Eff Bomb Crafting: Follow up the Washi Tape post!

Last month I did a post on how intriguing Japanese washi tape looked – it looked so fun! Fun colours, fun patterns, easy to use… so I decided to put my money where my mouth is and order some.

After I posted last month, Marisa from Omiyage (an online stationary store) contacted me to let me know that washi tape is indeedy right at my finger tips. It features goodies from Japan but Marisa and her team are based in Canada, so very accessible and shipping is less expensive.

I tried to pick colours that would match my wedding – so I got a nice peachy pink, peachy orange, a softer pink, and then I got a cream because that’s what came with it. Because I would just giving it a try, I didn’t bother to order the bronze but that’s what I would do to tie it all in. So 4 rolls - $20.

So what I decided to do for my first go at washi tape was decorate the border of a photograph. I went to IKEA and bought the good old 2-frames-fer-5-bucks deal. Oh you know them - the white frames, the plastic instead of glass - we all have them. Infact, I probably didn’t even need to buy more, I bet if I looked around our castle I could have found some. But still – hunt through garage sales or Value Village and you’re sure to find some cutesy frames that would look great.

My wonderful friend Beth got married to her husband Jesse this summer and as a thank you from them, she gave us some photos from her photo booth. The background for the photo booth was a prairie skyline so I thought these photos would work great with these colours of tape.

	I laid the photo down, centred, on the white piece of paper that comes in the frame. Using the tape, I secured the photo to the paper. I decided to overlay the tape on the photo for artistic measure.
	I then took the soft pink and lined the sides the same way, slightly overlapping. Then, I just trimmed the edges off. Perf.
	Voila! I think it makes a might fine border, if you ask me!

Just a little twist…

For the photo of just Beth and I, I did the same thing with the lining, except I cut some strips from an old school book, and put them underneath the side lining.Then I just lay the tape right over top. This shows you just how transparent the tape it and gives the frame a little extra tickle!

Here is what I love about the washi tape:

• Reasonably ransparent, so great for crafting. Just gives a hint of colour.
• Because it’s masking tape, it’s easy to peel off if it’s not perfect. It’s not super strong, so don’t hold things together with it.
• Inexpensive! Heck YES!

What I wish I knew:

• I wish I had taken a second to visualize what the size would actually be. When I read masking tape, my brain took me to a roll of masking tape. They are not quite as big as masking tape. That is both good, because it’s a little thinner and it’s not as wide, but of course, who wouldn’t love 80 ft of washi tape. :)

Thanks again to Marisa and her team at Omiyage! I can’t wait to try more. Here is a link to their FB group – they have tons of fun, crafty ideas :)

FOTB – Advice on Hospitality

I was at home in Victoria this month, visiting my family. It is always so nice to be home. :) Of course, with all the sunshine and the low flow showers and the ocean (she says hello, Russ :) sometimes the nicest part is still just visiting with my family.

My Father, Big Mike - is to say the very least muchos excited about le wedding. There are a few things I still have to explain to him. That the "Welcome to the Family" speech is not to gloat about how fantastic his daughter is (although I wish it was). There are lots of things he is thinking ahead for and there is lots he knows more about than I do. But the best part about it is that he does it on camera.

Eff Bomb Crafting: Coffee Filter Doilies

Doilie-doiley-doily,doyly – how do you spell this word?

Videographer\Editor\Producer\Star’s Note: Today I learned how to use captions :)

Coffee Filter Doilies! :)

Coffee Filter Doilies
This craft did not turn out how I originally thought it would. I dreamed that they would be much more doilie-like. That being said – in my mind, I thought that I would be able to use a pre-stencilled craft punch. It never occurred to me that using a straight edge along a round edge wouldn’t work. How that got by me – I don’t know. I’m a victim of my own excitement, clearly.

I do believe in the evolution of the craft – like any other form of art, the craft will grow. It will change, it will evolve. As I mature as a Bride, it will mature as a craft. I will be inspired by new ideas, new images, new craft punch methods.

I believe in the tomorrow of crafting.

	Tools: Coffee filters (tea dyed or plain) Craft Punch ($20 at Michael’s) Pencil or pen or crayon (you get it) Cutting board or piece of thick cardboard
	Step 1 Fold the coffee filter into quarters.
	Step 2 Using your pencil, mark out a little design. Flowers, diamonds, hearts, whatever you dream up!
	Step 3 Using your craft punch, punch our your design!
	Step 4 Unfold and VOILA! A coffee filter doilie. Now go forth! Do with it what you will!!

Some uses for doilies that you miiiiiight find very, very inspiring…Elizabeth Ann Designs seems to have a handle on this – this is a blog post with about 6 or 7 different ideas for doilies at your wedding, including little bags. Genius!

