The Interior DIYer
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Lately …

… I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Dresses have been purchased, details are being finalized, suits at the ready, and an emergency trip to IKEA. It’s been a messy week, but a lot of shit got done. The biggest being bridesmaid and groomsmen attire. That’s a huge factor right after all the venue / supplier stuff that I didn’t think would be so brain-consuming. I’m feeling much more relaxed knowing their outfits are sorted 🙂

First up I designed and printed the tea stickers for our favours. A label to indicate what can be found within. That’s a whole hella cutting-out ahead of me …

In the beginning I didn’t want matching bridesmaid dresses. I figured it would be impossible for all to agree on one. Turns out, we found an amazing dress for one bridesmaid, and they all look smashing in said dress. Hell to the yes. And for reals, they will be able to wear them again.

I sorted out the  gentlemen’s boutonnieres this week and thoroughly enjoyed making them. No lie. I was in my element, and can’t wait to sit down and craft more weddingy stuff. Tutorial is right on over here if you’re curiosa.

Groomsmen = sorted. They look a bit screamy-purple here though. Ties will be mismatched so it’s not too stuffy looking. I’m not fond on things being too matchy. Just think – black suit, purple shirt, dark tie, plus above boutonniere. Not bad me thinks.

And something that blew my mind a little – I had my engagement ring resized for the second time. Who knew hands hoarded so much fat? I’ve been slowly loosing weight since Christmas. I’ve lost almost 30lbs / 2 stone / 12kg to date, so I suppose I shouldn’t be too surprised when my fat-ass hands aren’t so fat anymore. Hands are weird. Side note – my engagement ring is much more sparklier in real life 🙂 Fiance picked it out himself. Sob story – he spent two weeks’ worth of lunch hours shopping for the right one. Sometimes going without eating lunch. He hurts my heart sometimes.

Anyways, happy Friday everyone! I hope you have a kick-ass weekend planned ahead. I myself will be heading to dinner followed by seeing one of my favourite movies on stage tonight. Literally cannot wait.

I’ll end on one of my favourite quotes of all time –

“If you haven’t anything good to say, come sit by me.”
-Clairee Belcher, Steel Magnolias

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Our wedding – boutonnieres

From day one, I knew I would make the boutonnieres for our wedding. I wasn’t 100% on what they would look like, but I knew they would have an element of stripes. Little ideas came and went, until I came up with this simple idea. An ever-so-slight take on war medals, since my man and said groomsmen are of the combat Playstation era.

I have to thank Laura ‘Lupin’ Howard as I used her Felt Butterfly Brooch tutorial as an assembly guide for our boutonnieres. Thank you, Laura. You sew crafty.

What you’ll need : faux flowers, felt in a colour of your choice, scissors, ribbon, 3 hole brooch pin, thread to match your felt, and a  cutting template {I used the thread bobbin as a circular template}.

Step 1 : using your template, cut out two felt circles. They don’t have to be perfect since they’ll be covered. Step 2 : cut two lengths of ribbon roughly 6cm long {length of your finger}. Fold the end in half and cut at a sassy angle to spruce them up. Step 3 : overlap the ribbons a little, and sew them onto the ‘back’ of one of the felt circles. About 6 stitches will keep the ribbons in place. Trim off any excess ribbon.



Step 4 : on the ‘front’ of that same circle, sew between 6 and 8 faux flower petals using a similar colour thread. Don’t be too precise with the spacing otherwise it looks stuffy. Step 5 : with your second circle, sew the brooch pin in place using a double thickness of thread. I sewed mine above center, so the top of the boutonniere won’t droop or fall forward when eventually pinned on a lapel. Step 6 : sew the two circles together with matching thread around the circumference, and there you have it! Cuteness in under 20 minutes.

These delights cost me next to nothing since I had most of the supplies already. I ordered in the ribbon from Press Gang Supplies especially for our wedding details, and the brooch pins were picked up at the local craft store. I had some scrap felt from a previous project, and of course, I had faux hydrangeas balls-to-the-wall all over my apartment. Easy peasy. {Pictured below – the groomsmen boutonnieres along with fiance’s dark hydrangea boutonniere. I customized that little number with markers to get the colours just right and a little more realistic.}

I cannot express how much these little guys cheered me up. I haven’t had the time to make anything in the past three months, and without realizing, it was making me uber upset. I sat on the couch the other night and made all four of these delights in one go, and I felt so much better doing what I do best. Can’t wait to share more wedding craftiness.
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A matter of coincidence

Humour me for a moment while I share some facts that have slightly boggled my mind recently … 
1. While discussing honeymoon options, fiance and I head-over-heels wanted to go to Russia, more specifically, St. Petersburg. That day I started reading Anna Karenina to get in the Russian mind set. As I began reading, only then did I realize a huge part of the book takes place in St. Petersburg. Not ground breaking, but it was weird at the time.

2. When I first saw the posters, I was so excited to hear there was a new adaptation of Anna Karenina to hit the theaters. When I looked up when it was due in cinemas, my heart stopped. Anna Karenina opens in theaters today {in Ireland}. Today is my birthday. 

3. My mom gave me this water colour painting about 8 years ago. Even though the vibrant colours are not what I typically like, I adore it and it’s my favourite painting. I tried to find out where in Russia the painting was, but I never got very far. I knew it wasn’t the Kremlin, and that was about it.

Fast forward 8 years, after copious researching of what to see and where to go in St. Petersburg for our honeymoon, I was dusting my living room one day, picked up said painting, and nearly screamed in fiance’s face when I realized it’s a painting of the Church of the Savior on Blood in St. Petersburg. I’m going to see my favorite painting.

The above is nothing ground breaking, but these coincidences have been blowing my little mind. As corn-ball as it sounds, I sometimes like to think things are meant to be. Queue ridicule.

Image cred 2 and 5.