Wedding Details - bouquet issues!

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I love flowers. I love the look, the feel, the scent, everything! I'm gushing, but I have always adored flowers. I even have a tattoo of one! The problem is... my sinuses do NOT agree with my brain. I'm allergic to most everything that I really like. I'm not a rose person, and behold - they don't make me sneeze or tear my eyes out!

As a chronic DIY-er, I kind of wish I could leave the floral part of my wedding up to a florist, have the bouquets be beautiful, and worry about other things. I have so many other things to worry about. But I don't want to spend the whole day sniffly because I just had to have the pretty bouquet.

Now, if I'm not gonna fork out a couple hundred dollars for freshies, what should I do? I could spend the same amount and get a premade brooch, felt, clay, paper, fabric, or really ANY KIND of bouquet.

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I know I could make a great felt bouquet myself, I even started playing around with making felt succulents! It would have turned out better had I ordered some felt in the right green, rather than the generic colors at Hobby Lobby, but even so - I don't think a felt bouquet is for me.

I played with making crepe paper flowers (and I LOVE them), but I don't know if I want this look for my bouquet. They will definitely be all over the place, especially the huge ones (this yellow crepe paper peony is as big as my head!)

Since I've been thinking about this whole situation, I've decided that if I'm going to make my bouquet, I'm just gonna make one giant peony flower (glamelia). I could do this out of felt, fabric, paper, crepe paper, or clay... and my newest goal is clay! I was always good in my ceramics classes, so why not try some mold and dry Crayola clay and give it a whirl?

First reason: Crayola clay is NOTHING like clay. It feels... almost elastic. It doesn't stretch and mold the same way as I am used to. Quite different than what I expected. After about 20 minutes of playing around, I've gotten used to it and I think I can make something fun! I got white, yellow, orange, and red and I'm planning to try to get a fun ombre effect from a creamy white center to a reddish orange color on the outer petals.

Has anyone else tried this? I'll let you know how it goes!

Halloween Fun Flashback

I had all these plans of being silent movie stars, making a grey drop-waist dress (actually, it is half made...), painting Cameron and myself grey and making little chalk boards that we could make into silent movie 'dialogue'... and then I was sick.

So we just joined in with my sister and cousin and were old-timey circus people. It didn't take too much effort, and my hair was so fun to do! I was a lion tamer (that looked a bit like a lion...and had been slightly mauled) and Cameron was a fire eater. I got to draw tattoos on him and make his flame sticks. Of course I drew a lion on him, as I was the lion tamer! 

We got him some dress pants and shoes from Savers, I sewed his pants into man-pris, he already had the tanktop, suspenders, and he wanted to get the boa!

Also in the circus: Ringmaster, bearded lady, strongman, and human target.

The flame sticks were fun. At first I was going to make them look like the flames had burnt out, then I added little feathery flames, and then Cameron decided he liked just the feathery flames the best (my sister and I were still partial to my burnt fabric balls).

I already had the corset top I wore as well as the shoes and tights (they had a hole in them already, so I just started cutting a bloodying away). I grabbed some fabric from Joanns to make a quick skirt) and I decided I was done! My huge hair and lion-y makeup was my favorite (picture at the top of the post, minus the giant fake eyelashes I put on later). My hair was pretty much an afro without being teased! Unfortunately, with so much hair and all the dancing, it wasn't so large by the end of the night.

Hailey was Jereth the Goblin King from Labrynth! It was amazing. She wore a cup and everything! 

Most of the pictures were taken in a darkened house and bar, it almost gives them an old timey feel maybe? Maybe? So we should probably just pretend like that was on purpose :) 

Was there a Tornado in here?

Nope! I am just really bad at keeping my art room tidy. I work on multiple projects at once in this small space and like to keep my stuff out while I'm working. I rotate through projects, some last a long time, and often I start a new one on top of an old mess.

It is a bit embarrassing putting pictures of this disorganized crime scene of a craft room up, but hopefully it will help motivate me to finish cleaning! The rest of my house is usually very clean, minus the dirty clothes that can pile up around the laundry basket and the area around the back door where the dog runs in all dirty.

