[Silk Floral Pew Bows] by the dozen

I created 24 pew bows for my wedding ceremony, 12 in green and 12 in blue.

Materials (for one):
1 Silk Hydrangea stem
1 Pew clip (from orientaltrading.com)
5-6 yards 6" ivory organza ribbon
2 yards 1.75" ivory satin ribbon
1 floral wire, about 1' long
3/4" masking tape

The first step was to secure the hydrangea stem to the pew clip. I cut the stem to about 6 inches so that the head of the flower sat on top of the clip with the stem pressed against the outer face of the clip. Then I wrapped masking tape over the entire stem and clip.

Next I created a bow out of the 6" organza ribbon, creating three loops on each side with a tail hanging to the floor. I used floral wire to secure the bow to the clip just underneath the flower so the clip and masking tape would be covered. Lastly I tied a length of satin ribbon in a double-knot over the center of the organza to hide the green floral wire.

It was easy to store and transport these by hanging them by the clips on three plastic hangers, eight pew bows to a hanger. This kept the ribbons from wrinkling and I think it kept things simple for my friends who were setting them up.

images by Siang of Lightphoria - www.lightphoria.com

Got [Escort Cards]?

photo by Siang of Lightphoria - www.lightphoria.com

Escort cards are a popular means to guide guests to which table they are supposed to sit at for your wedding reception dinner. It is possible to buy cards by the pack that you can print on, but this can be really expensive, like 50 cents to more than a dollar per card.

Making your own escort cards is a little time-consuming but it is a rather simple process and can save you a lot of money. Handmade cards are also a nice personal touch.

To make 200 escort cards I bought a stack of card stock from the PaperZone for around $20 and I ended up using up less than half of the paper supply. My other tools and supplies were items that I already had on hand: art markers, a caligraphy pen a shaped punch, ruler, and paper cutter.

Customizing a [Flower Girl Basket] x2

I found a couple of basic baskets at the store, but they were kind of plain. I added some satin flowers, a pearl spray and ivory ribbon, and viola! One-of-a-kind flower girl baskets.

This was a very quick and easy craft project. I already had the flowers and pearl spray on hand because I found them at Michael's on clearance a few weeks ago. The satin flowers just happened to match the baskets perfectly! The ribbon actually came with the baskets as a tie on the outer packaging; I just untied it, ironed it, and made it part of the actual basket design.

This [Card Box] takes the cake!

This weekend I finished another one of my wedding craft projects. I made a box for cards that looks like a wedding cake!

Materials:
1 set of 3 hat boxes
1 roll of 1.5" blue organza ribbon
1 roll of 1" blue satin ribbon
2 feet of wired blue ribbon (optional)
1 tube of ivory acryllic paint

Tools:
- hot glue gun
- Craft knife
- Scissors
- Sponge paint brush

Basically I got three round nesting hat boxes from Michael's, cut holes in the tops of the bottom two boxes and a slot in the top box, painted them with acryllic paint, hot glued them together, then added decorative ribbon using double-stick tape. It was a fun, fast, and easy project.


3/24/09 Post-Wedding Update - The wedding cake-shaped card box served as functional decor at the gift table in the foyer as guest entered the church for our wedding. We received a lot of cards!


Picture by Siang of Lightphoria - www.lightphoria.com

Crafting [Silk Wedding Bouquet] x5

My bridal party includes my Maid of Honor and three Bridesmaids, for a total of five bouquets. I love blue and green hydrangeas, but they seem to be more of a Spring-Summer flower so it may be difficult to get them in the Fall. They also like to change color if they aren't stored at the right temperature with the correct amount of water. I've never done flower arrangements before, but it doesn't seem too difficult to make what I want out of silk flowers, especially since I will have all summer to make them rather than just two or three days prior to the wedding.

I found some gorgeous flowers in the perfect colors at Michael's, and they were on sale because they were from the Spring selection (it's almost Summer now!). I got some lilies, peonies and blue roses to go with the hydrangeas as well. So far I have started preparing the stems, gathering them in bunches and wrapping them with green floral tape. The next step is to trim the excess length off the stem since the stems are almost a yard long.

The last step will be to add a handle to cover the ugly plastic green stems. I bought some white dupioni silk which was on sale at JoAnn's (didn't even have to use the 40% off coupon!) that I will use to wrap the stem, and then I plan to add pearl buttons for accents to finish it off!




FLOWER SYMBOLISM:

Hydrangea - Heart-felt.
White Lily - hope of everlasting life, virginity, purity, majesty, abundance.
Blue Roses - someone is mysterious.
Peony - Happy life, happy marriage.
Rosebud - Beauty, youth.


3/24/09 Post-Wedding Update - The finished bouquets turned out to be fabulous!

photo by Siang of Lightphoria - www.lightphoria.com

Enchanted [Handmade Garter]

I decided to make my own garter for my wedding because it looked simple enough... so I did! I finished it today. I sewed it by hand and used two different types of lace, some satin ribbon, and added bows, with a bead and sequin in the middle of the bow.

It was about a 2-3 hour project, I think, but spread out over 3 weeks since I just worked on it a little bit here and there while playing my favorite MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game) on my computer. Ah, what one can accomplish while sitting around waiting for raid leaders to finish distributing loot and then drone on about the strategy for slaying the giant monster in the next room.

3/24/09 - An After-the-wedding Anecdote: My sister caught my bouquet and her boyfriend caught the garter. Three months later he proposed and they are getting married in July!


pictures by Siang of Lightphoria - www.lightphoria.com