Calm Before the Storm + DIY PROJECTS!

I’m sitting alone in my house at 2pm. The boys have gone off on a hike, and it’s still 3 hours before my sister come over to help me get ready for my Bachelorett Party.

This morning I have already cleaned my house, finished all of our Bridesmaids/Groomsmen/Mom Gift bags. Went to the Farmers Market to look at flowers for bouquets, AND convinced myself to eat a bunch of Greek Yogurt so I don’t die on my first alcoholic beverage tonight. Nerves make it hard to eat, which is not something I have ever found difficult….eating that is.

But now my house is clean and quiet and I have time to relax and share a few pictures with you. In one week, I will be 3 hours away from being Mrs. Gaunt (and not in the skinny sort of way).

First up is these cute little Photo Clips I got in the Dollar Bins at Target. They will be used to hold little signs that say what food items are and if they are vegetarian/vegan/gluten-free etc. However the color would NOT do! So I took ’em outside and spray painted them Mustard! It took like 4 coats to hide the neon. They aren’t super durable (like I could scrape all the paint off if I really tried) but they were cheap and will do for 1 day.

That Mustard colored spray paint was actually well worth the $8 I spent. I’m glad I got a color I wanted and not some yucky bright yellow. I have painted a number of things with it, including a bunch of frames I got for a Dollar at the salvation Army. I’m using them to put little signs in to tell people where to sit and what to drink and the number of the cab company (NO DRINKING AND DRIVING AT MY WEDDING!)

And a bunch of other little projects, the cats are Hula…duh, they will be stuck in our succulents as Table numbers.  The wine bottles are recycled from my moms bar, and labeled with little H2O Rain drops I printed off. There are some cake stands I made from little Sundae Dishes glued onto plates (and wooden trays) and spray painted, so easy so cheap (if you get the dishes from Goodwill like I did). Also there are the Boutonnieres I made for “Family Members” to wear. Lastly there are a few sneak peeks of bigger projects! Prepare to have your eyes overloaded with DIY projects.

I’m off to shower and get dressed up! Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend. If anyone wants more specific details on any of the projects they see here, let me know and I can do a full post after the wedding.

 

 

Medal Boutonnieres

There is a whole world of awesome non-flower Boutonnieres out there. Not that there is anything wrong with real flower Boutonnieres, they just seem kind of expensive, short-lived, and difficult to make. Not to mention they have to be made LAST MINUTE, and anything I can cross off my list before the week of the wedding is awesome in my book.

I scrolled around on Pinterest and Wedding Blogs to find what kind of non-floral Boutonniere worked best for us. In the end I stumbled upon this (oh Martha, how I love thee!) adorable little Brass Engraved Boutonniere! So precious, but at $20 a medal  + engraving costs (and 5, originally 6 Groomsmen) that would cost way too much, were on a budget here people! I also thought it seemed silly to spend that money on an engraved charm that I doubt any of his groomsmen would actually want to keep.

Next I found this Wooden Carved Medal Boutonniere on Etsy. Soooo Cool! But similar deal to the first one. It’s just too expensive for a bunch of boys who will likely leave them on the hotel nightstand the next day. But I really liked the striped ribbon look that the first one was lacking.

In the end I decided to try to make my own. Here are the supplies I used:

– 1 1/2″ Stainless Steel Disc with Hole

-1 1/2″ Grosgrain Yellow Ribbon

-Rooster Tail Feather Yellow

-Stainless Steal Jump Rings (I forget what size I did, on tiny, one a little bigger. Both purchased at Joanns)

-1″ Pin Back

-Smallest sheet of Balsa Wood I could buy (purchased at Joanns)

-Grey paint

-White Sharpie paint pen

-1/2″ Dark Grey Ribbon

-1 Full sheet of “sticker” (there is an office supply store in town that sells them individually for 10 cents)

Also:

-Craft Glue

-Iron

-Scissors

-printer

-Photoshop.

Alright, after listing it all out it seems like quite the project, but I swear it wasnt too hard. I also really do think it was the most economical way to get what we wanted. As for how I designed them, I winged it. The hardest part was folding the ribbon so it created that medal through the loop look. I used an iron to press the seems, and did a little cutting so that back of the ribbon tucked in nicely, then just glued it down. Same with the grey ribbon and feather at the top, just ironed and glued. The feather was actually a random last-minute add on that I really like, its quirky.

For the medal, they actually came with white plastic on them to protect their “shiny-ness” which was awesome with all the gluing and ironing around them. I finally got around to creating the little circle in Photoshop last week. I had originally thought I would have it printed on actual circle labels, but then I realized it would be soooo much easier to just print it on a sheet of label and cut the circles out. Voila!

As for the name “plaque” at the top. I tried to find a little metal square somewhere that I could just glue on and write on, but nothing fit. In the end I bought a strip of Balsa wood and had Mr. Gaunt cut it into little 1.5″ strips about 1/4″ tall and painted them grey to match the ribbon. Then I used a fine point paint pen in White to write their first initial and last name. They aren’t perfect, but very personal.

One of the things I like most about these, is how they look with the shirts I picked out. The Groomsmen outfits are the only “all matching” thing I really wanted in the wedding. Their shirts were something I put some thought into. I didn’t want just plain white boring shirts, I wanted a little bit of classy Pizzaz! So I picked these Kenneth Cole shirts that have just the faintest white-on-white stripe on them. I love how the stripes on my Boutonnieres match up with the stripes on the shirts. Eeek! They will be so cute!

Summer Running, Had me a Blast…

I totally forgot today is the first day of SUMMAH!

Mr. Gaunt and I sat down this morning and wrote down all (or most) of the music for the wedding, as well as mapped out the timeline. Exciting stuff, I know. Then it got late (10am) and we still hadn’t worked out. Mr. Gaunt was actually icing his knee that has ben bugging him. For a minute we discussed not working out and just doing our errands for the day. But with my new work schedule being TEN HOURS of sitting down, I knew that skiing my workout would be a bad idea. So I left Mr. Gaunt at home and went running. I had already decided to just do 30 minutes, and to try to run as much of that as I could. Then I decided right after I started running that I would just shoot for two miles (previously I have only done 1.5 without stopping). Sure enough I got on a good pace and jogged a whole TWO MILES! Woop Woop! I’m sure people driving past are shocked at my ability to jog so slowly, but my heart stay beating hard the whole time, so its good enough for me!

via Gmaps Pedometer (the greatest workout tool EVER!)

Mr. Gaunt and I have to go to Michael’s today to get stuff to make our groomsmen boutonnieres! I’m actually very excited about this little project, as we are doing something very non-traditional, but very cute!

But first…cofffee…iced…20 oz…drooooool….