A Productive Night

Now that we have the kitchen and the family room all set up, we can kind of ignore the rest of the house for a little bit, and start focusing back on the wedding.  We've been doing small little house projects, but it's hard to get things done during the week when we don't get home until 6, and then need to figure out dinner, so small wedding tasks are less tiring, and less involved than some of the things that need to be done to the house, not to mention the wedding is way more time sensitive.

So, this past weekend, my mom and I decided to start up with the centerpieces again.  Over the course of a few months, my FMIL and I went to 3 or 4 different Michaels stores to get these little glass vases.  Since I had stopped purchasing them in April and then had them packed for moving, we took them out of their box and packing paper to see them looking like this:

Cloudy and Dirty Vases / Personal Picture

Also, some were chipped and cracked, so I am happy that I ended up having two tables worth of extras. Not sure if this was from the move (likely) or just that I had purchased them that way. Honestly, I was so stressed about whether or not I would end up finding enough in my area that I didn't really inspect them before purchasing.  I guess I should have done that, since I ended up finding them relatively easily.  

After breaking them out though, we decided to give them a nice bath before actually working with them.

Clean sparkly vases, thanks to my mom! / Personal Picture

While I was drying all the vases, my mom got to work pulling all of the flower heads off of the stems that they came on.  Thankfully, this was very easy.  

De-flowering the stems, LOL! / Personal Picture

And it turns out that we had so many more than what we needed!  This next picture only shows half of the stash that I ended up with.  Good thing these things were so cheap, otherwise that would have ended up as a total waste of money instead of only a little waste of money.  

Half the flower stash / Personal Picture

After sorting all the flowers by color, we arranged the vases in groups of four, which is how they will be placed on each table.  We then chose the best looking flowers from each color, and placed one in each vase.

Since I was having such a hard time with getting the flowers to not float to the surface in the Jell-O, I decided to hot glue the flowers to the bottom inside of the vase, so we each got a glue gun (yes, we had three and recruited my sister to help) and glued them in place.

Flower glued to vase / Personal Picture

After letting them dry overnight in the empty china cabinet, we decided to try one with the Jell-O to see how it looked.

All the flowers glued / Personal Picture

The centerpieces take a regular box of Jell-O, and cut the amount of water in half in order to make it set better at room temperature.

1 box of Jell-O mixed with 1/2 cup of boiling water / Personal Picture

Mixing the Jell-O and hot water until smooth / Personal Picture

Adding 1/2 cup of cold water to the mixture / Personal Picture

Then, after the Jell-O was mixed together, I poured it over the flower that was glued to the bottom of the vase.

Slowly pouring the Jell-O over the flower / Personal Picture

The stirring created some bubbles at the top of the Jell-O, so I just used my finger to pop them, although I guess you could also use a toothpick or something other than your hands.

Popping the air bubbles at the surface / Personal Picture

I stuck the vase in the fridge overnight, and the next morning, it looked awesome!

Hardened Jell-O with the flower (and some condensation from being removed from the fridge) - Sorry about the barcode. This was a test vase used at the last minute, so it didn't get peeled off! / Personal Picture

I think this is actually going to work! Only 48 more to go, since this was a test vase (had a chip off one of the corners).

Are you using Jell-O for anything in your wedding? Yeah, I didn't think so.  :)

I'mma Put you to Work

This was a big wedding craft weekend.  And it's about time, because we are officially under 100 days! Yikes!

A few weeks ago, I mentioned to you that I finally found something for the missing element of our centerpieces - Midollino sticks!

Well, they arrived in the mail a little bit ago, and I had opened them and checked them out, but that was just to verify the order was correct.

Love when mail arrives for me!! / Personal Picture

Three Bundles of Midollino Sticks / Personal Picture

This weekend, though, we took them out for good, and I assigned FI the easy task of cutting them to fit in the centerpieces. We decided that each stick would be cut into three even sections. doing so would allow for good amount to be put into each cut wine bottle. So, FI got to cutting and got all of them done with a regular pair of scissors in about an hour and a half. It wasn't until about a third of the way through did he realize that the scissors could handle more than one stick at a time, so the last part went a lot quicker than the first part did.

Three cut Midollino Sticks / Personal Picture

Granted that I am not using the sticks as they are intended to be used, however, so far, I am very happy with them, and I'll tell you, the color could not be moreperfect. They are almost a perfect match to the wire that I made the photo holders out of.

Cut Midollino Sticks in a Wine Bottle Chiller / Personal Picture

Anyone else using something non-traditional and non-floral for centerpieces?

Wired and Bent

Having known that the four little square vases I will be using on our tables for centerpieces would not be enough, I have been looking for easy ideas that could also double as our table numbers.