Its hard for me to clean this space, I go in there and instead of tidying up, I make stuff instead... a LOT of stuff. Each time I start a project it can be a struggle to find the space to work - even when it's sparkling clean! Looking at pictures of pristine organized craft spaces online can get me down sometimes. Then I remind myself that I can create in my small, cluttered room with mismatched furniture and cheap plastic containers full of materials. I do not need that beautiful picture perfect place with coordinated storage solutions. But I can still want it. Someday.

This weekend I set out to make a sizable dent in this disaster area. I got a good deal of stuff put away and reorganized, but I'm still working on a big portion of the room. It's going to take some time before I'm satisfied and maybe some thrift store furniture shopping. The felt and fabric areas are still crap heaps, the drawers of my desk are shoved full of paint bottles that need organizing and maybe thinning out, and the closet is... crowded.

I'd say this is a bit of an improvement. You can't see the floor in these pictures, but it is doing a lot better now. It still needs a heavy duty vacuuming. I've got my embroidery threads almost all put back and my wire supplies on a cute gold tray now. The books and magazines are no longer on my round work table taking up space!

I also decided to hang up a few of the projects I've got in progress on the walls. Before the only thing I had up was the picture of Jenny Lewis. This way, they won't get lost in a new mess and it will remind me of what I need to work on! Above you can see some pants and a tutu I'm working on as well as a half-finished embroidery.

- Originally I had planned to do additional papercuttings similar to the one above (I have two other canvases that size I got for this purpose), so I consider it in-progress.
- The 'pow' gun could be done... I really want to add a puff of smoke from above the hammer but I'm lazy...

- The Audrey embroidery above is definitely not finished, but I'm excited for the day I manage to finish it....
- The cardboard drawing is gesso and charcoal. I made this years ago in a class.
- The woodcutting was made by Hailey and given to me for my birthday. We both have a deep love for David Bowie and she put a quote from my favorite Bowie song on it, 'In the Heat of the Morning.'

Where do you create? Does it have to be clean and pristine or is a little mess fine? 

Herringbone & Chevron DIY Painting

This weekend I set out to create some BIG art pieces for my boring living room. Our couch is brown, loveseat is sage green, the rug is shades of brown and beige. Like I said, it's boring! I really wanted to bring in shades of yellow and orange to brighten it up.

I'll tell you a secret: I LOVE herringbone. It's the background for this blog, I'm making a herringbone wood backdrop for my wedding, and I have been designing a herringbone quilt I will hopefully start soon! Ever since I saw this digital art print from Nancy Ramirez, I've wanted, no... NEEDED one like it.

I picked up a couple of frames at Joann's for 60% off (!!!) and decided now was the time. I didn't want to just do the same old herringbone pattern, so I did switch it up by adding a chevron stripe in the middle and changing the size of the pattern. I like the interest it adds.

For the record, I used a variety of different paint brands, including Martha Stewart all-purpose and the cheap acrylic 69 cent brands like Americana. I couldn't find my nice painter's tape so I used drafting tape. I was also slightly afraid that the painter's tape might pull up some paint from the paper but the drafting tape isn't as sticky. I used Martha Stewart pouncer brushes and a Dutch Freeze from Dutch Brothers to keep myself hydrated. Yum!

 

Now I just need to decide on what to do with the matching frame!

Wedding Details: bridesmaid proposals

In the spirit of my MOH proposal, I made cards for my bridesmaids! I limited the size of the card to just a tri-fold rather than an accordion. I still put fun, ridiculous paper doll-type outfits on one side, but instead of scrapbooking pictures on the other I just wrote out the proposal. You'll remember that on the MOH proposal the actual 'proposal' part was on a separate printed card.

Construction was the same, simply attach the cardboard pieces together with paper on one side, and go crazy decorating. I also made a simple envelope for these cards. Here are some pictures of my sister's:

I'll add pictures of the other soon, but I forgot to take a picture of the front of the card! I'll have to ask Brittany to take one and send it to me.

Did anyone else do something special to ask their girls?

Wedding Details: will you be my...

Maid of Honor?