Lazy Post: Too Hippy Dippy?

Okay - so I posted a while ago about the Rustic Wedding craze and the yellow filters and whateva.  The other day, Jazzy and I were snooping around on 100 Layer Cake and found this wedding.

Now - I am feeling it is way way too hippy dippy, like okay I get it. Jazz however thinks it's adorable and appreciates it. Not that it matters what we think of their wedding. Weigh in - what do you think?

Mel + Garrett's Real Wedding

Gamblin' Gal: What he's going to wear

 
Cpt. Skeptical just informed me that in New York (SoHo specifically) a person is measured on how hip they are by the number of times they roll their cuffs. Thank goodness for insight like that. On a daily basis. *Note: After making that statement, he pointed his finger at me and said "Blog THAT!" Ummmk.

Here is the first of many blog posts on what Captain Sketpical may or may not wear to the wedding. This all a big guessing game - and I'm gonna through shots out in the dark. Needle in the haystack. For those of you who know him, you know he has impeccable style and I'm not just saying that. He makes a living off of dressing well - jealouse? Ya, me too except it gets rubbed in my face everyday. EFF.
 


This little baby is a Dolce & Gabbana, pulled from an article on Le Blog Est Brut. Some rather sassy gentlemen listed this on a great article about how to buy a tux.




 

While I know this may seem rather bold, I think if anyone can pull off a velvet sport coat, it’s the Captain. I want to see him in what he wants to wear on our big day and I wouldn’t rule velvet out. This is the Anthony Velvet Sport Coat by RL – but RL is a little too mainstream for The Cpt.







This third tux is by Band of Outsiders, a unique line of mens wear that I really appreciate and I would wear if I was a guy. It’s part hipster, part outdoorsy, part hippie-dippie. I pulled this photo from an article posted on Sartorially Inclined, a piece which will give you a solid idea of what their range in. I love the shoes! But it’s a long shot for The Cpt.






Last but not least, I love a little décolletage. This is one sharp looking fellow. A blog by Mode Parade, I really dig how he pulls it off. He is casual and confident, just like The Cpt. Except The Cpt. is not black.


Which one do you like best?

You probably didn’t know…

 

But then again, I didn’t really mention it. Except on Fubooko.

Today, the countDOWN begins. It’s exactly 365 days til The Cpt and I get married. Holy-schmoly. As my broja would say “Full on grown ups!”

To see amazering video of The Cpt and I - please. Click here :)

Bloomin’ Cheap: Early September

Bloomin’ Cheap is a new series of posts – every few weeks, I’m going to wander into the grocery store and see what kind of flowers they have kickin’ around – y’know, what’s in season.
Because if you really wanted too, you could just have your parents go to the grocery store at 8am on the day of your wedding and buy out the floral department. Honestly, why not?
Pros – cheap flowers, FRESH cheap flowers
Cons – don’t really get to pick your colours necessarily, might not have everything (or anything) you want, and you have to also have someone arrange them.
Pros – FRESH CHEAP flowers. And if you ask someone to arrange them, it’s making them an important part of your special day. It’s not hassle at all, really. Just give them the photo and they’ll figure it out.
Cons – you have to get your own vases, either bought or rented, so don’t forget to add that on to the price. But that only gets as pricey as you want it to be.
Pros – Flowers. Fer cheap.
Well I have listed three Pros and only two Cons. You do the math, Watson.
Here is my first go-round at Bloomin’ Cheap. For early September, I found:

• 5 stem Gladiola’s, on sale, 2 for $5. They had reds, pinks, oranges, yellows.  Great for filler, but even better if you have tall, elegant centre pieces.

• 18 stemmed roses for $20 and a dozen stemmed roses for $15. Let’s say 20 tables x $15 = $300. Puh.Lease..!

•          

• 3 stem Stargazer with Beargrass for $8 – tres gorgeous. The ones at Safeway aren’t quite in bloom yet (is that another Con? Might not bloom in time..?) but the picture beside it is what this would look like. Well – I can’t say the Safeway ones will look exactly like that but you get the idea.

• These are Daisy Spray Mum’s, and these look really great actually. They are nice and full, very round bunches and would look great in a small bouquet or a small centre piece. 3 stems for $7.

• And then these purple little dandies for $5 a bunch. I can’t read what type of flower they are but I can read that price! Hot Darn!

Great creative with your flowers – don’t assume that a florist is your only option. What about a flower farm or a farmer’s market? There is always another option.

Good Mews, Re: Lemme See Your Ring

This morning, I asked if I was being rude if I did not reciporcate the request to see another girl's engagement ring. Scroll down to see le article, it's below the movie about The Danish Poet (I have some time lately, k?)

