My Grandma taught me Morse Code this winter – jealous? Um, pretty sure that when the aliens are attacking and Grandma and I are coordinating with Obama to save the planet, you’ll be pretty thankful.
.... .- .--. .--. -.-- / -... .. .-. - .... -.. .- -.-- --..-- / --. .-. .- -. -.. – .-
Not hard, but this one is a little time consuming and you have to use a bit more of your imagination. You can’t always see the chalkboard immediately when you see a potential frame or surface – that’s why I recommend becoming a garage sale stalker and spending some sunny Saturday afternoons this summer trolling your neighbourhood.
Other good places? Find the little flea markets (and then tell me where they are), the thrift stores (Salvation Army, Value Village, Mennonite Thrift Store) and other funny consignment stores and get a feel for when they put out new stock. If it’s daily, well then that’s your choice to go every single day. But if it’s weekly, say Wednesdays, try to stop by on Thursday to get first dibs on the goods.
This is what we’re starting out with. A $4 find at a thrift store in Calgary. As you can see – my imagination was in over drive that day.
Tools:
Step 1 – Give the frame of your bulletin board a good wipe down, let it dry and lay it down on some newspaper. Take the colour you want to be your primary frame colour and apply the first coat. |
Step 2 – Let that coat dry. Run masking tape along the entire frame, the inside edges, to make sure that it’s completely covered. Take your chalkboard paint and apply your first coat. Put it on the back porch to dry for 24 hours.  |
| Step 3 – After 24, apply your second coat of chalkboard paint. You should only need two coats. |
| Step 4 – 24 hours after that coat has dried, bring it back inside and remove the masking tape. Check to make sure that no chalkboard paint leaked through onto the frame. If it did, do some touch ups. |
Step 5 – After your touch ups have dried, apply a scattered first coat of your secondary colour. I say scattered because you don’t want the secondary colour to cover the entire primary colour. You want to use light strokes that just glaze the frame with the colour.  |
Step 6 – After your secondary colour has dried, you want to use the same effect with your primary colour again, so that only a little bit of your secondary colour shows through.  |
Voila! C’est fin
Most of the crafts I do are pretty straight forward and sometimes I ask myself WHY I would do an entire post on this craft. Like painting a flameless candle.
It’s not so much that I think you can’t do it or figure it out on your own – it’s more than I want you to see how easy and fast it is and how great it turns out. People always ask me where I get the time to craft and blog – where do I get the time?!? How do you people fill your days???? There are only so many Kardashian reruns I can watch.
For your crafting pleasure, here’s an easy step by step tutorial on bunting. So simple to make, use left over paper scraps from other projects, buy a package of scrapbooking paper with lots of pretty patterns or even use fabric that you love (but maybe not cherish.) I used the paper we are using for our invitations because it matches my blog. MWUAH!
Tools:
| Step 1: Measure out the size that you want each bunt (is that the singular term?) to be. You can either cut a tracer out of thicker paper, or just free style with the paper you have (says the girl who normally cuts four times, measures zero). |
| Step 2: Trace and cut out your bunting.
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| Step 3: Arrange your bunting in the order you want to hang off your ribbon.
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| Optional  Then take your craft puncher and punch out the initial. *Note this is my Martha Stewart craft puncher that I paid full price for and was probably in the $20 – $25 range. This is also the Martha Stewart craft puncher that broke three times while I was punching. Martha – I expect a lot more from you and your pricey tools. You are just lucky that I am industrious enough to put it back together, as it is similar to how a spring loaded pen works.  Once you have punched out the initials, glue that bunt on top of another bunt of a different colour. *Try not to layer a pattern on top of a pattern, it’s too hard to see the initials. |
| Step 5: You can either glue or string the bunts along your ribbon. Gluing them is straight forward – just put a dab of glue on either corner and lay your ribbon flat so it doesn’t get all twisted. I used Sticky Tab glue and it worked perf.
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| Step 6: Let’em dry! 20 mins to be safe? |
| Step 7: String’em up behind your head table, along the window at the bridal shower or on your string tree in your bathroom. |
Oh Earth Tones – you are so lovely to me.
