DIY: Coloring Books

More DIY. Here is another project for you to complete. I created these activity books for the kids and the kids at heart. I got this idea from the Bona Fide Preppy Bride. Here is how you can create your own:

• Template
• Ribbon
• Crayons

On the template site there are many different forms of the coloring book. Once you make the coloring book your own, make copies of it. I had Staples help me make into the booklet. Once made into a booklet, you then use a hole punch and punch holes in the side of the booklet. Then take ribbon of your choice to secure the booklet together.

Plan ahead when doing this project when it comes to the purchasing of the crayons. I had crayons from a school box in my house that I have had for years. When purchasing crayons, they are cheap around school time. You can purchase lots of boxes for about $.10-.$25 a box. This can save you money. If you can not purchase them around the beginning of the school year, check out your local dollar store. To cut cost, put three crayons in each set and tied them with a ribbon.

Thanks to the bridesmaid that assisted me with this project. It was fun and I hope that the books are fun for all that use them.

DIY: Water Bottles

I just could not let the water bottles that are going to be used at my wedding, just have the regular labels...I had to add another DIY project. I made two different water bottle labels with our monograms on them. The are really easy to do, here is what you need:

• water bottle template
• glue
• scissors
  

You can alter the template to look like anyway that you want. You must have a steady hand (as I found out) when cutting the labels. If you don't you will have to take the original label off so that it is not seen when you place yours on the bottle. You wrap the label around the bottle and then glue the edges together. I found that it works better when you use a glue stick instead of glue in a bottle, because it might make the label to sticky and it might stick to other bottles when you place them back in the box. Again this project is not hard, just a little time consuming. I really appreciate one of bridesmaids assisting me on completing this project. One more personalization touch for my wedding.

Bridal Shower

Today is my bridal shower and I am excited. I did not realize how many people that I had on my guest list, oops....thank you bridesmaids and mom for all the extra work. I can not wait for the all the fun and fellowship. I will post about it, later on next week. Have a great weekend.

Happy Birthday To Me!!!

Internet Invitations

My broomjumpinggroom and I are both involved with our fraternity and sorority. There are several people in each of our graduate chapters that we wanted to invite to the wedding, but did not want to incur the additional expense of invitations and postage. Several of my other sorors, sorority sisters, have gotten married in the past and have sent an email tothe chapter asking for RSVP's. I have used Internet invitations in the past and thought why not use them this time. Evite is an Internet site that has several different of invitations, from bridal showers to weddings and everything in between. When you using this site you can customize your invitation, add all the information that you need your guest to know, see when your guest open the invitation and what their response is. I have gotten a good response out of this and I think that it a good way to cut cost, if your guest have Internet access.

St. Patrick's Day Wedding

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!!! Here is a little inspiration if you are planning a St.Patrick's Day wedding!!!

Images found here and here and here

RSVP's

The RSVPs have started to arrive. Most of the people have been stating that they will be attending the wedding. It is making it more and more real and exciting. I have received some strange responses, like one that was returned with just a pencil check mark and no name. I have decided that persons will be able to attend the wedding and when the it is time for the reception that will have to check in at the hostesses station to ensure that they have RSVP'd. I am going to allow the persons that have RSVP'd go to their assigned table first and ask persons who have not to step aside until accommodations can be made for them. I have several hostess who are tactful, but firm, who will be able to handle this, with care. What are you doing about your non-RSVP'd guest? Are you accommodating all of them or are you making other arrangements?

Mini-Vacation

Well I am off for some rest and relaxation. Not really I will be in business meetings most of the day, but I will be able to get some relaxing in. I am going to my yearly sorority, Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority Inc., conference. I always have a good time. It will give me a little break before the whirlwind of wedding activities begin. Have a good end of the week and weekend!! I promise I will post when I return.

