

Taking gobs of inspiration from two of the most talented gals around, Huckleberry Karen and Lisa at Bellissima Vita, I sat down last night to make our escort cards that will tell guests where they are seated and also serve as wine charms for folks to keep track of their wine glasses.
The inspiration:
photo: Ed Pingol
I decided to keep the ball rolling on my mom’s wonderful DIY projects. Since I’ve neglected to create anything truly fabulous for the wedding that I can share with all of you, I’m hoping my mom’s contributions will suffice
Today’s project is my mom’s shimmery gold votives. We got the inspiration for this idea from the super talented and creative Mrs. Emerald. She created some truly beautiful votives for her wedding. My mom decided to follow Mrs. Emerald’s example and create votives for my wedding– and we loved the results!
First, we purchased plain glass votives off Ebay for a great price. Then my mom created a paper template using Mrs. Emerald’s great instructions.


I’ve mentioned before how awesomely crafty my mom is. When I was younger, she made all my Halloween costumes, which were always so cool.

I wish I had the photo of me in my Princess Jasmine costume!
I bought a bonefolder about a year ago, misused it a few times, and forgot that I had it. I couldn’t really figure out how it worked, and I kept making these shiny creases in my paper, so I gave up on using it.
What is a bonefolder?
A bonefolder helps you create perfect creases on cards and helps smooth out paper. Notice when you try to fold something by hand you get kind of a “jagged” crinkly crease? Bonefolders will create a professional looking fold at home.

image: paper-source.com
invitation central!
Due to a glitch with our RSVP cards, I found myself pressed for time to send out our invitations. I wasn’t going to have time for calligraphy and the thought of hand-writing all those envelopes made my head explode. I decided labels would be the fastest, easiest, and cheapest solution, although the Emily Post in me hung her head in shame. Oh well– I decided to make them as pretty and elegant as I could and that would just have to be good enough.
I love my bouquet. I haven’t seen it yet, but it exists in somewhere in the feathery, floaty, martha-polluted reaches of my mind. Because of my overwhelming love for my bouquet, I’m having a hard time reconciling myself to the idea of throwing it into the masses of single, ambitious, love-hungry ladies at my wedding.
Crazy ladies like ME.
I have been known to, at more than one wedding, so ferociously go after the bouquet that people ended up maimed. For ‘realz’ - at my first wedding (when I was twelve), I jumped up and elbowed two ladies in the face! (I don’t remember this, I kind of “black out” during bouquet tosses, only coming-to when I feel the bouquet handle lodged securely in my grip, feel the thrill of triumph running through my veins, and/or hear the angry mutters around me (”did you SEE her?”)
I’m a wee bit competitive and prone to believing in wedding superstitions.
After searching around the internet for cheap cone shaped coffee filters for the paper roses project, I found the best deal at Amazon.com. I decided to go with the “natural” colored filters. I thought the white would be too much white and I also did not want to have to paint all of the roses like Martha did. There was no mention of what size filters were needed so I bought size #6. This is a plus in two ways 1) they are the largest available and 2) they are the type of filters my coffee pot uses just in case this project ends up being a bust.
I lied when I said that the Xacto Laser Trimmer was the best paper cutter in the world. So then, what is the best, you ask? Well, it’s one that Mr. D found for me…(See how proud he is in this pic
!) The best paper cutter EVER is…

My mom is my absolute best friend in the world. Not only does she actually think I’m prettier than Halle Berry (the very definition of “blinded by love”), but we have the best conversations and laughs. It’s hard living so far away from her, but we talk on the phone multiple times a day to make up for it!
I am attempting to preserve my bouquet to use the following day for our second reception. A little bit of wishful thinking? Maybe so… if anything, I have a back up one anyway. I have plenty of vases, ribbons, and adorable book cloth (that I bought a long time ago from Daiso) that I threw together for a resting/hydrating place for my bouquet during the reception. I want to love it and protect it as long as I can since I won’t be drying it afterwards.
