Mark and Carolyn

 

Rehearsal Dinner Set-Up

Our backyard being prepped for the rehearsal dinner!

Flower Girl Wands

 

My two little nieces, ages 3 and 1 1/2, are going to be the flower girls in my sister's wedding this next Saturday.  My sister-in-law was worried that Amara (1.5) would have difficulty throwing petals and so we decided to make wands with bells.  We're hoping she'll be so excited to wring the bells that she won't get scared by the audience staring at her.

They've been a hit so far - she was running around with it, waving it like crazy when she woke up from her nap.

I'm an advocate for fresh flowers but fake flowers are fabulous for things like this -especially when Amara starts dragging it on the floor. And you can make them a week ahead!

Supplies for 2 wands:
1 - 1/4in wood dowel cut in half available at Michaels ($.59)
white spray paint (already had)
glue gun (already had)
14 fake carnations ($.59 ea)
ribbon ($2.00)
tulle (already had for the wedding)
wedding bells available at Michaels or the Dollar Store ($1.00)
Total Cost: about $6.00 per wand

Spray paint the dowels.

Remove the carnation heads.

Cut 2 long lengths of both ribbon and tulle.  (You can trim them after they're tied on.)

Tie the tulle and ribbon onto the top of the dowel.  Secure with some hot glue.

Take three of the carnation heads and attach one by one with glue to the dowel and to each other.
Attach the remaining four to the bottom -covering any green that might show from their stems.  Make sure they are firmly attached!  They'll get waved around and smashed into things.
When the glue is dry tie on two bells to the tulle.  Knot well. Add a dot of glue if needed.

(I'll make sure and post a picture of the girls in their dresses with their wands!)

Sneak Peek: Carolyn's Bridal Shower

 
So apparently I made a bit of a faux pas by not realizing that my sister's fiance is from Northern Ireland...  And as I was quickly making flags late the night before the shower didn't even think that I had grabbed the wrong flag!  Mark thought it was pretty funny and so here's the Flag of Ulster.  Need to brush up on my geography apparently....

Last night we went to my sister's bridal shower.  The hostesses went with an Irish theme (being that her fiance is Irish) and made Guinness Cake, Pimms, and Irish Coffee Punch.  All delicious.  My sister-in-law and I made these flags to go with it.  Really easy - double stick tape, toothpicks, and a quick print at FedEx Office. (The British flag is there since they're going to be living in England.)

Money Origami (sort of)

My sister's moving to England right after they get married so her shower was a bit unusual in that the gifts were mainly pictures of what was being sent to her in England or money. My sister-in-law and I decided to donate money towards the cause. I thought of this, which worked so well, and decided to try and fold the money.
There are NO helpful money origami dress how-tos on youtube!

And so this is the result... so much for my money wedding origami! The dress and veil kind of turned out but no one could get that the crumpled pile in the left corner was supposed to be a bouquet.

If you have a good how-to on this I would appreciate it!

And the giftcard goes to...

#11
(officially picked with the number generator by my one year old)

Congratulations Rowenna!

Rowenna said...

"My dream table would be one in a nook with benches. I love cozy little areas!"

Shoot me an email (kathrynmchurch@gmail.com) so I can get it to you!

Thanks for all your comments!

One Day Left for the Giveaway!

You've got one day left to enter the giveaway so hurry on over and leave your comment!

Ashlynn's Bouquet

This weekend was insanely busy and I'm still trying to get organized before we dive into my sister's wedding but here's a sneak peek at Ashlynn's bouquet!

First Giveaway!!

I'm excited to tell you all that I'm hosting a giveaway!!

We've been working on remodeling the basement of our new house, painting the walls and trying to find furniture to fill it.  Right now there's a huge empty space where we want a table to go.  I'm looking for one that can expand to fit a lot of people but also shrink down to stay out of the way - we want the basement to be multi-functional.  It's a tricky balance to find (and considering that it took me a year to decide on the one in our dining room it'll probably take awhile!) but I've had lots of fun looking at various dining rooms.

If I had a huge craft room I'd be tempted to go for this table and orange chairs!

And this would be a fantastic table to use at a party - or imagine a wedding set with these tables!!

So if you're on the lookout for a dining room table I've got good news - a $40 giftcard to any of CSN's stores (including their huge collection of tables)!  You can use the giftcard on any purchase from home decor to luggage.

All you have to do to enter is leave a comment about your dream table.  

For an extra chance to win create a link to this post on your blog and leave a second comment telling where you linked from.

A winner will be announced Wednesday, August 18th by 6pm PST. US and Canadian readers only.

Flower Design Tips: Dahlia

I've already featured Dahlias, but  I didn't explain how to work with cut dahlias and since I was arranging some they were on my mind.

In order to extend their life, pick them when it's cool in the evening (unless of course you are buying them at the grocery store).
Boil water.
Get a heavy duty glass vase and pour in about 2 inches of your boiling, yes boiling!, water into the vase. Strip the lower leaves, trim the end, and place the dahlia in the water with the flower face leaning out from the vase (to avoid any steam damage to the petals.) I know it sounds crazy but you won't kill the flowers! This allows the flower to soak up the water and create a seal.
Let the flowers sit in the water overnight. In the morning you can re-cut them and put them in an arrangement - you do not need to re-boil them.

Pretty nifty trick huh!?

I mixed bupleurum (one of my absolute favorite greens!!) in with the dahlias above for a quick hand tied bouquet.

p.s. giveaway coming tomorrow...

Invitations: Lingerie Invite

My sister-in-law and I whipped these up for my sister's upcoming shower.   We're kind of going with an old Hollywood, 40s, Tiffany blue theme!  We worked on some great decor that we'll share after the event.

Once things slow down I really will post templates of all these invites!  Sorry for the delay.

Wedding Layout

So here's more from FloorPlanner.com!  Here's the current layout we're playing around with for my sister's wedding!