The cutest bridesmaid proposal ever (if I do say so myself!)

Ever since he popped the question, I've known exactly which girls I wanted to stand up there with me, and I also knew that I wanted to make me asking them almost as special as him asking me!  I surfed around on pinterest for inspiration, but didn't really find anything I loved to draw from.
The idea struck me when I stumbled upon these super cute Valentine's Day plates at Target, which just so happened to be in the colours we chose for our wedding!
I bought a few of them, not knowing exactly HOW they would be put to use, just knowing that they WOULD be... and got cracking!

It started to come together when I found this frame.  I thought about decoupaging it in our wedding colours, but instead, I settled on decoupaging it with pages from a vintage romance novel (My one bridesmaid, Marlena, actually got a frame that was decoupaged with pages from a French romance novel!)



Then, I discovered this awesome program to use in conjunction with my Cricut machine called Cricut Craft Room.  It allows you to create a layout using cartridges you already own, OR, any Cricut cartridge, which you can then purchase online, directly through the program.  This made it a lot easier to visualize, because I could see exactly how big the letters would turn out.


I took my letters, and very carefully (using tweezers when necessary!) glued them on the inner matting of my frame.  The Craft Room program made it super easy to get just the three letters ("I Do") in a different colour, because I knew exactly where to position the paper on the cutting mat.  I used a glue runner to glue the letters down, because it's easier and less messy than white glue, a glue stick, etc.   You could also do it with mod podge, if you prefer.


I created some paper medallions, using this tutorial over at How About Orange.  Inside the centre of each medallion, I wrote Bridesmaid, or Maid Of Honour.  I then glued them to a piece of textured paper that matched the centre of the medallion, and on the paper, I stamped, "Will you be my"

Because the ribbons are higher than a flat picture, I couldn't replace the glass part of the frame, so what I did was include it behind the art work - that way, if the girls decide, they can replace the "proposal" part of the frame, with a picture of us at the wedding, afterwards!


I put it all together with some Cherry Red & Aqua coloured Jelly Belly's, and some cheesy, wedding related bubbles that I found at the dollar store (wedding cake & champagne).  I used the Cricut and some of my own decorative punches to create confetti out of matching paper.

I included a card that told each girl why I picked her, and how much she meant to me... Then I wrapped it all up in cellophane and hoped they'd say yes!
(They did!)

Feel free to Pin this on Pinterest and draw inspiration for your own bridesmaid proposal!  Please let me know if you decide to do something similar!

 

Masquerade Ball - party idea!

Sorry for the few and far-between postings! Life was really busy for me through the month of October - hopefully November will calm down a bit before the Christmas rush! 



My birthday falls on the (Canadian) Thanksgiving weekend, which is pretty awesome!  But sometimes, it means that friends go home to visit their families, since it's a long weekend.  So for my birthday this year, my boyfriend and I decided to host a Masquerade Ball.  We threw it on the weekend after my birthday, so it was between Thanksgiving and Halloween, and hosted it at my parents house, because their basement rocks.  We coordinated our colours (red, black, gold, silver, white), and asked our friends to come in fancy clothes, with a mask.


Our sweet table was set up in a corner (with some awesome candelabras that my boy bought me for my birthday - and bleeding candles that he made!).  We stuck to foods that were red, black and white, including a candy buffet, white chocolate cranberry cookies, and (not pictured at left) - white frosted cupcakes and dark chocolate brownies.  We bought some helium filled balloons, in red and gold, to fill the space further.




We tried to have decorations as far as the eye could see.  The main table was set up with a white table cloth and red runner.  We made candle holders out of wine bottles (with more bleeding candles) - and the bookcase behind was adorned with some feather boas, skulls and creepy cheesecloth, along with some extra masks we picked up at the dollar store for decorative purposes (and for any party poopers who showed up without a mask to pose with!)




Over by the bar, we took some bottles that we bought at the dollar store and made our own paper labels for them.  We filled each up with a different type of alcohol or mix (tonic water, vodka, cranberry juice and rum, I believe) - and these were set up on display, so that guests could either serve themselves or be served with other drinks behind the bar.



Naturally, we had loot bags for all the party-goers, and the golden skull you see at the back is actually the prize for best mask! 

I will try to post more pictures from the party later, but if you need to see them right now... check out the Masquerade Party set over at my flickr for all the awesome pics!

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All U Need Is Love wedding card

Here's a card I made for two of my friends who got married this weekend!  (Hopefully they've already opened it, or they don't see it online before they do!)
Materials:

• silver patterned cardstock
• gold vellum
• blue ribbon
• silver paper
• gold cardstock
• stamp & ink pad
• Cricut Cartridge: Straight From The Nest

I started with a 5.5" by 4" card base.  Next, I cut the silver patterned cardstock to about 4x3 and glued it down.  The gold vellum is about 5.5" by 2", and is glued down across the middle.  The ribbon is cut down to size at 5.5" and glued on top of the vellum.

Then I took my Straight From The Nest cartridge and cut out the shadow (silver) and main (gold) "Bird4" border image at about 2 inches.  I glued them down on top of the ribbon.

Then I just took my stamp & teal ink and stamped my main greeting along the bottom... and done!

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