The One Where Miss. Sunshine is Productive

For serious, it is. I was SO productive today that almost HALF my list is done! I know! Someone should give me a hero cookie!

Anyways, for all you curious ones, here are some awesome pictures of my finished accomplishments (not including scrubbing the kitchen top to bottom and sorting my classroom for FOUR hours. Gah!).

Centrepiece completion. Sort of.

I finally (mostly) completed my centrepieces. These were actually quite a deal too! Each of the tall vases were about $3.70 after using my teaching discount (15%) on Michael's sale (2/$4 for vases) months ago. I purchased 12 of those. The smallest big vase was from Dollarama for $1.25. Those little cups to the right I found on Christmas clearance for $0.50. I cleared them out! The flowers ended up being about $3.50 a stem after a clearance price for some and massive sale for others. I bought 11 stems. The candles of course are floating and from Ikea at CHEAP! And the rocks were $1 a bag, with each bag competing one centrepiece. Anyways, in total, I managed to scrounge together 8 centrepieces for about $130, or about $16 a shot. Not bad, if you ask me!

Booze

I didn't actually complete this today, but I had to brag. See all the boxes in this picture? 3 on the right, 2 in front of the ladder and 6 to the left of the mailbox? FULL OF BOOZE. I will never again see this much alcohol in my life, so I'm enjoying it.

Frame

Details on that cute frame I bought a few days ago. So nice! I love how the scroll work continues in the matte of the frame.

No one will ever know how I painstakingly decoupaged the CRAP out of this sign, but I did. I love it! The texture and details seem awesome. It needs a bit of oomph, but I figure that is something to work on at a later date, if I have time. The fact I even HAVE a sign is a good thing right now.

I have talent. Serious!

I don't think I've posted it, but I actually learned how to bead specifically to make my own jewelery so I could reuse my grandmother's earrings as a part of my outfit. It looked beautiful. Now that I can wear earrings again, I felt it was time to get that done, so I made these beauties! Are they perfect? Likely not, but I love them all the same.

Also, while there are no pictures of this accomplishment, I emailed my flower lady to confirm, booked a car appointment with good old VW to tune up the car before our road trip, booked a nail appointment for the day before the wedding, and made some phone calls to local limo companies to see if I can anything for LESS than $750 a night for 2 hrs of service.

Wish me luck on my hunt for ribbon tomorrow!

~Miss. Sunshine

The Return of the DIY Monster

With 24 days left, I decided that today was the day to get on that DIY! I ordered favour boxes, made lists, printed out Michael's coupons, went shopping and returned to accomplish this...

Our poor table was so clean for an entire 6 weeks...

Although it might be hard to tell from that photo, I completed the following today:

1. Bought floral stems on sale (70% off!!) that I loved and had my vision finally come true. I cut up the stems to the appropriate heights, placed them in vases, made this awesome mock up, and realized that I need something for the little vase (right now it is holding odds and ends). Another trip to Michaels will be in order tomorrow, but for today I have this...

Side one...

At an angle

Best part so far? I burned the candles to see how long they would last. I thought that anything over 3 hours would be AMAZING, since they are Ikea and were really, really cheap (I think $4 for 24? Maybe $3?). Anyways, I lit them at 3:10. It is currently 6:45 and we are going strong.

2. I did menus. Gah. I forgot how much I HATE assembling paper. Anyways, I cut the menu's out from the form paper (60 of them), changed the blade and cut out backing papers. I then hand glued, using tweezers and a toothpick with my E 5000, 60 crystals onto them. They dried, I realized I ran out of ribbon, and they are currently hiding on a chair in hopes of being finished. In the meantime, they are all but complete!

Drying crystals. Stupid SOB's!

3. I bought the ribbon for my vintage style favour boxes. All I need now is the boxes (I ordered them yesterday!), to cut up the strips, and a cute card telling people the vials are full of seeds. I'm getting on it... eventually...

Ribbon. It's sexy, but not the right stuff for my menus. DAMNIT!

