Christmas Wedding Centerpieces

I am so excited for our Christmas wedding and the special date that goes with it (12-13-14)!! I have been slaving away at all things wedding and have not posted anything. I will slowly start posting my decor since most of it is DIY projects.

Tonight I tackled the centerpieces. I wanted to set one up to see what it looks like the night of the wedding. I'm in love. With the candles I think it will be PERFECT!

Below is a close-up shot of what's in the vase. 

So to begin the Christmas Centerpiece, you will need the following items:

• 2 wine bottles per table
• 1 clear vase per table
• branches (my father found these cool red ones outside and sprayed them with a sealer to keep their color)
• small ornaments
• large ornaments
• vase filler:
• fake greenery (Hobby Lobby sells a pack of greenery sticks for like $2)
• cinnamon sticks (Hobby Lobby also sells a pack of cinnamon sticks for around $5)
• fake berries (hit the stores at Christmas time)
• more small ornaments
• burlap or festive ribbon
• material or a plate to set this all on (I got my shimmery gold material at Hobby Lobby. It is $5 for a 9 ft. long piece of fabric)
• twine
• festive paper

Of course you can leave any part out that isn't your style. I would say a table costs me somewhere around $5 a piece... that's a deal! I used my Hobby Lobby coupons, bought most of my items in January when all the Christmas stuff was on sale, and used a lot of things like branches and free wine bottles from my drinking friends :) 

These branches were from our backyard. Like I said, my dad sprayed these with a sealer so they could keep their color all year long. 

The wine bottles were easy to come by because my fiance's aunt is in a wine club. Just ask, people have those types of things usually! We soaked the wine bottles in hot water for about an hour and peeled the labels off. Some labels did not come easily and we had to scrape and use goo-gone. Some of the bottles that had painted on labels we wrapped in twine with hot glue. 

The ornaments I also purchased at Hobby Lobby in January when everything was 80% off. One box of ornaments cost me about $.70. The gold material will be cut to be about 6 feet a table, which is plenty. 

The packs of greenery look realistic, as do the cinnamon sticks. I bought long sticks of red berries and tore pieces off to add to the vase. 

The centerpiece is pretty self explanatory. I just stuffed all of the "Christmasy stuff" into the vase so it filled up. I placed candles and ornaments around the fabric with the bottles and vase bunched in the middle. We are also hanging the table numbers from the branches. You can see the piece of paper hanging off the branches in the picture. 

Just add all of the materials until it looks right to you! 

You can see the small ornaments, berries, greenery, cinnamon sticks, and burlap-ribbon! I love them. 

Bridesmaid's Gifts DIY

So for our wedding I wanted to do something unique and special for the bridesmaids. I like the personal touch more than some gift I bought because I had to. I want to thank my bridesmaid, while making their gift personal. I have made each girl a charm bracelet that represents them and our relationship. With that I also made an ornament (since our wedding is in December) that holds all of the left over decorations from our wedding. The last part of their gift is a personalized tote/canvas bag. It was a fun (and cheap!) way to give them a personal gift.

Below is a how-to on the bikini bag I made. It's for a bridesmaid that is fun and goes to Florida often.

The above picture was without being permanently placed down.

The materials needed for this bag:

• canvas bag from Hobby Lobby ($2 on sale)
• ribbon for the handle
• fabric for the swimsuit (I grabbed two fabric squares at Joann Fabrics on sale for $1 each)
• a button or clip for the top part of the suit

The great thing about this project is that you can use hot glue... no sewing involved! If you wanted to sew it you could, but I found it to work just the same with gluing. 

So I began by cutting the top part of my swimsuit out to the size I wanted. You could do the width of the bag or make it smaller. You don't even have to iron it out because you bunch it enough to where you can't see the wrinkles.

Then I cut out the bottoms of the bikini. They were about the size of my scissors. You simply have to fold the material in half and cut the basic shape of swimsuit bottoms. 

I glued all of the edges over so that they did not fray (just as if you were sewing something). 

Then you simply just bunch the top material together to form a bikini like top. I glued the sides down first where I wanted them. 

I then bunched the middle and glued in spots that I wanted down on the canvas. 

You can either sew or glue the button down. Originally I chose this pearly button, but decided later that the bridesmaid this bag is for what not about pearls, but rather a hot pink big button. I just hot glued it to the center of the bikini top. 

I then added ribbon that connected the bikini stop to the strap of the canvas bag. I simply just glued this down as well. 

I really like how the bag turned out. I did a different bag for each girl (posted below). I will add the directions to the other bags soon!

Summer Reading Update

What a crazy summer... with moving, cleaning out my apartment, getting ready for the wedding, job searching... I'm booked. Of course, though, I still have time for reading. There is ALWAYS time for reading. Here are the added books to my summer reading list (of course with the same rating system).

1: terrible book, don't even bother picking it up

2: not the greatest book, could have been much better

3: it was good, but details, characters, and settings could have been improved

4: good book! kept me entertained

5: I loved it and would suggest it to anyone!!

1984 by George Orwell

• I wanted to do a bunch of classics this summer. You'll notice that on my books for this summer. 1984 was something that I always wanted to read and since that whole dystopian thing is in right now I figured it was a great time to read this. The book is about the year 1984 and everything that has come to pass in that year. Very futuristic and disturbingly close to what our society looks like now even though it was written in the 30's. 
• I give this book a 3. It held my interest, but I think I was over the futuristic take on life that seems to be so popular lately (Hunger Games, Divergent, Maze Runner, etc.) I enjoyed getting another classic under my belt, however. 