I have been sick for more than a week now – extremely annoying. Tired of feeling crumby, tired of –30 degree weather in Calgary and tired of going to bed at 830 every night.
On that note, let’s talk about decorative candles – have you SEEN how much these are going for lately?? It’s ridiculous – a pile of wax with a string and a bead can run you $20. Puhlease. Not going to happen, not on my wallet.
Tools:
Step 1: Paint your candle with your crackle paint, one coat. Crackle paint is pricey, about $14 at Michaels. Let me know if you have found it cheaper somewhere else.
Step 2: Cut 10’’ – 12’’ of your ribbon, yarn, twine, whatev – long enough to tie a bow with extra for the tails…
Step 3: When the crackle paint has dried (about 15 minutes to be safe) tie your little ribbon around the candle. If you want, you can put a dab of glue under the knot to hold the ribbon in place. Be careful though, the hot glue will flake off the crackle paint. White glue might not flake the paint but I never find it works as well.
Optional Step 4: String your bead or additional decorative items onto the tails of the bow, and tie small knots at the ends to hold the beads in place.
With the crackle paint, it gives the candles a little bit of a birch effect and it most certainly gives them a rustic feel.
These are almost exactamundo my colours for le wedding – although I won’t be having macaroons, a chandelier, a tea party or tissue paper curtain, I am still loving the palette. Substitute the gold for a warm brown and voila! Welcome to my wedding.
The inspiration board is by Anastasia Marie Cards – <3 it!
ttp://www.calgarysun.com/video/2011-calgary-bachelor-makes-his-choice/788982943001
It won’t let me embed the video into my blog but if you do choose to lose 30 seconds of your life, I pinky swear that this is not an accurate representation of lurve in Calgary. This is just portrait of Calgary love painted very close to fit the stereotype. Lord.
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 That’s what I’m talkin’ about. |
 A look at the two frames after one coat of chalkboard paint |
 Remember to put masking tape around the edges of your frame so that the frame itself doesn’t get all messed up. It’s a miracle I thought of that before I went to task. |
Option 1 : Vintage wedding dress Because honestly, when else I am going to wear it? And I really really love it. |
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| Pros: It’s white, it’s dainty, it doubles my bust, it’s a special beautiful dress, it’s unique, and it’s reasonably comfortable. |
| Cons: Am I only allowed to wear white on my wedding day? And does it seem a little too try hard? Because you know how I normally feel about this kind of stuff – for your wedding, there is no too much. If you have a dream, live it now because you’ll never get another chance. |
Option 2 : Sparkly cream Club Monaco TopThis I would wear every day if I could. But the struggle is what do I wear as a bottom? Because I feel like tights would date the photos a little TOO much but I also feel like jeans are too casual. |
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| Pros: I am all over the sparkles lately. The Cpt commented just the other day that I am going through a Real Housewives phase. Not normally one for glitz, I am way into the bling. Ya, CPT maybe it’s because you put a ring on it and meow I’m addicted. Who’s fault is THAT. |
| Cons: Honestly, I am clueless about what to wear on the bottom. It’s actually a lot more flattering on than it looks on the hanger. It’s a bell bottom top that is nice and fitted on the top and in the sleeves but goes straight down and out like a bell. Pretty. The shirt is a little longer and it’s perfect for tights. I tried it on with white shorts and it was passable but then it also makes it look like I’m in Maui again (I’d jump off that stupid cliff another fifty times if I could be back in Maui). So then I thought maybe sparkly shorts but that might be pushing my luck. Ideas?? |
Option Three : Taupe cocktail dress from H&MAgain, a dress I like a lot but it’s just not what I had pictured myself wearing in the shoot. Probably because not a single pair of my brown shoes goes with it and that means I’ll have to wear black shoes and I only own black boots and I only own black riding boots (which don’t work) and black stiletto boots (which are five years ago, EFF) |
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| Pros: It’s flattering, it’s got nice lines that make me look long and lean, I wouldn’t need to get a spray tan and I feel like I look good in the dress. And I haven’t worn it that many times so it wouldn’t be like “Oh there’s Alix in THAT dress again”. |
| Cons: Fug. I dunno, it’s just not what I pictured! I pictured myself in white or cream, virginal. fml. |
Last name’s – this is a hard one. To take a name or not take a name. Universally, your family name means something to you – it represents and manifests all sorts of intangibles. Words like history, heritage, roots, traditions – your last name becomes all these things, makes them tangible.
