Thanks again, Internet: You’re freakin’ me OUT

Warning: Rant post. Not my typical reaction to things but this had to be addressed. Please refer to other posts on my blog for happier thoughts!



So I was researching wedding albums for a post and I came across this little dandy from Sweet Memories.

 
Why why why would you write this. Why would you post this for bride-to-be’s to see? Yes. It is, in theory, good advice. Do it 100% or don’t do. But you are FREAKIN’ chickitas like me out, for no good reason.

A) What if you don’t have time? What if you work two jobs to pay for the table linens you want and you have two kids and you don’t have time to be organized. It happens – to a lot of us. Not everyone has the luxury of time and can sit around blogging all day. <I do waste a lot of free time blogging>

B) Don’t try to save money at all costs?! LADY – this is a POST-RECESSION ECONOMY we’re living in here. Homes are foreclosing! I have a feeling that in the long run, I’m going to feel a lot better about making my mortgage payments that the extra 10 bottles of vodka no one is going to drink and I’m going to waste gas and more time trying to return.

C) Thanks tips.

D) As if I wasn’t consumed with fear of judgement already – this chick had to spell it out for me. Who decided that a “good friend” just “lays it out” for you? I don’t consider those goods friends – do you think I’m stupid and I don’t know that? That it never crossed my mind? That my brain is made of fuzzy peaches? You’re a dingdong and this is why no one returns your calls.

The sentence after the underlined one makes me so mad I can’t even rant on it.

E) My best shot eh? Lots is at stake? Like what – your fiancé isn’t going to love you or want to marry you if the poms poms don’t match the favours? If that is the case, please refer back to asinine point C.
Be honest – this is what you’ve all been waiting for from me, isn’t it?

Decisions, decisions: Wedding Album Pros and Cons

Last fall, the Captain’s baby broja Aaron got married to his beautiful bride, Sarah. Our wedding day is going to fall three days before their 2 year anniversary, which is nice. Our wedding also falls five days after my parents 39th anniversary, and within weeks of his parent's 41st anniversary. How convinient :)

Just this last week, Aaron and Sarah got their wedding album back from their photographer. At this point, we have opted not to get one – the Captain is skeptical.

Let me preface –  he also felt that getting a photographer for more than just the traditional photo sessions between the ceremony and the reception would suffice. Um – opposite Lowell. I would like a photographer for the whole day, that is where I would rather spend my cash. Because guess what? In 25, 40, 60 years I am not going to be able to taste whatever chicken or beef everybody scarfed down. But I am going to be able to look at my pictures and I would hate myself if I regretted not having a photographer there for the whole day.

Digression aside – Lowell thinks that we will have, like one picture that we frame on the wall and that is the only one we’ll ever look at. Romantic, Lowell. Thanks. I think I will want to revisit the pictures from time to time – and if people would like to see pictures, the album is a nice way to do that. Yes, the album’s are like $500 or something. And I could spend hours going through them and get my craft on and putt one together on Blurb for a fifth of the price (they even have a section specially for wedding albums). But – the wedding album is like a little giftie that comes after your wedding, and the professional picks all the best pictures. But if I did one on Blurb, I would get all the pictures I want instead of the ones he picks. UGH I dunno.

We got to take a little look at Aaron and Sarah’s last week  and I think it is great. Nice and simple, but beautiful photos and kind of captures the journey of the day. Plus it has way more Sarah than Aaron. :)

Here are some traditional wedding albums, so you get the idea of what they are supposed to be. The photos come on heavy cardstock to last longer.

 
Here are some other sites that have been recommended that do great DIY wedding albums. But google reviews about them before you put all your eggs in that basket.

http://www.mypublisher.com/
http://www.picaboo.com/
http://www.shutterfly.com/
http://www.kodakgallery.ca/Welcome.jsp

Lazy Post: Errrrmmm k. Off Day on the Interweb

Today is Saturday - most bloggers don't post on Saturdays. I'm starting to see why. This a lazy post because I have a slop pitch tournament this weekend so I'm a little short on time. I won't even be offended if you don't read much of it. But it's short so read it anyways.

