upstate home feature

hot off the press!

see the article here:

note correction:

the picture on page 5 is of dan's grandma, mom and uncle in front of our fireplace.

just married decor

i've been quite busy this past month with preparations for a very special wedding we celebrated last saturday for this couple.  there were so many great ideas that the bride wanted, to add that special touch to their theme which was beachy vintage. 

i thought i'd share a few projects i worked on for the wedding.  most of the pics are staged on our property, both before & after. i was so preoccupied that i didn't take pics prior to the  wedding...ugh.   however, i did hand my camera to a groomsmen's wife and she included some of the decor in her picture taking (thanks erin!) 

this wedding was done on a very low cost budget.  i am very proud of these two for committing to start their lives without any wedding debt.  most everything used to decorate was either a bargain, low cost, re-used, borrowed or already owned. (my kind of decorating!)

first on the list was the table numbers that you may remember from this wedding.  some of them came up missing afterward so i had the task of remaking 3 of the numbers.  not much of an issue except that i couldn't find the file on either my desktop or laptop computer AND i couldn't for the life of me find the font that was used on them.  no problem, i would just use a similar font (as suggested by bride) as they would be on separate tables anyway.  but lo and behold, for some reason i had made a copy of some of the numbers and tucked it in with the iron-on transfer sheets.  the remarkable thing about this is that the exact three numbers i needed were the ones on this copy!  now if that isn't a God thing!
the vintage canning jars were filled with sand and a handful of sparklers for an evening send off for the bride and groom.  the centerpieces were layers circles of seafoam green, sand, seashells and candles.  several hand printed box of matches were on the table as well.

next was a bunting banner made out of burlap left over from the above mentioned wedding.  the bride wanted one for the gift table and one for the head table.  she chose "just married" and of course "gifts".  black lettering was the choice of color and looked great against the burlap texture.

the bride wanted to use vintage items in the decor. canning jars with wire bales in both aqua & clear were used for centerpieces & to hold the bouquets, various galvanized tubs held water bottles & ice, and a retro suitcase was used for holding cards.  

a mini banner with the word "cards" was a later addition but was simple & made from items on hand.  i had a strand of chipboard letters on jute spelling out "christmas" that i took apart.  i made a "d" from a thin heavy cardboard and then glued vintage dictionary pages to the fronts.  i personalized them by using pages with words related to a wedding: love, vow, marriage, kiss, and wed.  i restrung them on black & white bakers twine with added mini clothespins to clip the banner to inside the suitcase lid.  a small vintage embroidered round tablecloth and an authentic fishnet was added to the inside to add some pop & texture to the plain lining. (see above pic)

another decorative element that was on the "to do" list was a picture board made from a large empty frame (in my stash but purchased from hobby lobby clearance aisle).  i drilled holes on each side of the frame and wove vintage sissal rope through and across the opening.  to add some seaside touches to the frame, starfish were tied on the corners.  upon placing pics on the board, it was decided that a backing be added to direct the eye to the pics and not the easel or background behind.  i found some linen-like textured fabric in my stash and stapled it to the back of the frame.  you could also use burlap or coffee bags for another look.

a few signs were made to direct guests to their seats and to the wedding which were made from leftover fence pickets.  the word, "wedding" was stenciled onto the pickets (thanks to my cricut) and then a font from the computer was traced onto the wood for "reserved" and handpainted.  the wedding signs were cemented into empty paint cans placed inside sap buckets and then covered with sand.

the most important project that the couple wanted, to exude some beachy-ness was a trellis.  after seeing a pic of the "look" to achieve, i set out to do my homework.  lowes had rustic poles for less than $7 each. we needed 8 along with 8-inch carriage bolts/nuts.  once i sketched a pic for the mr., he and one of the groomsmen got to work building the trellis.  it took about 4 hours spread out over a few days to get the project to completion.  once they were done, the bride and i took a trip to jo annes to find ivory tulle and ivory fabric for the backdrop. 

measure twice, cut once

it's helpful to have good tools,
extra batteries on hand, along with some
kickin' socks & workboots



mr.1829 and a groomsman checking out their project

the completed trellis waiting for the bride and groom

if you have any questions as to the making of any of this decor, just send me an email and i'd be happy to help out.  these decor items are not our original designs but gleaned from many ideas & pics found on this wonderful world of blogs that we all share delight in.  we, of course, added our own personal touches to make them unique & personalized for our son's wedding.

thanks for stopping by,

*thank you for not copying or using my pics without written permission,

and please give credit where credit is due.