4. Got a picture frame! Seriously. For the fingerprint tree. I was actually really happy about this one because, first off, I love it! Secondly, it was originally $54.95, but was on sale for 50% off, making it, essentially, $27.50. On top of that, I had a coupon for 15% off your entire purchase, including sale items, which made that go from $27.50 to $23.38. AWESOMENESS! All I have to do is print the fingerprint tree, get an acid free pen and find some wet wipes for people to get the ink off their fingers.

What's next on the DIY list? The card box is in need of a sign, I might still want a round something under my centrepieces and my printing list is getting higher by the second. I still have the escort board, dress pick up, earrings to make.... ugh. Anyways, expect more posts!

Miss. Sunshine

Into the Swing of Things *please vote!*

Man was today ever a productive day! I accomplished the following:

- finished three bouts (not sure if I am doing one for my dad, as I'm not doing coursages for the moms, but we'll see)
-finished my bridal bouquet except to glue pearls where ribbon intertwines
-finished one bridesmaid bouquet, except to glue pearls down the centre
-finished one bridesmaid bouquet, except was short one paper towel roll (lots at work though!) so I have to wait until tomorrow to finish up my tutorial on how to create the perfect handle for faux flowers
-finished writing that last damned invite from hell. Took forever to get an address, so the rest went out weeks ago
-updated my RSVP list with the correct information
-started thinking about how to package my favours... and need your help!


Okay!

I was inspired by the wedding bee to create these cute (and I mean tiny and cute) wedding favours. After filling 60 jars with some seed, I am out of ideas for how to package them. Every label I attach is GIANT, as these are small. At the same time, I don't want to kill them by packaging them in a box and taking away the rustic feel to them. So I am not sure what to do.

Here is the favours:

For the record, American and Canadian quarters are the same size.

And here are some ideas for packaging I have come up with:

Not these exact ones, of course, but the box shape.

I've seen these bags everywhere and they would be easy to use and see through.

A cute box with a flip open top?

Spice up a "boring" box?

Help me decide! I have a feeling this will be the next project to tackle.

~Miss Sunshine.

DIY Fail: Krylon Magnetic Spray Paint Review

I said I would update, and I am doing so in seething anger.

KRYLON MAGNETIC SPRAY PAINT IS A WASTE OF MONEY, TIME AND COMPLETE GARBAGE.

I sprayed four layers of magnetic spray paint on my board before covering it in two THIN layers of chalkboard paint (which they actually have a project for on their site!). This morning, knowing it was completely dry, I put a light advertisement magnet on. It fell off. I tried one of those rare earth magnets I have hanging around. It fell off.

NOTHING STICKS.

So, going back to my project, I would HIGHLY recommend that if you want your board to be magnetic you put a piece of metal in lieu of the mirror/wood you are painting. Ensure the metal is magnetic, as not all metals are. I would then cover that in chalkboard paint. Alternatively, if you live in the US there are other magnetic paints available. The container of paint that you brush on by Krylon, however, has just as horrible reviews.

As for me... I guess the magnets are out and cute writing with a chalk pen is in. *sigh*.

~Miss. Sunshine (isn't) Smil(ing).

DIY: Vintage Style Magnetic Chalkboard

As I mentioned in a  previous post, I have started, and due to impatience, completed my magnetic chalkboard to hold my escort cards. Without further ado, a DIY How-To...

Materials:
-screwdriver
-board or cardboard to spray paint on (DO NOT USE A GARBAGE BAG LIKE ME)
-magnetic spray paint  (BEFORE YOU DO THIS... PLEASE READ HERE FOR UPDATED INFORMATION REGARDING KRYLON MAGNETIC SPRAY PAINT)
-chalkboard spray paint
-primer spray paint
-spray paint in your favourite colour
-vintage frame (mirrors are awesome, but not all spray paints will adhere)
-sandpaper
-soft cloth

STEP ONE:

Find a mirror.

Sexxxxyyyyy

STEP TWO:

Disassemble the entire thing. BE CAREFUL NOT TO DROP ANY IN GRASS.... Oops.. If you have a big heavy mirror like mine, carefully take it out and lay it somewhere safe.

I swear the ants stole it.

