Keren Dukes creates the most lovely and adorable Vintage Clip Arts and she is kind enough to share them with her readers for free!
Head on over to her blog, download the templates and be inspired by her pretty DIY crafts.
Think Green: Save the Dates
Skip them!
Frankly, i do not know when and where and by whom Save the Dates were invented, but believe it or not: back in the good old days guests were very well able to attend a wedding although they got nothing but a simple invitation.
However if you are having a destination wedding or want to invite out of town guests you should inform them as early as possible to give them enough time to save money for the trip and book plane tickets and hotel rooms. Tell them about your plans when you meet them in person or simply call them.
Why physical Save the Dates are not necessary:
1. Creative and unique STD's require a lot research and work, especially when you want them to match your theme, your colors, include a photo of the happy couple, have a pretty font and an awesome design. Trying to make everything look perfectly can become very time consuming and nerve-wracking. There is so much you have to do while planning your wedding, why make it even harder by adding "extra-stuff"?
2. Costs can easily sum up and even simple DIY cards need to be made of something and you have to pay for material and stamps.
3. People who are not that much into wedding trends or especially the elderly might be confused about getting a STD because they have never seen one before.
4. People who get a STD must be invited to the wedding. This can cause some trouble in case you have to cut down the final guest list due to unexpected budget restrictions or a limited seating capacity of your venue, or when you are not that close anymore with one of your friends or relatives and do not want this person to attend your wedding.
5. Actually the main reason why i am writing about Save the Dates:
I know it is a special day for you. But think of all the thousands of weddings that are celebrated all over the world, every single day. Imagine all the paper products that are used for each of these weddings. Save the Dates, shower and wedding invitations plus envelopes, programs, place cards, menus and so on. Sad but true, couples put so much love and energy into their wedding but most of these items are thrown away right after the event. Imagine the waste that is caused by your wedding. Now imagine the waste that is caused by all weddings worldwide on your day and every other day
GOSH, what an awfully giant pile of stationary! Frightening!
Waiving Save the Dates is one easy way to help protecting our environment.
A modern and eco-friendly option of notifying your guests are emails.
These are some of the websites that allow you to create personalized E-cards, however they require a registration: The Knot, OurWeddingDay, Oriental Trading Company ( Firefox users must disable AdBlockPlus to enter the site)
Some people might say this is tacky*, i say it is tree-friendly, fast and free and serves the purpose.
* If there is an award for the english language similar to the "unword of the year" the word tacky should definately be considered for nomination.
Frankly, i do not know when and where and by whom Save the Dates were invented, but believe it or not: back in the good old days guests were very well able to attend a wedding although they got nothing but a simple invitation.
However if you are having a destination wedding or want to invite out of town guests you should inform them as early as possible to give them enough time to save money for the trip and book plane tickets and hotel rooms. Tell them about your plans when you meet them in person or simply call them.
Why physical Save the Dates are not necessary:
1. Creative and unique STD's require a lot research and work, especially when you want them to match your theme, your colors, include a photo of the happy couple, have a pretty font and an awesome design. Trying to make everything look perfectly can become very time consuming and nerve-wracking. There is so much you have to do while planning your wedding, why make it even harder by adding "extra-stuff"?
2. Costs can easily sum up and even simple DIY cards need to be made of something and you have to pay for material and stamps.
3. People who are not that much into wedding trends or especially the elderly might be confused about getting a STD because they have never seen one before.
4. People who get a STD must be invited to the wedding. This can cause some trouble in case you have to cut down the final guest list due to unexpected budget restrictions or a limited seating capacity of your venue, or when you are not that close anymore with one of your friends or relatives and do not want this person to attend your wedding.
5. Actually the main reason why i am writing about Save the Dates:
I know it is a special day for you. But think of all the thousands of weddings that are celebrated all over the world, every single day. Imagine all the paper products that are used for each of these weddings. Save the Dates, shower and wedding invitations plus envelopes, programs, place cards, menus and so on. Sad but true, couples put so much love and energy into their wedding but most of these items are thrown away right after the event. Imagine the waste that is caused by your wedding. Now imagine the waste that is caused by all weddings worldwide on your day and every other day
GOSH, what an awfully giant pile of stationary! Frightening!
Waiving Save the Dates is one easy way to help protecting our environment.
A modern and eco-friendly option of notifying your guests are emails.
These are some of the websites that allow you to create personalized E-cards, however they require a registration: The Knot, OurWeddingDay, Oriental Trading Company ( Firefox users must disable AdBlockPlus to enter the site)
Some people might say this is tacky*, i say it is tree-friendly, fast and free and serves the purpose.
* If there is an award for the english language similar to the "unword of the year" the word tacky should definately be considered for nomination.
