Upcycled Wedding Guestbook DIY Project!

I've completed my first wedding project! The wedding guestbook. Ta Daaaa!

My mom found her old guestbook, which she forgot to bring out at her wedding therefore it was unused. So I decided that I was going to convert her guestbook into our new fancy Halloween-ish guestbook. And it's my something old! 

 (Original Guestbook - not quite the look we were going for)

 I knew I planned on wrapping the book up in fabric and then placing a cool piece of scrapbook paper for the front cover. I didn't really want to buy new fabric so I went through my fabric stash and came across a black crushed velvet. Hated the crushed velvet but liked the look of the matte reverse side. Plus it has stretch to it, so I could pull the fabric real tight without worrying about wrinkles. 

And I decided I wanted to put a piece of paper inside the covers as well. Originally I was going for a picture frame sort of effect with the paper attached first therefore being under the overlapped fabric. Now that it's done, I wish I would have done it in reverse with the paper on top of the fabric. But my fiance likes it better this way and he made me promise that I wont rip it apart and do it over, which I'm really considering doing.

(Inside back cover in progress) 

(Finished back cover)

(Finished front cover)

So pretty much the steps were for this exact book:
1. Measure, cut and glue in the front and back inside cover paper panels 
2. Measure and cut out the fabric with enough room to overlap to the inside covers
3. Glue the fabric down to the book. I started with gluing it to the spine first, then just kept molding it along the front and back. Again, the stretchiness of the fabric helped wonders with it.
4. Measure, cut and glue the front cover to your book.
5. Add on sticker letters.
6. Marvel in your own awesomeness for putting together such an amazing work of art.

It did take me a few hours to do this though. But once I got over the fear of possibly ruining my mom's old guestbook, and dove in headfirst, it went a lot faster. I think I had the hardest thing was placing the stickers since they were so thin and swirly. They were a bit of a nightmare to set them exactly where I wanted them. But afterwards, you have an awesome DIY/up-cycled guestbook that everyone, even yourself, will be impressed with!

(Before and after shots)

Ideas For My Sister's Baby Shower

****This is an old entry from a few years ago but I decided to post it back up again due to it's popularity!**** Plus I need to get into my crafty mood to tackle all these wedding DIY projects!
 

I'm so thrilled to be throwing my sister's baby shower! I'm the youngest of 3 girls and my middle sister is having the first baby in the family! I finally get to be an auntie!! Her shower is in a few weeks and my mom an I are frantically trying to get the majority of it done now. We are making all the centerpieces and the guest favors. So here's what I got so far. I hope my sister doesn't read this! Melissa if you're on this site, don't look at this!!


These are going to be the centerpieces on the guest tables. She doesn't know if the baby is going to be a boy or girl so we are alternating between pink and blue umbrellas. These were actually quite simple to make. Very time consuming though. The square is Styrofoam that we painted and decorated to look like a nursery block. The letters spell out baby. We then put small furry bears and blocks onto of it. We inserted a small umbrella into the block and hung small plastic rocking horses, teddy bears, and pacifiers on the ends. All the supplies were bought at a basic craft store.


Here's a close up of a rocking horse, furry teddy bear, and small blocks.

These are going to be the guest favors. We started out by cutting out thin double sided tape in the shapes of teddy bears and carriages. (We used a small cookie cutter and traced the shape.) We then stuck the tape onto glass candle holders and rolled in glitter. Now all we have to do is fill small bags with candy, tie them up with pretty ribbon, add a silver stork charm and a thank you tag. This is a very simple and inexpensive way to make decorative favors. You can use whatever shape and color to fit the theme of your party!

Here's a close up of the purple carriage and teddy bear.

I can't wait for the shower! We still have some more work to do though. We plan on making a much larger version of the umbrella to go on the gift table. And we have to figure out a menu.
Still much more to do but it's going to be fun doing it! I'll take much better pictures of the shower and share those here!

****Add-on Pictures!****

Baby Shower Centerpiece

****This is an old entry from a few years ago but I decided to post it back up again due to it's popularity!**** Plus I need to get into my crafty mood to tackle all these wedding DIY projects!

Alright here is the centerpiece that's going to be on the gift table at my sister's baby shower. It's a much larger version of the guest table centerpieces. It's made pretty much the same way. We took larger Styrofoam blocks and painted them to look like baby blocks. We decorated a large lace umbrella with ribbons and made a bow and dangled colorful plastic pacifiers off of the ends. Then we stuck the umbrella into the blocks and secured it with a lot of glue.