1 Month To Go!!!

Today is the official one month mark until I wed my broomjumpinggroom. I remember when I first started planning the day seem so far away and now it is just around the corner. People keep asking me if I am excited or nervous, I am neither. I am tired. I am tired of the questions and I am tired of trying to get all the pieces together so that I can have be perfect day that I have imagined. Wedding planning is no joke and I see why people hire a wedding planner. I would not have it any other way than planning and creating the wedding that I wanted. Plus the time I have spent with my mom through this is priceless. I am sure as the date gets closer I will be filled with a flood of emotions, since I was the one bawling when I got engaged. These last few weeks until the big day, I am going to enjoy it because I plan on only doing this once.

PS. HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!!!! HOPE THAT YOU ARE HAVING A GREAT ONE!!

More Ebay

I posted the other day about my Ebay finds, here are some more of my finds.

I want my two ushers and ring bearer to wear brown Converse since they are children. I did not want their parents to have to buy a pair of dress shoes for wedding that they will not wear again. I am still looking for 2 more pairs, but I found one pair for $15.00.

I was looking to add some wow factor to my centerpieces for the reception, without the wow factor expense. I had seen on one of the bridal shows, how a designer had placed lighting in a centerpiece. Of course, I saw this on a Platinum Wedding, which made me think it was out of reach. It was not that far out , since I found these lights on Ebay for $24.99 for 15. All of my centerpieces that will be in tall vases will have these lights in them and they are even submersible in water.


Here is what the light looks like with used.

I have a few more things I need to locate..Ebay will probably be the first place that I look.

I Love Ebay

I should call this blog "My Ebay Wedding". I found some great finds on Ebay for my wedding. I have saved so much money with purchasing from the vendors on there. Here are some of my recent finds.



I wanted my bridesmaids to have a flower balls to carry down the aisle instead of regular bouquets. I was going to have the person who is making my flower create them, but we decided it would be cheaper to purchase some already made. The ones that I found at Jo-Ann's and Michael's were between $8-10 a piece. I thought that was a bit much. I found these lovelies for $3.48 a piece.


Most people want additional pictures taken at wedding. I could not find cameras that were under $3.00 until I went to Ebay and found these for $1.69 a piece. I will have 30 tables at the reception, but to cut down on developing cost I only purchased 15 of cameras.


I have been looking for months for the groomsmen and ushers ties for the wedding. My broomjumpinggroom, who is very frugal, said that all of the ties that I picked out were nice but he was not going to pay $20.00 for a tie. I searched and negotiated with a seller on Ebay and got all the ties that I needed for the wedding for $7.35 a piece.

Go Ebay!!!!

DIY: Monogram Stickers

When I made my invitations, I also wanted to add some flare to the back of the envelopes. I had been looking at making stickers, but could not find sticker paper. When I was at friends house, who loves to scrapbook, I asked if she had a sticker machine, which she did and allowed me to utilize it. They were so easy to make.

Items needed:

• Xyron sticker maker
• Pattern
• Scissors

First you have to create a pattern of what you want your sticker to look like. I took our monogram and and created a table in Microsoft Word. Once created, I printed them and cut them into squares. After the monograms were cut, I placed them in the top slot of the Xyron machine. Once in the item is placed in the top slot, I pulled the sticker paper at the bottom of the machine and the monogram was between two sheets of the Xyron sticker paper.


Below shows how your sticker comes out of the Xyron machine. When I pulled the top layer of the sticker material and was left with the monogram being sticky on the back.
I placed my stickers on the back of the envelope to assist in sealing them. I think that they turned out pretty good and added some personalization to envelope.

Invitations

Over the past week I have been creating my wedding invitation. I had spoke in previous postings I talked about purchasing them. The invitations had 50 invitations and 50 RSVP cards along with envelopes. Each box was $8.99. The invitations are cream with a raised floral design on the side. I used the font English for our names and used Copperlight for the rest of the invitation. I placed our monogram that is going to be used throughout the wedding, on the top of the invitation. It took a whole evening to figure out how I wanted the invitation to be formatted, but once I saw it on the screen I knew it was right.