My first thought was to include a pumpkin on each table, and either paint or carve the table number into the outside of the pumpkin, not puncturing through the skin completely.

Image via Fitzy Snowman Sculpting / Carved pumpkin with table number

FI had mentioned to me that the pumpkins would need to be carved at least a day ahead of time in order to get them done time wise, and that they would also likely need to be sealed some how so that the raw part of the pumpkin doesn't start to go bad and smell.  So, we ultimately decided that we'd pass on the gross, smelly centerpieces, and look for other ideas.

I thought about using different vases, or just a candle on a mirror, but I really didn't want somewhat-open flames at our reception - some of our friends are slightly destructive around fire around anything ;)

So, by stalking Pinterest (come on, you can't seriously tell me that you don't have an account, and expect me to believe that, right?!?!?!), I think I have finally come up with an idea. You see, my FIL's drink a glass of wine at dinner every night, alternating between white and red, depending on what's being eaten.  Because of this, there are always empty wine bottles in the recycling bin.  So, when I came across this post about cutting wine bottles, which actually happens to be posted on a blog owned by a friend from high school, I immediately knew I wanted to use that as the missing part of my centerpieces.

Image via Picklee / How to Cut a Wine Bottle

I have been saving all the clear white-wine bottles for the last few weeks, and will be trying this tutorial this weekend, verifying that this is the route I am going to go for my centerpieces.  

In the meantime, however, I have been thinking of ideas on how to make this a little different. I don't want to do the typical table number label on the wine bottle, and I plan on putting something inside to make it look better, but to save some money, I have decided against flowers.  I think that there will be plenty of flowers and greenery in the Botanical Center as it is, so I originally decided to buy the thinnest wooden dowels made, spray then green, and put them in the bottle with one of them holding the table number at the top.  After looking at Home Depot, Lowes, and Michaels for wooden dowels, I thought that paying between $0.15-$0.64 per dowel was a little crazy, especially considering I would still have to paint them, so I started looking for alternatives.  

I came across some floral sticks from Save-on-Crafts, one of the many (bridal) superstores for craft supplies on the internet.  The sticks are called Midollino sticks, and I had never heard of them before, but apparently you can submerse them in water and they become flexible so you can shape them the way you want, but you also don't have to do that.  I have ordered three bunches from Save-on-Crafts, and am waiting for them to be delivered.  

Image via Save-on-Crafts / Midollino Sticks in Olive Green

Having finally found something to act as the contents of my cut wine bottles, I realized that the sticks would not be sturdy enough to hold a table number, so I decided to make little picture holders out of wire, and then place them in the wine bottle along with the Midollino sticks.  

On my trip to Joann Fabrics this weekend to get the pocket square fabric, I wandered throughout the rest of the store (Can you honestly avoid this when shopping? If so, please tell me how!) and happened to find 12 gauge wire, in "Lime," which happened to be an almost perfect match to the color of the Midollino sticks online (from what I can remember...I haven't actually seen the color in person yet).  So, I bought two packages of it, totaling 10 yards.  I knew that I had needle-nose pliers and wire-cutters at home, so I checked out, knowing that I had everything to make the picture holders.

I'll show you the final product now so that you actually know what I'm talking about when I say "wire picture holders."

Wire Picture Holder / Personal Picture

And now, here's how I made them:

Supplies

12+ gauge wire - The higher the gauge number of the wire, the more sturdy it will be, but also understand that the higher the number, the harder kinks are to remove. I wouldn't recommend much lower than 12 - you may end up with sturdiness and strength issues.
Ruler - To determine how long you need your holders to be.
Needle-Nose Pliers - To easily bend the wire without bruising your fingertips.
Wire-Cutters - To cut your wire...yep, pretty self-explanatory :)
Something round - I used a wine cork (very appropriate to this post, btw) to make the circle at the top. You can use whatever you have around, just take into consideration how large or small you want the round part of the picture holder to be.

Supplies / Personal Picture

Step 1: Create the Top Circle

Take one end of your uncut wire, and wrap it twice around the object you have chosen to create your circle.  Be sure to do this as tight as possible. 

Wrapping the wire around the cork / Personal Picture

Step 2: Bend your Ends

Using your needle-nose pliers, fold the end of the wire over or under, whichever you prefer, to create a curved end, which doubles as making the top of your picture holder a little more safe by hiding the sharp end of the wire.

Folded over end of wire at top of the picture holder / Personal Picture

Bend the other end of your wire at a 90 degree angle, making the stem for the picture holder.

Bent end of the wire making the stem / Personal Picture

Step 3: Create your Stem

Measure how long you want the stem of your picture holder to be.  Because I am inserting my picture holders into wine bottles, I needed to make sure that they were long enough to stick out the top of the wine bottle so that my table numbers would be seen.  The stem of my picture holders ended up being 10.5" long.

