A Priceless Wedding: Crafting a Meaningful, Memorable, and Affordable Celebration by Sara Cotner : Book Review

I was surprised at how much I liked "A Priceless Wedding", if you are planning a small tasteful wedding that reflects the personality of the bride and groom within a reasonable budget, then this book will help.  Recently, I helped a relative plan a small wedding and this book has proved to be very helpful. We had a small budget to work with. We also needed to take into consideration the likes and dislikes of both the bride and groom (while at the same time taking into consideration their two very different families). 
      At first all those factors seemed overwhelming, however, the book was able to provide us with some very helpful information that made the process much more enjoyable.
      The bride and groom dislike anything fancy and pretentious. So in order to get a better idea of what she likes, we had the bride start with the "Wedding Vision Collage" project recommended in the book.  She soon found herself to be overwhelmed. That clearly gave us insight to the fact that we needed to keep things simple for her. 
      We turned to the "Vision Setting Work Sheets" which proved to be helpful in guiding her efforts to figure what she really wanted in her wedding. Additionally, the questions asked in that section encourage the bride and groom to think about a variety of issues such as the example below:
     "How do you want to spend your time in the days and hours leading up to your wedding, as well as in the hours and days following your wedding?"
     Well, once they thought about it, they decided that their somewhat complicated lives and actual budget meant that they should keep things tasteful and simplified.

     We also liked the "Traditional Elements" checklist. It has elements such as dress, veil, bouquets, etc. The list keeps track of things that can sometimes be over-looked when deciding 

what to keep and what to reject. The book has a section that I found amusing that listed great reasons to reject high-ticket items. For example: Do you need the big crystal covered white puffy dress? It points out that it takes one or more people to help the bride put on that type of gown. It is also hard to dance in, expensive to buy, and you only get wear it once (unless you are really talented in garment reconstruction...then might not matter to you).

     Wedding Cake Topper can get expensive.  This couple bought a Cinderella statue at Disneyland that was the same price as a cake topper they had looked at.  The bride loves all things Disney, so this statue will join her collection and be a loving reminder of their special day.  In this case, it was a better investment to use the statue than use a traditional cake topper (that only gets to be used once).

     "A Priceless Wedding" has some great suggestions and ideas in many aspects of a DIY wedding. This includes: entertainment, table décor, flowers, venues, etc. It encourages the reader to use their creativity in planning different elements of their wedding.  In the photo below, the bride used a table runner and matching ribbon to the tables at her wedding.

To coordinate the look, she put the same runner on all the tables and the bridal table.

The ceremony was an outdoor ceremony, so the bride printed personalized labels (that coordinate with the table decor) for the water bottles that she provided each guest.

She also kept the same theme in the floral swags she made up to put on the chairs used for the wedding ceremony.

At another DIY wedding I recently attended, the bride utilized her own creativity to create photo opportunities for her guests that were affordable and fun.  She started by recycling an old frame.  She painted the old frame and then provided some simple fun props for her guests to use.  This allowed us to get some fun and silly pictures.

The bride also printed out a cute little sign to be used in various "bride & groom" type shots.  It was an inexpensive touch that created a darling photo (and she was able to put the sign in her memory book).

In the photo below, the bride used simple parosol for her and her attendants,

which was an accent that not only looked beautiful but it also afforded some sun protection for 

the bridesmaids during the ceremony.  It also looked beautiful in her wedding photo's.

Overall, it has been a very helpful book. Bottom line, if you are looking for a $45,000 wedding with all the frills, this book is not for you. However, if you are planning a small tasteful wedding that reflects the personality of the bride and groom within a reasonable budget, then this book will help you plan the various features that you may want to include in your wedding. 
    

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Win a copy of Vintage Revised Jewelry: 35 Step-by-Step Projects Inspired by Lost, Found, and Recycled Treasures

Stefanie Girard at Craft Gossip has posted an great opportunity to win your own copy of "Vintage Revised Jewelry by Co-Co Nichole Bush.

This is a fun books with some great project ideas for upcycling or just reconstructing those vintage treasures you may have on hand.  Just go over to Craft Gossip and leave a message to enter for a chance to win a copy of the book.

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Christmas Card Craft Projects: Easy Ways to Recycle Old Cards, Part 2

As promised, here is part two of the Christmas Card Recycling kids craft projects we came up.

Todays card is another fun old Christmas card we had on hand that was left over from a previous year.  The colors on this card made it really easy to work with to create a fun recycled Christmas card project.
     The first project the kids made was a door stop.  They used a heavy piece of wood (left over from another project) which they painted black. Then they used some left over paper, ribbon, and rhinestones to decorate the wood block.

We also had some "Martha Stewart" Glitters available for them to use to bring a little sparkle to the card.

Perfect Printing Pouch

       Note: when working with glitter,  to keep the mess to a minimum,  I recommend using the Perfect Printing Pouch which keeps the glitter from sticking to the entire card surface.  It is a handy tool when working with glitter or embossing powders.  I just can not recommend this little gem enough.  
      Once the glitter had dried, the kids used more of the dimensional tape to attach the card to the wood block.  You can find dimensional tape at the local craft store and sometimes the local dollar store.

As you can see, this was a super easy project for them to complete in just a short amount of time.
For the next project, we decided to use a box that originally held some Benefit Cosmetics.  The box is a was trimmed in colors that worked really well with this card.

The box also had a cut out in front that could be used to hold a photo once the product advertisement material was removed.

They just added some rhinestones, a couple of charms, and cut the card down to fit into the frame.

Another super easy quick Christmas card recycling project that gave them fun results.  All of these projects were great because it they were so very easy to complete and held their attention long enough to finish the project.  Plus, I did not have to go out and buy any supplies. We just used what we had on hand.

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Christmas Card Craft Projects: Easy Ways to Recycle Old Cards, Part 1

If you have ever sent or received Christmas Cards, you know how hard it is to throw away some of these fun treasures.

     I have a box filled with both old Christmas cards; as well as some left over cards from years gone by.  I decided to come up with some easy craft project that my kids could do to re-use these cards this year.
We located some simple craft supplies (scissors, glue, dimensional tape, glue dots, glitter, etc.) that we had around the house.

Above are some of the new Christi Friesen Glitzy Glitters.  I love the different textures in these glitters, because they really reflect light a lot and make craft projects a bit more fun.

Hint: when working with glitter, I recommend using the Perfect Printing Pouch which keeps

Perfect Printing Pouch

the glitter from sticking to surfaces.  By using it, the kids were able to control where the glitter adhered to on the card.  It is a handy tool when working with glitter or embossing powders.
     I then took a couple of cards that I had duplicates of and had the kids cut out some of the elements.

Then they added glitter to parts of the card.

They used the dimensional tape to attach the snowman cut out to the card base.  The tape gives the card a bit more dimension and the snowman a bit of a shadow.  In the snowman card below, the kids cut out the hat, the scarf and the red gift box.

They added some highlights with glitter, as well as some rhinestones to make the card pop.  As you can see this is super easy and just requires a little drying time (for the glitter).  Tomorrow I will post another easy Christmas card recycling project.

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