Hand sewn-canvas nautical flag banners with my (former) initials CMH
One of my many DIY wedding projects was to make banners displaying Tom’s and my initials in nautical flag symbols. I made two sets, one with my (former) initials and one with his. To make them I dyed canvas flag blanks from Canvas Corp a lime green background color then appliqued fabric and felt on them by hand sewing with embroidery thread.
…because I got married last Saturday! I don’t know what I’m going to do with the name of this web site. Probably just leave it as is for awhile. I’ve updated my name on some social media accounts but it will take time to get around to all of them!
Here are some of my favorite photos at the church taken by photographer Jim Kennett. He did a fabulous job, don’t you think? I cropped some of them but didn’t do any other editing for now.
Here I am with zinnias in front of the church. I love zinnias! I made my jewelry, my bouquet, and the veil from parts of my Mom’s veil. The dress was made by Kate Fournier from a vintage 1970s pattern. She helped me pick out the fabric too. The final effect is exactly what I was after – thanks Kate! She also made the marine life pattern ties and pocket squares from fabric that Tom and I picked out.Tom is changing into dress shoes. This picture is so him!Kiss after the vows!The gifts before being brought to the altar.A nice overview of the church and congregation.We are in front of my favorite stained glass window at the church. There is more than one reason why it’s my favorite but one reason is because it’s near where Tom and I usually sit at mass. The stained glass windows here are a real masterwork in my opinion.Here we are having a little fun with the air conditioning vent!Tom and I in front of church after the ceremony.
I have a HUGE amount of photos to decide what to do with. You’ll be seeing more pop up here and there as time goes on as I post more online and work on memory crafts related to the wedding. You can access more photos from this web page as I add more to the slide show that includes wedding shower pictures also.
I made a LOT of stuff for this wedding – bouquets, boutonnieres, the ring bearer pillow, jewelry for myself and matron of honor, my veil, bracelet and wrist corsage for the mother of the groom, the program artwork and layout, the invitation web site, two thank you card designs (so far), flower girl crown, flower girl basket and faux flower sprays for the pews. For the reception decor I made flower sprays for vases, a small wreath, two shadow boxes, canvas banners with applique, wood blocks with initials for centerpieces, four table runners, a card box, jewelry to wear to the reception, bug repellent, a guestbook/scrapbook… am I forgetting anything? Possibly! I will be publishing more about some of the DIY projects related to the wedding in the future and in the meantime you can get more details about the DIY items on my Pinterest board here:
I took the DIY wedding idea to the maximum of my ability because I love to personalize everything that I can and I wanted to express myself creatively as much as possible on the biggest day of my life! It was a lot of work but worth it!
Painting silk daisies with Color Wash paint by Tattered Angels.
Recently I went to Leftovers, Etc., a teachers resource recycling center, to stock up on donated silk flowers to upcycle. There were several items I wanted to make for my upcoming wedding so I bought up what donated silk flowers I could find in my color scheme of white, navy, lime green, and red/coral. I purchased extra white flowers so that I could experiment with painting some of them lime green. I added some flowers from JoAnn Fabrics and Crafts to supplement the supplies available at Leftovers, Etc.
Painting some of the silk flowers and faux flower clusters made with little white stryrofoam balls was easy. I pushed the stems into chunks of scrap styrofoam from product packaging then made a 50/50 mix of Tattered Angels Color Wash Paint in the colors of Lime Cordial and Lemonade. I painted this mixture onto the faux flowers that I wanted to turn lime green. The results were fantastic – the paint is designed to tint and stain surfaces and it flowed and wicked it’s way into and over the faux flowers in a way which tended to give a natural appearance. That effect really shows up well on the lapel flowers below – I didn’t have to do anything special to get the paint to pool at the tips of the faux rosebud petals and give extra depth to the color application. If you enjoy silk flower arranging Color Wash paints can give you lots of additional creative options.
Lapel flowers – I made six of these.Finished flower girl head wreath and basket.Small wreath with upcycled flowers and foliage and purchased lovebird ornaments.
These floral accessories are only a sampling of the items I’m making for my wedding. It’s going to be a real DIY event! A good friend of mine even made my dress and the ties for the male members of the wedding party (I’m not practiced enough at machine sewing yet to do those myself). As the wedding approaches and for some time afterward probably, I’ll be posting the finished DIY projects on my wedding Pinterest board – check it out!