Sometimes when surfing the inter-wedding-net, you get a few gems you didn't think you'd get so lucky to find. Or maybe you were better off before, it doesn't matter. It just matters that the world is a big, beautiful, diverse place and I don't have to be like these people. Their quota has been filled.

Here are a few of my favs.

• Just the happiest day of your life.

http://www.boingboing.net/2010/08/17/krull-the-movie-and.html

•  So this Twitter account is a group of (I think) Asian women who offer a service where you send them a picture of the designer dress you want and they knock it off for cheap. Great, awesome - infact, I want to do it. They have launched quite an aggressive Social Media campaign where they tweet a lot but they are working out a few kinks still - potentially due to the language/translation barrier.

• This is the signature of a Bride who posts on the forums on theknot.com. I like the idea of a wish plant - I really do! Grow your wish, how sweet! I am not 100% sure of a death-wish plant.

Give It: Rustic weddings and yellow filters

It’s like a disease. Rustic wedding disease. It’s everywhere – the blogs are plagued with it. Quite the trend lately. Yellow filters, tins cans, chalkboards, distressed frames, candy jars. What if Rustic Weddings turn out to be like poofy wedding dress shoulders? What if we all look back at our decisions and think – lost that battle. I doubt it, in all honesty, but  I do believe it’s all in the balance. Pick up on the trends but don’t drown your wedding in them.

So where do people get all these old pieces of odds and ends that end up being signature pieces of style and theme at their wedding. Do they have a private antique dealer? Is their Nana’s basement choc-o-block full of it? Or – do they pay incredibly high prices for distressed tin cans?

Here are two post examples. One on Weddings Fresh– on found bottles & one from Style Me Pretty. They make it sound so easy. I feel like it’s not that easy. Don't get me wrong - I LOVE the look and the posts. But they make it sound like it's all sitting under your porch.




Then it all comes together like this post on postcards and pretties.

So where to start in Calgary? It was remarked to me once by a rather prominent antiques dealer “Alberta is a vortex of antiques”. There are none. They are all imported antiques. Why? Because old people don’t move to Calgary – the move away from Calgary and they take their antiques with them. The antique stores that are in town – please. The quality is fantastic but these are city folk prices.

My advice is before you go out bargain hunting and haggling with old guys in leather vests is to get a feel for the “local scene” and check out UsedCalgary.com. You can see what certain types of items are going and what type of quality to expect as well as maybe even get some practice buying a few small pieces. But don’t limit your search there. Because “where there is baby, there is milk nearby” (lyrics from the song sung by The Siamese cats in Lady & The Tramp – come on, you knew that).

Other places to start:
Value Village – Don’t act like you’re too good for it, at least it’s not WalMart.
Bianca Amor’s Liquidation SuperCentre – you should be so lucky
Salvation Army Thrift Store – it’s good karma to shop there

Give It: Luggage for the trips I never take

If I ever felt like I suddenly wanted to catch the travel bug, this is the luggage I would throw myself off a cliff for. Steamline Luggage - classic and not even that pricey. Yes good point - where would I go?

If I was ever to win a billion dollars, because that's the kind of expendable income I would need to be okay with spending money on travelling, I would first go to the Yukon and North West Territories in the summer time. I want live in a world where the sun never sets - I want to go tanning at 3am. I want my entire body's ticker thrown to the wolves because I am overloading on Vitamin D. And I would ride my motorcycle there - take a two month road trip and ride my little Honda 250 (that my brother sold so I'll have to buy a new one with some of my billion dollars) and put-put my way up to the Great White North.

