DIY- The Slice

It might be crazy but I am thinking of more and more DIY items to do for myself and my bestfriend's wedding.  When I went to visit her last week I brought along on my of my new favorite craft toys "the slice" by making memories.  It is this handy little die cut machine.  Some people want to nay say it for the fact that you can only do one pattern at a time and not entire phrases unless it is a pre-made phrase.  personally I enjoy that because then I can choose what and where.  Honestly if you practice with it enough then you have no worries and it is very easy to use.  Just like any new insturment or tool you need to practice with it.

Some innovative things we did were cutting from vinyl sheets and shinky dinks!  Making tags with the Shrinky Dinks worked out really well.  If we had more colors I'm sure we could of made some really fabulous stuff.  I actually picked up the ones we used at the local Joann Fabrics in the kids craft section.  you can get sheets of it to cut into whatever shapes you want in several different colors.

I've been using the slice of late to make my Mother's day Cards and they turned out wonderfully, wish I had remembered to take a picture of them.  I also ordered with some of my recent Birthday money a new design card set called Vintage Findings.

Other lovely things that I like about it is that it is not just a die-cut machine.  You can change the tips to make it emboss paper, there are marker tips to draw out the patterns instead of cutting them out and then you can cut fabric out of it also.  Putting on a two way fusible facing onto the fabric first you can make ready cut out patches.  Which is the real reason why I bought it in the first place.


**Double Posted- to Muse on Wedding and Torn Angel**

Big Blossoming Flowers

Currently I am a bit bit obsessed with the idea of having HUGE fabric flowers out of silk organza amidst everything else being super simple.  Or even just the details of layering to give the effects to flowery petals.

All of these images I pulled from the knot.com  but which designers I can't quite remember I feel like it was mostly Love and Mori Lee.  I need to really start remembering these things and tagging it for further reference and unfortunately today the website is down as well so I can't really verify. ~sigh~
 **Edit The top 3 pictures are dresses by Jenny Yoo Collection and the bottom two are LOVE (no really that is the name of the design brand)

The Colors

I never knew picking wedding colors was so important until I started to look into the decorations. Even at the cousin’s wedding it didn’t dawn on me. I think the biggest impact on the choice of colors were my bridesmaid dresses. I did not want my dear and close friends to have to spend $200 on a dress they will wear once. That is completely impractical so I wanted to pick a color the dresses could be that would transition from day to night and easy to accessorize. Of course everyone thinks black! But we are in a wedding not going to a funeral and I have never been fond of the idea of black at weddings unless that is part of the theme such as Halloween or gothic. I decided to go with another dark color, a rich dark brown. As for the dresses themselves that is an entirely other chapter that I haven’t even thought of yet.
All weddings need a little glitz so it was between silver and gold. I picked Gold because even though I don’t have a fondness for the color it goes the best with the Brown and I won’t be wearing it anyways.
Lastly we needed a good accent color to liven it all up. My favorite colors are blue and green. Blue with the brown and gold just seemed to dark and formal to me and going with a light blue reminded me of a baby boy shower. I went with green it seems refreshing, classy and can be for all seasons. When we first picked out colors we had no idea what season or time of year we would be looking at so that gave us a wide range to chose the shade and it would all fit perfectly.
Choosing these colors made me feel good because it didn’t lock us into a flower due to a particular color. A lot of people who choose reds or pinks get stuck on roses, yellows are daffodils and daisies, blue gives you blue bells, lavender etc etc. Our colors leave us completely open to add in whatever colors we feel will fit or none at all and use fresh bamboo or palms which will be cheaper and the Bamboo can be kept by people as well.

Bridal Jewelry

I think the main thing for my own wedding is that I want to spend a little more money and have some gorgeous jewelry for the day.  I'm thinking chandelier earrings and a bedecked bracelet.  Also for my something blue I would love to have a HUGE blue ring of some sort.  There is a Swavorski ring that I am in love with.

And then these other's are close runner up's

Other jewelry that I found while trapezing the interwebs are following............

And lastly maybe a really pretty headpiece instead of a flimsy veil would be better and more modern.  Also much more functional as I could wear it again and again.  Seriously how many times am I going to wear a Veil?

Bridesmaid Inspiration Dresses

Just a few Images I pulled of Dresses that I like for bridesmaid options, not neccessarily the colors.  It is a lot easier to do then I thought since I need to find a dress to wear myself as the MOH and for my own bridesmaids when the time comes.

