Handmade Knit Wedding Gown

                 Source: dailymail.co.uk via Nnenna on Pinterest

When I came across this image on Pinterest I knew it was too awesome not to share it with you guys! Twenty-six year-old Lydia from the United Kingdom handknit her own wedding gown in order to save money.  According to the article, she tried on a few wedding dresses in stores, but then decided that she wanted to go the handmade route. She was able to create her dress above with about 300 grams of yarn and at least 100,000 stitches- all for under 200 pounds!

I think her wedding dress is really beautiful and I love that it's completely unique- what a great treasure that will be for future generations in her family!

Tell me: What do you think of her knit wedding dress? Did you or would you make your own wedding gown?

By Nnenna of star-crossed smile

How-to: "Something Blue" Bridal Hair Pin

My little sister will be getting married this summer and she trusted me enough to give me the extremely important task of designing and creating her jewelry. I'm scared already! ;O I'm almost certain, she will turn out to be my most difficult and outspoken client ever, and I'm not fooled by her when she says "Just surprise me, I'm sure I will love it!"

I decided to start with hair accessories. We went over different possibilities: hair combs, tiaras, hair bends and decided that hair pins would be best. My sister has very fine and "slippery" hair and pins will not only help to hold them in place, but also give the master hairdresser, my brother's best friend, lots of flexibility.

Supplies:

~hair pin
~wire (I'm using 26ga silver plated wire)
~beads: glass flowers, glass leaves, pearls, Swarovski crystals, seed beads
go wild! use silk flowers, feathers, old jewelry, sequins, buttons, etc
~wire clippers
1. Cut an 18in long piece of wire, place first petal or leaf shaped bead in the middle of your wire and twist wire securing bead in place.

2. Secure additional 2 petal beads on each end of the wire.

3. Make a couple of additional twists below the little branches.
4. Add glass flower bead topped with "something blue" Swarovski crystal bead leaving about 1/2in of wire bellow the flower.
5. Bend the wire tightly over the edge of the flower bead and twist tightly making sure that the blue crystal stays as centered as possible.

6. Thread a little Swarovski crystal butterfly on the longer end of the wire about 1.5in from twister wire, fold it tightly against the bead and wrap around.
7. Position the butterfly above the pearl branches.
8. Add one more flower bead with Swarovski crystal center at the base of this little bridal bouquet.

9. Thread both ends of the wire through the loop of the hair pin and secure it in place by wrapping around the loop of the hair pin and around the base of the bouquet. Clip off the access wire.

by Mirela
Jantar Handcrafted Jewelry

Etched Glass Wedding Gifts

Etched glass surfaces make great unique wedding gifts. You can really customize your gift to suit the couple and make it a one of a kind present they will treasure and use for years.

You will need:

• An object with a smooth glass surface, like a vase, drinking glass, or a mirror

• Contact paper to place over your design

• Armor glass etch cream (found at most hobby stores)

• Foam brush

• Exacto knife

• Simple design to etch

• Safety goggles

• Rubber gloves

How to:
1. If you find a design that you like in a book that you cannot cut from that page, you can use the contact paper to trace it, as shown here.

2. Slowly peel the backing from the contact paper and smooth it onto your glass surface.

3. Using your exacto knife, carefully cut the contact paper to expose the parts of the surface you would like to expose to the etching cream. The surface exposed to the etching cream will take on a frosted look.
4. Carefully remove those parts that you have just carved.
5. Put your rubber gloves on and use your foam brush to apply a generous amount of etching cream to only those exposed parts of your surface where you wish to achieve the etching effect.
6. Wait 5-7 minutes for the etching cream to eat away at the glossy surface of your glass.
7. With your rubber gloves and goggles on, bring the glass item to a sink where you will carefully wash off the etching cream.
8. Once you have completely rinsed off the etching cream, you may remove the contact paper.
9. Voila! You have a unique wedding gift.

-Lorina Pellach Ladrillono, The Original Beadscarf.

Online Wedding Registry

When I married, it was a very relaxed affair and I did not organize a registry. I assumed that since the guests were friends of mine they would bring, if anything, something brilliantly apt and creative.

After receiving four vases as presents I learned the importance of the gift registry.

Though I am not getting married again, I was pleased to discover that today there are many online wedding registries with options to register gifts for handmade products - including vases - made by independent designers.

Handmade custom registry websites include: MyRegistry; Wishpot; Wists; TheThingsIWant; Felicite and Kaboodle. A very detailed article on Etsy's blog The Storque lists all the features and instructions. I hope you find them useful should you need a registry of your own.

-May Luk Ceramics