But with this luggage I would have to ship it there first - infact this is kind of show off-y luggage. I wouldn't take it to the Yukon. If I was a billionaire, obviously I'd live in St. Lucia where I could prance around with my precious luggage and rub it in all the billionaires faces. Sorry that these pics are not parfait orrrrrr even lined up straight.

Steamline Luggage

Here is an awesome five piece luggage set I found at this place in Calgary called Inside Avenue Antiques  (here is my Yelp! review of it, includes the address) which was only like $150 - !! Why didn't I buy? Cpt. Skeptical was worried it would get all scratched up in transit. Isn't that the point of luggage?!? I could have bought it anyways but I didn't. Rats. But great finds like these are what you want!

Fixeroo

Hey ho - fixed the comments section of the blog! Now it's a comment free-for-all. Thanks to @ispeakcanadian for the feedback!

Get There: Vintage Bliss Vintage and Antique Wedding Gowns

Yesterday was a double post day a.ka. Baby bought herself a Starbucks day. Scroll down for an afternoon post on nature crafting and new pictures added this morning!

Warning: Long post with unflattering pictures of Alix. Read at your own risk.

Now – admittedly, I have a reasonably stacked decked when it comes to planning The Wedding. The army of friends I have somehow managed to surround myself with is more than coming in handy. Crafters, writers, event planners, restaurateurs and of course, all those friends who have been to maybe a few too many weddings.

Case in point is absolutely Deitra. Deitra is first and foremost, a very talented artist. She’s a costume and clothing designer - one of those over achievers who seamlessly balances oh, 50 projects at a time and still manages to take you to the best Value Village in order to find suspenders that match your favourite socks. Did I mention she’s always on time? She is and that makes me RURVE her even more. So when I picked Deitra’s brain about a little vintage wedding dress boutique we had heard of – it was go time for round one of the wedding dress hunt.

Vintage Bliss is a tiny shop in the basement of Art Central, which is a downtown Calgary artisan building dedicated to providing local artists and niche merchants with affordable retail and gallery space. Vintage Bliss is run by two sisters who really have an amazing little gig set up. The premise is to bring in vintage gowns, dresses and wedding dresses from all over North America and ensure that the price point is kept below roughly $300 or so - as in reasonably priced. What I like best about their business model is that they rarely buy pieces unseen – i.e. eBay dresses don’t normally make it to their racks. They sacrifice their time to make sure they see every piece they bring in - ensuring their clientèle gets the best of the best. The shop space itself is maybe 10’ x 10’ and it’s currently by appointment only - get in while you can.


We tried on some very adorable dresses of all shapes, sizes, styles and eras. I can’t show you all of them – as you never know if I found the lucky dress. But I can show you some of them, to get a feel for their vibe and tell you that this place is worth an appointment. PS they even "jacked me up" like on Say Yes to the Dress Atlanta - look at that beautiful necklace!

Dress 1
                        
This dress was a silhouette I liked – the high waist line certainly did my slender figure a favour, as it created a bit of a bust for me. Other things we loved was the satin neckline that peaked out over the lace. I do like my negligee so to my taste, it came up a bit higher than I wanted, although Deets did point out that it would be an easy fix for a tailor or dress maker. The other details we loved were the buttons on the back – but I mos def can see why modern dresses have detailing of the buttons and underneath have a zipper. As well, we loved how the lace peaked out at the bottom – but we came to the conclusion that with this dress, we would probably hem up the lace to have the satin peak out, in order to match the collar. Is that what we thought? Meow I can’t remember.

Dress 2
                        
Nice face in these pics – wonky eyes. This dress also had a lot of appealing qualities – I am loving the antique lace. The neckline didn’t do me any favours but that back is fantastic! Sexy rexy. Again with the satin buttons, and the nice A-line silhouette. Maybe this is the one where we would have hemmed up the satin? Ugh.

