Weddingbee Blog

It’s a funny thing, my creative spark. For months, it lies dormant, hatching half-baked ideas that go nowhere as I struggle to figure out such pressing logistical issues as the best type of adhesive to connect fabric with paper (Fabri-Tac, as long as your fabric isn’t so thin the glue will seep through) or whether to buy a 2.75″ or a 3″ hole punch for our “just married” sweetheart table banner (verdict: both). It gets me really excited and incites me to buy roughly three-quarters of the supplies needed, whereupon said supplies sit in a sad pile in my craft room/office/mudroom/catchall eyesore storage space.

This is too much mess for me

But then, all of a sudden, the creative spark is stoked by a sudden wave of oxygen, and my mind is suddenly aflurry with idea upon idea! All of my previous questions are suddenly answered, and I understand how to complete all the half-finished projects lolling about our home.

This is both awesome and awful at the same time.

Awesome

• I feel super productive and also smart because I’ve figured stuff out.
• As I get stuff done and gel ideas more clearly in my mind, I can finally visualize everything in the wedding together, at once, and it’s wonderful!
• I get to buy things.

Awful

• “Figuring things out” means suddenly buying a wave of craft supplies and other objects to finish the piles
• The ideas are coming so fast and furiously I feel like I need to finish everything TONIGHT and I’m having a hard time slowing down (I literally said to Mr. LF the other night, at about midnight, “I wish I could just craft all night and not have to work tomorrow.”)
• With completed ideas come new ideas. Lots and lots of new ideas. For stuff I never considered doing.

In the past week, I’ve completed our “just married” sweetheart table banner and “love is sweet” cupcake table banner; designed and printed our ceremony chair “reserved” signs, tags for our farewell bells, guestbook table sign, and card box sign; and developed a fully baked idea for our ceremony aisle decorations.

As for these banners, they were ridiculously easy. I downloaded this template from MarthaStewart.com and used a 2.75″ circle punch to cut the letters out, and a 3″ punch to cut out the scalloped accent papers. The 2.75″ punch wasn’t quite big enough to capture all the border detail on every letter, but I didn’t mind so much for what I wanted to do. Then I cut tiny slits in the back of each accent paper circle (the gray), threaded the ribbon through the slits, and glued the letters on top. This glue was enough to keep the ribbons in place, too.

I also decided—surprise!—to do programs. I blame this on Mrs. Tartlet. How could I look at those gorgeous beasts and not want some of my own? Plus, it’s a fabulous way to incorporate elements from our reception decor and our invitations. Designing the programs also helped me finish our ceremony and select our prelude music and music for seating the family. Woot!

I’m pretty stinkin’ excited about knocking out all these projects and gearing up for others, “awful” and all. The girls and I are planning a crafternoon (yep, I said it) later this month, so I have a feeling much much more shall be revealed in weeks to come.

Did you have a scary period of inactivity followed by an equally scary pop of productive creative frenzy? And this last one’s a rhetorical question, because I know you totally did, but—did you take on projects in the final months that you swore you wouldn’t be do once upon a time? Like, oh, programs?

*All personal photos