Adorable Aisle Adornments

From the moment I had my mind set on collecting fabrics to make our dinner napkins, I've been trying to find other ways to incorporate the fabrics to make our day seem more cohesive.  So far, I've come up with ways to incorporate different fabrics into our centerpieces as flowers, on our attendants as boutonnieres (an idea I'm totally, uh, borrowing from Miss Moonbeam!), as a part of our favors, and into the invitations.  Thankfully, the internet is full many, many creative and like-minded brides...  I'm finding inspiration all over the place!

A few weeks ago, I saw a real wedding featured on 100layercake that made my jaw drop.  Seriously.  It was like wedding porn created just for me.  I squealed, wished that I was as talented as the bride, and then saved the link into my favorites.

Although every DIY detail was the-cutest-thing-I've-ever-seen, one image stood out above all others:

First of all, she's wearing the dress I've been imagining for myself... which she made herself, BTW.  Second of all, that's probably my absolute favorite use of fabric bunting flags.  Ever. 

I'm pretty sure that this bride and I would be BFFs IRL.  I hope she doesn't mind that I'm planning on stealing borrowing her aisle decoration idea!  I can't think of a more perfect way to tie together our reception and ceremony areas.  Love, love, love it!

I don't really feel bad for stealing her genius idea; most ideas in wedding-land are stolen from somewhere, right!?  Heck, even those that I thought were completely original have been done before by someone, I'm sure!

So.  'Fess up, ladies!  What ideas have you "stolen" from other brides?

The Doxie Engagement Soiree

I feel like I've been such a bad blogger; it's been nearly a week since I've written anything!  I hope you accept my apologies... things have been pretty crazy around the Doxie household what with everything that's going on this month.

That said, I'm excited to share our engagement party with you!  Mr. Doxie's parents are so incredibly sweet; they flew me to Canada this weekend to spend Thanksgiving with them.  They also threw us an engagement party for about forty of their nearest and dearest.  I was absolutely blown away by how warmly I was welcomed into the family.  It makes me that much more excited to be Mrs. Doxie in May! 

I had never been to an engagement party before, and I'll be the first to admit that I was a liiittle nervous to meet everyone.  I'm a pretty shy girl.  But everything was positively perfect!  The party exceeded my expectations, by far. 

The decorations were appropriate!

The food was deeeelicious!  Seriously.  Props to FMIL for making the tastiest roast I've ever had!

Although Mr. D was exhausted from his bachelor party the night before, he still looked pretty cute!

Though he did choose to skip the alcohol for the night.  Also, his younger cousin found it quite amusing that we switched "bride to be" and "groom to be" buttons :D

Mr. Doxie's parents poured the champagne...

...and we toasted to finding love and happiness.  Oh, and that something good finally came out of all the time Mr. D has spent on the computer! (On the left are Mr. Doxie's best man and his girlfriend)

I was overwhelmed with the amount of love that was in the house that night.  Of course, I know that Mr. D is an amazing guy... it makes sense that so many people would care for him so much!  During my little toast, (during which I'm sure I was bright red) I mentioned how fortunate I am to be able to marry into such an amazing family.  I completely lucked out!  I hope they know how grateful I am that they've made me feel so welcome already.

We wrapped up the evening with some family pictures.  Can you pick out Mr. D, his dad and his brother?  We're gonna have some taaalll kids!

We even received a few gifts!  Completely unnecessary, and so, so generous. 

The best part of the whole night?  When we said our goodbyes, the majority of them said, "See you in May!"  I'm so glad Mr. Doxie will be able to share our day with his family and friends!  To be honest, we didn't expect so many people to make an attempt to make the trek down from Canada.

Did you have a chance to meet your fiance's family before the wedding?  How'd it go?

Our Hallowedding: Crafting Made Simple

To say that October is a busy month for us is somewhat of an understatement.  Not only do we have our impending Hallwedding quickly approaching, but I'll be heading to Vancouver this weekend to spend Canadian thanksgiving with Mr. Doxie and his family, Saturday night is our engagement party (our first wedding-related event), and then I'll have to scramble to get my house future-in-law ready for Mr. D's arrival with his family.  As in, deep cleaning everything and finishing all of my half-painted walls. 

I'll let you in on little secret:  I have a tendency to procrastinate.  (If Mama Doxie's reading this, she's probably thinking that that's the understatement of the century!)  Having put every other task off until the last minute, I knew that my Hallowedding craft projects needed to be quick and simple.  And preferably cheap.

Have you ever had one of those moments where you wonder to yourself, "Why didn't I think of that sooner!?"

I had that exact revelation just a few days ago when I decided to attempt to make some plain-jane, glass candlestick holders black.