Dress 3
                       
This dress is ADORABLE. Talk about fun – it has layers of lace and frills and it’s strapless and putting it on just made me want to dance around. Why didn’t it work? Well – strapless is not my best bet. I have a small bust and so any strapless dress will have to tailored quite tight as not to flash the crowd, and that means it won’t sit properly - it would be coming out my armpits. The other thing that didn’t quite work was that it is a statement dress. If you’re going to do it, do it all the way. I feel it would have needed to be a colour other than white for me to really want it. And a soft pink or violet but a coloured wedding dress isn’t what I'm after.


Dress 4
This last one was nice but a bit traditional for me. Kind of just hung off me. See, a slight build isn’t always kind. My least favourite option but certainly beautiful on a curvier gal. Still, beautiful lace and sat nicely on the hips.

Eff Bomb Crafting: Birch, please. Nature crafts!

Get the title? Cleva!
So this past weekend was blissful. I had the good fortune of high tailing it out of town to the Captain’s family cabin on the Shuswap Lake, in the interior of BC. Never been? Get.There.

 

It was a beautiful, great weekend but I won’t rub it in. What I will say is I had a bit of a heart attack. Of the crafting kind. Nature is filled with all the stuff (Birch, bark, granite rocks, moss – !) that the crafting websites ( a good example is Save On Crafts, despite what this post leads you to believe, is an EXCELLENT website) charge you up the yingyang for (birch bark SHAVINGS???).  Nature has it all – fer free! I had a moment like in that Ikea commercial – “Start the car! START the car!”

Don’t buy it off the craft websites – we live in CANADA. My suggestion is if you like this uber rustic look – drive to Banff, park on the side of the TransCanada highway and start wandering around in the woods, picking bark off trees. I think that you can get ticketed for that so beware park rangers high on marijuana.

Kudos to the cabin for the inspiration. It’s decorated beautifully by Lowell’s mum Grace – she has used all sorts of great stuff found on the beach and in the forest to make the cabin feel like a home away from home.

Here are some examples of what she has done – inspiration perhaps?

Birch bark candle holders – put a lil’ clay plant pot inside and throw a tea light down. Cha ching!

I wasn’t kidding about the granite – this is all rocks she found on the beach and made a great stone walkway. FER FREE.

How about this? Stump table.  Not even run of the mill stump - gorgeous, rooty, stump table.

Free bark! Piles and piles of bark! Maybe I'm too excited about this.

Captain Skeptical: Are you really this popular?

It's been almost a month of blogging now - thanks to all the home girls who have been keeping up to date with the coffee filtering. And thanks to Rob Bob for commenting on every post - what else are mama's for!?

But here's the thing - everyone keeps telling me their favourite posts are the ones where I talk about Captain Skeptical. Really? Now - is it because I paint such a hilarious portrait-o-words of our lives? Or because you ACTUALLY want to hear more about him...? Because our life is really that funny. Full of scotch on Wednesdays and double-entendres and reality TV. It's a miracle we both still have friends, really.

I always give credit where credit is due - so I'll give Lowell this. He is funny, honest and practical. He thinks I'm almost crazy (as in, just-so-crazy-it-might-work type of crazy) and he allows me to be so on a daily basis. He loves coffee filters and he loves the coffee I make him every morning.


So - fine. I'll try and fit more Lowell in this supposed-to-be-mostly-Lowell-free all-about-me-me-me blog. I promise to tell more stories about the Cpt and I in this blog and I promise to make them funny without making him seem like a dingdong. Here are some crappy- happy (kudos to Gazda:) pictures of Captain Skeptical and I. Barf.

This doesn't really count as I post I feel - so I will whip something else off today. But I'm rewarding myself for a double-post day with a 'Bucks.

Why are we always in front of mountains?!

