Yoshi's Eggs

Just another little DIY project for the Wedding that I did. One of the few non-sewing ones that I had.  I turned these little wooden eggs into Yoshi egg's for the groomsmen boutonniere's.  Hard to believe I am so close to the wedding!  Only 6 days till we married and this bracelet becomes official!

I got these little wooden Eggs around Easter time in wooden craft section of either Michaels or Joannes.  I had Andy drill a small hole into the bottom of each one so I could slide in my floral wire and glue them into place.

I used just some run of the mill Acrylic paint for this project starting with white.

This was after one coat of paint, I ended up doing at least three. I was also smart in doing the wire part before the painting because that gave me something to hold while I was painting the egg without messing up my fingers or the other parts of the egg.  I also was able to let them dry by sticking them into the edges of books like a bookmark.

With all my eggs done I was ready for the green Polka dots.

I just used  small brush and tried to randomly paint the dots.  I did the best I could to keep them all around the same size.  I also had to do several coats on each dot so this took a little longer then I had expected.  I tried to clump on the paint to make it go faster but then it just looked like the egg had a disease.  I had to be patient and just do my layered coats.

My Eggs all done and in a row.  I am going to combine them with sprigs of ribbon and fresh lavender from my garden.

I'm so close to being done with all my sewing.  I think tonight will be the final push which is just the bowties and adjustments on the singer's dress.  I had a sort of large snag Friday, I tried on my wedding dress only to find that my original shoes did not match in style and they were too tall for my dress.  It just looked awkward like it was hovering too much over the floor instead of just brushing it.  Thankfully DSW always has a large assortment of smaller shoes and dress shoes always in stock.  I picked up these beauties to wear for my ceremony.  They are by Charles David and were on sale too!

Ending the Reception

I finished my reception dress last night.  Around 1:00 am I slipped it on and looked in the mirror, quickly put on my Vivienne Westwood rocking horse wing shoes and just stood happily in front of the mirror.  Below I'll you some of my progress from working on it the past couple days.  Unfortunately no photos of me wearing it quite yet.  I want the suspense to continue.

 So here is the dress when I was attaching it to the embroidered bodice.  At this point I wasn't sure what I was doing for the hem and I liked the gold lining the best underneath the jewel tones.

A detail shot after I had gathered and then basted in the lining before I made my final decision on whether to keep it or not.  I think it gave it just the right effect that I wanted.

Originally I had some horse hair braid that I wanted to put in the bottom of the hem to give it some structure but that was a mess.  I attempted to place is 3 times with basting stitches and it just kept looking wrong and not very clean since the organza was so sheer.  When I tried to double roll the organza it just made it look awkward with a heavy strip of color at the bottom.  I thought out of frustration I would pin it up to see how a bubble hem would look.  It was magical.  Good things happen when you least expect it. 

 Here the bubble skirt hem!  It looks so sweet and it worked out perfectly but I didn't stop there.  I still wanted to add some pizzazz and to make sure this puppy wouldn't fall off of me while dancing and singing my heart out at the reception.

I loosely pinned in some ideas for a multi strap that would also serve as a nice embellishment.  Nothing super fancy just a little weaving and creative placement.

 I made very narrow strips and then pressed them flat to work as thin straps and clean the look up.

 These are the final layout of the straps and a little embellishment  before I attached the inner bodice lining and zipper to finish her up.  I'm very happy with my results.

Thing's are getting real around the house.  We having near daily deliveries of gifts, and supplies for the wedding.  Yesterday our tote bags for out of town guest bags were dropped off and made by the Wonderful Alison & Nick Nocera of Alison Rose.  I love them!  I'm happy there will be a few extra so that I can keep one for myself.  

 I've been crazily cutting little squares and folding petals of fabric for my own Bouquet.

 I put the finishing touches on the Grandma's Corsages.  I wanted to them to be the same and different at the same time.  I think that I accomplished this pretty well by choosing some different colors to add in combination with the overall green in the petals.