It represents how hard your parents worked to build you the life you have lived and it represents all the values you want to pass on to your children.
In short, a rose might smell as sweet with any other name, but it might not hold it’s head the same way.
So in this modern day and age, changing your name is a bigger thing than maybe it used to be. And while there are some couples who are on the same page – a name is a homage to where you came from and a gal should have the right to respect her family, there are as many couples who hold firm the tradition of taking a spouses name. It represents a new life, the beginnings of a new family, a new lineage, a chance to build your own history, heritage, roots and traditions – a chance to build your own name.
So clearly, I see both sides quite clearly. And I side with neither – I’m siding with Sweden on this one. A big trend in Sweden is picking a new last name. New family, new name. It stems from the fact that Swedish families never traditionally had surnames – you took your father’s first name and added a “son” if you were the son and a “dotter” if you were the daughter. So if I was Swedish (wish my father wishes, as that means he would be Swedish. He is currently teaching himself Swedish, FYI, so he can watch Ingrid Bergman movies in their most natural state) my name would Alix Michaelsdotter. And The Cpt’s name would be Lowell Edwinson. SO ANYWAYS hipster Swedes are now picking totally new last names, as so many last names are so similar, they don’t feel as much of an emotional connection to their names.
I can see why – it’s like being a Smith (or a Williams *snicker*) and having six other kids with the last name Smith in your class. And you don’t know any of them.
Maybe Lowell and I will go Swedish, instead of going with the Swedish. Maybe we’ll change our last name to Edwinson. I can hear him rolling his eyes right now.
I like my name – it will be sad to say goodbye to it. It’s not that I don’t like my name incumbent. It’s just that – I like the way I hold my head.
Don’t believe me about the Swedes? The NYT doesn’t lie – it’s all the news that’s fit to print.
Look how popular Lowell and I will be. Fourth most popular in the WHOLE of the United States of America. Beat that, Oprah.
Not everyone has been around the Coffee Filter Bride since the beginning and that’s okay. You get the drift. That’s the whole point of the blog.
To give you a bit more in-depth understanding of my style, my personality and why I do write sassy, unimportant things a few times a week, take a listen to the jingle it too me and my good friend Christopher Peter Duthie three days to write, produce and record. It’s worth it.
Yeah I did. Here’s the fastest craft in the west – I came up with this whilst writing my latest Calgary Bride post and had such a shock of inspiration that I literally stopped writing and made the craft.
What I love about it:
LOVE.IT. Prepare to see it at le wedding. So easy and inexpensive. Here goes.
Tools:
Step 1
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| Cut your piece of lace large enough to completely cover your paper lantern. You can also see I need to sharpen my scissors. Embarrassing. |
Step 2
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| Run a strip of hot glue in a straight line along the lantern. Let it dry for 10 seconds to get tacky and not to be scalding hot. |
Step 3
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| Line up the edge of the lace with the glue and attach |
Step 4
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| Wrap the lace around the lantern and with a smack of glue about an inch long, line up the other end of the lace with the end that is already attached. |
Step 5
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| At one of the open ends, run glue around the edge of the circle. Fasten lace and make sure it’s rather taught to the edge. Repeat with the other open end. |
Step 6
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| To make sure it’s good and secure, use a clothespin to pin the lace, glue and lantern together. Clothespins are great for this kind of thing because they are cheap and protect your little fingers. |
Step 7
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| Trim the edges of the lace so that it’s neat and tidy. Because the middle of the lantern is wider than the top, you will have to do some on hand “rooshing” but remember, this doesn’t have to look perfect. They are more than likely going to be hanging from the ceiling with tea lights or holiday lights making them glow so no one will notice. Please do not spend hours trying to make them perfect – think of all the other things you could do, like write your vows (something that has ACTUAL meaning). |