STEP THREE:
Sand the mirror and frame lightly with 220 grit sandpaper. This will help everything to really stick.

STEP FOUR:
Layout cardboard or a hard surface (I will soon explain why grass and garbage bag doesn't work) and put your frame and mirror on it.

STEP FIVE:
Spray paint primer on the frame. FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS! Being lazy and doing it quickly will result in drips, then dry time, then sanding, then repainting. I promise you.

Plastic bags bunch up and blow in the wind causing missed spots, rubbed off paint and streaks. BAD IDEA.

STEP SIX:
Spray the mirror with 2 or more coats of magnetic paint. Ensure you read the directions for drying time and how long you have to wait between coats. I believe the Krylon was 30 minutes to four hours, but it was dry to the touch much faster than that.  
DISCLAIMER: I have now read that the magnetic paint sucks and won't even hold up a magnetic letter. I will be testing this soon and let you know. If this board is NOT magnetic, it would defeat my entire purpose, putting me into a huge rage.

Sorry.. it was silver and sunny out, so you can imagine the glare!

STEP SEVEN:
Spray the mirror with two coats of chalkboard paint. Again, read the directions carefully before applying.

Remember that sunny day I was talking about? This is actually the same patch of grass as above.

STEP EIGHT:
Prime the back of the frame by flipping the dry frame over and giving it a good coat. This part really isn't THAT important, because you won't see the back.


STEP NINE:
Once the frame is dry, spray paint with a coat of your favourite colour. THIN coats are best because they do not drip and such. I hung mine from a tree because I was in desperate need of a hard, flat surface and didn't have one.

The wind blowing it around made it a bit blurry. Sorry!

STEP TEN:
Once everything is dry (don't be like me and think, Hey! It's not coming off on my hand! It's still not dry after 10 minutes. I swear), assemble.

Tada! The back (minus one screw).

STEP ELEVEN:
Touch ups if you are like me...

You can barely see it, but I took the paint off the corner.

STEP TWELVE:
Hang and enjoy. Don't forget to prime the chalkboard before use or it will never be the same!

Sexy!

Beau-ti-ful!

CAUTION:
-prime before painting will require one versus ten coats
-if it looks like it's barely covering, you are doing it right. Repeat that step over and over again rather than going closer and adding more
-gloves save nails
-doing this in the grass will lead to: Grass marks, streaks, drips, ant stuck to your frame, pollen stuck to your frame, spiders spinning webs and dirt on the back.

Back to Lovin' It!!

Man, am I ever back in the DIY swing of things! And all because of this:

My preeecccccioooussssss!

Now to the backstory on this whole thing. Months ago, when I was first engaged and looking on Pinterest for every find on the internet, I stumbled across this gem someone had pinned from Etsy.

Magnetic escort board, complete with button magnets. I know. I fell in love too. From here.

I fell in love. And not that "oh it's nice love", but that "OMGZ! I MUST SHOW THIS TO EVERYONE I KNOW SO THEY CAN BASK IN ITS GLORY!!!" love. In fact, I did show it to everyone I knew. And do you know what they all said? All of them said something to the effect of "Great seller, cool store, but that's almost $400 Canadian for the frame and shipping."

Hello reality check, goodbye my first love.

But I'm a DIY'er, so you know I was gonna kill it hard, which led to at least 10-15 different (and failed) trips to thrift stores, and 6 weekends of garage sale shopping. So today, when I saw this gem, Mr. Sunshine cringed a little and I went YES! He couldn't see past the horrible gold and ornate shape, while all I could see was white and black. Cream and black? White and grey? The rest was to be determined.

So, with my reveal coming up in the days to follow (spray painting takes time!), here is a quick breakdown of the cost of this beauty...

Mirror: $15 (I talked them down from $20. It was after 9am, after all!)
Krylon chalkboard spray paint: $7.50 (Michaels with coupon.... but later saw it for $5.99 at Canadian Tire!)
Kryon magnetic spray paint: $7.50 (Michael's with coupon) PLEASE READ MY HORRIBLE REVIEW AND FIND A BETTER OPTION FOR YOU!
Spray Paint Primer: $8
Cream Spray Paint: $5.50

TOTAL COST: $43.50

With that sounding high, keep in mind I have at least a half bottle of magnet paint and will have at least a half bottle of chalkboard paint left, as well as an AWESOME chalkboard/magnet frame we can hang on our wall!

