My Handmade Wedding

Once again with everything going on, I really hadn't had much time to write on here.  Now that the wedding is done, I have a bit more free time.  My shop is still on vacation for a couple more weeks so I can unwind and settle into the married life.  However, I thought I would share some pictures and moments on here.  The majority of the wedding was handmade.  Whatever I was unable to make myself (or didn't feel like making myself) I ordered from Etsy.  I felt very strongly about supporting my fellow Etsy shops, so I bought from them when I could.  I thought I would share on here some pictures of the items I made for the wedding as well as some wedding photos. I figured this would be the best way to share it all with my fellow Etsy friends.

I started out with something I knew I could make.  Bouquets.  I've made wedding bouquets before, so I started out relaxing on a blanket in the back yard and made my bridesmaids bouquets.  I wrapped the stems in camo duct tape, because I love my camo.

Here is one of the two flower girl baskets I made.

 A closeup of the front:

This is what the sides looked like:

 The back:

The top:

Here is what it looked like with the leaves in it.  Yes they threw leaves instead of rose petals.  I love Fall.  It is my favorite season, so I went with a Fall theme for the wedding.

Here is the guest book I made:

The guest book pen:

It was a lot easier than I thought it would be.

What was once my favorite pair of "combat boots" to wear back in the day was transformed into my lovely pair of wedding boots.  All they needed was some white spray paint, red spray glitter, hot glue, sparklies, and a little love.

One of the boutonnieres I made.  Yes that's camo duct tape around the stem.  :)

One of the flower girl hair wreaths.  This was the first one I ever made.  I like how it turned out.

 The back of the hair wreath:

 Another flower girl hair wreath:

Here's the back:

 The second flower girl basket.  Very similar to the first, but with a few variations.

These are the hair clips I made for my bridesmaids.  Another thing I was nervous about, because I had never made these before.

I almost forgot to make my own bouquet!

The centerpieces made from real pumpkins.  By the way, it is a little hard to see, but the favors were the chocolate kisses with stickers that had our names on them.  Those came from:  http://www.etsy.com/shop/NecessiTees

The card box I ended up throwing together at the last minute, because I forgot to buy one to decorate.  Thankfully the office I work for gets deliveries in these perfect sized boxes.  lol

One of the purses I made for the flower girls.

Kind of hard to see in this photo, but our garters were made by one of my talented bridesmaids.  She has an Etsy shop too as a matter of fact.  http://www.etsy.com/people/Homesteadpatch





These lovely hair flowers came from: http://www.etsy.com/shop/theraggedyrose

My beautiful sash with rusty red flowers and burnt orange peacock feather was the perfect addition to my dress for a Fall wedding!  I ordered that from this Etsy shop:  http://www.etsy.com/shop/GJBoyles

This awesome cake topper was also an Etsy find from : http://www.etsy.com/shop/MomoRadRose
It looks even better in person.  Yes the cake was camo.  Like I said, I love my camo.  The cake was amazing!  It was chocolate with Bavarian filling and it came from Susie's Cuties Custom Cakes.  You can find her here on facebook.  https://www.facebook.com/pages/Susies-Cuties-Custom-Cakes/233378633426702

Even my gorgeous wedding ring came from Etsy!  That came from this seller here.  http://www.etsy.com/people/irisinfinity

 I ordered these adorable little pocket mirrors for the flower girls from this shop:  http://www.etsy.com/shop/HoneyBunnyPaperie

Well, I think that's it for all the handmade wedding goodies.  I personally think handmade is always more special and I strongly believe in supporting local and small businesses such as Etsy shops rather than chain stores.  Not to mention, once you add the word "wedding" or "bridal" to something in a chain store, it seems the price goes up 10X.  Same goes for whatever you seem to find in a bridal shop.  I think we need to get the word out for those planning upcoming weddings that there are other options out there.  Absolutely nothing in this wedding came from a bridal shop.  The guys' clothes all came from JC Penney, but I think that's all that came from a chain store.  The bridesmaids dresses were from Amazon.com, my dress and the flower girl dresses came from ebay.  It can be done beautifully without forking out thousands of dollars.  We need to let our fellow women know!  lol  So, anyone want to see some wedding photos?

Here is the wedding party in front of the house.  (No this is not our house)  lol

 The bridesmaids on the front steps.

All the girls.

All the guys.

Exchanging the rings.

 

I love this picture!

Goofing off with "war paint" after cutting the cake.

With my girlfriends from high school.  We've stayed in touch all these years.  I love this photo.

Woohoo!  It's all done!  Let's get ready to party!

I hope you all enjoyed this handmade wedding album.  Have a great weekend everyone!

 I'm sure people are wondering how things went with the March for Babies back in April.  Things went well.  The fundraising was a success and although the weather was very cold and rainy for the walk, there was still a great turnout.  I look forward to doing it again next year.

I really do wish I had more time on my hands to really use this blog in the way that I had intended.  Unfortunately, I just don't have the time right now, so this blog gets neglected more often than not.  Maybe someday I'll be able to carve out some time to use it the way I would like to, but not right now.  So here we are with my posts few and far between with a little update on what's been going on with WyldAngelz Designs.  I am currently in the process of planning a wedding.  I've got about 2 months left and still a lot of ducks to get in a row.  So, a lot of other things have been taking a back burner.  Even my Etsy activity has slowed.  I haven't really made any new products in the last couple months.  I might work on a couple once I get some of the more important wedding details sorted out.

