2010 Holiday Card

2010 Holiday Card, originally uploaded by krakencrafts.

I realize that I never ended up posting any of our professional wedding pictures on this blog, despite the fact that I made our photographer send us a bunch of watermarked pictures so that I could share them here. Oh well. Maybe I'll get to that at some point.

Anyway, here is some craftyness that I have been up to more recently. For the third year in a row, I printed our holiday cards on the print gocco. I decided to use the gold ink that came with my machine but has never gotten any use. The sparklyness seemed appropriate for the holidays. The illustration in the center is supposed to be our cats, Harris and Flynn, snuggling.

Table Numbers 1-10

Table Numbers 1-10, originally uploaded by krakencrafts.

I pulled all of the wedding table numbers out of the box they were in so I could take a picture of them all together. At the wedding we acutally only ended up having 8 tables so we hung numbers 9 and 10 on the wall of the reception venue. I think the table numbers were a hit at the wedding. Our friends ended up borrowing number 2 and some other wedding decorations after the wedding for their daughters second birthday party. I can't wait to see pictures of the decor in a completely different setting. It is nice that other people can get some use out of or decorations since it was a lot of work for just one day.

I actually entered the table number in another ruffled blog DIY contest. I think this one is going to have "experts" pick the best entries and only those ones will be posted and voted on by the public. So no guarantees they will be featured on the blog. I'll post an update and try to solicit votes if it is.

Wedding Odds and Ends Table

Guestbook/Escort Card/Ketubah Table, originally uploaded by krakencrafts.

First can I complain at how annoyed I am at the presence of this hideous tent. We arrived at the Oceanside Community Center the morning of the wedding to find this random ugly beige tent on the patio. There had been a birthday party there the night before so I figured maybe their rental company hadn't come by to pick it up yet and would be there shortly. I figured it would be out of our hair soon enough so there was no point in decorating it to try and make look half way decent. But no one ever came to pick it up. When our bartender finally arrived he told Nate that it was his and that he had used it for the birthday party the night before that he bar-tended and figured "why take it down, I'm sure the bride and groom will love having a ugly beige tent that they weren't planning on having when they designed the layout of the patio for their wedding". My uncle managed to get some lights strung up in there so it at least provided a place to hang some outdoor lights. Anyway, that is one of the things I was most bridezillay about.

Back to the table obscured by the ugly tent. The escort cards are arranged on a cork board we found in the trash covered in a sheet from the Salvation Army with twill tape strung on it. At thrift stores I found a unused vintage photo album somewhat in our wedding colors to use as a guest book, several polaroid cameras a bunch of this weird sticker polaroid film. It was very expired but I figured it might work and I found the right kind of camera for it for really cheep on ebay. I also bought some slightly less expired polaroid film on ebay that was not cheep. The sicker film did not work at all and the expensive polaroid film had quite a few pictures with odd blob monsters attacking our guests. They were interesting pictures though.

Recommendations for future brides and grooms.

1.) Don't buy expired polaroid film on ebay. Just wait until the new stuff they just started making again is more widely available or don't worry about polariods. It is a cute idea but definitely not a wedding necessity.

2.) If you are having a ketubah or wedding certificate and you want people to all sign it in the same black ink don't have sharpies for writing on polaroids on the same table. People will not read your nicely worded sign that says to please sign the thing in BLACK INK and you will have teal signatures on a document you spent either a lot of time or a lot of money on hanging in your house for the rest of your life.

One More Sign and Flip Flops

Wedding Preview, originally uploaded by krakencrafts.

Here is one more sign I made from scrap wood. We set it up directly in front of the entrance to the beach to direct guests to our ceremony site.

I guess our permit actually said that we weren't allowed to erect any signs on state property, but I figured since it wasn't stapled to anything it was probably ok. There was another wedding going on earlier in the day on the same beach. We kept getting random guests wandering into the community center while we were setting up asking where they were supposed to go for the wedding. I would look at them and realize I didn't recognize them so they must be there for the other wedding. Maybe they were so lost because there was no signage for that wedding.

We also had the ubiquitous wedding flip flops. I figured since it was a beach wedding and people would be dancing later they would prove doubly useful. Only a couple of people took them though. I think we had warned people sufficiently about wearing comfortable shoes that people didn't need them. I also wrote a cheesy flip flop poem for the basket: "Flip Flops for walking in the sand and getting down to the band (I mean DJ)". We tried to get flip flops at the Old Navy $1 flip flop sale, but the check out line was wrapped completely around the store and we had to pick up my friend at the airport so we gave up. I ended up finding them for $1.50 at Michael's. The extra 50 cents a pair was definitely worth not waiting in that line. I found the basket at the Salvation Army. I thought it was the perfect shape to display the shoes.