Yet there is still so much more to do!  I have buttons to sew on my niece's flower girl dress to finish that off.  Bowties for the band members. Adjustments on the singer's dress.  Boutonniere's for the groom's men. Put together the pieces for the Bridesmaids hair bands.  My blusher Veil for the wedding Ceremony.  My ceremony jacket and train. Bouquets for the bridesmaids.  Paper Jellyfish for decorations.  I think that bout covers it in the "DIY" department.
Some things I can wait to do two days before the wedding since they will involve fresh flowers from my garden but that is still quite a bit to do.  It will get done, I will love it.  Remember it's not just DIY for a wedding but DIFY (do it FOR yourself),  if you don't enjoy it don't do it! ( I'll write more about that mater post wedding madness).
Cheers!

Re-Cap Before NYC

I went to NYC this past weekend as my sort of Bachelorette Party Extravaganza.  I have the most bestest Bestie in the World.  She really treated me over the top with flying me out there and getting our hotel in SoHo (cough Chinatown Lafayette street cough) but it was still close enough for us to do everything and convenient.  I just got back last night at 8pm so I am still recovering.  She got me that blinged out Tiara to wear the whole weekend.  I had no room in my luggage for it so I had no choice but to wear it during my flights home.  Suffice to say I got some stares from the blue hair and the Tiara.

My Trusty Camera Bag working as my carry one with my travel bear/pillow and my TokiDoki Captain America Hat for when I need to hide my face and take a nap on the plane.  I took tons of photos so I will hopefully get them posted tonight on flickr or start to load them at the least.

Before NYC I started to work on some more wedding items.  I learned how to make these Ribbon roses so I am working on a mini collection of them to use for my bouquet.  We'll see how far I get.

Mostly my evenings looked like this, trying to figure out what fabric flower combination to do next. I worked on my Bridesmaid headbands and diligently got the main flower done.  Then I just needed to get the headbands and some other things from NYC and then I would be set with those.

I love making these Kanzashi style flowers but it always takes more time then I expect it to.  I start going and then I look up and it's been several hours later.  It's worth it though and they look amazing.

Opening Reception

Now that the Wedding Dress is done I am moving onto my reception dress.  This is another play on the Korean style dress with a Western feel.  In this dress I have decided to keep the more traditional coloring for this dress but making it a short fun dress that normally would be totally inappropriate for Korean wedding.  But this is just the reception and I want to dance and have fun!

My other Best friend in Korea sent me these gorgeous embroideries as a wedding present.  I decided to use the bottom one as my bodice top.  It is wider then the one I am using for  my wedding dress and I am planning on putting straps onto this.  The upper fabric since there is more yardage I am going to attempt to make it into a short Korean style jacket.  The Fabric is much more stiff and I need to pre-wash it but I'm scared to do that.  Perhaps I will wait till the entire jacket is constructed (if I get that Far) before I do the wash.

These are my colors for the skirt.  Right now I just stitched the strips together but the finishing on the edges was proving to be a problem.  Since this is sheer I didn't want to bulk it down with serge stitches on the inside or have them show through.

My Solution was using "invisible" thread.  It's like a very low gauge fishing line.  There is some strength behind this thread but you need to watch the tension as it sews and adjust accordingly.  It also likes to slip out of tension so if you are not careful when winding the bobbin you can create loops the bobbin which will mess up the stitches as you come to them.  Another weird quirk I ran into was how occasionally the thread would get double wound or caught up in the tension discs while sewing.  In hindsight I should of used a drop or two of Sewer's Aide on the spool to help glide it through the machine.

For finishing the seams nicely I decided to employ my skills at doing french seams.  When doing french seams the most important thing I feel is proper and frequent pressing.  I like to do my french seams in this order.

1. Sew with wrong sides together 2/8" seam allowance
2. Press with iron low steam the tiny seam allowance to one side
3. Turn fabric so right sides are together and press at seam closed
4. Sew with 1/4" seam allowance (with right sides still together)
5. Press french seam to one side

Aren't the results lovely?

After the french seams I put my pleats in to take it from 106" down to a mere 36".  I'm very excited for these colors and how this is shaping out.  I need to baste down these pleats and then I can start to attach them to the embroidered bodice piece.