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey

• The title is exactly what this book was... cuckoo! The literary classic of an Indian who lives in an insane asylum. When a new guest arrives at the ward (who claims to not be insane), he turns the place upside down. He gets the other patients in trouble, teaches them new things, and uses them for their supposed money. In the end, however, the battle he has with the ward master is lost and he pays dearly for it. 
• I give this book a 3. I felt creeped out reading it. There are lots of sexual references, gross parts, and overall it gave me the feeling that I was trapped in the asylum with the other patients. It kept my interest well enough though. 

Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut

• Another classic book that I wanted to read because the title captured me. The story of a war veteran who believes (years later) that he had been abducted by aliens and taken to a planet where he was placed in a zoo. A very strange story that I did not even begin to guess according to the title. 
• I give this book a 2. I found myself very bored halfway through the book. I am not into war books, or alien books for that matter. I was glad to read another classic, but I would not suggest others read this book. 

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

• The odd story of a world where men hire women for their good-working ovaries to give them a child. There are different parts that each person plays, such as, a maid, a surrogate mother, a grocer, a mayor, a wife... everyone has their own responsibilities and they are not to go outside of those. The sad world does not allow for any freedom or choice for that matter. The ending was vague and surprising. 
• I give this book a 3.5. I would read this book again, although, I was disappointed in the ending. I felt it ended abruptly and a lot of it was left up to the reader to decide what happened to the main character. I don't like books that leave me hanging like that. The book, overall, was good though. 

Summer Reads Round Two

Once again, I'm already five books in for my summer reading. I LOVE TO READ! I just wish I had the time to read more often. I know my fiance hates when I read for two reasons. 1. I get so wrapped in the book that it affects my outlook on life. If the book is depressing, I'm depressed. If the book is a romance novel, I'm head over heels for Michael. 2. I read non stop with a good book.
Oh well! He'll have to just accept that part of me :)

Here is my list so far this summer. I will rate them, as I did last summer. My rating scale is below.

• 1: terrible book, don't even bother picking it up
• 2: not the greatest book, could have been much better
• 3: it was good, but details, characters, and settings could have been improved
• 4: good book! kept me entertained
• 5: I loved it and would suggest it to anyone!!

The Hunger Games Series (all three) by Suzanne Collins

• These books were very easy reads. It is the kind of series that you can jump right into and enjoy. There are no deeper meanings or alliterations that the reader has to interpret. When I first started reading these, I actually disliked them for that reason. But after I accepted the fact that it is juvenile fiction and embraced the interesting story of making humans kill in game-like fashion I got over myself. I liked the books, but did not like the ending all too much. That seems to be the consensus though about the ending. 




• I will give this book a 3. It was just a solid 3 for the fact that I flew through it, enjoyed it, but now its over and I'm moving on. It is not something I went gah-gah over, but I liked being able to mindlessly glide through a fun read. 




The Maze Runner by James Dashner

• This book is part of a series, but I have only read this book alone. I have ordered the others and hope to get to them this summer. Overall it was a good book. It is that same distopian/sci-fi book that seems to be popular now (like The Hunger Games). It is about this boy that wakes up in this "land" filled with other boys. Every day before the gates/wall close, the boys run through this life-size maze to find the exit. They don't know how they got there or where they are going. I did not know this book was a part of a series, so the ending left me hanging... ugh. I guess it's going to be a movie soon too, so that's cool. 
• I will give this book a 3.5. It was exciting and thrilling. The characters kept me guessing and the suspense in the book was unnerving. I might even put this book closer to a 4, but I want to finish the series before I do that. 

Mrs. Hemingway by Naomi Wood

• Mrs. Hemingway is about the four wives of Ernest Hemingway. I had been craving a 1920's styled book and found this one at the library. I had no clue Ernest Hemingway was such a jerk!! I don't really like any of Hemingway's book and I guess I don't like him now either after reading this book. It was historically accurate, but fictionalized conversations were added to make the story flow. Overall it left me feeling pretty sad. 
• I will this book a 2.5. I wouldn't recommend someone reading this unless they liked reading about that era (I do!). His four wives were left out to dry and it was depressing. 

My Cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier

• Daphne du Maurier is responsible for writing my favorite book of all time, Rebecca. I have read that 3 times and plan on doing it again this summer. IT IS PHENOMENAL! So when I found out she has written more books, I went straight to the library to pick this one up. It has much the same taste of Rebecca. The late 1800's language and style with the mysterious feel of relationships leaves you craving more. It was a good book about love, passion, betrayal, and mystery. 
• I will give this book a 4. It was NOT Rebecca, but it was thrilling. It was a book that kept me guessing, which I always like. The characters developed in MY mind, which I love. I hate being told what the characters are thinking and feeling. I like to do that myself and du Maurier does a great job of helping me do that. 

MORE BOOKS TO COME. STAY TUNED! 

Let's try this again

I really want to get back to blogging. It's been about 10 months since I've blogged last.
I love to sew, do crafts, cook, garden, etc. and I want to share that (at least for my own satisfaction). I am vowing to get back to this.