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Wednesday, August 31, 2011

A week and a half!



Weddings creep up slowly then smack you in the face.

I convinced Dan to let me paint the frames of the chalk board mirrors white (over black with a crackle glaze in between) to match the 4 art pieces I did. They look a million times better and I'm feeling inspired to paint everything in my apartment white.

I am picking up our honey favors on Saturday from a local bee keeper. I am debating over how to decorate them. I'm going to make small sticker to print out and label the pots with our names and wedding date. I had originally imagined picking up three or four different floral cottons and covering the tops, then tying them down with twine. Now I'm thinking plain muslin...


Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Craziness Begins...

So, up until this point in the wedding planning, I have been pretty relaxed. I'm starting to feel a little nervous... a little anxious... and a little overwhelmed. I'm sure it's completely normal.

I am heading to Toronto on Saturday for some sort of "Surprise" weekend. I have no idea what it could be, but I'm looking forward to spending time with my favorite ladies... Dan apparently also has something planned, and I hope he makes it back in one piece. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't slightly concerned.

It's hard to believe it's been almost a year already! So much has been packed into the last 12 months...

We got engaged on September the 8th. My Grandma passed and I nearly lost my dad. Dan lost his job, got a new one (so did I), and Ohhh Lulu went crazy with a Heartsy Deal! We bought and lost a house in a matter of days... and lets not forget all of the crafts!

Saturday, August 20, 2011

Saturday Craftacular


I spent all day gathering, painting, and crafting finishing touches for the wedding. We are keeping the decorations to a minimum - Dan and I are pretty simple when it comes to our taste. I did want to have something "special" for the head table. I created a bunting to drape across the front, and today, after finding some great frames at the dollar store (which were jazzed up with some crackle medium, white paint, and sand paper), I decided to make "portraits" of Dan and I.

I took a profile picture each of us, turned it black and white, and upped the contrast. I printed it on some heavy cardstock, carefully cut around the lines of our profiles, and used the negative as a stencil. I stencilled on plain old muslin with some black acrylic paint. I'm really happy with how these turned out.

I grabbed a great old tin wash-basin from an antique store to put our wedding programs and bird-seed confetti bags in, as well as some old lace-trimmed linens.

I'm a little worried about what I will craft when this wedding is all over...

Friday, August 19, 2011

Wedding Card Boxes


I am down to 3 weekends before the wedding weekend! I wanted to add a few more décor items to add to my "vintage" theme, and I noticed The Knot had a whole gallery of vintage themed décor ideas.

I took two ideas - Paper Cut "Cards" Garland and the Vintage Train Case, and mashed them together. Instead of using paper, I glued a piece of cotton to a piece of card stock, printed large Bold Letters on another piece of card stock to use as stencils - traced my stencils (backwards!) on the card stock with the fabric glued to it, and cut out my letters with pinking shears. I draped the garland across the train-case and fixed with with small pieces of tape.

All of our RSVP's are supposed to be back by today - so this weekend we will catch up with the stragglers, and finish off all of our crafts based on the final headcount. I have designated Dan to be "Official Hole Puncher" for our craft-night, since the last time I used a hole punch I managed to somehow get my fingers under the cutter twice and punched pretty painful holes in my fingers. Crafting is a dangerous business, don't let anyone tell you otherwise!

We have also made a few plans to our honeymoon. Because of Dan's brief stint of unemployment, and my voluntary cutting back of hours at work (though I did get a raise!), we decided to cancel honeymoon plans and just do a roadtrip based on whatever we can afford at the time. We will head up to the Bruce peninsula, ferry to Manitoulin Island, Camp at Killarny Provincial Park, tour through Sudbury and North Bay, Camp at Restoule, and wind our way back home again.

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Rococo

Who else is obsessed with Rococo Ladies? The frills & Bows & Flourishes & Perfectly Powdered Hair...

I am currently procrastinating before heading out to work. I started a new Tumblr Blog a few months back and finally remembered the log-in for it this morning. Is anyone else on Tumblr?

I did the wedding day count down this morning, and we are down to 25 days. I can't wait until the honeymoon road-trip... we are goign to head as far north & back as we can get in 5 days... which in Ontario won't be very Far. I wanted to get to Sleeping Giant but it is nearly17 hours away. What a country! You can drive 17 hours and still be in the same province...