Anyone else copy a design to be cheap ... er... frugal?

~Miss. Sunshine

Up and Coming Projects

As I was in search of a DIY or two, I thought I should update with my "to do" list of up and coming projects (and tutorials).

0.5: Complete bouqets and bouts. They have been sitting on the desk for a LONG time now.
1: Complete wine glasses (99.9% there!)

2. Make necklace and earrings for bridesmaids that look something like this...

Off to the side?

Or perhaps this...

The way this is done you can make it longer or shorter by pulling the gem down through the orchid.

Or even this....

A little busier, but still a possibility.

I bought 6 of the three sets of orchids and 10 single orchids, so the possibilities right now are endless, which I love! I also bought some cute gems for the ends of the necklace. Seeing as creating my own bridal necklace and bracelet was the first I've gotten into real jewellery making, I am hoping and praying for this task.

3. I want to do an escort board that looks like this:

How much fun are those magnets? Seriously?!

But in my own way. I have already made 50 buttons that are multicoloured and fun, but have had NO luck finding an intricate and fun frame for under $30, and I'm cheap! I am hoping that by scouring more garage sales, something will eventually turn up.

4. Make a bunting for our card box. In case you haven't seen it, our card box is AWESOME. Mr. Sunshine and I found it at an antique place near us. It is an old Canada Post mail box that is all rusted out and shitnat. Just need a sign so people know what to do for it!

Isn't it just awesome!?

5. Figure out the rest of our centre pieces and do a mock up using the grasses I just bought and am forcing Mr. Sunshine to look after.

6. Design and create Thank You cards with help from my lovely sister.

7. Print and assemble our wedding tree so guests can sign their name.

8. Create a few floral displays to put in the vases we have bought and perhaps a throw away bouquet, but not sure on that one yet.


Any tips or advice for what needs to be done in, now, just over 2 months. *breathe Miss Sunshine! Just BREATHE!*

~Miss. Sunshine

DIY: Glitter Wine Glasses

Well, this whole DIY started with the need to make/buy/create something to fill my SUPER sexy monogrammed bags I had made for my bridesmaids. What, I asked myself, would I do? My sister's was an easy "aha!" moment as I saw these cute glittered wine glasses on pinterest and thought back to that time I went to her house and drank wine from a drinking glass.

Yeah.

And she LOVES wine.

I don't get it either.

Anyways, without futher ado, DIY Glitter Wine Glasses!

Materials
- Glitter (I used packets from Dollarama because I kept this budget)
- Modge Podge (I used matte because I didn't want to take away from the sparkle of the glitter, but not sure what would be best)
- Wine glasses (20 oz for me!)
- Paint brush. I used the sponge brush and loved it.
- Container for glitter
- Paper/something to shake glitter off onto and back into container
 - Krylon Clear Coat

Step One:
 Clean and dry your glasses really well. If not, the modge podge might not stick right.

So clean!

Step Two:
Choose your glitter and dump it into a cup/container if it doesn't have a way to pour it nicely. I mixed together several small packets for most of mine, but was able to cover the entire base and stem with only one packet.

The Dollarama Sparkles. I liked them because they were super fine and had a variety of colours.

Two lightest blues mixed and swirled together in my pouring cup, which was way too big.

  Step Three:
Cover your cup's base, sides of the base (oops!) and stem with modge podge using your brush. I found a spot on the stem where it started to flare to end my glittering, but you might choose a different area. To make a good, straight line at the top, I inserted my hand into the cup, held the brush lightly to the stem and moved my hand in a circle to make the brush make a line. It worked like a charm.

I'd say the more the better, unless it is too much and drippy. But you want it to be mostly solid coloured.

Step Four:
Pour sparkles over the modge podge. I have NO pictures of this because, well, it was messy! What I did was pour over the stem first, then, when I was out of sparkles, put it back in the cup and poured over another area, etc, etc until I was done.