OOTD- Nod to Man Repeller

During College Preview I thought I would do a nod to The Man Repeller and wear a sheer dress to see how I felt about it.  I wasn't about to be in just black knickers since I am supposed to be a role model for the Kiddies so I alternated in some black Bike shorts instead.  The Blog is here where she writes about transparent dresses.  Success or Failure?  For sure it holds a lot of man repelling qualities.

 

Jean Paul Gaultier for Target Halter mesh dress

Creme F21 tank

Victoria's Secret neon pink multi-wear bra

American Apparel Black Bike Shorts

Nike Gladiator High Top Sandals

Turquoise Anthropologie Ring

Baby Blue Swatch Watch

Gold Vampire Fang Necklace.

I would Blog more but I'm getting Married

It's the truth.  You all know it.  I am getting down to the wire only 20 days left!  Craziness.  This past weekend was my Bridal shower that I might post some pictures of.  This coming weekend I am going to NYC to spend with my Bestie and one of my Newly appointed Bridesmaids. The following weekend I am going to the Lake house with Andy and a few friends to enjoy the quiet before the storm that is the wedding and ride some Roller Coasters at Cedar Point!

Until then I have nice long list of things I need to accomplish.  One of those things not on the list is my Wedding Dress.  I finally found the time and gusto to sit down and finish her up.  Here is a quick snap shot from my new fangled Droid X-2 phone (which has a story which I will tell at the end).

 The things I still make to do include:

• My Bouquet
• The Bouquet I am going to toss
• Four bow ties for the band
• Hair pieces for the Bridesmaids
• Corsages for the Grandma's
• Bouquets for the Bridesmaids
• My Reception Dress
• The Groom's Party Boutenierre's
• Ring Pillow
• Jelly Fish decorations for Reception

 I'm not in such a tight spot now that my College Preview Classes are over.  I'll miss the kiddies I was teaching but it does feel great to have some free time and a more normal work schedule again.  This picture was from my last day of class with them.  I'm rocking my TA's Ray Ban's and my new Toki Doki Captain America Hat.  My friend Laura from Rivet Gallery went to San Diego Comic Con and picked it up for me.

Now the story of my Phone.  My Bestie, and my friend Tony all have the same exact phone.  Numerous times we have picked up each other's phones.  When I visit Hyemi in Chicago we would pick up each others phones.  Once I couldn't find my phone staying with her so she called it.  She had put my phone in her purse while she was carrying around her own phone in her hand.   Anyways Saturday was my Bridal Shower and all three of us were there.  I kept picking up the wrong phone and wondering why my code wasn't working.  Found out I kept picking up Tony's phone whilst mine was in my pocket.  After much confusion with phones the next day when Hyemi was taking her flight back I was less concerned with mine.  Then she left and I went home to make sure my phone was charged for when she was going to call me at her connecting flight.  No luck.  Turned the house upside down and searched every newly acquired box and bag from the shower to still no avail.  Finally I gave up and consigned myself to the thought that "Hyemi must of taken it by mistake".  Unable to go Phoneless even for a day this close to the wedding I headed to Verizon.  Luckily I was up for a phone upgrade anyways.  Unlucky my older brother was supposed to pay off some charges are part of the deal for him to get on my phone plan with an Iphone.  Of course he didn't pay.  What should been merely a $200 bone deal to my preciously dwindling bank account is now a $450 punch in the gut and kick in the shin of my wallet.  Yes I did get a beautiful Droid X-2, but I was hoping to upgrade after the wedding ~sigh~ 
It get's better. About an hour after I have been home with this new dazzling phone and empty sadness of bank account, Andy (the boy whom I am marrying) e.mails me. "Guess what babe!  I found your phone in the pocket of my cargo pants I am wearing".  I might of wept a bit while muttering to myself FML over and over again.  You would think oh no biggie let's just return it but alas..... there is a $70 re-stocking fee so it wouldn't matter anyways.  Such is my life, whenever I have a chunk of change saved up and put away I get thrown some sort of calamity that is necessary to take care of ASAP.