I knew I needed to ask Hailey to be my maid of honor in a special way... so I decided to make 'paper doll' clothes of some out-there dresses and accessories and put them on a card. On the other side, I scrapbooked pictures of us.

Here's the final package of everything:

The dresses were made using scrapbook paper, colored cardstock, felt (the supersparkly pink is felt, too), buttons, stickers, anything I could find. Sadly, the chrome tights didn't 'go' with any of these outfits, so it will be in one of the sequels: bridesmaid proposals.

The bits of thin cardboard are about 5.5" x 6" and are from various boxes of granola bars, kleenex, etc. I simply cut scrapbook paper in strips to the right height and glued the cardboard together to create an accordion card.

Here is a shot of all of the dress panels (including the 'Houndstooth Horror,' 'Chevron Shocker,' and 'Over-Frosted Blue Wedding Cake' dresses):

And here's a shot of the scrapbook side:

The blue card that actually pops the big question was made in Photoshop and printed on HP photo paper.
The other day while browsing the Offbeat Bride I came across this article about a cute bridesmaid contract. So I promptly copied this idea and made a cardstock contract for fun to include.

I tied the card up with the proposal inside and gave it to her before we went to Adult Night at the Discovery Center here in town. We hadn't officially announced our engagement (I told Cameron I had to tell Hailey before everyone found out), so it was actually a surprise!

I made the two for my bridesmaids later and they are a little different, so I'll show those soon!

Retirement Scrapbook

This last week a woman at my work retired. We had a whole day out to celebrate with her (took a limo all day, went to a girly frou-frou tea house, went go-carting and had lunch). She the first official employee in our North American branch, so it was pretty sad to see her retire.

As part of her retirement gift I made a nice thick scrapbook with pictures and notes from all of the employees. It was rushed so it doesn't look super amazing, but I got it done in time!

It's 8"x8", the cover is made of thin cardboard (from a fruit snack box). All the pages are scrapbook paper and cardstock, and the whole thing is bound by embroidery thread.

Here are a few pages from the book.

I think it turned out pretty good for the time I had!

Not enought time on my hands

I've been working tirelessly the past few days in hopes of finishing a couple of embroidered paintings in time for my cousin's baby shower on Saturday. It would be so much easier if she wasn't having twins!

Amelia's painting is in the embroidery phase:

But Avanly's painting is way behind:

I really want to have them done early enough on Friday so I can go to the food truck rally with Hailey. Wish me luck!

Home is wherever I'm with you.

This weekend I decided to completely ignore my priority list of crafting activities and start a new project! I found an atlas at a yard sale for just 50 cents, so I had to make quick use of it.
Here's a preview:

Tutorial forthcoming once the project is finished.

So many projects, so little time!

Lately I've been working on so many projects in small increments. I really want to get some of these suckers finished!

1. I need to finish my bird cage clutch and get the tutorial up here. [partially visible below]

2. There are quite a few half-finished embroideries that I've had laying around for months as well.

3. I really need to finish up the apron I've been making for my friend Emilie. This one will probably only take about two hours at the most to finish... I just haven't found the motivation so it's been hanging in the closet.

4. I have this adorable dress I started making almost a year ago that I NEED to get done. Its all yellow and white pattern and lime green. It will [hopefully] have a button side enclosure.
Speaking of dresses, I need to finish the brown one I started even longer ago. I messed up with the zipper and haven't had the patients to figure out a fix.

5. I've also got this clock project here. I repainted the main piece, but need to get on to decorating the face. (and finding a missing part that must be in the garage).

6. Half-finished cameo painting below.

7. The gold metal tray visible under the above magazines is also a project. It will be great for hanging jewelry when I'm done!

8. I've spray painted this blue tray I thrifted, but it's just not done yet. I need to do something to add more interest to the bottom. I went wild with the spray paint, so I've also got a lamp and some random glassware that may be needing a bit of personality.

9. Which reminds me, I never finished painting my cute birdie lampshade.

10. I'm very nearly finished with a mini scrapbook I made of my recent move. Just need to print some pictures for the cover and last page! I can't wait to have a whole stack of these laying around the house.

11. Even my art desk is a project. I've sanded most of it down, but I need to decided how to paint the monstrosity.