Monday, July 26, 2010

Wedding- We have progress!


Sooo, we've set a date for our wedding...the wedding discussion has popped up again, with much more enthusiasm this time as we have worked out how on earth we are to pay for it. So after a few discussions of what we want and should do, we realised we'd forgotten a step, set the date.

So on a whim over dinner one night, Mr in Wonderland decided that  22nd February 2012 was an auspicious day (his exact words, yes I laughed) and then it was done. Only thing is upon checking the day that this date falls on, we realised that it is a Wednesday, so wowee we are REALLY going non-traditional.

Now I'm a bit excited about this "Wednesday" thing because I'm thrilled with the idea of guests taking a few days off here and there over the week for lovely things like wine tours and long lunches, picnics, silly things and such and being able to have the celebration with friends and family last a lot longer than a day. It will be lovely weather after all.

Now I've been collecting pictures and ideas for a while now and a few things that I know I adore are vintage pretties and I love the DIY thing, that whimsical style of handmade treasures and the 'special-ness' that these bring. I like 'themes' of things or 'styles' of things. So look for ideas with these in mind.

Mr in Wonderland is a harder egg to crack as his tastes don't fall into 'themes' or 'styles', his likes and dislikes go on a single idea basis. Or so it seems, if he likes something, he often can't pinpoint why exactly so that probably makes it a bit harder to 'group' I suppose. One thing he has insisted on is that he wears shiny black leather shoes, also there's been some mention of bow ties and ninjas jumping out of soup and cutting bread with a sword! We both want a venue with charm and character, we've been looking at the old buildings around Perth (very conveniently most swing dancing events are held in them, hehe)
The small visual details I don't think interest him, but the details about guest interaction (which we've found some VERY sweet ideas, of which I'm keeping secret because I know you all read this, hehe) also the experiences and personal memory making stuff, and good food and wine, that's what he likes to plan. Which is great coz that's the good stuff :)  

Our "theme" I suppose would be Geek/Vintage which sounds a little odd, but from all my research, not that uncommon. So expect fun, coz I doubt either of us is worried about matching the same Pantone colour blue :)


I've made my bouquet...

and will be making my dress...

The girls will look something like this...(colour wise)





In this
Or this

We've thought of incorporating lego for ages...check these out!
Left 4 Dead custom mini-figs...even with zombies...oh man he's gonna LOVE these!!!
and for me...
Roman Holiday custom mini-fig :)

Ceremony to be somewhere like this...
Like this...look at the sign!

Reception something like this...

Hehe this is going to be fun!!!

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Ta DAAAAAA! It Worked!

So after lots of work, the hat worked, beautifully I might add.
This is another way to use my felt flowers for those who are not on the lookout for a giant fabulous bridal bouquet!!!
AND you can see I'm sporting a brand new fringe! I haven't had a fringe like this since I was a youngin', one thing I've noticed however is that no matter how terribly I shove my hair up at the back as long as my fringe is neat I avoid looking "unkept" hehe. I'd like to say that I look all fabulously glamourous whilst working for home, as most people are used to seeing me in a "perfectly thought out matching to the nth degree" ensemble, but I'll be honest and say that I look like a warm and comfortable....well, hobo. Possibly (or usually) sporting something stolen form the comfy wardrobe of Mr in Wonderland. :)
ANYWAY I was able to get a mini "pillbox" hat to work too, that shall be finished shortly...as you can probably tell, I'm a bit chuffed with myself :) Plus these are soo much fun to make! Now I'm on the search for new felt wool colours, so for the moment I can do BLACK and any other colours you like hehe!

Well I'm off to soak up this sunshine while it lasts :)