Linking up to:

yum to the 5th degree

laurie from the turner farm is hosting a party! 

and i am joining in to share with you

the top five yummy things that make me smile.

yum #1: 

whole grain, fruit-filled artisan bread with fresh organic butter 

yummy good!

yum #2:

vintage advertisement found for a bargain at bouckville

love-love-love typography

(the jury is still out today on whether to paint the wormwood frame or

change the mat since i was just using what i had available)

yum #3:

a project almost completed...

that's been on a two plus year waiting list!
(next step: cut binding and bind edges)

yum #4:

peppermint tea sweetened with stevia

it's like eating mint chocolate-and satisfies my craving! 

yum #5

beautiful photography of my decor by my daughter

such creativety!

and her take on my dad's folding ruler

thanks laurie for the linky party
i had a blast!

the decor of christmas past...part two

as if you haven't had enough of christmas decorating,
i come along and ask you to look at more!
  
and if you haven't seen part one, go here.

now i will show you a bit of my simplified decorating,

since time was short and life was uber busy. 

i liked the results of this way of decorating and only wish i'd done it years ago!
(purging the rest of the decor will be done when this stuff gets put away). 

enjoy the tour of christmas past...

fireplace mantel decor

tree on rustified milking stool

folding ruler star 

vintage choir candles &
swedish gnomes (from grandma)

vintage ornaments and a pipe cleaner candy cane

vintage milk bottle, crates, dominoes 
and vintage puzzles made by abercrombie 

tree junkified



and that completes the 2010 christmas past tour...

thanks for stopping by!

now onto 2011

up & coming projects:

bathroom renovation

lathe wall clock

mom 'n dads table & sideboard
mb office niche

stay tuned!

the decor of christmas past...part one

not being the only one (thanks to lani) who was SO busy with life during the christmas season, i too am posting some of my decorating "johnny come lately".  anyhoo, the twelfth day of christmas has not yet arrived...so i will consider it not too late!  while everyone else in blogland is on to the new in new year, you can sit back and visit (as in dickens christmas carol) the days of christmas past. 

last year i had really wanted to place our live christmas tree in a galvanized wash tub but our tree stand wouldn't allow it.  however, i reminded mr. 1829 of his promise to make it work this year.  since we didn't get our tree or decorations up until one week prior, there wasn't much time.  not realizing how easy it was going to be, off we drove to purchase our tree and find a new tree stand, which worked perfectly and was on sale.  we came home, set it up and i started doing the happy dance.  i will let you enjoy the tree that was everything that i had imagined (it doesn't take much)  i chose to use only our vintage, silver (thanks pottery barn) and ivory ornaments with a ballards burlap garland.

felt star on vintage bobbin..handmade by mu-wah

vintage ornaments from parents & grandparents

the clip-on bird below was from an old store display in a small women's store that i worked for in the early 80's.  i've had several of them in my stash and this is the first time i've used them in well over 25 years.  the bicycle horn was from mr.1829's maternal grandma, she gave it to us for christmas a few years before she died.  so in honor of her, we keep it hung on our tree each year.  it still has a few good honks left in it.  the single woolen mitten is also from grandma and looks quite cozy on the tree hung by a mini clothespin.

 

also handmade by mu-wha



mr. snow by yours truly



vintage glitter balls and...

2 vintage bells from my parents collection


 a few more pics along with miss laci



stay tuned for part two