Here's a close up of the top of the umbrella and the pacifiers.

Here's a close up of the rocking horse, stork and baby. My mom insisted on having the Kewpie doll up there and I wanted a stork. We decided to put both up there. You have no idea how difficult it is to find a stork figurine! This is the best one we could find.
And a close up of the cute monkey that goes with her crib set.

Wedding Flowers...part 2...Artificial vs Real

I know in one of my earlier posts, I went to the florists and the flowers quoted was within my budget. Slightly under to be exact. But then I started thinking about maybe making my own bouquets out of silk flowers instead to help cut costs even more.

I went through my priorities of elements/decor/etc. and floral was at the bottom of my list. I wanted a bridal bouquet, 2 bridesmaid bouquets, 2 mother of wrist corsages, 1 grandmother of corsage, 2 ring bearer boutineers and 1 officiate boutineer. My fiance had already planned on making "special" boutineers for his groomsmen and for the flower girl escort (flower girl's 6 year old brother) and the flower girl basket we already planned on making.

I know my bridesmaids (sisters), the officiant (my brother-in-law), the ring bearers (my nephews) and myself wouldn't care about fake flowers. The only few that I would feel bad about making were for the moms and grandmother. I feel like they should get something a bit more fancy. I guess I could always make the bouquets and just pay the little bit for fancy wrist corsages for the moms and grandmother.

Though this does mean that I'll have more projects to do. But it also means I have more creativity and freedom with making them. Looks like I will be pricing some flowers/supplies and I have some thinking to do!

Any thoughts or suggestions from anyone who has made their own wedding bouquets??

Wedding Shoes!

Yay, my package made it's way back to Ohio and was delivered today! Which means...I got my wedding shoes!

So for a recap, I bought a pair of "Used-Like New" condition from Amazon. They are black lace-up granny style boots with lace panels on the side. They have a pretty low heel, which is what I was looking for. And since they were in used condition I got them for over 50% off.

Well I gotta say, these don't look used at all! Not even a scuff on the bottom. I'm figuring someone bought them, tried them on and then instantly returned them? Either way I don't care, they're perfect! Going off of the reviews, and since there weren't half sizes, I went up to the next full size: a 7. To me, they feel a little big length-wise, but they also feel on the narrow-side, so I think it was a wise choice going up instead of down. I will say that they are insanely slippery on the sole so I will need to scratch them up a bit or get something to cover the bottoms with. Don't want me falling down on my butt on my wedding day now do we??

And yes I am wearing my awesome pinstripe thigh highs to get the full effect!  Now granted, again, not the best pictures due to me trying to take the pictures myself since I didn't want any help from my fiance because I don't want him seeing them. Don't worry...he never looks at my blog!

Wedding D.J...within budget...Check!

Somehow, I don't know how, we got the D.J. within our budget! So again thanks to our Friday wedding discount and some referrals, we came out to $745.00. And I had planned on just using a CD player, and a friend, for the ceremony music but the time frame for this DJ is 5 hours so he'll play our ceremony music. Score!

Updated Wedding Budget Breakdown:

Budget...$10,000

       Reception...58%...$5800

       Bride's Apparel...10%...$1000

       Groom's Attire...1.25%...$125

       Photography...8.8%...$880 (Accomplished...that's what we're paying)

       DJ...7.45%...$745 (Accomplished...that's what we're paying)

       Floral...3.25%...$325

       Cake...3.5%...$350

       Rings...2%...$200

       Ceremony...1%...$100 (Accomplished...that's what we're paying)

       Invitations...2%...$200

       Misc...2.75%...$275

Next step: finalize floral price and find cake!

Halloween Bride's Wedding Accessories!

The fun part has arrived...I've started buying for my wedding attire! I will not be posting my dress up here until after the wedding, but I will say I got it at an amazing wedding dress shop in New Jersey: Wedding Dress Fantasy. I did not go over to that state to order, I'm in Ohio, so I ordered it online, without trying it on.Which a bunch of people think I'm crazy for doing. But I used to work at a bridal shop at one point, so I knew how to measure myself and what shapes look good on my frame. Plus I emailed the designer a couple of times, watched her YouTube videos, stalked her page on Facebook, read all her reviews on her website and Etsy shop, and feel 100% confident in my decision to order this dress. Simple fact is, the dress I've always dreamed about was not going to exist in any bridal shop in my area. THIS dress is my dress and it will be perfect. But I will go ahead and say that it's a classic shaped white and black dress and mom approved!