Budget: Wearing a bridesmaid dress...
...is a great alternative when your budget is small or you simply do not see any sense in spending so much money for a gown that can only be worn once in your life.
Below are some of my favorites from The Dessy Group, one of the leading bridesmaid dress manufacturers who offers a huge variety of different styles and colors. Each dress can be ordered in at least one shade of white or ivory.
The complete collection can be found online, but almost every designer carries floor-length bridesmaid dresses in the style of a "real" wedding dress.
Have a look at the gorgeous dresses of Watters as well as Alexia Designs. Their websites have a tool that allows you to select by color which makes it easier and faster to find the perfect dress.
Below are some of my favorites from The Dessy Group, one of the leading bridesmaid dress manufacturers who offers a huge variety of different styles and colors. Each dress can be ordered in at least one shade of white or ivory.
The complete collection can be found online, but almost every designer carries floor-length bridesmaid dresses in the style of a "real" wedding dress.
Have a look at the gorgeous dresses of Watters as well as Alexia Designs. Their websites have a tool that allows you to select by color which makes it easier and faster to find the perfect dress.
Budget: Cake Topper
A heart is the #1 icon used worldwide as the symbol of love. For that reason a heart themed wedding is a nice idea but displaying heart-shaped items everywhere can easily look overdone and kitschy.
This adorable and very affordable cake pick from the Oriental Trading Company is a subtle way to incorporate hearts into your wedding and fits perfectly on small cakes or cupcakes.
You can use it the way it comes but it is also a good basis for a quick and easy DIY project: simply glue on little flowers or rhinestones in a color that matches your theme to make it more personal and unique.
© OTC Direct, Inc.
This adorable and very affordable cake pick from the Oriental Trading Company is a subtle way to incorporate hearts into your wedding and fits perfectly on small cakes or cupcakes.
You can use it the way it comes but it is also a good basis for a quick and easy DIY project: simply glue on little flowers or rhinestones in a color that matches your theme to make it more personal and unique.
DIY: I made a wreath
Not because i like them so much ( i don't) but it was a good opportunity to get rid of two things:
1. A styrofoam ring that i bought several years ago in order to make a christmas wreath, but never did.
2. Hawaiian Leis. I bought these right before our wedding and the plan was to use them as part of our ceremony decoration, but we changed our mind and they have been lying around in our living room since then.
The Leis are made of white fabric and i dyed half of them by mixing blue and green "Easter Egg Dye". The result was a nice pastel shade of turquoise:
I created a loooong Lei ( about 6 meters) by knotting the white and turquoise Leis together and winding them around each other like a drawstring, then i wrapped it around the styrofoam ring. So simple. The wreath still needs to be trimmed but here it is:
Looks so fluffy :)
PS: Easter Egg Dye is one of the most inexpensive ways to dye fabrics for crafting projects and it is also great for making your own colored paper!
1. A styrofoam ring that i bought several years ago in order to make a christmas wreath, but never did.
2. Hawaiian Leis. I bought these right before our wedding and the plan was to use them as part of our ceremony decoration, but we changed our mind and they have been lying around in our living room since then.
The Leis are made of white fabric and i dyed half of them by mixing blue and green "Easter Egg Dye". The result was a nice pastel shade of turquoise:
I created a loooong Lei ( about 6 meters) by knotting the white and turquoise Leis together and winding them around each other like a drawstring, then i wrapped it around the styrofoam ring. So simple. The wreath still needs to be trimmed but here it is:
 |
Looks so fluffy :)
PS: Easter Egg Dye is one of the most inexpensive ways to dye fabrics for crafting projects and it is also great for making your own colored paper!
Welcome to Ann-Kay's Home
No, not you!
But there are days where our doormat expresses our feelings perfectly. "Go away, we can't let you come inside, it's just too messy"
We aren't messies or hoarders however like every well equipped household we have a lot of things that we only need once or twice a year, but of course we must have them because they are oh-so-useful. Having them means storing them. Somewhere. And here begins our problem: we have an extreme lack of storage space.
Our appartment has one bedroom, bathroom, living room, kitchen and a hallway, 68 qm² and a huge balcony. Doesn't sound too bad, right? But there is no utility room, no closet and every wall has at least one large window or doors or a radiator which makes it hard to arrange our furniture and almost impossible to place larger cabinet or shelfs.
Hence every corner is filled with piles of books or office supplies or tools or just some random stuff. By the way, i love tools but i hate that we have to have them. Our dinner table currently serves as my crafting bench. It is overloaded with scrapbooking paper, pencils, embellishments and all different kinds of glue. I have tons of projects in mind and new ideas how to improve our living situation keep coming constantly.
Well then, time to get some work done...
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