On my RSVP cards that I added our monogram to as well. When I received wedding invitations in the past as so as I opened the invitation all of these little papers would fall out. I decided that I did not want my guest to go through this, so I made these cards that on one side have a listing of where we are registered and hotel accommodations. On the other side, there are directions to the ceremony site. To make these cards I bought a pack of card stock the same color as my wedding invitation for $5.99 at Staples and printed them on my computer. I formatted it so that there were 6 sets on each side of the page. I then took them to Staples to have them cut for $6.00. I tried to cut them myself, but I was just cutting them every which way but right.

The other night my MOH helped me put the invitations together. After we ate dinner, it took us about 3 hours to stuff them. Some of my invitations went out today and the rest will go out by Monday morning. It is really a finalizing experience taking your invitations to the post office. Even though I have been engaged for sometime, going to the post office today made me really realize that I am getting married in a few short weeks.

"So you know each other pretty well?"

The broomjumpinggroom and I went for our first marriage counseling session with my pastor. It was kinda of interesting. We heard lots of stories of my pastor relationship with his wife. After he talked awhile my pastor said, " I am not going to talk the whole time. Got any questions?" The broomjumpinggroom and I just sort of sat there. He then asked, "How long have you been together?" I stated, " Almost 10 years." My pastor looked and said," So you know each other pretty well?" We both nodded. I think that my pastor got the hint that we had kinda of been through some of the situations that he was giving us. The rest of the session, my pastor told more funny stories and we began to ask some questions, but not alot. The session did not last long, about an hour and a half. It was interesting to hear some of the stories, because even though he has been my pastor since I was a child, I only seen him in one light..pastor. Not as a husband. As the session ended, we made another appointment to see him again in a few weeks. I was not sure what to expect from marriage counseling, but the stories and the knowledge shared will be used as references in my marriage.

How is or was your marriage counseling experience?

Wedding Tip of the Week: Custom Wedding Drinks

Many brides today are having custom wedding drinks at there weddings. These drinks show the couples uniqueness and creativity. If you want a custom wedding drink, where do you start? Here is a listing of things that you can do to make a custom wedding drink for your special day.

• Try to match your signature drink with your wedding theme. For a summer-themed wedding, for example, you may want to go with a mojito or a fruity drink like a mango martini.
• You can also match colors from your wedding with the color of your signature drink, like a blue martini for example. Experiment with different combinations of ingredients to come up with the right shade.
• Once you have your drink picked out you can also create a unique name for your cocktail. For example, instead of watermelon martini, call it a Ginatini or Lauratini. Nicknames can also be used.
• It is also OK to have more than one signature drink, such as a martini menu or one for the bride and one for the groom.
• For the reception have printed signs in frames placed on the bar announcing your signature drink so your guests are aware of it. You could also have menus printed if you are having more than one signature drink.
• If the bar staff is talented and daring enough, have them build a martini glass pyramid on the bar filled with your signature drink.
• Work with your caterer, wedding planner or wait staff to come up with ideas.
• Don’t be afraid to spend some time researching signature drinks. Get a few friends together at your place, break out the bottles and start mixing drinks.

Good luck with the creation that you make. I am sure that you will have fun taste testing it all.

Information found here

Wedding Questions

Just a few thoughts...please feel free to respond.

• Who do you give gifts to? I know that you give gifts to bridesmaids and groomsmen, but do you give items to the ushers, hostess? If so what are you giving them?
• Do you send your bridesmaids and groomsmen invitations? I thought this was kinda of silly since they are in the wedding.
• Are you expected to call guest who do not respond by the RSVP date? My issue with this is that if they can not be nice to responsed to you by the due date, why do you need to track them down. One less person that I need to feed. Am I being unreasonable?
• How are your organizing all of the wedding stuff that you have for that day? It seems like all the stuff , like flowers, programs, and petal cones, that I have for the wedding is kinda taking over my house.

Any answers? Does anyone else have any other questions that maybe some other blogger brides maybe able to answer?