Using your needle-nose pliers, bend the wire at 90 degrees to mark the end of your stem and the beginning of the stand part of your picture holder.

Step 4: Create your Stand

At the base of your stem, where you bent the wire at 90 degrees, create a spiral with a little extra wire from your length.  You don't need too long of a "tail" here, but in the picture below, you will see that I have about 5" or 6" extra acting as the stem.

Curve the "tail" of your picture holder into a spiral to act as the stem, holding up the picture holder on its own.  Test this on a flat surface.

Stand of the picture holder / Personal Picture

Finished Product:

Wire Picture Holder / Personal Picture

The nice part about these picture holders is that when grouped together, the stands can also double as your beautiful bouquet!

Wire Picture Holder Flower Bouquet / Personal Picture

Just kidding....  It is way less expensive than a bridal bouquet though ;)

So, to conclude, I made 14 wire picture holders in less than an hour, and this was my first time making them ever - wicked easy project.

Have you used Pinterest to help plan your wedding? What projects have you DIY'd that you first saw as a pin?

A Different Type of Glasses

Sorry about being missing!  We've been enjoying the beautiful weather we've been having, and are also celebrating the holiday. Happy Memorial Day, and thanks to all who have served our country!!

Now, back to your regularly scheduled programming :)

Since I am making our table centerpieces, I have been making frequent trips to the motherland, aka Michaels.  I have been buying them out of 3" square glass vases on every visit, and on this past one, I was able to score enough to complete my collection, which I actually didn't know until I just counted!!

Ashland 3" Square Vase from Michaels / Personal Picture

Ashland 3" Square Vase from Michaels / Personal Picture

Bags and Bags and Bags of vases / Personal Picture

So, now that I have the vases, I should probably start figuring out if the Jell-O idea will work...

I also probably should have figured that out prior to purchasing all these vases. Oh well.

Jello is Delicious, But is it Beautiful?

Like I told my florist I would do, I tried to make the Jello centerpieces.  Unfortunately, I have to say that I somehow didn't get any pictures of this process, and I am so sorry that I can't share it with you right now. But, I will say, that it didn't come out much different from what the florist was able to accomplish.

 I used a much larger vase than the florist used, and filled it with six cups of Jello, whereas the florist only used two.  That alone made a huge difference, and with that I was able to get the flowers to stay down in the Jello, but that was only because I kept pushing them down with chopsticks.  When pushing them down, petals kept breaking off and folding in half, and the flowers looked terrible.

So, I think this idea wouldn't work with real flowers, no matter what, so maybe I will try to do it with fake flowers that way the petals have a less chance of falling off and folding.

But, no matter what, I promise that I will take pictures next time.

The Blooms

A long, long time ago...ok, I won't sing, but really. A long, long time ago, I came across a picture from a wedding related message board and absolutely fell in love.

Image via Rachel Ray / Jello Centerpieces with Flowers

I have been obsessed with this picture since I found in (in 2007) and have had it saved to my wedding notebook since then.  

The reason I am showing this to you now, is because this has actually hurt me in my search for a florist for the wedding. A lot of them don't either have the slightest idea how to do this, or don't have the means of doing this (no stove to boil jello...etc.).  So, I was finally able to find one florist who said she would try to make the centerpieces before I signed a contract. I thought this was perfect.

I got a call a week ago saying that she tried it but it wasn't really that successful, and that she was saving her trial for me if I wanted to come see it.  So, I stopped by her shop after work that afternoon.  This is what she was able to accomplish:

Front side of rectangular vase / Personal Picture

Back side of rectangular vase / Personal Picture

Side view of rectangular vase / Personal Picture

So, as you can see, there was a huge problem in keeping the flowers to stay down in the jello while it hardened, and not to float to the surface.  The florist said that she was going back and forth to try to push them down as it hardened, but the process was too quick.  She also said that it was very time consuming and that she really didn't have the resources to do it in the shop.

She was very nice about it all, but it was kind of disappointing that something I have been so obsessed about for years may not be able to happen for our wedding. 

I let her know that I was very thankful that she tried this, and that it was helpful to know this early that this idea may not work.

The ideas that she had for the bouquets were beautiful, and I loved them, but you will have to wait to hear about those.  She said that she was still willing to do the rest of the flowers for the wedding, but she was adamant about not working with Jello.

So, I have decided to try the Jello centerpieces to see if there is some special trick to getting it to work, and to determine whether or not I would be able to do them on my own for the wedding.  But, in the meantime, I may need to start thinking of alternative centerpiece ideas.  Any suggestions?