Handcrafted: The Cure For The Common Wedding

What Are You Doing New Years?

I have continued on my holiday tour of families and am now in the lovely Birmingham, Alabama staying with my in-laws. The girls are planning a shopping trip tomorrow to escape some of the football. I'm looking forward to seeing what the town has to offer. We are going to try to stay up to midnight, but my track record for that is not good. I was challenged to a Rook tournament, so maybe that will keep me alert.  I'd tell you all my resolutions, but a few years ago I resolved to never make resolutions, and it is the only one I've been able to keep. I wouldn't want to break my streak.

I do have a couple of wedding notes for today. It is easy to find fireworks right now, so if you were thinking of using some, you might want to look now before they disappear until July. You do not want to buy sparklers at the road side stand. Very often they are the hotter burning, ash throwing, type that you do not want to use. If you are looking for something inexpensive to replace throwing rice, you might think of noise makers. They will be on sale tomorrow at every party supply store in the world. It might be harder to find them that don't have "Happy New Year" printed on them, but it is worth a look. Small brass bells for ringing would be another way to go. I found a great deal on brass bells in the Christmas department of a mega- craft store. They were marked way down, which would make this usually expensive choice very reasonable.

I hope you all have a very safe and happy new years eve.

graphic snagged from Trevor's Blog

Metal Works

Metal sculptures are usually cool and modern, but Gauge NYC has added in romance. The obvious choice from them is the monogram cake topper they offer, but I have a few other ideas for you.

A metal shop is not the usual spot to look for wedding ideas, but Gauge has made it obvious.  In addition to the cake toppers, they offer monogram bookends. I would love to see a cake flanked with these using the bride and groom's first initial, and then followed up with the last name initial on top of the cake.

Now here is an idea for a super creative, abstract thinking bride. Is there one word that sums up your relationship? Love, laughter, and fate, jump to my mind. Instead of basing your wedding around a color or theme, be daring and sum it up with a word. Have Gauge NYC sculpt that word for your cake, buffet table, or some other imaginative place. It is amazing how focusing on something so specific can shape the rest of the event.

 

I would love to see pictures of how you work metal into your wedding. Send me ideas. Send me pictures. I love hearing from you.

Indie Star 12-27

I'm still on vacation, but before I head to Memphis for the day, I thought I would take a minute to highlight another great indie artist. Sandy Photo Art has some great stationery in her Etsy shop. These great hummingbird invites caught my attention, and the options just get better from here. The prices are very reasonable for custom invitations.

Happy Boxing Day!

I'm posting a little later than usual because I have been out shopping. Even though I don't live in a country that has royalty printed on their money, I can appreciate Boxing Day. Going to the mall is a fantastic way to walk off all those extra pounds we put on yesterday, and the day before, and the day before that. Also, in the spirit of giving, my daughter and I donated hair to Locks of Love today. 10 entire inches from each of us! After the shock wears off I'll post a new picture and the details.

Enjoy the day, the shopping, the leftovers, and time with your family.

Merry Christmas!!!

I wish you all a wonderful Christmas, and as my post today I am simply putting up my favorite telling of the Christmas story. I hope you enjoy it and that it brings back happy and warm memories.

Take it away Linus!

Wacky Traditions

It is Christmas Eve morning and I have stolen a few minutes for myself to post a story I heard yesterday from a family friend. He grew up in a very rural mountain town in West Virgina during the 6o's. He told us they they had a tradition that after a couple had been married and moved into their new home all of their friends would gather at the house in the middle of the night and break in. They would grab the bride and put her in a wheel barrel, and catch the groom (they often tried to make a run for it) and tie him  to a fence rail. Then they would run the couple into town and refused to let them go until the groom had bought everyone a coke*. As he was telling this story I thought that maybe this was a tradition from the 1800's, but no. He finished the story by say "If you don't believe me, just ask my wife. When they did it to us they didn't make her ride in the wheel barrel, but they tied me up good."

So this Christmas, if you have nothing else to be thankful for, be thankful that their isn't a mob of your friends waiting outside your door with a wheel barrel and rope. However, if you do live in a rural town where this is still going on, here is a little charm I found on Etsy in Epoch Bead's shop. This just goes to prove, you really can find everything on Etsy.