Saturday, July 17, 2010

Pick a Pretty Posy

Now I've been very excited about these an I know I've been updating the progress on Facebook but have just realised that I haven't put them on here...check out how clever I am...:)
These are felt and vintage button bridal bouquets, each piece is cut and embroidered all by hand, it is very lengthy process as I'm a perfectionist and there can't and NEVER will  be a single messy stitch! I'm been doing embroidery since I was six years old. I loved cross stitches and long stitch, in fact I was a giant dork in primary school and spent most of my lunchtimes, under a tree in the sunshine stitching the largest long stitch this world has ever seen! :) I stitched in between dance classes as a little girl and loved spending time sewing with my Nanna who also taught me how to knit from the age of 5.
This one is inspired by my Mum's SERIOUS obsession with lime, I FLIPPED when I saw this lime felt, it's not fluoro like usual, but a really pretty lime colour.
I LOVE pink, this one is so pretty with magenta, baby pink and white, plus I have the most AMAZING collection of pink vintage buttons from eBay, a small fortune but oh-so-very worth it! The stitching in this one was very fun because the pale pink against the magenta just pops! I also started adding centres to the 3D flowers so I could add more buttons...my FAVOURITE is that magenta 3D one, could you guess? :)
The creme and white is subtle in colour but textured and detailed, there's a little bit of creme/peach colour to warm it up a bit. The lovely thing about white vintage buttons is that most of your collection is full of them and they have this pretty pearlescent shine to them. Also most of the prettiest and elaborate floral buttons are white. You can see one of the little kanzashi flowers, that's made out of a vintage gentlemen's hanky, which I LOVE the way it turned out. I also am working with vintage doilies so heirlooms and treasures can be incorporated into clients custom bouquets. The kanzashi flowers are great because I can use all sorts of sentimental things that people keep but don't really don't know what to do with them (by people I mean very much, me), like maybe the shirt from a first date, Grand-dad's pocket handkerchief, lace and bead-work from your Mum's wedding dress (only because 1980's dresses aren't cool yet to wear the whole thing hehe).
This is MY bridal bouquet, ruby red and baby blue (of course) with little pops of pink and white. This one is more of a 'hand-picked posy' style which combined the 3d flowers and embroidered flowers together all jumbled. The others are more rounded and 'organised'. This is made out of buttons from my Great grandmother, grandmother and friends. 
I love these because I wanted flowers that I could keep, were different and sentimental and wouldn't leave Mr in Wonderland sneezy and red-eyed all day as he has terrible allergies. Not to mention I'm a pretty gung-ho kinda gal, I definitely do not want to spend the day fluffing about with flowers, but I still want them to be beautiful, of course. But they need to be strong and "fun-friendly" so if I should accidently sit on them a bit or get them caught on something faffing about, they bend right back and will not disintegrate into petals :) Plus we are having a Summer wedding, my focus is the man I'm marrying not 'misting ' my bouquet :)

So these are up in my Made It shop for any bride's-to-be...I make bouquets for Bridesmaid's, flower girls (also good for the "squishing" factor hehe), table centrepieces, flower head bands for baby flower girls, boutannieres for the guys, brooches for MOB etc, brooches can also be pinned to napkins and taken as   
bonbonnieres... anything your heart desires. Now after my fabulous success with my hats, I'll also be able to custom a vintage styled veil hat/s as well, should you wish...but details on that product line soon...

Thursday, July 15, 2010

I'm making a Hat

I am making a fabulous hat! I'm making one of those half hat type of things from the 1940's, one that sits to the side of your head not affecting all your pretty curls :)
This is it drying in the pretty sunshine, FINALLY pretty sunshine, it's SO lovely outside!
It kind of looks like a bonnet, but that bit will be cut off.
To make it you use wool felt, except I've had to use wool blend after every 100% wool roll at Spotlight was ruined and they wouldn't sell me any, even to experiment with.
Then you cut two pieces to size, steam them and stretch it over individually, then I've used fabric stiffener to keep the shape. Apparently you can use hot water also, but I want it to dry quicker, in Summer I might try water.
The felt becomes really malleable, it's a strange sensation after working with dry felt for so long. It just does as it's told, it's quite fun. I think I'll be on the search for different shapes now :)
I do hope that the fabric stiffener dries clear, you'd expect it too but it didn't say on the bottle, just that it is good for stiffening bows, which is good coz I've just taught myself how to make these...
These shall decorate my hat! Or hats, should it work...:)
Then for fun I made these...just to learn how to make them...
So my hat is basking in the sunshine right now and hopefully it will be dry soon so I can play with it...
it is to look something along these lines...
image from here
image from here

Well I'm off to go and check...wish me luck!

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Pretty Felt Hats

I've been busy making these pretty felt flower hats/ fascinators...

These are embroidered by hand and have vintage buttons in the centre...
They have an alligator clip and a brooch pin on the back so they can be attached to just about anything, scarves, cushions, jackets, dresses...and of course your head! The clip that is, I don't recommended the pin for your head :)
Now these aren't for the shrinking violet, they are bold and stand out!!! 
Here's a better idea of what I mean...
See...huge!!
These will be on Made It and Etsy soon...

or if you want to have one made in your colours, email me at aksparkles7@yahoo.com.au