I dreamed a dream

And then it came true.... :) click here for goodness

Wise Widsom: Taking some advice and not others

One thing that seems to immediately happen when you get engaged is the tidal wave of overwhelming questions. When, where, who who who who. Who is your planner, your caterer, your florist, your bridal party, who who who. I vowed NOT to be that bride - and yet there I was on Saturday, at a nice supper thrown by my girlfriend Jody. Leslie, another Bride to Be is there, enjoying herself thoroughly and wham! I find myself pop-quizzing her. Poor Leslie. Sorry, Les. I promise it won't happen again.

However, not all bride's are as socially conscious as I am. :) So these questions will keep on coming - whether I like it or not.  One of the biggest "who's" is who is your photographer.  When it comes to weddings, I'm assuming (for 50% of you at least??) this is your first rodeo. What are you supposed to ask - do you like taking pictures? Do you take good ones? Please. FML.

I think that this is one of those areas where taking advice and recommendations from people you know is key. Your friends know you - they know your lifestyle. They will be able to point you in the right direction for photographers who will fit your personality.

We're pretty excited to have booked Mark Shannon of Mark11 Photography. He was a double whammy recommendation. My friend Stefica suggested him right away - he has played ball with her and is a friend of some of our slo pitch teammates. I skipped to his blog that night, and low and behold. He had just shot my friend's Pow and Sarah's wedding. :) We met with him and he is awesome. I can't wait.

Another double recommendation? Margot Thornton - she shot my good friends Beth and Jesse for their engagement session and came highly recommended by my other friend Brenda.  Here is her work!

Beth and Jesse's ESession
http://www.margotthorntonphotography.com/



A YYC wedding shoot that I just happen to have found and fallen a little in love with? Below.
http://www.bridescouts.com/2010/07/15/le-jour-j-calgary-dq-studioshot/


So who else came so highly highly recommended?  Here are some more suggestions from my team of Stealth Ladies in the Know - i.e. my Tuesday Night Book Club. Enjoy!

• www.edwardrossphotography.com.  

• http://www.stephanieleblond.com/#/weddings/

• http://www.rwphoto.org/

Remember When? Confessions of Love Notes

I was sitting in a parking lot this past weekend, waiting to have the chip in my window repaired. I decided to sit outside on the grass, because it was nice out and the summer in Calgary so been so embarrassingly bad that I actually feel guilty if I don't take advantage of any Vitamin D that comes my way.

So I took a seat on the curb and looked down at my feet. There was a folded up note lying there - - - !!!! Normal people often ignore garbage or even throw it away, but not moi. A folded up note labeled "To Kelly from Dani" um please. There is no way I am not reading this.

In Jr. High, I was so inept at communicating with boys that I was prone to letters like this. Confessions of the heart - torn apart by feelings for a boy your friend liked, confused and hurt by lurvers passed and unsure of what to expect, what to know in this crazy world...!!!!!

My favourite favourite part - the line that could haunt Dani's dreams. "Do you believe in Soul Mates? I do... I think I have 2!!!"Dani, it's not that you have 2 Soul Mates. It's that your standards aren't high enough - if he makes fun of Zac Efron, he's not worldly enough. If he doesn't share your love of Rhianna songs, he's not open enough with his feelings. If you best friend doesn't love that you love him, it's because she's jealouse but don't worry, she'll grow out of that just like you grow out of him. Whatever you do - don't marry a lawyer who works 80 hours a week so you don't have to see him.

For some more real, rather inspiring love notes, check out this website, Letters of Note.

Eff Bomb Crafting: So I tried this - wood burning pens

A few weeks ago, I saw this adorable post on Design*Sponge about Kat's Love Logs. That is not what I would have labelled that post, because behind 80% of brides, there's a groom smirking. But blog title aside, I feel in love with the craft. I think it is so fun! So cute! And how hard can it be? The tricky part seems to be finding a wood burning pen. Well - for those of you who didn't go to theatre school, here's a little tip. Lee Valley Tools. Get serious, crafters. Doesn't look like much now does it? Looks can be deceiving. Looks like CZ? Oh, it's a diamond. Trust baby.

