DIY Bouquet Wrap

For those of you who have made a pearl bouquet, this can come in handy for sure!

Those annoying, unsightly wire 'stems' are definitely something you don't want to be seen on your wedding day, and they aren't too comfortable to hold either, especially if you did what I did and used multiple types/color wire.

I ran to Michaels and bought me some ribbon to wrap that bad boy up! This is only a trial run, so it isn't that neat or exactly how I will be carrying it on my big day. But here's the finished product in all its shiny glory!




When I figure out a more presentable method, I'll post a tutorial for you all! Until then...

DIY Bridesmaid Proposal Boxes (in progress)

Years ago, when i initially began thinking about my wedding day, I always had a hard time visualizing who would be standing beside me in my bridal party. I've never been one to have a gaggle of female friends, so I figured my husband would have to fill up my side ( as he filled up about 70% of our guest list lol). But now that years have past, things have changed, mainly, I've matured. I've been through ordeals and experienced things that I couldn't make it though alone, and those people have shown me the definition of a true best friend, and the definition of family ( believe me! not all are created equal).

Anyway, I wanted to ask these special individuals to be my bridesmaids in a special, personal way, because after all, my wedding IS supposed to be one of the most important days of my life and I believe those women by my side need to know how near and dear they really are to me. So I started browsing and came across these:

Cute little idea!

So I've been searching high & low for an inexpensive alternative to unfinished wooden boxes, and I came across these, at my faaavorite store on earth, Dollar Tree!

Only $1!

The only color they had was this ashy looking black/dark grey, but I couldn't pass up this deal, so I got them anyway, and painted them!  I mixed my silver acrylic paint with red watercolor paint and got an amazing metallic pink. Now the two paints are very different, my watercolor paints were from an art class, very concentrated so a little goes a long way. All you need is a tiny pea-sized dot compared to the acrylic paint. 

                                                

Heres what the box looks like after one coat : 

Pretty-ful!! 

I may go over it again because there are some patches where you can still see the black through the paint, we shall see. 

Since I'm living in Florida and all my bridesmaids live in other states, I want to help their preparation process be as smooth as possible since I cant be by their sides. I want to fill the box with swatches of our wedding colors, textures, swatches for the bridesmaid dresses etc. Also a personalized note for each of them and some sort of  trinket, not sure.

I'll update this post when I decide exactly what I want to put inside. Until then... :)

DIY Pearl Bouquet

When I first started my wedding planning process, the first thing i decided was that I would be using NO  REAL FLOWERS! That's right...not a single one. Being on a budget, it makes no sense to spend money on something that wont last through the weekend. Whatever i spend money on, I would like to get my moneys worth and after that weekend, wilted flowers will do me no good. So i brainstormed, I've seen fabric flowers, tissue paper flowers, brooch bouquets, even feather bouquets, but the one that caught my eye was this pearl bouquet I saw here.

Amazing, aint it!

So I skipped over to Amazon.com and got me some glass beads and Artistic wire and got to work!

Both packets of beads + wire = $14 and change

Note: i suggest you buy 6mm+ beads, the small ones pictured are 4mm and they don't add much volume to the bouquet which = more beads to buy and a longer time spent working on it. This was about 200 beads total and only turned out to be 1/3 the size i wanted. So i ran to walmart for these 

Theyre 7.4mm and aren't as shiny as the others, but the different sizes and colors add a nice effect to the bouquet

First you need to determine how long you want the wire strands to be. Keep in mind this is what you'll be holding on to, so what I did was snip a few 10" strips to gauge how much would peek out from my fist.  Do NOT snip the entire spool at this point, this is only to see if you need longer or shorter strips. If the 10" is fine, you will be snipping 20" strips, if not measure longer or shorter and double it.

You'll be stringing each pearl half way and folding the two ends over, then twisting the wire right under the pearl, as shown 

Simple right?!

Now keep stringin' 'em pearls until you get the desired bouquet size, you can tape the stems when you've made some progress, to see how the bouquet is forming, like so

Here you can see the varying sizes & colors I previously mentioned. Snazzy

Finish it off by wrapping the taped stems with ribbon, tulle or whatever you please, and you have a glamorous, affordable bouquet! Just don't use this for the toss or you may knock someone out! Lol

Here's to new beginnings...

No, this isn't marriage that i'm speaking of (yet). This is about my journey to finally put my handy, crafty, money-saving skills to good use, not only for myself, but for others, like you! Let me fill you in.

Firstly, let me introduce myself.
Greetings! My name is Melissa, I was born & raised in wonderful, eclectic Brooklyn, NY. I'm the 2nd oldest of 5, spent the last 15yrs in a household of 8-10 people (varied, depending on who was crashing at our house at the time). I have my A.A.S. in Fashion Merchandising and will soon begin my studies to become a Certified Wedding Planner (uber excited!). I currently reside in Northwestern Florida with my better half, who's in the Air Force.

Coming from a large family, I've always been a bargain hunter, one who would rather buy ink and paper than buy a boxed set of event invitations, one who would choose 5 $20 dresses over 1 name brand $100 dress, I prefer fake everlasting flowers over expensive flowers that last all of a week. How did this lead to me wanting to start a blog? Well I'm in the process of planning my own wedding on a serious budget, less than $10,000 serious; no wedding planner, no extravagant caterers or dove releases, no live bands or anything of the sort; just the necessities, but don't get me wrong, it WILL be a glamorous bash! I've practically been glued to the laptop researching money saving tips, what former brides wish they didn't spend so much money on or waste so much time worrying about, and also what details I can manage to handle on my own and save some money, while still making a statement.

If you think about it, we can save a ton of money if we chose to do more things on our own. The work may seem tedious, which is why so many are quick to pay someone else to do it, but I feel if you want something done right, do it yourself (after some research of course). Also, the feeling of satisfaction and pride when you see the finished product that YOU created all on your own, indescribable.

For instance, I've created a list of things I plan to create on my own for our wedding day:

Nothing too expensive, but all very important items. I'll be posting step by step tutorials & keeping you guys updated on my progress, as well as letting you know where I get my cheap finds and how much the total projects set me back, so that hopefully you can see how much money you'll be saving by making your own crafts. So, as the title says, here's to new beginnings!