Monday, August 15, 2011

Vintage-Style Slips


I love wearing vintage slips. They make me feel so glamorous, like a vixen from a noir film. I have two vintage slips that I love the most, so I knocked off the pattern and made cut 3 slips, each in two sizes. The only thing I don't like about vintage slips is they are usually plain, old white. I wanted to make slips that were fun, and vibrant with a vintage-flair.


Each slip has a stretch lace detail across the bust, and lace trim along the edge. I made one in a large, gold floral print (I made bathing suits out of this too!), one in a chocolate and white lace print jersey, and one in a candy-purple floral burnout with creamy lace trim. I bought a ton of each of these jersey knits last spring... they make very comfy slips, silky-soft, great for wearing under a dress or to sleep!

Last week I re-opened shop for a few days to take a last-minute order. A "Tied with a Bow" bra with the side-ruffled panties. I absolutely love how it turned out and will be adding this as a set to my shop too! This set will be shipped off very, after I complete all of the finishing touches...


I've gotten so much done the last few days. Our camping trip got rained out, which was disappointing, but I managed to check off a bunch of things from my wedding to-do list, including finishing the Flower Girls Dresses (which now need to be taken in an inch), finishing the alterations on the bridesmaids dresses, ordered the flowers, and filled out the application for the marriage license. I can't believe we're down to only 4 weeks!

Little Oliver will be glad when the wedding is over and I have some more time to spend with him. I caught him looking longingly out the window at a brief rain-storm we had this afternoon. I can't wait until we have a house with a backyard where he can play...


Saturday, August 13, 2011

Oh My Darling


Dan and I are supposed to be going on our annual family camping trip tonight, though the weather keeps threatening rain. I love camping, but I hate camping when it rains...

I finished off the flower girls dresses this morning, now all I have to do is hem them. I also finished up this set, which I call "Oh My Darling..." I used a cute vintage-look poly-cotton blend for the body with a red and white cotton accent and some beige lace. The hot pants button-overall style, but are attached along the waist band elastic. They sit about 2" below the belly button, which is a nice height if you are short through the torso, but like the look of high-waisted knickers.

Dan is at work today until 1pm, and then we are heading downtown (which is literally our backyard) to check out the classic car show! It's one of Dan's dreams to build a vintage hot-rod... and make it a hybrid! I like this because it means it will be quiet...

Friday, August 12, 2011

29 Days

Today is 29 days until the wedding. What do I have to do?

  1. Purchase the bunches of flowers for the table arrangements, which I am doing tonight.
  2. Alter 1 bridesmaids dress
  3. Hem 1 flower girls dress, and complete sewing the other
  4. Order the wine
  5. Confirm the guest count with the caterer
  6. Order the favors
  7. Complete the programs & birdseed bags based on final guest count
  8. Provide the DJ with a song list
  9. Purchase mason jars for the flower arrangements
  10. GET A MARRIAGE LICENSE!
I'm so looking forward to the big day, and I can't wait to see all of my friends and family all together again - I think that's one of the best parts of getting married.


I have no expectations of how this is supposed to go, but I do have some hopes for the big day. I hope it doesn't storm, I hope people stay out of the way of my ceremony, since it is happening in a public park! I hope I don't feel awkward having my picture taken (camera shy!), and I hope I don't trip over my dress.

What have I learned from my DIY wedding? People will tell you the the wedding is "your big day," which is a partial truth and really should come with a caveat. The wedding is all about the Bride & Groom, but only after thorough consultation from everyone involved in the wedding. It is a practice of compromise, consideration, and care, which I guess is a lot like a marriage. The most important key to a happy wedding, is diplomacy.

I've really enjoyed (most of) the process (NOT the Wedding Trade Shows!!!), and can't wait for the big day... and then the day after when we can relax and enjoy our lives as newly weds! Then... have some babies! I've been spending too much time with my best friend's adorable, little ginger-baby. Between that, and reading about Jennie's second pregnancy at Two Skinny, One Fat, and Little Lucy over at The Vintage Wife, I've got the baby-fever bad...

As a reward for my awesome wedding-planning skills, I treated myself to some perfumes from For Strange Women on Etsy a few weeks ago and I got them in the mail two nights ago. I'm positive I ordered from her years ago, but I think she was using a different name, because the scents are so familiar! I absolutely love the way they are packaged, and I feel like a dainty Victorian Lady every time I use them. My favorite is November, which coincidentally is also my favorite dreary month. I'm wearing Astral Projection today, which is a citrus-y scent. I find the scents smell even better when applied and settled into your skin for a few minutes. What surprised me the most, was how long lasting the scents are...