*In case y'all hadn't guessed by now, I'm a Southern girl, so when I say "coke" you can translate that as pop, soda, or what is more likely in this case, a round of drinks at the pub.

A Favor From Kate

Not long ago I Need a Favor From Kate was brought to my attention by, I want to say a Wedding Bee contest (someone correct me if I'm wrong). I ended up spending a shameful amount of time looking through all the different options and color choices. I keep trying to come up with a reason to order these little boxes for myself. Maybe I'll order some to pack my Christmas fudge in next year.

There are 7 fantastic different styles. I am partial to the pyramid and flower boxes because they are out of the ordinary. The paper available is great. The patterns range from simple stripes to elegant scrolls. These are a great way to dress up a plain table and package your favors all at the same time.

On a personal note, I will be headed out this weekend to start my Christmas tour of families. Although my parents have finally come out of the wastelands of dial up internet, I am not sure how much time or net access I will have. I'm going to try to keep posting next week, but just in case something prevents it I want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas!

Presenting a Present

For some reason I have gift wrapping on my mind. It could be the stack of presents I have sitting in my crafting area waiting for me to wrap. One Christmas a friend of mine got so caught up in the wrapping that she forgot to add gift tags. It made for a confusing, but funny Christmas. In honor of that friend, today's Indie Star is Elfrida and her gift tags. They would make great favor tags or you might could even turn them into interesting seating cards. I like the multi color pack, but if you are looking to coordinate with your wedding colors, she also has single color packs.

Which Came First...

the chicken or the egg? Well, I have another question for you. Which came first, the company or the blog? Many of our favorite blogs are backed by other businesses, just like Handcrafted is backed by The Handcrafted Wedding. In our case the blog launched first, but really the ideas were born together. Today I came across some great jewelry and in the process also found a great fashion blog. I wonder which came first D Celestine Limited or Shopaholics Anonymous.

There are obvious benefits to having a jewelry designer that is a fashion fanatic. You are guaranteed to find the newest ideas and looks for jewelry. Although there aren't any specific pieces in her wedding section there are a good number of pieces mixed in with the regular collection that would make great bridal jewelry.

There is also a wide variety of pieces that would make great gifts for your bridesmaids. They aren't your typical wedding jewelry, but I really think that is a good thing. All of the season's best colors are here in natural stones and high quality crystals. As a confessed penny pincher I am pleased that you can actually buy a necklace and a pair of earrings for $50 (or less) per girl.

Fudge

Last week over at the Martha Stewart Wedding blog, writer Darcy Miller talked about a great fudge company, Momma Reiner. I'm always interested in the story behind companies like this one. Her company actually started with a tradition that I also have in my family, Christmas Fudge.

Every year my family would make several batches of fudge to give as presents to neighbors, teachers, co-workers, and anyone else we could think of. When my daughter started going to school I decided to carry on the tradition in my own home, and now I make fudge every year as well. It makes great hostess gifts, or even favors. It is really easy to make, but it does take two people. One to stir and one to add things to the pot. Here is the recipe:

1 and 1/2 sticks of butter           12oz. of chocolate chips

3 cups of sugar                                7 oz. of marshmallow creme

2/3 of a small can of evaporated milk (5oz)

1 cup of chopped pecans               1 teaspoon vanilla

in a large pot boil butter, sugar, and milk on medium heat for 5 minutes STIR THE WHOLE TIME

remove from heat and stir in chips until melted, then stir in marshmallow creme, nuts and add vanilla last. When it is well mixed pour it all into a greased 9x13 pan

The fun part about this is that you can use semi-sweet, milk chocolate, or even peanut butter chips. It all tastes great. Just reduce the butter by a tablespoon when you use milk chocolate or peanut butter. You can also leave the nuts out or try a different kind. Some people like to not fully mix in the marshmallow creme to give it a marbled look.  It is a fun recipe to experiment with. 

I remember asking my mother once why we only made fudge at Christmas. She said that if we made it year round we would all weigh 500 pounds. So, just remember that this recipe should only be used along with a little self control or you may have trouble getting into your wedding dress.