Obviously I've used spray paint before... I've had the occasional picture frame that needed sprucing up.  However, I've never really considered it to be an important tool in wedding crafting.

This idea arose from a Target Hallowedding decor hunt in which I found some black candlesticks that dripped red wax.  Target also sold a neat black candelabra, but for the amount of use it would get, it just wasn't worth twenty dollars.  I bought the candlesticks in hopes that I would find some awesome Halloweeny candlestick holders.  When my search was unsuccessful, I decided to try to find something at Goodwill that would be cheap enough to try to paint.  I had no idea whether or not glass was spray-paintable.

I picked up four candlestick holders at Goodwill for $2.75

I picked up the cheapest gloss-black spray paint at Walmart for $.96, went home and crossed my fingers that the paint would stick to the glass!

And stick it did!  I think they turned out great.  You can hardly tell that they were painted; they look like black ceramic!

I was so impressed with the results that I painted this vase I've had in my pantry forever.  Previously, it was a nasty puke-brown color.  About $.10 worth of paint and it's something I'll continue to use in my living room, even after Halloween.

These projects were so simple and inexpensive, and I can't wait for people to see them in action.  My favorite part about crafting for our Hallowedding is that I'm getting a lot of ideas for our actual wedding in May.  Now that I know that I can successfully paint glass, my vision of white ceramic centerpiece vases and bowls are now well within reach. 

Have you had any crafting revelations recently?  How about something that turned out awesome for just pennies?

Ch-ch-changes

Have you ever been forced to wait for something for so long and with such anticipation that once it rolls around it catches you completely off-guard? Well. I’d been going quietly about my day today, entering the piles of paperwork that have been covering my desk for the past month, while my mind was off in the clouds--nervous about meeting every single member of Mr. Dachshund’s extended family this weekend.

Then it hit me.

Mr. Dachshund will be here soon. In-two-weeks soon.

For.

Good.

Please don’t misunderstand; I am absolutely excited and thrilled that Mr. D and I get to start our life together, for realz.  However.  I’m also anxious, nervous, overwhelmed and, well, just a tiny bit terrified.

I’ve lived by myself for quite a long time. While Mr. D prooobably won’t mind my habit of walking around in my underwear, I’m sure he won’t appreciate my pants lying on the floor on the exact spot in which they were removed… a habit I’ll soon have try to break. I’ll let you guys in on a little secret: I suffer from an aversion to housework.

It’s not just the superficial things I’m nervous about. I’ve been waiting for this day to come for so long that I never really thought about the changes that it’d bring about… it’s a little bit scary. I think that feeling is justified… change is always scary, right?

On the other hand, sometimes change is “for the better!” When I catch myself mulling over everything in my life that will soon be different, I try to remember why living with Mr. Doxie will be wonderful:

• I’ll get to wake up with him every morning
• Rather than turning off the computer at night when we say goodnight, he’ll be there next to me to keep me warm
• Dinner-and-a-movie isn’t quite as nice when you’re by yourself
• I’ll get to kiss him every time he makes me smile (he makes me smile a lot)
• I won’t have to get the stool out if I can’t reach something!
• There will be less leftovers to go bad in the fridge
• Our goodbyes will be for hours, not months
• He makes me happier than anyone ever has, and probably ever will.  So, yeah.  There's that.

So!  Two short, short weeks.  Though I'm more nervous than I ever thought I would be, I'm beyond excited.  I. Cannot. Wait.  I'm ready to embrace every change that will be thrown at me!

With that in mind, what was the best change that you experienced after moving in with your SO?

My Engagement Ring's First Photo(point-and)shoot

I didn't have a traditional proposal.  I wasn't surprised with a ring and Mr. Dachshund never down on one knee.  Really, our engagement began with the decision to finally start our fiance visa paperwork.

To be honest, I'm alright with that.  In fact, because we did it that way I was able to choose my own engagement ring.  I love Mr. D with all of my heart and I'm sure he would have chosen a lovely ring, but I am quite particular when it comes to the jewelry that I wear.  So, a few weeks after Mr. Doxie and I made it official, I chose my engagement ring online.  It was shipped directly to me, and I had it for about a month before Mr. D saw it in person.  It is absolutely my dream ring and it was well within our (very small) budget.  It's been on my finger for a little over two months now and I still can't help but stare at it.

A few days ago I finally tried to take a few pictures of it that weren't blurry and out of focus.  Eventually I'd like to get a DSLR, but for now I'm stuck with a little Casio point-and-shoot.  I think the pictures came out pretty decently, though!

When imagining my engagement ring, I always dreamed that it would have timeless, vintage details.  The carving on the side of the ring was what won me over!

Of course, the side-stones and beading added to my attraction!