Thursday, August 11, 2011

Drafting all day...

I had yesterday off, and drafted 3 new styles of panties, all based around a high-waisted early '60's style. I have 1 plain that I will silk screen, 1 ruffled, which I call the "pannier bloomers," and one that buttons, overall style. I am always so ambitious on my days off, but never get nearly as much done as I hope...

I did get out to meet with my cousin, whose band is providing the music for my wedding ceremony, to discuss the processional and music. I am so glad we are keeping things simple. I am so not stressed about the wedding I feel like I must be doing something wrong. All I need to do at this point, is order the wine, confirm the food when the RSVP's get in, order the favours, and finish up some crafts...

I've been reading a lot about the riots happening in London over the last few days... I hope my readers in the UK are safe and sound. It's sad to see the destruction, but our economic and social state is in such a wreck, it's no wonder people are resorting to violence. I do not condone it, but I understand it.

It's a scary state of affairs lately, with the US threatening to default on loan payments, riots, countries on the verge of bankruptcy everywhere, people losing jobs, losing benefits... I feel grateful to be in Canada where we have remained somewhat "untouched" as of yet... Everything feels so uncertain.

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

"Silk Screened" Groomsman's Ties



I wanted to buy ties off of Etsy that were silk screened with the grooms-people's monograms... unfortunately the seller did not respond to any of my emails requesting pricing and some more specific information... So, I sent the ties to Toronto to be screened, but we could only find people who could do the iron-on-transfers... I decided I'd just have to do it myself.

So I googled "DIY Silk screening" or something along those lines, and found a great tutorial on how to turn a piece of organza, some Mod Podge, and an embroidery hoop into a silk screen. I picked up some fabric ink and voila.


Essentially, all you do is paint around the "negative space" with a thick enough layer of glue to fill in all of the holes. I then scraped a generous layer of the "ink" over the screen (after it had dried), and you have your image. It would have been easier with some emulsion, but this was the next best thing.


I've really enjoyed printing on fabric - like I did with my buntings (just used a paper stencil for those), and I'm going to start experimenting with some more "complicated" screening, using different colours and screens.

It's hard to believe but we're only 30 some odd days until the wedding... Sunday afternoon was my Bridal Shower which was unbelievably amazing. My cousin went above and beyond and set her already beautiful up like a country tea-party, with a variety of iced teas and the most delicious food. I was spoiled beyond belief with gifts, and received the nicest "guest book" signed by all of the generous ladies who attended - so many of them had such nice things to say about me, it brought a tear to my eye when I read it after I got home. Dan's Mom gave me an heirloom dress, made by her aunt - it's beautiful and I'd like to wear it the day after the wedding.

I feel somewhat undeserving of all of this attention, just because I'm getting married, but I am enjoying it! It's nice to be reminded that you're loved.

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Life Update...

So, Dan is employed at the moment, doing a "Trial" period at a shop in town. The hours are almost too good to be true and we actually get weekends off together! The best part is, they are paying him a decent wage. What did I learn from this whole cafuffle? Unemployment is not the end of the world... and that Dan and I are pretty darn thrifty.

I am going down to 4 days a week at my job and will re-assess the situation shortly after the wedding and honeymoon. My immediate plan, aside from sewing wedding stuff and alterations, is to sew a bunch of ready-made few of a kind accessories, panties, rompers, dresses, and camisoles to re-launch Ohhh Lulu in October, just in time for Christmas.


I am getting some new props for Ohhh Lulu photo shoots, including this Dress Form from Vintage Style Mannequins, and plan on doing a fall-harvest photo shoot, conveniently in the beautiful field behind my parents house.

I also want to start doing some small-time advertising. I had a great opportunity to put a banner on The Vintage Wife's Blog. I had her link back to my blog, since Ohhh Lulu is currently "oh vacation." I've had a lot of traffic and success without really trying, so I'm hoping advertising will increase sales. Do you know a highly-travelled blog that offers ad-space?

Tomorrow I have my first dress fitting. I love any chance I get to put on my dress and I can't wait until I have pictures to show everyone, because let's face it, the dress is one of the most exciting parts of the whole thing!