Naturally, I trot off to Lee Valley first thing Saturday morning. Wood burning pen = CHECK. Only $34. Perfect investment! To me, any purchase under $40 gets rung through guilt free. So after picking up a few other small items (blogs for later, promise) I went home to try out my new toy.

First off - it takes a while to warm up and there is no light that says when it's ready. Blast. Which means I have to keep testing it with my little finger tip to see when it's hot and ready. I hate this part of crafting. Finally, when the edge of my finger burns enough to run cold water over, I know it's ready. Ready or not - wood burning pen writing is harder than it looks. A lot harder. It's not like a fine ink pen. This is not a smooth writing surface. You have to press hard and then it burns a dark hole in the wood. But if you don't press hard enough, nothing appears. And you get a hand cramp after about, ooooh 2 flipping seconds. Balls.

Don't fret - the battle might be lost but the war isn't over. Here's my first go at writing with a wood burning pen, based on Kat's Love Logs *smirk*.

So here's my college try... FIRST college try. It'll get better. It's the thought behind the craft that counts, right?

And here's Kat's love logs. We're getting there. Patience.

Give It: Japanese Ribbon Tape

Ummmm where you have been all my life?? This is tape that looks like ribbon - RIBBON TAPE. How easy does that all of the sudden make things...? Imagine all that painstaking ribbon work I might have done had it occurred to me to put ribbon on things. It's early still, I'm sure it would have dawned on me eventually that ribbon makes this better. Technically, yes you could just put double sided tape on the back of dollar store ribbon but this seems much more fun.

Happy Tape does just that - makes me happy! Fun colours, fun patterns, fun sizes and not all that pricey. You could do lots with Happy Tape - the obvious, which is wrapping gifts. And other kinds of obvious stuff - lining invitations and envelopes, other stationary. But what about less obvious stuff? Use it as a border to attach your menus to their mats, you could use it to as a napkin ring and of course, a decorative way of making sure your coffee filters stay in place. You could use it for your favours, most def. Jam jars filled with whatever, rimmed with ribbon tape. Fancy up your chocolate boxes. Make cupcakes with plain cupcake cups and then put the tape around it to match with your colours.

Really, just make a dress out of Happy Tape.

The website says it is Japanese washi paper tape - I googled "what is Japanese washi paper tape" and not even a Wiki article comes up. Mystery tape!

Visit the Happy Tape website - I guarantee that you'll be inspired to tape your own Cpt's mouth shut. PS I like the lemonade pack best.

Other websites with some neat washi tape ideas!

Let's use tape to tie it all together, shall we?

Placeholders, eh...

Happy Tape in Happy Action

The Dreaded Cute Tape - Cheaper competitor to Happy Tape

I love it! Design*Sponge picks up on hottest craft of the moment - Coffee Filter crafting!

When I was 21, I bought a pair of insanely skinny, straight leg jeans that were not in fashion. And then I bought a pair of high boots. And then I wore them together and people asked me if I was going horse back riding. I ignored them. And then a year later, everyone and their dog was wearing tight jeans, breachers and high riding boots.

It's those satisfying moments that have me convinced I am actually a little hit ahead of the crowd. I started this blog and voila! This showed up two weeks later on one of the hottest craft blogs around.

Design*Sponge - Coffee Filter Flowers


Now - these are most certainly different than what I'm after. My coffee filters are slightly more organic - no cutting the filters and dyeing with tea and coffee. Howeva - people are starting to see the brilliance in coffee filters. Bring on the crafting!!

Eff Bomb Crafting: Coffee Filter Centre Pieces

Second videoblog! Booo to my webcam quality - yay for me learning new skills! This post is about making gorgeous centre pieces for about $3 a piece. Baby's not kidding. It's possible and for those of you who don't believe - the video is only 4 mins long. And the photo collage below the video is instant. : )

For me, the inspiration behind this came from my youth. My Grandma and I used to spend hours in her sewing room, making Christmas baubles by pining small squares of fabric to styrofoam baubles. It was usually fabric left over from her quilting projects and I was always so proud to give them as gifts. My Grandma and I spent many hours doing that together and they are some of my most vivid, favourite childhood memories. Yay Grandma!