Step Five: 
Set to dry.

So nice! The light sucks, so the colours aren't perfect here, but close. Lots of shine too!

Step Six/Seven (TBD):
I haven't done this step yet, but I will tell you what is next. After these dry I will modge podge them again with no sparkles. I did save some sparkles in case there are bald spots. After the next layer of modge podge to seal these suckers in, I am going to spray the glitter with a layer of Krylon Clear Spray Paint. I bought this a LONG time ago to seal a cup that Mr. Sunshine got from kids at work, but have used it for countless crafts since. I love it!


TOTAL COST
For four glasses, this was a fairly cheap craft! I spent the following:
$5-- 4 glasses @ $1.25 each from Dollar Tree
$3 -- 3 glitter packs (and tons left over) @ $1.00 each from Dollarama
$3 -- Modge Podge small bottle with 50% coupon from Michael's
$0.10 -- foam brush a long time ago on sale from Michael's
$Free$ -- Krylon Clear Coat. Considering how little I'm using anyways, maybe $0.25 worth of it?

Total before taxes= $11.10


Anyone else find a great DIY gift they've completed?

~Miss. Sunshine

Falling in Love All Over Again... (Semi-DIY Post)

With wedding stuff.

Haha! Tricked you! Or not.

Today when I went to my mom's I got to see my veil again. HUGE backstory on this, so here it goes...

When I went to buy my dress way back in January I knew I for sure wanted a dress that didn't show too much cleavage, was either a lace sheath or a drop waist gown, and it had to be very "me". As a result, I fell in love with *my* dress (which I cannot post on here because of damned Mr. Sunshine!). Anyways, there was really only one thing I knew I had to have, and that was a cathedral length veil.

I've never been one to dream about weddings as a little girl and imagine the perfect centrepiece or guy, but I sure as hell always had the perfect veil. For me, it was a veil that was long, flowing, delicate, beautiful and just... right. As I was blinging up my dress while trying it on they brought me a short elbow length veil, and I didn't love it. I asked for longer and fell in love! The veils I tried on were gorgeous with prices tags to match them. Anywhere from $400-$1000 for the veil only. I couldn't justify it and knew I could get a deal if I looked around.

One day, while looking, I stumbled on a tutorial for how to make your own veil. I figured for the $15 in materials, if I screwed it up completely, I wouldn't be totally upset. Let me tell you, it came out beautifully! I carefully measured and cut the tulle. I made a template and cut out a perfect rounded edge. I bunched like a pro and sewed it to the comb. I tried it on and part of my died of happiness!

But it wasn't enough.

I wanted more.

So I went online and decided to learn how to bead the edge of my veil. I painstakingly learned that there were three methods to this total madness. The first is to hand sew on each bead (and I estimated I would need 2000 or so). The second was to bead together strings of beads and then sew or glue each strand on. The final method was to hand glue each bead. Needless to say I did the second method.

$30 in AB swaroski crystals and $20 in pearls later, plus several tens of hours of time, I had about 20 one foot strands of beads. I hand knotted each strand to the veil 30 times, and then cut each thread. I also glued the ends of each strand together to ensure that there were no gaps. It took almost 100 hours, but it looked gorgeous. To finish it off I bought a variety of different sized pearls and glued them to the comb to cover the bunching. I fell in love.

Then disaster struck. The strands were coming undone and the beads were coming off! On top of that, the 30 knots in each strand had been cut too close to the knots and those were coming off too! I almost cried and swore and screamed, but instead I grabbed out my E-6000 and glued that sucker firmly to the veil in way too many places.

So back to today.

Today I saw my veil hanging in the closet for the first time in months and nearly cried. It looked like everything I could possibly imagine and more. It was so beautiful, delicate and with just a touch of sparkle-- I couldn't believe it. Hours later I am still thinking about it and it made me think-- maybe I should be "ignoring" my DIY's for awhile after I've done them so I can truly appreciate them. Maybe seeing them scattered around the house everyday is taking away from my appreciation for the beauty I am creating.

Anyone else have these types of moments?

