had the shoes.

During my search for the perfect shoe to "strass" (which is apparently what you call spending over 40 hours gluing tiny rhinestones on shoes) I found this AMAZING blog: Redo My Shoe. This amazingly talented man takes the king of all shoes: Christian Louboutin and adds swarovski crystals to create what I could only call art! I spent my entire evening DROOLING over his beautiful creations! The love he has for his shoes bring tears to my eyes. Here are a few for you to admire:

But... back to reality. I may be hitting up the craft store tomorrow to get some rhinestones while I wait for my large batch to come in. I mean, I have to practice right? I have already dug out the perfect pair to practice on. Baby blue, suede peep toes! You all will certainly get an up close and personal look once I get started!

2) On the subject of Rhinestones - Love the look of Crystal Monogram Cake Toppers. But - I am NOT a fan of the price. The Nubian Bride said it all! I couldn't agree more. SO - As you all guessed- I scurried over to craftcuts.com and saved it to my "favorites". I have not ordered it yet but that's only because I haven't decided on my "official monogram". But I will be ordering as soon as I decide on the font I would like everything to be.

I have already made my bubble tags, Tears of Joy packets and some "back up" Thank You Cards. I guess I can officially call myself a DIY bride!

Until Next Time!...............

As Promised... Wedding - Wedding - Wedding!

Well! I have been on wedding overload lately! We have the church, reception, caterer, my dress, dj and wedding coordinator. *Whew* Pretty good progress for only a month and half!

With most of the BIG things out of the ways I can start working on all of the little details of my wedding. (We all know that this is the fun part!) My head is just swimming with fun ideas so I think it is important for me to start now so that I can fit everything in!

Here are some of the project I have started so far:

Thank You Cards: I want to make sure that I have these ready for as soon as we send out Save The Dates. I don't want to get behind on sending out Thank You cards. I think that once summer hits - I will be in full party planning mode and my pre-wedding moto is "Be Prepared!"

My wedding colors are blush pink, ivory and silver with lots of rhinestone accents. My amazing bridesmaid, J, found this perfect stamp and helped me come up with this design. The card is blank on the inside so I can happily write a personal note!

Bubble Poem Tags: I fell in love with these and am so excited to tie them on the bubbles but decided to wait until closer to the wedding so that I don't have to worry about the bubbles spilling and ruining the tags. I have already precut the thin, light pink ribbon to tie the on the bubble with. I used a beautiful ivory pearl paper. The picture does not show that beautiful sheen that the paper gives off.


Lastly, my Tears of Joy Packs. I saw a few of these on various wedding sites and just thought it was a cute "extra" element to the ceremony. I am only making between 60-75 of these because I know a lot of guests won't use them. But it's a fun little souvenier non-the-less! (Plus - it gives me an excuse to be in my craft room for a couple days!)

Sooo... with just under 8 months to go I would say that I am doing pretty well in the planning process. By the way... has anyone ever noticed how WONDERFUL etsy is for wedding stuff?! I have spent hours traveling around etsy looking at wedding decor, bridal jewelry, unique favors, etc. I think my next post is going to be highlight some of my favorite stuff... you know... just for a bit of eye candy!

Going to the Chapel!

Yes, I am alive. I have been so busy lately and have been unable to follow through with all of my big plans for the New Year. "Why?" you ask. Because right after the new year... I GOT ENGAGED! That's right ... on October 15, 2011 I will be one of those lucky women who gets to marry the love of her life.

Now, it only 10 years. But if you knew my fiance you wouldn't be surprised. Mr. K is a laid back, on-his-time, type of man. It's one of the things I love about him... most of the time. It has been a whirlwind couple of months. So expect to see wedding plans sprinkled in the blog for the next few months.

My promise to all you Diva's out there... I will be more present on here and really start focusing on this blog!