Bunny Napkins

An ongoing project this week will be folding our blue napkins into bunnies in order to carry out the bunny theme onto the tables! We will be folding around 150. We started last night with an assembly line. I fold, Shawn pins them together and we put them in a bag to bring with us to the venue. I think they're really cute!

Big Mo' is Flooding, but it's all good!

Although our specific venue location is undisclosed for another 8 days(!) I have shared that it is on the Missouri River. Well, folks when all the snow melts, where do you think it goes? In the river!

Photo by Josh Korth for KVNO

Due to the incredible amount of snow and rain we have experienced in our region, the Missouri River is expected to rise to a depth of around 36 feet by the end of June. There is a landing near our venue that is currently flooded! It has been shut down and all its events through July canceled. We are so lucky that the flood gates line the area directly between that landing and our venue! They are designed to hold the water that is surely and swiftly coming!

Photo by Josh Korth for KVNO

We are also in the upstairs of the venue so we are on higher ground and will not be flooded out! We are so fortunate because I have heard of area brides having to move their venues already.
Keep Calm and Marry On, right?!

DIY Tutorial #6 - Framed Chalkboard Signs

I am in love with the chalkboard trend for weddings.
They're cute, customizable and I think they're becoming increasingly easy to find. Save-On-Crafts has a bunch but beware their shipping charge... yikes!
I went the DIY route on this because I can't justify paying more for shipping than the total of my supplies!

What I started with:

1 jar of Crayola Chalkboard Paint
1 Foam Brush
2 Rustic 5x7 picture frames (with a hanger on the back)
A hot glue gun w/ glue sticks
1 (4) yard spool of non-wired ribbon in a width >1/4"
Paper to protect your work surface

Prep your frames by removing the cardboard inserts(don't throw them away!) and the glass carefully. I removed the easel-back but it was stupid-hard. If you leave it on, you can use the frame after the wedding possibly.

Lay out your protection paper and lay out 2 of the cardboard inserts from the frames. Paint each one in a thin coat of paint on each one in ONE direction and let dry. After they dry, repeat another thin coat of paint and let that dry as well.

Plug in your hot glue gun and glue one painted cardboard insert to the plain one so it's thicker.

Position your double-layer cardboard onto the back of the frame closure and glue it into place.

Once it has cooled and is secure, glue the inside of the frame edge and close the frame closure, applying pressure to seal it shut.

Flip them over and check out your handiwork.

To string them up, cut a length of 2 yds and fold the edge in half, then pull through the hanger loop. Make a double-knot at the height you'd like your bow and then make a bowtie.

Let your paint cure for 24 hours before prepping it for chalk. Once it has been a FULL 24 hours coat the entire surface with a sideways piece of chalk, wipe clean and then it is officially a chalkboard.
Rustic-Fabulous!!!

Mason Jar Centerpieces

My mother in law, Donna went with me on my first wedding-related DIY shopping trip back in August/September. We went to Hobby Lobby because I was so overwhelmed by where to start planning that I couldn't come up with anything! SO not like me (I'm lucky my mom and my future second mom are both crafty)!
We were focusing on table decorations first. I knew I didn't want flowers on the table necessarily, nor anything else that impedes conversation due to size.
Luckily Donna asked the Million Dollar Question: "What do you like?"
I answered simply, "Mason Jars."
"Let's do jar centerpieces then."
"Okay!"
They're short enough to talk over, easy to find and afford, and you can customize the bizingo out of them. How would we choose to customize them, though?
Donna said she had experience glass painting so we went to the book section and found a book on hand painted glasses.

We liked the look of one design on stemless wine glasses.

She thought we could swap out the flowers in the design with sunflowers to make it match. We also thought a candle would be nice inside to bounce off the glass later in the evening and double as lighting! She added a ribbon around the threads and it was perfect.

When we went to the venue to look around and eventually book it, the venue coordinator, Kari, shared with us that she had centerpiece accessories. They ended up being perfect for our jars. Kari has table mirrors and clear pebbles to use on the tables! For no charge! YEE!!!
Over the last 6 months Donna has bought everything to make the centerpieces and ended up painting a case of Mason jars+ and also painting tiny sunflowers on a truckload of blue pebbles.

They look so amazing.
I can't wait to see how amazing they all look together on the tables!

100 Days to Go! WOW!

Bunny Wedding
bluedogrose @storybird.com

Time is really flying now and I realized that if I own the supplies for a project, it must be completed. Now.

So onto the rushing DIY tide, everyone. It's going to be appearing so frequently you won't know what to do.
For today's DIY I want to share with you my plans for it first. At the venue, we are having a guest book table (duh) set up with our matted photo, a centerpiece, our big potted Saguaro and a couple of sock bunnies. That's right not sock monkeys, sock bunnies.

You see, I make sock monkeys and sell them on etsy and Shawn & I have our own; but for our bunny-themed wedding we need some sock bunnies, mmk? I don't share a pattern for my monkeys because of two reasons: 1) I make them different each time and 2) I share a lot, but some things are proprietary to even the HiLLjO.
There are a ton of free patterns out there like this one that work wonderfully.
For Shawn's bunny, I stuffed and sewed bunny feet instead of regular feet and I made long ears. I also pre-sewed the bunny profile before stuffing the main body sock. Here's a teaser of him without his eyes and outfit.

 Next up on the DIY Docket: Jr. Bridesmaids & Flower Girl accessories: Flip flops, hair accessories and flower baskets.

Sheet Music Charger Plates from Celebrations at Home

For the reception, we're just keeping it all very simple. Buffet, cupcakes & donuts, and the linens & china the venue is letting us use. I never thought of charger plates. To be honest, I had to look them up to be sure I understood what they were. I also looked them up to see how much they were.
Yikes.
The answer? Simplify and awesome-ify. Especially if you like music, you'l, love what I found at Celebrations at Home.

I know, sheet music charger plates!!! I saw these and had to share. They'd be a wonderful DIY project and it just looks SO. FABULOUS.

Go see what Chris & the other ladies have goin' on at Celebrations at Home.

Venue Love

It's occured to me that I have not put up any pictures of my venue! Here I have a few of the pictures of the place where the ceremony and the reception will be. It sits on the Missouri River in Omaha.

Here is the upstairs area to the right of the doors when you walk in. The cake will start out occupying this space before it is removed and the buffet replaces it. You can see the restaurant below if you look into the portholes!

This is the window behind where the head table goes. The window faces East so no one will be blinded at sunset during dinner or dancing!!!



My FMIL hand painted 17 of these beauties for me to go on the tables

 



This is it! This is the ceremony site.



The corner there on the right will be where we're standing and the chairs will be placed in triangle-shaped sections on either side of the aisle. It can accomodate 75 chairs right now as it is. The patio ceiling has white lights strung across it so it will be beautiful as the night goes on.

The venue has informed me however, that they may plan to do some renovations to make the upstairs patio twice as large by April. Not only would that make sure ALL our guests get to be on the patio, but then we wouldn't have to rent lapel mics or speakers for those who have to watch from the head table window and need to hear. That's fine with me!

I wanted to put up pictures of my garter and shoes but I'm going to work on my headpiece this weekend. So I will save something for Monday to post about and just do an accessories entry! YAY!