"how to make whoopie": an adorable bridal shower gift

A few weeks ago, my co-worker told me about the cutest idea she put together for her daughter's bridal shower. She called it "How To Make Whoopie" - a gift that was centered around everything to do with making "whoopie pies."
I attended my cousin's fiances bridal shower recently and decided to make a similar version of this adorable gift. I ordered a whoopie pie pan, a whoopie pie recipe book and a wooden mixing spoon on Amazon. I wrapped them all together with ribbon & twine and finished it off with a handmade sign.

It turned out cute and the bride loved it! This is such an easy and adorable gift idea for a bridal shower. It was perfect because this bride LOVES to bake.
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diy boutonniere

ALL PHOTOS IN THIS POST BY HEATHER BRINCKO

For our wedding, we did only artificial flowers. Why? Well...real flowers stressed me out (I know, weird). I was afraid of them dying, I didn't like not knowing what they would actually look like on the day of our wedding, and real flowers can be REALLY expensive. We did a lot of other DIY projects for our wedding so we decided to tackle the flowers as well.  We made all the bouquets and centerpieces. They turned out wonderful (and I still have some arrangements in my house!):

Don't get me wrong, real flowers are LOVELY. However, I hate how guy's boutonnieres get all smooshed and wilted by the end of the night from dancing and hugging people. For this reason, we decided to make the boutonnieres as well. __________________________________________ Here's what you'll need to make your own:
a few flowers, twigs, etc. a hot glue gun florist tape twine pin back __________________________________________
[1] Start by arranging your flowers, twigs, etc. in the way you think they'll look best. I really like a layered look. Once they are arranged, wrap the bottoms of them with florist tape. 
[2] Using your hot glue, slowly wrap the twine around the base of the flowers to cover the florist tape.  Once you're wrapped to the desired height, make a bow with some leftover twine and glue it onto your boutonniere. Glue on your pin back and you're finished! 

With a few minutes of work, you'll have a homemade, personalized boutonniere that will look the same at the end of the night as it did when your groom first put it on. Plus, you can save it as a keepsake since it'll never die. Yippee!

[p.s. this post may be linked to any number of these blogs]
[p.s.s. all photos in this post were taken by the extremely talented Heather Brincko.  You should definitely check out her work here]

diy cake stands

As you might have noticed from some of my other wedding related posts (here, here & here) we didn't have a very traditional wedding. I'm not a big fan of cake... and I couldn't justify spending LOTS of money on a pretty cake that would have to be served by our caterers. We wanted a more casual, "help yourself" feel so we ended up with cupcakes. It was such a good choice - they were a hit! (and totally affordable).

To make them look a little prettier, I made cake stands - lots and lots of cake stands! ______________________________________________ Here's what you'll need to make your own: glass plates candle holders epoxy glue or E6000 ______________________________________________ [Step 1]: Lay out your collection of plates and candle holders until you find configurations you like. Don't be afraid to do 2 or 3 tiers!
[Step 2]: Take your cake stands to a well ventilated area, lay down some newspaper to protect the surface you're working on, and begin glueing your candle holders to the underside of your plates. Allow the plates to cure AT LEAST for the time the epoxy suggests (if not longer).

[Step 3]:
Practice your table settings a few days before the wedding (or other party).

[Step 4]:

Enjoy your fun and unique display of delicious treats.

 

[p.s. this post may be linked to any number of these blogs]

wedding card holder

In the spirit of sharing wedding details and DIY ideas during our anniversary month (see other posts here & here), this post is about fun ways to decorate your gift table. We chose to use a mailbox for our wedding cards:

It was a great "catch all" place for cards and small gifts and at the end of the night it could be easily closed up and put in the car. We got married at an Industrial Museum, so the metal mailbox fit in perfectly in the space. 

Although...we didn't just buy the mailbox for the wedding... We now use it at our house! 

We bought our first house a few months before the wedding and the mailbox we inherited was in poor shape. After the wedding, we put our "card holder" to good use. I love that it was part of our special day and now serves a purpose in our everyday life.

wedding tree

With it being the month of our first wedding anniversary, I thought I would share some DIY projects and fun ideas that made our wedding really special to us. First up...our wedding tree!

photo by heather brincko

We did a special reading during our ceremony and used our tree in place of the traditional "unity candle." The moms came up, one at a time, and put a small scoop of dirt into the pot around the tree. They then passed us the watering cans and we watered our tree together. We loved the symbolism of it and the casual style fit our personalities so much better than the more traditional options.

We decided on a "Serviceberry" tree - it is a native tree to Pennsylvania and the guy at the nursery raved about how pretty they were. It gets delicate white flowers in the Spring, sweet edible berries in the Summer and the leaves change colors in the Fall. Each season the tree changes - and we loved that! For our ceremony, I simply wrapped the standard black pot with burlap and a purple ribbon.