Our Huppah

Our Huppah, originally uploaded by krakencrafts.

Our huppah was built from branches Nate, my mom and I collected from the backyard of my childhood home in Portland when we were visiting last December, random batik fabric from the thrift store I fashioned into a square and hammered grommets into, wood boxes Nate and I built from wood the kid at Home Depot cut into not quite the right sizes, and cement Nate's brother and sister-in-law (I guess my brother-in-law and sister-in-law now) helped us pour on our wedding day. You may also notice a drill bit sticking out of one of the branches that Nate was unable to remove after trying to drill holes for the hooks for the canopy.

I think it turned out pretty great. Too bad my mom hauled off the branches and boxes to the dump after the wedding. I still have the canopy though and I'm sure I will come up with some project to use it for at some point. I also enjoy the random sun bathers in the background.

Ketubah/Quaker Wedding Certificate

Ketubah/Quaker Wedding Certificate, originally uploaded by krakencrafts.

Though any talk of god was intentionally absent from out wedding (since I am an atheist and Nate is a fairly agnostic Jew), we still wanted to include some relgious traditions. We built a huppah, Nate broke a glass after the ceremony and we danced the horra. One of the other things we wanted to include was a wedding certificate. In Judaism, before the ceremony, the bride and groom sign a ketubah or wedding contract which is read out under the huppah during the ceremony. My mom and her aunts were raised quaker. In the quaker church, since there is no minister, the bride and groom marry themselves. At the end of the ceremony they sign a quaker wedding certificate which is then signed by the congregation as witnesses. We decided to kind of combine our family's religious traditions and make our own ketubah/quaker wedding certificate. It is really more like a quaker wedding certificate because of the wording and all of our friends and family who attended signed the certificate. But we like to pretend it is a combo.

Wedding Preview

Wedding Preview, originally uploaded by krakencrafts.

We are married. It all went by in a flash. It is amazing how much time and energy went into all the planning and crafting for something that went by so quickly. We don't have the professional pictures yet but lots of friends and family took some great pictures during the wedding and reception and during the set up process. I'm so thankful that my family and Nate's family helped us so much setting up the day of and the days leading up to the wedding. We couldn't have done it with out all of their help.

My mom made all of the deserts, my mom's cousins arranged flowers and made beautiful bouquets and boutonnieres from the flowers Nate, my mom and I picked on Sauvie Island two days before the wedding, my brother and sister-in-law helped us build our huppah and their kids laid the path of rocks for the aisle. And my aunts, uncle and cousin, Nate's mom and step-dad all the rest of the family helped set up everything for the reception and cocktail hour.

Everything turned out really beautiful and I think everyone had a great time. I am both happy and sad that it is over. It will nice to have a little more free time in the evenings now.

Wedding Sigage

Wedding Sigage, originally uploaded by krakencrafts.

I had been collecting random pieces of scrap wood for making wedding directional signs for a while. I love the look of wood signs in all the beautiful wedding blog photos, but logistically it started to not make that much sense. Was I going to nail these signs to telephone poles in town? How was I going to cut the wood for these signs? The only saw we have is a hand saw.

Then I saw these really cute, non-wedding, directional signs on flickr and thought cardboard can be really attractive and is so much easier to cut into cute shapes than wood. So I made these direction signs and shuttle bus and shuttle bus stop signs for our rehearsal dinner. And I am pretty happy with how they turned out.

I did make this one wood sign for the front of our reception venue from salvaged wood and a salvaged door hinge.

Wedding Crafts Sneak Peek 2

Wedding Crafts Sneak Peek, originally uploaded by krakencrafts.

Some escort cards without the table numbers (we still need to figure out the seating chart). I gocco printed the boarders on papersource escort card paper. I don't trust my handwriting so I printed out the peoples names on the computer and transfered them to the cards with carbon paper and then traced over them with blue ink.

Wedding Crafts Sneak Peek

Wedding Crafts Sneak Peek, originally uploaded by krakencrafts.

I feel like I have been spending almost all my free time working on wedding crafts, but I've been trying not to post too many pictures before the wedding. Here are a few semi completed projects.

Chalkboards I made from a thrift store mirror and picture frame. I painted the frames and spray painted the glass with green chalkboard paint. I think they will be drink and or food menus.

Number 10

Number 10, originally uploaded by krakencrafts.

I finished the last of the table numbers finally. I probably spent way too much time and energy on these, but I'm really happy with how they all turned out.

Whenever I am taking pictures the kittens have to try to get into the frame.

Voting Has Started

Vintage/DIY Contest Entry, originally uploaded by krakencrafts.

