Wedding Garter
It’s wedding season, and one of my dear, dear besties, Phuongaholic, is getting married soon. I actually get to participate in the wedding which is exciting, and when she came into town the other day I wanted to give her a special gift. First step: Hobby Lobby which created a Craftocalypse!!
I already had a plain white garter (that I had purchased for my siter BEANS, who decided to elope instead), so I decided to decorate it for Phuongie. I laid out my beads in advance. I added the blue flowers so it could be her “something blue”.
This was tricky because the whole garter has to stretch, but I didn’t want beads popping off left and right. I sewed each bead on individually and tied them off, then cut the thread and started again. While I was sewing them on, I periodically stretched the whole thing out to make sure they would stay on. I’d rather a bead pop off while I still have it than after I’ve given it to the bride.
I started with the middle bead, the heart, first, and spaced everything else out around it. Then I started on the second row. Once I was done with the letter beads, I added the flowers at each end.
Here it is stretched out so you can see that the beads actually stayed on.
As soon as Phuongie read it she started laughing and slapping me, which is a good sign. It means she loves it. I will be making her wedding topper as well, and participating in her Vietnamese style wedding, which I’m very excited about, so you will get to follow along on the wedding adventures! Like several of my friends, Phuongie is an excellent blogger, and you can read about her flower design business and her random, hilarious life through the magical internets. And I show up in her blogs periodically, so that should be some incentive for you minions.
– That Clever Chick
Wedding Favors on a Budget
As you know from the last post, my sis Beans just had her wedding reception. For the reception favors, she wanted to hand out baby trees from the Arbor Day foundation. Two days before the reception, they still had not arrived, so she, of course, was flipping out a bit. Clever Chick to the rescue! (Yes, Again!) FYI: they did make it on time, so we just handed out both favors.
Since time was of the essence, I decided to make magnets out of oven baked clay. Some of the typical brands are sculpey, primo, and fimo, and they have tons of colors at Hobby Lobby, and other craft stores. I used a deep red for these.
This is a tiny rolling pin and cutting board I got specifically for craft projects, so I don’t have to worry about cross-contamination. They are from a child’s play set, so they are much easier to store than a normal sized set. I roll out small chunks of clay at a time, so it’s easier to keep it a uniform thickness.
I used a tiny heart cookie cutter, which I had on hand, but I got in the baking section of the craft store. These are usually used for bakers to cut decorations out of fondant, and they come in a variety of shapes. I think this one cost about $1. I got 11 hearts from each package of clay, so it worked out to about 15 cents each for that part of it.
I used a needle tool from my ceramics stuff to press their initials into the hearts. You could easily use a toothpick for the same result. You do want to press the letters in if you can, rather than trying to carve them in. It won’t come out as clean that way.
Here they are, ready to be baked according to the instructions on the package. I left them on top of the stove to cool overnight, and when I came down in the morning I thought there was a tray of cookies waiting for me. I was disappointed, but that’s the kind of thoughts I have before I get my coffee: “Cookies!! Are there elves, or…oh wait. Those are the reception favors. Dammit.”
Now you need magnets and strong glue. I had both of these on hand. You can see the magnets are $7 for 50, so about 14 cents each. Other than glue and the heart cookie cutter (both of which were fairly cheap), they cost about 30 cents each. If you wanted to get crazy you could buy stamps to stamp into the clay, or glue on rhinestones, fake flowers, whatever.
You don’t need a whole lot of glue for these. You don’t want it to squish out the sides everywhere. An amount about the size of a lentil should be enough. I let them dry for a few hours before packing them up.
This is mine holding up their invitation:
This is where I put it first, and I just thought that was funny! Yes, that’s Jimmy Carter dressed as a pimp. I have a whole set called “Our Pimpin’ Presidents” that entertain everyone who sees them.
So again, congratulations, Beans, the star of the blog!
The Cake Topper to End All Cake Toppers
For those of you who don’t know her, this is my sis, Beans. She is my one and only sibling, and she is just as odd and crafty as I am, so we get along great. She got married late last year, but still wanted to have a reception to celebrate. This whole week of posts is dedicated to Beans. Congratulations, Beanie Wienie, and I hope you enjoyed all your crafts. I may take a break for making you things for awhile.
Beans wanted a unique and beautiful cake topper for her wedding cake. She searched around on Etsy, but couldn’t find anything she liked that was also in her price range. Clever Chick to the rescue! (Again!). She came over one weekend, and together we crafted it out of clay to be fired in my kiln.
We started out with a simple base and archway. We used a tupperware lid as the template for the base, to make sure it was actually round. The big piece in the center, which we not-cleverly-but-amusingly titled the “Poop”, is just there to hold the arch in place while we worked on it, and during the drying process.
I then textured the archway to look like wood. I even added little twig stumps, and hid hearts and their initials in the texture.
Beans created the pair of birds sitting on what would eventually be their swing. Beans loves birds, and has tons of bird figurines in her house and garden. She set them up so they were nuzzling each other. She also punched holes in all four corners for later.
Here is the plaque that will go at the top of the arch. Both of their first names start with A. You can see that the birds came out super adorable. The cake itself was the same blue color as the glaze we used. The spool of thread is from an antique store, and that’s what I used to hang the swing.
I used paint on the archway. I mixed the color I wanted, painted it into the texture, then rubbed it off with a wet sponge. That’s what this photo is showing, plus a “B” for Beans!
Here’s the fully assembled product:
And here it is in place atop the beautiful and delicious cake made by Brandy the Stewrat who features in many of my posts.
And, oh yeah, it tasted as good as it looks. Now my sis has a keepsake she can display all the time with her other bird collections. I attached the plaque and held the swing in place with some silicone glue, and the grass texture on the bottom is just paint textured with a brush. Everyone loved the cake, and it’s incredibly special. Look forward to more wedding and reception madness as the week continues!