Here was the reading that was read during our ceremony:

Love is a temporary madness; it erupts like volcanoes and then subsides. And when it subsides you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether you roots have so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. Because this is what love is. Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement it is not the promulgation of eternal passion. That is just being in love, which any fool can do. Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away, and this is both an art and a fortunate accident. Those that truly love have roots that grow towards each other underground, and when all the pretty blossoms have fallen from their branches, they find that they are one tree and not two.

After returning from our honeymoon, we planted our "love tree" (that's what we've been jokingly calling it) at our new house.

The tree has grown a bunch and we've spent the first year of our marriage happy as can be. We're looking forward to many years to come and watching our "love tree" grow. It'll be fun to have a picture with it every year on our anniversary. I've already told Adam that if we ever move, that tree is coming with us - it's part of the family now.

10/01/12

10/01/13

[p.s. this post may be linked to any number of these blogs]

wedding art

Adam and  I just spent a fun weekend in Detroit celebrating the wedding of our good friends, Dan & Kelly. I wanted to make a sweet little gift for them, so I decided to do a spin off of my "quote art" and make them a little wedding memento for their home. 

Since art is such a personal thing, I decided to make them a small 6x6 picture with their last name and wedding date - I kept it simple and neutral. This project is fun and easy - plus, in the end you'll have a personalized gift for any occasion.

quote art

I've really been itching to make some wall art for our house lately. It might be because of of these little dinosaur pictures or this flower picture... but whatever the reason, I got crafty and ended up with this little guy:

It's only a 6x6 wood frame [which is good - because it's just the right amount of "cheesiness" for our home]. The quote is from a small exert of our wedding ceremony where we planted a tree [which is now out front of our house]. We love it.

photo by the wonderful  heather brincko

Our Service Berry tree

Anyway, back to the picture. 

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Here is what you'll need to make your own:

any size wood board (mine was 6x6 from Walmart)

letter stickers (sized to fit on your board)

ruler & pencil

foam brush

craft paint

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diy magnets

After Adam and I got engaged in October 2010, wedding plans began immediately! I knew we had to find a venue ASAP (because a couple places I casually looked at were booked up for a year and half – I couldn’t believe it!). Once we decided on a venue and a date I knew I wanted to make my own Save The Dates. It gave me the freedom to do exactly what I wanted and they were very “budget friendly”

 We loved how they turned out. After finishing our picture wall I had a few left over pictures that didn’t find a spot in frames. Since I had some materials left over from my Save The Dates I decided to make a few more magnets for our refrigerator and chalk board.

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Here’s what you’ll need:

1.     pictures (or other things you want to make into a magnet)

2.     magnets (bought by the sheet)

3.     a straight edge and exacto knife

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paper flowers

I'd be the first one to tell you that I sort of went crazy with DIY projects when we got married back in 2011. I had so much fun with wedding planning I knew that the small details were really going to make it memorable for us and our guests. One of my projects involved attaching paper flowers to ballpoint pens which then sat at our "guest book" table - they were not only functional but they were cute!

photo by Heather Brincko

We loved them so much that we now have these paper flowers a few different places in our home. They are fun, easy to take care of, and are a unique alternative to the real thing. 

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Here is what you'll need to make your own paper flowers:

vellum paper

another type of construction paper (I used a bamboo paper)

Scrap piece of cardboard

Pencil

Compass

White glue 

Floral cloth stem wires

Scissors

Decorative beads (mine are pearl-like)

Needle nose pliers (not pictured - but they'll come in handy)

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Start by using your compass to make a 3-1/4" circle template with your cardboard. You'll use this template to create the circles on your vellum/bamboo paper for your flowers.

Trace and cut out 10-15 circles (the more - the merrier... trust me, once you get started you'll want to make a bunch!). Follow the steps below (fold your circle in half... then again in quarters... and finally once more in eighths). You'll end up with a pie shaped piece.

Next, take your scissors and cut your wedge into an "ice cream cone" shape. Then, unfold your circle. Cut off a single petal on your flower (you'll now have 7 petals).

Add a few small drops of glue to a petal next to the one you just cut off and overlap the two petals to form your flower.

Allow your flower to dry. 

Once dry, crease each petal in half to give your flower a more defined look. Using a cloth stem, poke a small hole in the bottom of your flower. Slip a bead on one end of your stem and fold the wire over and wrap it around itself a few times to secure the bead (this is where those needle nose pliers come in handy)! Slide your stem through your flower and secure with a small dot of glue.

Repeat the steps above to make a whole handful of paper flowers to put in your house. These are the best, because they never die and you don't have to water them!