I am absolutely in love with my engagement ring!  Even now, after it has been on my finger for six months, I still catch myself sneaking peeks at it throughout the day!  Even though I picked it out, it still reminds me of Mr. Dachshund.

For the record, Mr. D did eventually propose.  One night during his last visit, he and I were sitting on the porch steps while my puppy (Mini D) was taking her time searching for the perfect spot to potty.  We were ready for bed, tired from our day full of activities and impatiently waiting for Juno to poop.  She takes forever!  Mr. D was was wearing only his boxers as he recited his cute little spiel that he had practiced.  I laughed, and I think I told him I wanted a do-over when he was fully dressed and when there wasn't fresh puppy poop a few feet away  : )  I joked, but I really wouldn't have had it any other way.  Sure I already had the ring on my finger, but his proposal was very endearing and very us.

So, what about all of you?  What came first, the proposal or the ring?  Did your guy choose your ring, or did you get to pick out your own? 

Floral Alternatives: My first attempt!

On my way home from work last night I was thinking about all of the alternative floral options about which I've recently blogged, and I realized that I had the materials in my house to make most of them.  Or, at least make a mock-up of most of them!

My first attempt at our prospective DIY flowers was a slight variation of these:

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If you follow the "source" link, you'll find a tutorial.  However, being the stubborn girl that I am, I attempted to make them without reading it.  Yeah, I'm that girl... the one who's tried to assemble every piece of Ikea furniture she's ever owned without reading the instructions.  Of course this was no exception!

For those of you who aren't that girl, this is what I did:

Step 1:

Gather all of your materials.  I used fabrics, pinking shears, buttons, floral wire (mine was from an old Martha Stewart crepe paper flower kit), and thread.  Lay everything out neatly and take a picture to include in your blog  : )  Not shown: sewing machine, needle (to hand stitch), and floral tape.

Step 2:

Cut a long strip of fabric.  I didn't measure, but I'd say it was about three feet by two inches.  Unlike my inspiration photo, I decided not to fold the fabric in half; I made it single-ply instead.  In hindsight, I think doubling it would give the flower more volume and make the edges cleaner.

Step 3:

This step is unnecessary, but I decided to sew a decorative zig-zag stitch along what will be the outer edge of the "petal."

Step 4:

After I sewed the zig-zag, I flipped the strip of fabric around and sewed a plain-Jane straight-stitch (I have no idea what these stitches are actually called) set at the longest stitch-length setting.  Make sure you leave long "thread tails" on each side.

Step 5:

Separate your "tails."  While holding on to one thread, gently push the fabric toward the center, bunching it up into small ruffles.

Step 6:

When you're finished bunching, it should look like a scrunchie that you wore when you were little : )  I tied the thread tails together to secure the, um, scrunchiness.

Step 7:

This is where I got out the needle and thread and started to form the flower shape.  You basically curl the fabric in on itself and tack it down with a stitch or two.  Actually, it was really more like 100.  I got tired of making stitches...

Step 8:

...so I cheated.  Once everything was generally in place, I sewed a small square to make sure everything was good and secure.

Step 9:

Turn it over and admire your flower!  Please ignore how messy the center looks...

Step 10:

I sewed a button to the center of the flower to hide all of my messy stitches.  And to make it cute.  I mean, buttons make everything cuter, right?  My stitches were so messy that I should have used a larger button!

Step 11:

These next few steps are optional.  I only made leaves because I wanted to see if I'd be able to recreate this.  So I doubled up some fabric and free-cut some leaf shapes.

Step 12:

I sewed them together with a teeny straight-stitch, and pinned them to a small piece of floral wire.

Step 13:

After setting my machine to a zig-zag stitch, I tested out the stitch length and width on a piece of scrap fabric.  When everything was set correctly, I made sure the wire was centered between the needle's entry points and started sewing.  The floral wire was a little bit sticky because it was pre-covered in floral tape; it stuck as I was sewing and made the stitches gap.  If you make sure to push it through as you're sewing, your stitches should be more even.

Step 14:

I repeated step 13 for the other leaf and attached them both to the stem with floral tape.  The loop on top is what I'll use to secure the stem to the flower.

Step 15:

 Pin the loop down and sew it on with a needle and thread.  Make sure it's sewn down tightly on all sides!

Step 16:

Turn it over, put it in a small vase and admire your pretty fabric flower!

All in all, I think it came out alright.  There are a few changes I'll make next time, though.  I'll fold the strip of fabric in half first; I like the cleaner edges of my inspiration photo better than my unfinished edges.  I'll definitely make sure my stitches are neater, and I think I'll make the strip narrower... the flower was a little bit too big.

What do you think?  Would you have done anything differently?  I'm still a sewing-machine-novice, so I'd appreciate any tips!

Have you tried to recreate any inspiration projects while forgoing the tutorials?  How did they turn out?