Shoes: I got these "Funtasma by Pleaser Women's Dame- 115"granny style lace-up boots at Amazon. I found a pair in my size (I'm normally a 6.5 but this style doesn't have half sizes and the reviews said to size up so I went for a 7) that had the 'Used- Like New' condition so I got them at more than 50% off! Great deal in my book! They have a lower heel, which is what I was looking for and lace side panels. Perfect for my Halloween style wedding!

 (I have not received them yet, due to Fed Ex constantly shifting the estimated arrive by date and going unneeded all over the country. Going off of my tracking, a few days ago they were in my state but today they're in a different one. So this is the stock picture off of Amazon. I'll post some pictures when I get them.)

Click HERE to see the shoes

Necklace: I got this beautiful black lace necklace from Etsy at "Joola Design Studio". I love it! It's delicate and has great amount of detail work out into it with an adjustable chain so I can decide the placement of the necklace. This will look stunning with the dress!

(I promise this picture does NOT do this necklace justice! I'll take some better pictures on a not-so-gloomy day)

Click HERE to see the necklace

Click HERE to see her full Etsy shop

I did buy a second necklace from another Etsy shop, "CBC Boutique" because it was just a fun necklace! Going still with the delicate lace theme, it's a gorgeous lace bat on a black tie ribbon. Again, I get to decide how low the bat falls because of the tie ribbon. This bat comes in black, red or a fun glow in the dark option. I don't plan on wearing this to the ceremony, but it might get switched out at some point at the reception or I'll wear it to the rehearsal dinner. Either way, it was just too fun of a necklace to pass up.

(Again, sorry for the not-so-great picture. Delicate black lace and overcast days don't mix well I guess)

Click HERE to see the necklace

Click HERE to see her full Etsy shop

Thigh Highs: I've been eying these for awhile now at "Sock Dreams". But they started to go low in their stock of this specific style and when I saw the notification of only 2 left I jumped on them! They are now out of stock, but they might come back! Thin black pinstripe with a bow on top. Classic and perfect for the wedding attire! Plus everything has free shipping!

(In case I need to say it...these are not my legs, this is the packaging...)

Click HERE to see the thigh highs

Click HERE to see the full online shop

For the Groom: I bought this pin from a third Etsy shop, "Holly Pop Love". I will not be including this in my attire but it will be going in the groom's somewhere! Possibly in his boutineer, which he plans on making for himself and his 2 best-men/brothers. This is his favorite vintage Halloween picture so I knew I had to pick one up for him. Plus this item had free shipping, too! This item does not seem to have been restocked up in her Etsy shop, but there are plenty of other goodies to look at.

Click HERE to see her full Etsy shop

Gift from an awesome friend: a skeleton cameo...my something blue! I'm thinking I will be incorporating this into my hairpiece, when I either make or buy one. Going off the packaging this looks to be bought from an online shop "Back to Classic Designs"

Click HERE to see the full online shop

So the shoes, 2 necklaces, thigh highs and pin cost me about $70 which does include the shipping costs. But I got to admit, I love that I'm buying a bunch of my stuff through Etsy or other smaller businesses, minus Amazon. I feel like I'm supporting my fellow handmade crafters and their talents...so this is working out perfectly!

My accessories are almost complete! I still need something for my hair, a second pair of black flat shoes for the reception, which I will be getting at a local resale shop and probably adding some Halloween ribbons or something to them and possibly bracelet/cuffs. My attire is just about done. Now I just have to wait patiently for my dress to arrive so I can try everything on together...Sigh.

Wedding Florist... within budget...Check!

So our budget for wedding flowers was $325. And I'm happy to report that after meeting with the florist for our wedding over the weekend, we are still sticking within our budget! Slightly under to be exact. I won't know the exact cost until later this week because she going on a search to see if she can find a white and black carnation hybrid that I'd really love to have for my bouqet. And if so, whether that will be in the budget as well. Right now, with carnations and a few white daisies with the black/chocolate brown centers, I'm good. So either way, if those are a no-go I'm on budget!

I'll have the break-down of what I got for wedding flowers and what they cost later this week.