~Miss. Sunshine

A Very Productive Sick Day

As I mentioned previously, I took today off sick since I spent yesterday hunched over coughing and lost my voice. It was a VERY productive day, too!

One thing I was proud of is finishing most (almost all!) of my invites! I am only waiting on 5 addresses and they will be complete. Here is the sexy back of those suckers and the giant pile of "Yay! I'm done!" invites.

W for... well... our last name. And wickedly cool :)

I never thought I'd say this... BUT I HAD TO HAVE NICE STAMPS. Seriously. No one will even notice.

Also, I stumbled across this gem http://boards.weddingbee.com/topic/thank-you-gifts-vintage-inspired at the good old weddingbee! I never thought I would consider making a favour-- mostly because I couldn't find anything worth making, but then I saw this. At less than $0.50 a shot and with the cutest little idea ever, I couldn't pass it up. So, after begging for where she got them, I went out and purchased 11 packs of sparkles and beads from dollarama.

The ones on the right-- they are the microbeads and not the sparkles.

As a teacher I saw sparkles and went.. YES!!! SPARKLES!!! The microbeads, of course, came out of the package and left not a spot of residue. The sparkles required an hour of washing to get all the fricken sparkles out. I hate you sparkles.

And I bet I'll still have to wash most of them again...

But in the end, I am left with 66 micro-mini bottles that I will fill with seeds and add a cute tag to and I will get a cute favour. How small and adorable are these, you ask? Here is a comparison against my new favourite pen that I used to write my invitations and just about anything else wedding related.

Ahhhh! So cuteeeee!

Anything you've started last minute and fallen in love with? How much were your favours per person? Did you do favours? Change your mind at the last minute?

~Miss. Sunshine

The Disappearing Lady

So anyone who reads my blog is probably wondering where the heck I've gone. The answer is hell. Seriously! I can only describe the last week as blissful. Day 1-5 of being on antibiotics immediately got rid of the chills, lethargy and hacking cough as well as the runny nose of doom. Day 6, I knew we had a problem because I had a runny nose. Day 7 the cough came back. I'm now two days past my antibiotics (they are all done) and I am truly right back where I started, complete with puffers not working, near asthma attacks daily and green as far as the eye can see. It sucks. So today I went to the walk-in, and, living in Smalltown, Ontario, they told me to go home and they will call when it is my turn. Heck ya!

But being sick and a DIY bride do not go hand in hand, especially when we are now less than three months out from the wedding! Eep! Yesterday I managed to put together my sister's invitation, as she wanted the work for her portfolio since she has a job interview Monday. I also managed to make these beautiful bags for my bridesmaids:

Beautiful, eh? The great tutorial I got on how to do these was found here: http://ashleyannphotography.com/blog/2009/11/21/diy-doily-canvas-bag/ Being in Canada I used coupons and $12 bags from Michaels, but you get what ya get! My only advice, less is more when it comes to paint, or put a newspaper between the layers so you don't get paint all the way to the back. Oops!

I also managed to get some rocking stamps for my invites. I had the choice between using three daylilly stamps or two daylillies and an ugly 7 cent stamp, so you know I am paying the extra $0.50 per invite. I'm insane. Here they are though...

Finally, Mr. Sunshine has been getting increasingly annoyed with the wedding room. Probably because it started out as a guest bedroom/junk room (we moved from a large 4 bedroom house with a basement to a small 2 bedroom house with a crawlspace) and has now become the guest bedroom/junk room/Miss. Sunshine's teaching stuff until the beginning of June when she can move it to her new school/wedding supplies/crafting supplies room. Needless to say he put his foot down and insisted we clean up! We flipped up the bed, are getting rid of the extra boxspring, cleaned out some junk and then piled boxes as high as the eye can see.

The view from the doorway. At least there is a path now!

It's like a pie-- mattress crust followed by teaching stuff filling, capped off with wedding supply boxes

Notice how nicely my teaching books and binders are shoved haphazardly into that bookshelf?

Well, the walk in just called which means it is time for antibiotics! Yay!

Until next time,

~Miss. Sunshine