Aside from that, here is a glimpse of some other things that have been going on outside the Etsy shop.  I finished and framed the squirrel painting and entered it in the Regional Exhibit at the local art museum along with another piece.  The other piece was something I had never tried before.  Since I work in the medical field, I decided to try some art with medical images.  (ie.  Inside the body and under a microscope.)  I started out with an MRI image of the Circle of Willis which is a group of blood vessels inside the brain.  The image I chose was at a very unique angle and the reason I selected that angle was because it had some other recognizable shapes in it and I felt it would be visually interesting.  I chose a bright color scheme and called it "Full Circle" leaving it open to interpretation for those viewing the piece.  I was pleased to know that the doctors I worked with all saw something "vascular" in the piece before I told them what my inspiration was.  Here's a picture of the finished piece.  What do you see? 

I am also very pleased with the way the squirrel turned out after some tweaking.

It isn't easy to completely change the background after the foreground is already in place, but it was something that needed to be reworked. Other than that, there is a mural project going on downtown where I live that I am excited to soon be a part of and a project of my own that I am hoping to work on while the weather is warm if time permits.  It will start with this old door. 

I hope to take photos of the process from start to finish once I get to work on it more and I will post them here.  So far, this is what I have to work with.  I have big plans for what it will become.  Never tried anything like this before, but I'm up for the challenge.  I hope everyone's Summer is going well.  What do all of you have going on?  Any interesting projects in the mix?  I hope whatever it is that everyone is enjoying their Summer plans.

March for Babies 2012

I'm doing it again everyone!  On Saturday April 28th, I will be joining friends in the 5k walk for the March of Dimes.  That means I'll be raising money once again for the cause.  As some of you may already know, this is a cause that is very close to me.  For one, I work in an OB/GYN office.  Helping women bring strong healthy babies into this world is our business.  We do everything we can to make sure both mom and baby have a safe pregnancy and that these babies get to "stay put" until they are full term.  However sometimes that doesn't always happen.  A couple years ago a very good friend had to have an emergency c-section at 28 weeks.  We were terrified when this little angel made her entrance into this world 12 weeks early and weighing in at just 1 lb 8oz.  Thankfully she was in good hands and thanks to a lot of prayer and the capable hands of those caring for her and a fighting spirit she grew stronger each day and eventually graduated from the NICU.  She is now a strong healthy toddler and truly a miracle.  So, as you can see being so close to a cause like this, I would like to help in any way I can.

This year, to help raise money, I will be donating ALL sales from my shop during the month of April to the March of Dimes.  For those of you who wish to buy from my shop during this time, I am including a thank you.  I will activate 2 coupon codes to use for the month of April.  For free shipping, use coupon code MARCHFORBABIES12.  Since not all my items have a shipping cost, I have included a coupon to use on those items.  For items that already have free shipping, use coupon code LOVEPREEMIES12 and get 20% off.  For those looking for the coupon with the best deal, the free shipping one is most definitely the way to go when ordering light switch and outlet covers.  As for the rest, the 20% off coupon may be better depending on the price of the item, so feel free to pick and choose if you are planning on purchasing something that has a shipping cost other than a light switch cover. You can use only one, so definitely choose the one that gets you the best deal.  :)  These coupons can also be used on custom orders as well.  This sale will begin April 1st and end April 28th which is the day of the walk.  If you would like to track my progress, donate, or see where the donations go once you purchase from my shop, check out my walk page on marchforbabies.org.  http://www.marchforbabies.org/personal_page.asp?pp=3833979&ct=4&w=5312034&u=WyldAngelzDesigns

This is the page where I will send the money from the orders from my shop throughout April.  Only 28 days until the walk!  I could use a little help!  Every little bit counts!  Thanks everyone!  Here are some pictures from last year.  Hopefully I can get some more good ones this year.

I'm Baaaaack!

Sorry I didn't post sooner.  I've been back since Feb 6th, but these past couple weeks at my day job have been incredibly busy and all I want to do when I get home is crawl into bed.  Things appear to have picked up in the shop right where I left off.  I do have to say this vacation was exactly what I needed.  I am excited about the possibilities to come in 2012.  I hope to feature 1 shop per week on this blog once I get a set schedule in order so I can stick to it.  I have A.D.D. therefore I need structure.  lol  I will be doing the March of Dimes again this year, so starting in March or April, all proceeds form my shop will be donated to the March of Dimes again.  A few more friends of mine have opened shops on Etsy, so I hope to introduce them to all of you fairly soon.  So...here's what I've been up to while my shop was on vacation.

I had some free time to work on some larger scale projects like this acrylic painting of a squirrel.  The inspiration came from a photo a friend posted on facebook of a squirrel doing this in his back yard.

It isn't finished yet.  There are still some things I'd like to add and others I'd like to change, but here it is so far.

Also, this year was the first year that I entered the Postcard Salon at the local art museum.  This is an event where local artists can submit up to 5 pieces of art which can be anything as long as you can hang it and as long as it measures 4" X 6."  A couple friends and I entered together and it was an awesome experience.  We had a great time!  There were over 1,000 entries!  I've decided to list this year's postcards on Etsy.  However, next year I will not list the ones that have been on display at the museum.  I may make other 4" x 6" pieces of art, but if they are in the Postcard Salon from here on out, the only opportunity to buy them will be the night of the salon at the museum.  So I suppose this year is a rare opportunity.  I really enjoyed making them and the experience of entering with friends and being involved in such an event.  Here are the postcards that I entered that are not listed on Etsy.

I wanted to use all different styles and techniques and just have fun with it.  There is another exhibit coming up in the Spring and I hope to have some unique pieces by then.  I also hope my friends will be joining me in entering that exhibit as well.  Exciting things in the works for 2012!

How is everyone out there in internet land doing?