crafty goodness

i've been a bad updater lately i know...but i have been a very good crafter. ( i kinda hate the term DIY kinda like STD i dunno why? but anyway...)

in addition to settling on a playlist and burning cd's for favors (with mikey's help of course) I've been making trolley tickets, designing cd covers, and welcome packets with important times and directions for our out of town guests - i've been playing around and making some of the fun stuff.

i've aged the key tags (stained with one morning's left over coffee) for our seating cards so that i was able to add names as the rsvp's came in. they were just a little too crisp and clean as they were...

after searching for a cheap collection of vintage slate chalk boards for table numbers without too much luck i found these cheap little wood frames at michael's (like 59 cents) that were actually a better size to not overpower our water pitcher centerpieces as well. so i got myself some chalkboard paint and stain to age a bit and made my own...

i'm not sure if i've ever mentioned this to you guys before, but our old landlord bequeathed the mother load of old ball jars, milk jars, and old medicine bottles to mike and i before she sold her house, she even gave them to us in a stack of amazing old wooden wine and milk crates. needless to say they will be a part of our decor. we decided to make a bunch of the old jars into candles (fearing that tea lights might not last all night and not wanting to mess with rocks or sand or any of that stuff to hold up the mini pillar candles) and the rest will be used as extra vases for the bars, cake table, gift table etc...

with the help of my mother and sister we made almost 70 candles for the price of the bulk wax (and the hours of pouring and patience needed to tie off wicks without pulling of the bottom)

i have to admit some of the jars are so cool i couldn't bring myself to make candles out of them at first, but then i had a pep talk with myself, they've been sitting in our basement for well over a year, if we didn't use them for our wedding would they just sit there forever? i decided it was a good life for the pretties...and the really really fragile looking ones (or the ones that had formed bubbles in the glass) i saved to use as vases instead.

so things are trucking along, and it feels really good to have these crafts done and in boxes ready for transport rather than hanging out on the to-do list.