Tools: Tea dyed coffee filters and cupcake cups (ccc), sequin pins and styrofoam balls. *Optional: hot glue gun, yarn

Step 1 - Take your tea dyed coffee filer/ccc's,  put your finger in the centre and fold the skirt upwards, creating a bloom. Scrunch it around your finger and them twist the bottom to a point, creating a steam. 

Step 2 - Take a sequin pin and push it through the stem of the bloom.

Step 3 - Take the pin and the stem, and pin the stem to the centre of the top of styrofoam ball.

Step 4 - Repeat these steps until the styrofoam ball is covered! VOILA! Rest the bauble on whatever you want - the top of a vase, a flower pot, a fish bowl, whatever!

Hawt Tips

• If you want to make it part of a hanging centre piece, take a piece of yarn and pin it to the top of the bauble. Hanging centre pieces are all the rage right now so if you can make it happen, make it happen!
• If you find there is a lot of space between the blooms, take your hot glue gun and put a dot of glue on the edge of one bloom and pinch it together with the bloom beside it, that should fill the gaps.  
• If you want to fill the bauble in even more, just take the coffee filter and twist them into a longer stem. It will give you a smaller bloom that won't take up as much room and you can pop it in between the other larger blooms.

Eff Bomb Crafting: A little help here, please

So - about a year ago, I found these postcards at this place called Country Furniture. They were a $1 a postcard. For some absolutely stupid reason, I bought 160 of them. Don't ask me why - please, don't. The point is I have them about 140 of them left and I don't know what to do with them.

I'm OPEN to ideas.

Ok go.

Bling Bling: This Stella and Dot busines - yay or nay?

Have you heard of this company Stella and Dot? I see it everywhere - every blog seems to have a link to it their site. I guess it's a home business/jewelery type thang where you hock their wares probably to raise money for fiscally-fatal wedding decor addictions.

Anyways - I took a peak and it's a pretty cute little line! It's all over the place - Cameron Diaz, Penelope Cruz and a lot of other celebs are wearing their pieces. Including Ebola Hilton - thanks Lainey - but I can look past that. PS I really like the dress Ebola is wearing in that article - potential inspiration? Doubtful. All in all, I particularly like the Sale and Under $50 sections (big surprise).


Here are a few pieces that I really dug and could inspire what I choose to wear at my own weddang. I (obviously) love gold (my ring is rose and white gold) and I'm hoping to wear some unique pieces. Probably won't end up being from this line but you'll get the drift. What do you think?

How industrious of you...

I am all for saving cash. Big time. Everyone knows that about me. Generous with my friends, cheap with myself. Pass the hodgepodge please - and yes, I'll take Greek dressing on that. I just have trouble spending money, and it's a trait I've grown into. RobBob and Big Mike can vouch that I wasn't always this way - but I have definitely grown to see the value of a dollar.

So it is taking a lot for me to relax and accept that some things are just going to cost money and that's okay. That good food costs money. That beautiful photographs cost money. I wanted to challenge myself and do a $10K wedding but Captain Skeptical kiboshed that so fast I didn't even have a chance to sell my case. That's fair - after all, it's our wedding, not just mine. FINE.

So some things will cost money, but other things don't have to. Or don't have to cost as much. Here are some great websites with gently loved wedding stuff - which is code for used. Would I buy a used wedding dress? Well - I don't know. Would I buy a vintage wedding dress, most definitely! So then why not a recently, gently loved one? You can get the latest trends, the best designers, for thrice times less the price. But - don't laugh - you are supposed to represent something somewhat viriginal on your wedding day. And a second hand wedding dress feels like it would kill off any possible chance of that I have left. I.E. you can't even get a virgin dress there, virgin bride? FML.