Voting for the Ruffledblog.com Vintage/DIY contest actually started Friday, April 2nd and runs through Thursday April 8th. Here is the link to the voting.
ruffledblog.com/2010/04/diy-contest-time-to-vote/

Vintage/DIY Contest Entry

Vintage/DIY Contest Entry, originally uploaded by krakencrafts.

I entered this contest on the wedding blog ruffledblog.com. They just posted my succulent/vintage planter centerpieces tutorial today. I would really appreciate it if you clicked back and voted for me to win starting March 29th.

Our Invitations

We sent out our invitations already, and since we have started getting RSVPs back, I'm pretty sure that most of our guests, at least the ones in the US, have gotten them in the mail. It does seem a little bit early to be sending out invitations for a wedding at the end of July, but since it is a destination wedding for pretty much everyone, I don't think it hurts to send them out early. I really just wanted to get to check another thing off my list of wedding DIY projects. I got the card stock and envelopes from paper-source.com and designed and printed them myself with my print gocco. It took a long time and a bit of frustration, but I'm happy with how they turned out. I think they really set the tone for our wedding which will be very casual, DIY, and sea creature theme.

Polaroid

Meet the Swinger, originally uploaded by krakencrafts.

I really want to have a polaroid camera at our wedding and have our guests take pictures of themselves for a photo guestbook, The only problem is that they stopped making polaroid film a couple of years ago and buying the old stuff on ebay is really expensive. Supposedly The Impossible Project has bought the old polaroid film factory and is going to start making the film again. It is unclear exactly when or where this film will be available, so I probably won't be able to get it in time for our wedding.

Anyway, I found this incredible polaroid swinger camera from the 60's with the original box at an estate sale. I really wish we could use this but it takes black and white polaroid roll film that they probably haven't made for 25 years or more.

Check out this adfor the polaroid swinger.

Family Pictures

More Wedding Decorations
Originally uploaded by krakencrafts

When I was home for Christmas, my mom and I picked out family pictures from my childhood and I had Nate's mom send me scanned pictures from Nate's childhood. I bought frames in different sizes from the thrift store and I pained them with the same paint samples from home depot that I used for the table number frames.

There is a mantle over the fireplace at our reception site that I think the pictures will be nice sitting on.

Planter Whale

Planter Whale
Originally uploaded by krakencrafts

For centerpieces for the wedding I have been collecting vintage pottery planters in blues and greens from thrift stores. I'm going to plant them with succulents and then if anyone wants to, they can take some home as favors. I've been collecting them for a while now and had a couple of boxes of them stored in the garage.

I pulled them all out today to count and see if I needed to keep looking for more. I swear I have more of them, actually I know I have more of them, I'm just not sure where I put them. Even with the missing ones, there are a lot fewer than I thought. I guess I still have an excuse for excessive thrift shopping.

For some reason I decided to arrange them in the shape of a whale. Now that I look at it I should have used that blue leaf shaped one for a spout.

Happy Meowintines Day

Happy Meowintines Day
Originally uploaded by krakencrafts

Nate doesn't believe in Valentines Day (whatever), so I made him a Meowintines Day card from our kittens Harris and Flynn. Very much inspired by Denise Holmes' insanely cute wedding suite for Alison and Chris .

Dream Wedding Dress

I found my dream wedding dress the other day. Too bad it sold from this etsy shop a long time ago. It combines my love of fish motifs, mid-century illustration and short wedding dresses with straps. I know it was definitely not meant to be a wedding dress, but I think it would have worked for our wedding.

I received my actual wedding dress in the mail today nordstrom.com. I actually really like it and it fits pretty amazingly for a dress I didn't get to try on before I bought.

Wedding Straws

Wedding Straws
Originally uploaded by krakencrafts

I made a ton of these straws to use for cocktail hour at our wedding a long time ago, but just now got around to taking pictures of them. I bought both the straws and the origami paper at the Marukai 98 Cent Store. I carved the stamp with our initials from a speedball stamp block. I kind of think they might have looked better without the initials on them though. I totally stole this idea from multiple sources, my favorite being planetmithi's wedding flags. I think Grace from Design*Sponge made similar straws for her wedding too.

Possible Cake/Dessert Stand

Possible Cake/Dessert Stand
Originally uploaded by krakencrafts

Four my wedding, my mom is going to be baking several small cakes and some cookies and dessert bar kind of things. We are going to try to make some cake stands by gluing thrifted components together with epoxy. I think these Franciscan Coronado plates and sherbet cups would make either a good two tiered server or two separate small cake stands. Both plates are chipped underneath so I don't think its any big loss.