Save the Date DIY

Hi lovelies!
I wanted to post a quick Wedding DIY, because it has been a while.
So, here is an easy origami heart tutorial that can be used for wedding save the dates, Valentines, or whatever your heart does desire.
Enjoy!

Love,
Lauren

So you're engaged...

First off, let me be one of the many people to tell you congrats! That's exciting (I know!) and I'm sure you have a million things running through your mind. I mean, there's colors, catering, bridesmaids, big, small, big, AHHHHH! It's a lot to take on. Planning a wedding takes time, and whether you have 3 months or 3 years, you can do it!

What you need to do before anything else is go to the store, and buy a bridal magazine. Just do it. They're a little expensive, but there are some that only cost about $6. Nothing is more fun than flipping through the pages of Bride wearing a sparkly engagement ring! Now, while you're at the store getting that magazine, go ahead and buy a few other things too. We're starting with organization and building the Wedding Planning binder!

You will need:
- 1 Binder. I would say a 1 1/2 inch or bigger. Anything smaller probably won't fit everything you need. I got one with a folder pocket for receipts on one side and business cards on the other.
- 2 Packs of 5 tab dividers. The cheap ones are fine. Mine are just the normal paper ones with a colorful    tab that sticks out and is customizable.
- Loose leaf paper. College ruled, wide ruled, non-ruled… Your preference!
- Sticky notes. Get a variety of sizes starting with the skinny tabs (those are for you magazine finds you want to mark!)
- Highlighters
- Pens (I like colorful ones!)

Obviously, you may already have some of this stuff, especially if you're a student like me. I'm trying to stay simple. I need to save money anyway. I looked at a bunch of Wedding Binder tutorials just to get some ideas/inspiration. I liked them, but most were very extravagant and required a larger chunk of change spent. I went to Walmart for my materials and paid under $10!

First, I labeled my dividers. I decided to label the things I felt were most important and deserved an entire section. This is up to you. If you don't like my labels, figure out what you want. It's your wedding after all!

Here's what I did:
- Ceremony: for information about time, location, officiant, program, guest book, processional music and order, vows, etc. Anything that has to do with the ceremony itself.
- Wedding Party: Bridesmaids and Groomsmen, and whoever else will play an important role in your wedding (i.e. flower girl, ring bearer). I will also include information about bouquets, corsages, and boutonnieres.
- Reception: similar to the ceremony tab, it includes time, location, as well as music list, DJ information, catering, and alcohol.
- Guests: just a running list of those we want to invite. I will also include favors, invitations, and any information we need for or about out of town guests in here.
- Decorations: I am planning to do mostly a DIY wedding (exhausting, I know) so this will serve as my section for all the decorations I plan to have/make. I'll also include the color pallet in here.
- Registry: information about where we plan to register, including lists of all once we know.
- Important: contact information, budget spreadsheet and spendings, checklists, etc. Anything I deem as important, but random, information.
- Honeymoon: self-explanatory. We haven't decided if one or both of us will plan the actual honeymoon, but this section will just serve as the place for anything pertaining to it.
- Calendar: I'll print out blank month templates for important dates. Especially for when it gets closer to the day.
- Inspiration: where I can throw any magazine pages I find, Pinterest articles I want to print out, whatever I find that I can't live without.

Like I stated above, this is your wedding and your wedding notebook so lay it out the way you want. I'm a scrapbooker at heart, so most of my pages will be in a format resembling that. Let me know if you have any questions while compiling your binder, I'm more than happy to help. I'm going through the process too!

Happy planning!
Love,
Lauren

Good News and New DIYs!

Hello all!
I have been away from the blog for a while, and I apologize. The past semester was a little crazy. However, over the New Year holiday, I got engaged! I am so thrilled and excited. I am also excited to share some new Wedding DIY projects over the next two years (longer engagement, I want to do as much of a DIY wedding as possible). The first project I'm planning to put up is a How To guide to setting up a planning binder, so stay tuned!
On another note, I hope everyone had a lovely holiday and is enjoying the winter.
Love,
Lauren Marie

More Crayon Art: Halloween/Fall edition

I wanted to create another crayon canvas creation, but more for fall and Halloween to decorate my house with. So I tried out a couple ideas. One failed miserably, but one turned out pretty good!

Pumpkin Crayon Art
I used the Crayola crayons again, this time I used one box of Keen Green and three boxes of Hello Sunshine.

I took the Hello Sunshine crayons, peeled them, and chopped them up roughly into thirds. I took the Keen Green ones, and just snapped the very tips off them to create the look of a stem and leaves. 

I then used a hot glue gun to affix them to my canvas in the shape of a pumpkin. Don't worry too much about being messy with the hot glue. The crayons will melt into one shape and the hot glue is mostly just to keep them in place while you are heating them. 

The next part was tricky. I wanted to heat the crayons to the point of melting them. However, I did not necissarily want a lot of spreading/splashing effect the blowdryer gives. I used a giant stick lighter on most parts so there was heat, but no blowing. This took a very long time and was slightly painful to hold down the trigger on the lighter, so I went back and forth between the lighter and a blowdryer. 

I'm so happy with my result. I am thinking about framing the sides with a green or black ribbon. I love this project because it's unique and I also versatile. I can use it to decorate for Fall, Halloween, and Thanksgiving!

Love, 

Lauren 

Crayon Art

Crayon melting is really popular right now, and I like the different ones I've seen. I saw a couple different ones I liked using a scheme of one color and incorporating it into a scene of some-sort. So I tried out my first crayon project, and it turned out pretty good!

I went to Walmart, and they had small boxes (8 crayons) of simple color schemes. I picked up two boxes of the green.

I simply glued them to the edge of a canvas in a random order with the flat tip towards the edge and the point towards the inside of the canvas (after peeling off the paper logos, which is optional). I used a hot glue gun to secure them in place. I then turned the canvas upside down with the crayons at the top. I had some help with someone holding the canvas for me, at a bit of an angle. I took a blow dryer and ran it back and forth until the crayons started to melt down the canvas. After that, I let it dry. Then I took fabric flowers and glued some in place with the hot glue gun in order to create a garden appearance. I like the way it turned out and I plan to play around with some other ideas.

Love, 

Lauren 

Natural Dying

I wanted to try natural dying with some hemp to make jewelry. It actually turned out pretty good. Here's how I did it!

1. I boiled 2 cups of wine. (I chose a light pink wine to get a pink color, but I want to try red next.)
2. I brewed one pot of strong coffee. 
3. I took three strands of hemp, and poured the wine over it in a bowl with a lid, covered it, and let it sit for 3 days. 
4. I did the same for the coffee, however, I put the coffee grounds in with it and even added more after I made a pot of coffee the next day. Again, I let it sit for 3 days. 

The wine dye turned out a very light pink and the coffee just turned the beige hemp a shade of light brown. I was very happy with the results, and I look forward to trying more! What natural dying techniques have you used?

Love, 

Lauren 

Vintage Suitcase Re-Vamp

I've been wanting to do this project for a long time! I finally found the perfect suitcase at an antique store for $10! All I did was get half a yard of lace, mod podge, and the suitcase. I measured the lace to cover the front and back of the suitcase. My lace was scalloped, so I decided to leave a little bit of the suitcase showing. I covered it with mod podge, and let it dry! I love it so much!

Love,
Lauren