Sunday 29 July 2012

Seating plan..

Here is another personal touch that I had the pleasure of creating.  I have to say creating but maybe it's a combination of designing and creating?  I wanted to make a podium style seating plan, when the bottom half of this podium came my way I designed and my boy made the top ledge and sprayed this white for me.  Not bad for a recycled object?  I then painted a white wooden tray, added the Tim Holtz metal feet and printed off on a 12 x 12 sheet of cardstock the seating plan.  All that was added were the inlays of cardstock and brads and stitched together.  To make extra sure that nothing moved, the wooden tray has been secured onto the ledge before the seating plan was added and the flowers were arranged in a bouquet holder and a hole was drilled in the top of the ledge so that you could water the flowers and ensure that nothing got knocked off accidentally.  Just a few touches were added as dressings, which were the napkin holder and napkins and the electronic candles.  We also added 2 white basket of favours on the bottom shelf to "top up" for the evening guests.  You just have to imagine that they are there!! x

Wednesday 25 July 2012

Dressing the venue..

Following on from previous posts, this is the next chapter.  Suze (my youngest daughter) and I spent 14 hours transforming a conference hall into a Wedding venue.  There were 8 round tables and 2 top tables.  You might just see the place names-  mini easels that we painted and distressed with silver along the name plates that were cut from white foam and all names were cut in silver using the Tim Holtz typeset die.The various flowers that were used on the name plates were cut from a selection of white card using the Magnolia dies and held on with 1 silver brad and stickles added to these.  Yes, they took a long time but its those little details that make it from being okay/good to brilliant!
The tables had varying sizes of gems, plus favours(either vodka for adults and chocolate balls for children) all handmade and individually labelled. Each table had a table name of the places that Sam and Gav had visited on their travels through Italy where Gav had planned to "pop the question", the story was on the reverse of these and were laminiated. Just to make it clear that these have taken many months to make prior to the wedding.  The flowers through out the venue were arranged by Suze and myself so everything from the candlabras to the top table to the canvas sprays.  These were in creams, greens and whites and were duplicated in the bridal bouquets.  The chair sashes were to highlight the colour of the bridesmaids dresses which were two tone and it all looked so elegant. I have to say that when I went back in the room it did take my breath away and made me so proud that we had produced that for my daughter/Suze's sister.  I have been asked whether I would like to do this full time, I know that you should never say never but.....x

Sunday 22 July 2012

Mr & Mrs Canvas..

It is only now that I can truly share with you what I have been working on for MONTHS!  I felt it inappropriate to share this with you before the Bride and Groom had seen this.  As Sam had already chosen mini easels for the place names-which you will see in a later post,  I thought when I saw this easel it was just gorgeous.  This easel was bought second hand and was quite expensive but it did not fit in with the colour scheme of a wedding being black and bottle green.  So with 8 hours of sanding down and a further 10 hours of priming, undercoating and top coat the transformation began.  It is a lovely piece and I think that I would like to take it further by either using a silver rub and buff creme on it or silver leaf certain parts.  This easel was the first thing that I wanted the guests to see, I wanted to produce a canvas that was going to set the tone of the wedding and to welcome guests in as they arrived.  How annoying it is sometimes to enter somewhere only to be greeted by strangers?! I thought this canvas would alert guests that they were in the right location.  I had not prepared myself for the 50 hours work it took to create this canvas, the letters (apart from the & and welcome) are all 3D, cut by hand and assembled using cardstock and paper mached over the top, then painted in white and then silver leafed, textured and beaded(using beads from Sam's dress).  The flat letters are painted with silver acrylic.  I left a space to the left hand side to have a spray of fresh flowers.  I have to say that I am so pleased with this, it is beautiful and certainly ticked all the boxes.  Since the wedding I have had so much interest in this canvas from potential wedding parties, I haven't found anything else like it on the market so who knows where this piece could take me?? x

Thursday 19 July 2012

Sam's wedding..

I cannot lie, my nerves did get the better of me as the wedding approached and I bottled out of making the bridal bouquets.  To be honest it was a good thing as I did run out of time but I was pleased that Suze(youngest daughter) and I managed to dress the venue. More of that in later posts.
Just thought that I would share the card that I made for Sam and Gav's wedding, it's A5 in size and lots of varying whites with texture.  I was pleased that I managed to use the Sizzix embossing folders to create an extended embossed A5 size piece without having the line across, you know how you get that if you don't pattern match it up and leave the already embossed piece protruding through your bigshot before putting it through a second time.  With me so far?
The crystal buckle was from Mei flower, it was £1.50 so it you are thinking of making these cards in bulk try and find these wholesale! The sheer ribbon is from a bridal shop and the glitter letters are from one of those boxed jobs of glitter letters and glued onto some textured cardstock , machine stitched and with white leather thong added which attaches to the buckle.  It is much more elegant in the flesh.  I love this card.
Here is a sneak peek at one of the photo's that AJ took of the happy couple, gorgeous dress Sam wore, worth all the ups and downs that we went through to get this dress.  Totally gorge!
Gav looks very dapper too!  It was a lovely day (even with those showers in between) and it went really smoothly and by all accounts everyone had a good time-that's what its all about, isn't it?  So, congratulations to Mr and Mrs Blundell, who by now will be sunnying themselves in another country. x

Tuesday 10 July 2012

14th July...

is fast approaching, and I am getting a bit nervous if I can pull off dressing my Daughters wedding venue to a high class standard.  I have been preparing for months, making and creating pieces that will transform the venue from a generic wedding to a personalised one.  I am fortunate that I have a great support network of family and friends and without their help I wouldn't be this far down the road to completion. I thought that at last,  I would blog the save the date cards, invitations and order of service booklets all in one hit.  With the save the date cards, Sam wanted to incorporate a magnet so that guests could put this on their fridge, so the credit card size magnet is on removable sticky dots so that you can do this. The invitations are elegant and simple using designer paper, stitched with ribbon and die cut wording added, inside are pockets with matching RSVP which has been personalised so that guests just have to tick to either accept or decline and envelopes are provided self addressed so the guest just has to post this back.  Maps are included which are also matching the colour way for the Church and Reception.  The Order of Service booklet has had the main colour punched and ribbon added and the wording stamped, this turned out to be a booklet as the hymns that Sam and Gav chose were so long, it was a challenge but one that I managed to find a solution for. So, as I'm packing up all the wedding dressings and accents I feel anxious that I want to do the best for my Daughter on her special day, so keep your fingers crossed for me on Friday.   x

Wednesday 4 July 2012

Baby Chloe..

yet another commision for this style of baby card but this time for a girl.  I haven't made many baby girl cards, there seems to be a lot of boys born but not many girls!
On a different note, I know that I haven't blogged much of the wedding items that I have made but I will, promise!  xx