Here are some great websites for gently loved wedding goods - BTW consignment wedding is big $ business $. So no tears, please. These chickities are not flat broke trying to feed their children - they're trying to make back 60% of what they spent.

http://www.smartbrideboutique.com/

http://www.bravobride.com/

http://www.bridetobrideboutique.com/

http://www.recycledbride.com/

http://www.encorebridal.com/

Photo goodness - The Polaroid Project

So - this is another amazering little tool you can use to make your (wedding, crafting, whatever) photos a little on the funky side. The Polaroid Project, of which Justin Timberlake is a fan, is a great download for your computer. I first caught wind of it when Dan from MTV's the Aftershow posted about it on his DOOP (his version of GOOP - and if you don't know what GOOP is, then you're no friend of mine) and I haven't looked back since. Cpt Skeptical thinks it makes my face look shiny in all the photos but I don't care.

Now, for some reason, this fugging program has been giving me grief lately. I think that's because I went download happy and I probably accidentally messed around with my laptop settings so now it won't work. But download it - it's a simple process to get your photos all vintified. A little Polaroid camera will appear on your desktop and will just sit ontop of other icons, then you just drag and drop your photos. They take a few minutes to develop - you can save them at any stage, so some photos will be different colours and shades.

I think a great project would be the pick a billion of your favourite pictures, Polaroid them and then create your own hard cover album via Blurb. They do full colour books and albums - you can even add text. My stars. I should be paid to doll out this advice. Before it went to hell in a handbasket, here is a great picture I converted via the Polaroid program.

Three of my four girls! Backrow Julie and Leah, frontrow myself and Jessica. MIA - Andrea. She's probably saving lives in a hospital in Vic. Oh wait, no she's texting me at 4am telling me how bored she is. And how she likes to do the hair of the old ladies.

Eff Bomb Crafting: Tea - yes please! Part 2

You tea dyed your coffee filters - meow what?! You could make garlands, wedding favours, centre pieces, napkin rings, place card holders (I'll get back to you on that) and of course, flowers :)

A simple flower can be made with the gorgeous soft brown and rose that came from tea dying. Captain Skeptical (who was OH SO SKEPTICAL of this at first) like these so much - he's formally requested these colours at our wedding. I don't know if I can tea dye my cupcake cup garlands - that's another blog for another day.

Tools - the dyed coffee filters from yesterday, a floral pic (available at WalMarts and dollar stores everywhere), white streamers and a hot glue gun

Step 1 - Layer your tea dyed filters one of top of the other, however you want to organize your colours. Pinch the bottom and twist it, to make a little point. (Let's be honest, it reminds me of a nipple. Cpt. Skeptical is rubbing off.)

Step 2 - Take your floral pics, which BTW are just green sticks with wire. If they weren't so cheap to buy, I would tell you to make them yourself. Poke the pic through the centre of  your flower, right through the twisted point.

Step 3 - With your two little cupcake cups, twist the bottoms up the same way you did with the coffee filters, and wrap the wire from the floral pick around their twisted point. Pull them down to the rest on the coffee filters and using a hot glue gun, put a dot of glue on either side to secure them to the filters. The photo on the right bothers me because of that SHADOW but you get the idea.

Step 4 * Optional - Using the white streamer you saved from drowning in Part 1, put a smidge of glue on the one end and attach it to the base of the flower. Then wrap it all the way down to the bottom of the floral pick, completely cover the stick.  

Step 5 - Do the exact same thing with the two pieces of dyed yarn, starting at the top and wrap them all the way down.

Step 6 - With the two long ends of yarn, tie a little bow and glue it in place. VOILA! Tea dyed, coffee filter flower. Thank. Rod.

Again, big UPS to Miss Ex Bride To Be for her muchos inspirational blog on tea dying coffee filters