Progress updates: hitting the post office and wiring brooches

Once the Save the Date cards were made I made the envelopes (using silver and black stamps on the front and lining them with a lovely blue paper to match the cards) I'm now writing the envelopes (i'm attempting calligraphy and it's turning out OK!) which believe it or not is the hardest job: I actually don't have anyone's addresses (i'm an email kind of gal!) so gathering all the addresses is taking longer than I thought. We're planning to send these out on Monday though - I can't wait to get them out of the house, and get peoples reactions to them (and then I can show them you guys properly too!) I've also been sat in front of the TV making Thank You cards: these are really simple cards using just two stamps and a ribbon bow, so they didn't take too long to do (unlike our complicated invitation design, which i'm dreading getting started on!!)

The other job i've been working on other the past couple of weeks is starting to put together the brooch bouquet. So far only three brooch "flowers" are complete, but i'm really pleased with how they're looking. I think finding the right brooches is going to be the hardest job, because I really want to use some enamel flowers, and they're difficult to find!

To put them together I have been threading wire around the pin to lock the 'flower' and the 'stem' together. Then for extra security I wrapped a pipe cleaner around each end of the pin. The pipecleaners were then drawn into the middle and twisted all the way down the stem, making it thicker, sturdier, and ensuring the brooch can't fall off. My mum had to show me how to do the next bit: take florist tape and wrap tightly around the stem and create a bulb around the bulk of your pin and wiring work: this makes it look more like a flower, and makes sure none of the pipecleaner will be seen at the end when you put the bouquet together

This is a massive job: so far I only have 3 completed flowers, and the final bouquet will need 75. I haven't quite worked out how these individual flowers will turn into a bouquet yet, but as I have another 72 brooches to source and wire before I have to worry about that, it's a bridge we'll cross when we come to it!

Love, Tor xx

The next big project: the brooch bouquet

With my severe hayfever I knew I couldn't carry a bouquet of fresh flowers. I originally toyed with paper flowers (made from the pages of my favourite books) but then mum suggested I check out brooch bouquets, and it was love at first sight:
Apparently these are easier to make than they look, and armed with an online tutorial, i'm prepared to give it a go! To make one of these you need 75 brooches. I want lots of large enamel flower ones, as well as quirky "Alice" themed ones: yesterday my sister picked me up a door mouse, and i'm looking for top hats, rabbits, and dresses too.

So far I have four brooches that would be perfect (3 from my collection, plus the one found by my sister) but I intend to thrift and check out carboot sales. Family are also contributing pieces, making it even more special, and mum is going to help me weave my late Grandma's wedding ring into the stem.

As i've mentioned, my mum and sister are really crafty, so i'm confident that if I can't make this work, they can. What can possibly go wrong?! HA!

I will keep you updated with my progress: I just ordered my florist wire and green pipe cleaners (believe it or not, that's the base of the stems!) so I should have at least a couple of brooch flowers to show you next week.

Love, Tor xx

Wedding party gifts

When it came to getting presents for my bridesmaids, I knew immediately what I wanted to do. Similarly, Mike and I both had the same great ideas for gifts to give our parents and grandparents. But the groomsmen? We're at a loss! A lot of the groomsmen gifts seem a little cliche: something silver and engraved. Mike seems to think silver and engraved is a good idea, so we're going with that, but I didn't want anything tacky. Today I discovered Simply dazzling.com.Some of the gifts are the standard cliched fayre; engraved paperweight or champagne flutes, anyone? But some of the gifts are actually really quirky and funny. All of our ushers, groomsmen and best man are Mike's old school friends, so I loved the idea of giving them sterling silver prefect-style badges as momentos, perfect for invoking memories of when they all met.

I admit, they're pretty useless presents that I doubt any of the guys will use after the wedding day, but then how many people do you see carrying engraved hip flasks, or wearing cufflinks that say groomsmen on them? I think i'd rather we got them these as a novelty keep sake (they cost just £5.50 per piece) and then paid for them all to play a round of golf on the morning of the wedding.

What do you guys think? Clever or naff? Do you have any good ideas for groomsmen gifts? I'm completely stumped, so i'd love to hear them!

Love, Tor xx

It's getting late, so save the date!

Yesterday was a flurry of activity in the home of chief crafty sister Lucy: chief cupcake bakey sister Amie and I turned up for a day of hard work creating the save the date cards. We'd decided we wanted to get them created in one day. So we organised ourselves into a production line, and got to work! It was actually a lovely day (although both sisters complained their hands were left like misshapen claws) It was nice to sit around a table and have a good gossip, whilst having an activity to keep our hands busy!

I don't want to reveal the final card design until we send them out next month (I want it to be a suprise for some of the guests that might be reading this!) But I will share some pictures of the "making of" (usually saved for the special edition DVD!) Here we go:

I'm really excited about how they turned out, and can't wait so send them: we're going to do that at the beginning of next month. The cards are now finished, I just have the envelopes to work on. I've stamped the fronts of them (and they're looking great!) They now just need lining with some lovely blue paper, which is very time consuming and a labour of love. Yes, apparently, love is lining envelopes. Who knew!

Love, Tor xx

The right dress for you?

I love this kind of article: finding "the right dress for your body shape" and when I saw that Gok Wan had written one for weddingmagazine.co.uk I knew I could design (just for fun you understand) the dress of my nightmares.

You see, i'm what Gok would call a Petite girl, a curvy beauty, and a cleavage diva. So I should be wearing an above the knee halkerneck or one shoulder dress (the image shows a mini party dress), a 50s dress with a pleated or gathered skirt and a bolero to cover my arms (the image shows a mother of the bride outfit in white) or a slim fitting dress with a deep v. (the image shows a night gown slashed to the waist: what the "cleavage diva" is supposed to do with her breasts, given there is no room for a bra, I have no idea)

Imagine what all of this put together would look like: my "perfect" dress is a nightmare!!

Instead, here is some proper dress porn. I don't know what I want my own dress to look like yet, but I love all of these:

Screw Gok and his rules: I want tulle, ruffles, and bows!

Love, Tor