I put forth my question via Twitter to an interweb wedding expert and it turns out I am NOT rude.

Just mean.

A Short Film: 15 Minutes to Help You Appreciate Love

This is a truly charming short film - a little love story by Torill Kove. I caught it on the Sundance Channel this morning and it truly made me happy to have love.

15 minutes to help you appreciate love.

The Danish Poet

Lemme see your ring: Is that a question?

That question is hard for me. It’s hard because I don’t know how to ask it.

The first few times people asked to see my ring, I was a little thrown off. I felt the way pregnant women feel when strangers ask to touch their belly – who the hell are you? I felt show offy – I love my ring but I don’t want to flaunt it. When my girlfriends ask to see my ring, it’s not hard to show them, because I know they are excited for me.

What I still can’t bring myself to do is to ask other girls if I can see theirs. And by other girls, I mean girls I don’t know all that well. I worry that I’m offending them. Because when they ask to see mine, isn’t it polite to reciprocate the request? And when does it end – if a girl is married, should I still be asking to see their ring, or only girls who are engaged…? And after that – the ring talk just keeps going on. My wedding band? Um only married people have those.

So  why are we asking. Honestly, why are we asking. The Cpt’s friend’s sister’s co-worker, why does she want to see my ring? She’s not happy for me, she doesn’t even know me. It makes me think - is it all a big competition? Are we comparing to see who’s ring is bigger and better? Or are we just being polite and admiring a most precious piece of jewellery?

I still feel like I’m being a little rude – give me your hand and let me judge your ring. Please. And let me feel so much better about myself because I have never seen a ring I’m going to like better than mine.
I love my ring because Lowell gave it to me and I'll still show it when people ask to see if. But I promise, I vow, I pinky swear that I will be polite and ask to see the rings of the girls who ask me.


Here is my ring on a nature photo shoot - its like a Where`s Waldo picture.

Love in a Luggage Tag

It’s hard to kick start my butt back into blogging. Especially when I've been muchos busy and all I have been doing is eating crappy food and flipping through Martha Stewart weddings until I pass out from exhaustion. And yes, the TV is usually on also.

So to warm up a little, here is something that I am happy to share! On Thursday, we got a a really nice “Thanks for the RSVP!” note from Shaun and Mariana, the bride and groom-to-be who are getting married in Maui in October. Which we are leaving for in three weeks. But who’s counting. Peace out, worst Calgary summer ever.

The thanks on its own is very sweet and kind gesture. But *squishyface* it came with Luggage Tags! How great is that?!

Here is the front, which is a very cute little photo of Maui-owwy-owwy.

The inside, which on the top flap had the two little plastic loops attached. I got so excited to put them together that I just took them off so just imagine them there. Don’t be lazy.

And voila! So the little photo on the front is actually the luggage tag itself,  it serves a double purpose! Each tag was made with our names and addresses (keep your swim trunks out of my suitcase, Cpt), and it’s the little personalized details like that make the gesture memorable.

Big kudos to Shaun and Mariana and we can’t wait for Maui!!

Pardon est moi

So the exhibit I am working on right meow is closing this week. There is just not going to be any time to do any quality posting – I’m sorry. But that’s the only time I’m apologising. Anything that makes its way up here is a bonus – most likely be back full tilt next week? Booooo. I’m a bad friend. But you’ll be okay.

Review Time: Weddingbells Magazine

A newlywed bride said something once that made me very happy
    "This is the only time in your life when you are justified to spend all that money on bridal magazines."

Thank rod. On one hand - YES. Guilt free magazine purchases and a lot of them.

And then there's the other hand. These things go for between $7 - $12 a pop – the only saving grace is most publications produce issues seasonally. However – the market is still saturated with them, so although you’re only buying 4 of each a year, you’re buying 15 magazines at $10 a pop 4 times a year. That’s $600 a year on glossy paper – this better be the best collage of my life.



Last weekend, I picked up my first copy of Weddingbells Magazine, which is a Canadian bridal magazine. It was the cover that really sold me, mos def -  it said Calgary and Edmonton. Booyah.




So on one of the few sunny afternoons we had this summer, I sat down to get my judge on.


What I liked

• Their compilation pages. Pulling together trends and how to make them happen. Always good to see new products and what editors are keeping their eye on. After all – editors are paid to be ahead of the game. 

• Ads for dresses that are actually available in Canada – lots of full page pictures and great looks that I can actually find in Calgary and purchase here too. Refreshing to see not all Vera Wang.
  
