Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Wedding Crafts

When my husband and I got married I wanted two things. 
1. A small and very intimate Wedding 
and 
2. To hand make as much as possible. 


I started out with all of the jewelry, I adore the ocean and being in or surrounded by water in general. I think I might be part fish... 
Background (and a little off topic) my husband grew up in Florida and whenever I would visit him he would patiently put up with me collecting shell after shell after shell. I think I came home one time with two grocery bags full of shells I had found. He's a good man to put up with me. 


My favourite shell (I know it's not really a shell) is a Sand Dollar. I have always been fascinated with them and the poem. So I bought a bunch of Sand Dollar's here and was very satisfied. 


Using some E-6000 glue I picked up from Michaels, along with earring backs, necklace chains and a plain silk flower clip I was able to design the following:



It was a lot of fun, I bought some swarovski crystals and pearls on sale AND with a coupon (super score!) and used a tooth pick with the glue to add it to all of my elements. It was difficult though because the shells are so incredibly fragile. Note: Be VERY careful with this glue, I didn't read all of the warnings it's really toxic, make sure you're using it in a well ventilated area. Nothing happened, but I just read all of the warnings after I used it and want you to be careful. 


My general thought process is less is more...which can be super hard for me, I just love everything sparkly but you don't want it to look gaudy. 


I made a headband for my Maid of Honor by gluing different sizes of Sand Dollars to her headband and I opted to off center them, the result was awesome. I also created pins for all of the guys to wear. 


I did break several earrings, again super fragile. I bought rubber backings for the earrings and had to slowly twist back and forth to get the back on. I made earrings and necklaces for MOH, Mom, Mother In Law and Step Mom. They were all too chicken to put the earrings on themselves so I did it for them! 


For the Centerpieces I printed out the "Legend of the Sand Dollar" and inserted it into a glass container which we then filled with sand and seashells (yes some of the one's from Florida!).
For dessert I made the cupcakes topped with chocolate sand dollars (bought the mold here).


And for our gift I made Sand Dollar Cookies, and then outlined them in our colours. 




Overall it was a wonderful day and exactly what we both wanted.