DIY: Hemp and Pearl Necklace

For my wedding, I was on the search for jewelry for my girls. My sister-in-law is allergic to some metals, so my job became a little more interesting.

 I found a necklace at the jewelry store I liked for $200...ya, didn't want to go for that! My friend Cindy got us a necklace, earrings, and bracelet for her wedding for $1. I was determined to find something I liked for not too much and that my sister-in-law could wear again if she ever chose.

The same friend, sent me a bracelet in the mail, and this bracelet became my inspiration for the necklaces that I made.

I have to admit that I was a little unsure about whether the girls would like them. How often do we wear jewelry from a wedding for that day and then only wear them a few more times? So, I decided to go with what I wanted.

Here are the girls in their necklaces at our wedding.

I bought this hemp at Walmart. I started out with some jute that was three strands in one. It unraveled way too much. This hemp worked great!

I also got some brown ribbon, fishing line, pearls, and a button.

I started out by making a loop big enough to fit over the button, but tight enough that it just slipped over the button.

I then strung the pearls on the fishing line. The holes were too small in the pearls to use either the jute or ribbon, so the fishing line became my alternative.

I then tied a not a few inches down that connected all three things strands.

I repeated the pearls and knots until I got to the desired length. I tried to make all the sections the same size.

I tied one last knot on the end, then slid on the button and tied a few knots to hold the button in place.

I then put some clear fingernail polish on the knots to help hold them in place.

Here is the finished product!

I really like how they turned out and pulled in all the elements for my wedding. I also liked that it wasn't just like everyone else had. It was my own. There is just something about that!

If you don't want to take the time to make one of these yourself, I have two for sale here and here.

Thankful for Family

I have been greatly blessed by the two families that God has placed me in. I have two sets of parents that fear and reverence the Lord. They also greatly love their families. I have been blessed by each of the people in the pictures below and pray that I can be a blessing to them as well.

DIY: Make Your Own Wedding Program

For our wedding, I enjoyed all the touches that made our wedding our own. Our programs were one of those elements.

One thing we decided to do was to make our wedding programs. I loved how they turned out!

We started out by making the signs that we would hold in our picture. We each did our own sign in our own hand writing. Scott tried to bribe me into doing his!

We then headed out to take pictures. We learned that there is no hiding! We went to church that night and were asked what we were doing taking pictures with signs.

One of the comments that we got about this picture was that our heads were cut off. No, not a bad photographer, but the look we were going for.

We then held up a sign with our attendants and parents.

Certain things had to be avoided for pictures, even though we know that everyone poops! And I think that Scott purposely covered his face. Hmm...

Our friend, Krista, oh so graciously helped us to design the invitations in publisher. So far, I have not convinced anyone that I have enough need for publisher for them to buy this program for me. A girl can dream, right? Scott took the programs to the printer and they were ready to go.

DIY: Burlap Banner

Back in my college days, we ordered t-shirts for an event in college. They came in a huge size that we did not order, so we took it on our own to make our own shirt. My friend and roomie had the idea of making a stencil and the spray painting the shirt. It worked! Well.

That was the idea that went into making the thank you sign for our wedding thank yous.

Super easy! And you could use any material to make the banner. Bright colors would be fun!

I printed out the letters on card stock and then used an xacto knife to cut out the letters.

I cut out what I wanted my pennants to look like. I use scrap paper for a lot of things! Gotta make my grandma proud.

I then took that and cut out my pennants from burlap. Pins would have helped, but I didn't have any handy at the time.

Once the pennants were cut out, I taped all around the outside of the back of my stencil. Make sure that you do this well to help keep it down during spray painting.

Turn it over and center it on the pennant. I will need to make sure this is pushed down better when I paint. Unless you want edges that aren't straight.

I laid them out on cardboard on our front porch. Didn't want to freeze too badly going outside!

I made sure that the letters were pushed down well and started spray painting. Make sure that you don't spray at an angle to try to keep from spraying up underneath the letters.

I then peeled the paper off and stitched through the top to have a way to hang them. The nice thing about burlap is that you can count the holes that you go through to get an even stitch. I used a dull needle with a big eye to make my job a little easier.

And here the banner as a whole.

This was the inspiration for our thank yous at our wedding. This sign is currently available on etsy.

Wedding Thank Yous

My husband and I had seen the idea of doing post cards for our wedding thank yous. We decided that this was something that we wanted to do.
We made a banner that we wanted in our pictures. I had to put the banner on the altar the day before the wedding, so that we would remember to take the picture the day of the wedding.

The banner then got hung over our gift table at the reception.

Notice our very different styles of holding the string. What do they say that opposites attract :)

I have loved all the different comments about people hanging this picture on their hutch or their fridge.

My favorite story is a good friend of mine lives with her parents. I sent them both separate thank yous. Her dad came home one day and asked why there were two pictures of us? Glad we are we loved at their home!

You can check out more wedding pictures here.

Beginning of Wedding Pictures

I don't know how many of you are like me, but I have been waiting to see pictures from our wedding. We have a few teasers that we have from our photographer, but I want to see them all. My friend Cindy posted some on her blog the other day! I was so glad that my good friend Cindy was able to come up for our wedding. She did a great job announcing at my reception for me. Thanks Cindy!

Here is a picture of Cindy and I at the reception. Cindy inspires me to use my creative juices!

Here are our favors at the reception. Hot chocolate and tea!

My aunt and uncle let us borrow three crates to use at the reception. What a blessing that was! Do you ever get your mind made up that you want something...only to find out there is a good chance it will not happen. My aunt and uncle made this wish come true!

A friend of mine had these tea light candles made for one of my showers and she graciously let me borrow them for the reception. And the nice table runners that my sister-in-law gave me after another shower. What blessings!

We had our parents and grandparents pictures displayed on this mantle. What a fun trip down memory lane.

My in laws made us the awesome sign. They made it from the original front door from out house. This is our guest book that we had made for free, except shipping, because I got my dress from David's Bridal.

Probably one of my favorite memories from the wedding. We were in the receiving line at the wedding, when my friend, who was heading up my reception food, came up to me to tell me that a good chunk of my cheesecake was gone. This was our only one that wasn't presliced and what we were planning on cutting. My favorite part is that it was an orthopedic surgeon who cut the first piece. Now those are the things that we will remember for years!

Glad for a friend and for a husband who both press me to make myself a better person!

Proverbs 27:17

 "Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend."

Free Pictures at Walmart

Walmart is currently offering up 25 free 4x6 pictures. You will need to register for Walmart Photo. They will send you an email with a code that you can use to get 25 free photos that you order online and pick up in store. I printed off the first of my wedding pictures. Not sure they will be the best quality, but for free 4x6 pictures, I can't complain. I love free :)

(thanks hip2save!)