Off to a Running Start

The OCD part of me loves lists and this is not a bad thing in planning, especially such a momentous event. Right after that wedding for his cousin we started to brainstorm with exactly what we did and did not want for our own wedding. It was very clear the first thing was not to be wasteful. Though we do not consider ourselves green we still hate unnecessary waste all around. If recycling means there is less garbage in the trashcan then we are up to the challenge, if using cloth shopping bags holds more groceries you can be sure we will leave the plastic grocery bags behind.

The first two lists are simple and they help to organize themselves out. Things I do want for my wedding, or as I have set them “My Wedding goals/lists”. The “lists” were added in because most of these goals will turn into subcategory lists of their own as I expand. The second list is simple “Things I do NOT want”. It is a reminder list as I plan of all the things that I don’t want and to steer clear of as planning. Currently we are doing this one our own, no wedding planner in mind. But if at some point we do have a wedding planner you can be sure the first thing they will receive is the “Things I do NOT want” list and probably some form of contract stating that if they include anything from that list we owe them nothing.



My Weddings Goals/Lists

- Support as much local as possible

- Not be wasteful in all ways that I can

- Have my own music tastes

- No vows, maybe a unity candle

- Make it as easy for everyone as possible

- Have a unique dress that is reusable

- No more then 150 guests present if possible

- Must be warm/nice outside to have some exterior party/tent space

- Lot’s of friends and family involved

- Cocktail hour with hors d'oeuvres

- Completely edible Cake minus the Toppers

- Traditional Korean Dress Photos with Family



Things I do NOT want

- Tons of cut flowers

- Wasteful party favors or decorations

- Over the top budget

- Pressure on Andy to do something he doesn’t want in ceremony

- No traditional wedding bible verses

- Bad cheesy DJ

- Traditional processional music

- Not pets involved

- Heavily embellished dress

Me and Weddings

To be honest I am not a super gushy person on weddings.  I think this throws some people off, thinking I should be giddy about it with all the decorating and the dresses and most of all the Wedding dress.  Nope just not me.  I actually have no clue at all with what I want for my wedding dress.  I feel like a wedding is a celebration of commitment so why go all out with the bells and whistles?  Of course I want it to look nice but I also don't want to be stuck with a bunch of ill tasted party favors for years to come.  I do not want some huge Fondant cake to occupy my freezer for the next year.  I enjoy going to them but only if they are someone I truly consider a friend.  I don't particularly enjoy things that are not family related or close friends.  Just because you are invited to a wedding does not mean you have to make every last ditch effort to attend.

There have been a select few weddings that I was disappointed to miss like my friend Gerald's in Florida.  It was soon after college and he knew that financially it just couldn't happen for me as much as I wanted it to.  I also understand that about my own wedding.  A large amount of my friends don't live close and even though I'll invite them they most likely won't make it.  It's just the reality and I can't get upset at that.

I think I enjoy the planning of weddings with the lists of things to do and accomplish and working on budget.  There is a lot of unnecessary fluff associated with weddings that I just do not understand.  When did "Save the Date" become a staple?  Why do you need to invite someone twice to your wedding?  I mean if they don't remember on their own did you really want them to be there in the first place?  I suppose that is just my cold hearted nature with friends that those who matter will show you and if they don't you can't get hurt, you move on.

I think also the more hype and bigger a deal you make it the more upset you will be when the tiniest thing goes wrong.  I'm not going to get bent out of shape if the ring bearer forgets his pillow but still has the rings.  Or if my flower girl trips and cries during the procession.  I can't ever remember as a child or teen dreaming up my perfect wedding.  I knew I wanted to get married and that was all.  I don't think I've ever been super excited about anyone's actual wedding,  I've been very happy for the couple to make the commitment and start a family but the entire ceremony/reception just doesn't excite me.  I'm much more excited about baby showers and when a couple has a child.  There was a wedding once for some friends that I had introduced to each other in High School and they even put a dedication in the Program for me and I went and it was beautiful but my blood wasn't pumping about the event.

This is probably my biggest challenge as MOH for my best friend.  I don't think I am conveying my feelings towards her wedding the way that most people would.  It has nothing to do with the groom, location, her or anything just me and weddings.  Me and Weddings we're like acquaintances in passing but not good friends at all.  We're friendly to each other but not giddy with hugs and kisses.  I think that is a big reason why not being married infuriates me because I am the girl they just assume I'm making some big plan and I'm the one holding everything up in my personal life.