• Amazing photo-editorial that they actually spent money on. I mean – they were shot across the country, on location. Not in front of a white sheet.
• Local weddings reviewed – I love reading about real weddings, seeing photos and especially in Calgary. Pushes my boundaries in what I think is possible for our city. Note: I loved the local reviews, but I wanted more! Exponentially more

What I didn’t love

• So – this magazine has a lot of ads. As in, regular ads and then “Promotions” which are ads disguised as editorial. So it felt like was more ads - I don't mind regular ads because you've gotta turn the lights on in the office but don't try and trick me with pretendy ads. Or if you are, remove some of the regular ads.
  

• A lot of reviewing make up products and celebrity make up. I can see what celebs look like and wear for free on people.com so cut it out.
• Not enough actual wedding tips – not much about budgeting, decor or stationary trends. Disappointing to me because I’m a big DIYer and so those sections really inspire me. Gets my booty shakin'.
• Not enough local content – they had plenty of local listings though, but I can get that for free anywhere. They sold a lot of local ads but I want to read about what YYC wedding planners are doing, what brides have done, unique and curious things that Calgary and it’s culture is inspiring brides to do! Calgary is no longer a consumer driven market, which is great for the city but unfortunately, telling me where to go buy stuff doesn't really cut it anymore.
  

I realize that magazines aren’t cheap to produce and that writers deserve to be paid well, so magazines want to pay them what they’re worth. And sometimes that means more ads but usually that equates to more editorial. I would love to see more from local writers – if you’re going to put Calgary’s name in the title, let me see some more Calgary!

Give It: Burlap and Twine. I'm not joking.

Forward: My last week of posts has been very internet based and not very crafty - I know and I'm sorry! Things are a little hectic at work and so please forgive me. By later next week, I should be back on the craft bandwagon!  

I really like the idea of burlap and twine as accents at our wedding because I feel it falls into the Rustic Wedding category without suffocating our guests in it. Plus, the organic-ish browns would add a more masculine feel to our tday. In fact – these are high on the very-likely-to-become-some-Eff-Bomb-Crafts. Except I can’t sew and there is so much of my home made crap sitting around the Skeptical Palace that its three times more flammable than before. Eff.

I think that these jars with twine from Style Me Pretty would make great drinking glasses for dinner parties - maybe a little hard to wash though? And if I have a dinner party, then that means we have to do something about a dining table too. Booooourns too much work. But I do think that they would look great as centre pieces, like in the photo below.

Jealouse Note: If you click on the link above, you will see the most amazing/ridiculous rehearsal dinner of your life. As in – that rehearsal dinner is friggin so gorg, it could be a wedding. Eff off right meow.

 

And even more so – I adore these burlap table runners from Wedding Bee. I like the natural fabrics (eco-chic and eco cheap). Especially with the ruffles – HERRO! Uber cute with my new drinking glasses.

Am I willing to make these for my wedding -? The jars with twine, perhaps as a part of the centre pieces (which just keep getting bigger, apparently). As for the burlap table runner – well our tables are round and I found a great example of what they would look like on a round table (thanks to inspiredbythis.com, a beautiful blog about all things weddings) and now I am hooked! Gramma! Get the sewing machine out!

Bride Forums - Poking the Snarly Bears with a Smoldering Stick

Normally I am a little too chicken to post on open forums. It always seems like the crazies are the ones who jump all over your posts to respond and comment, the normal people just seem to read posts and never respond. I guess that's just like me - read and never respond.

On Sunday, I was sitting around watching Dexter stalk and kill the dad from 3rd Rock and, as usual, snooping around on The Knot . I cracked my knuckles, came up with something clever, did a little typing and viola! Pressed post. And then my post went drunk and posted itself 3 times. Whatever, who really cares. Same title, same author. Just don't click on it. I immediately comment on all 3 that I was sorry for the over posts, oops I'm newish.

But no. The crazy-ass-brides jumped all over that one. "Excuse me, but you posted 3 times. So don't push the post button more than once, thanks." "Why did you post this more than once?? Push post once pls thx" Right - please and thanks. I'm sure you really mean that.

The shock subsided and I'm looking at the comments and thinking - I really have them all riled up. They're agitated. They're probably pissy at their fiance's for not telling them what's wrong, probably because they're fiance's are struggling to find a way to tell them they just don't care about the table runners and the % of peonies to pansies in the bridesmaids bouquets.

Why do people get so worked up? Over things that are so silly - how about this, just don't read my post three times. Use the complex analytical skills you learned in the 2nd grade and evaluate your immediate position. Free will gives you the ability not to click on all three posts - and not to be so snappy in your replies!

Just for fun - check out this crazy arse forum on The Knot - the Snarky Brides board - they wisely tried to create a forum to attract all the cranky brides to post and keep them from scaring off regular girls.