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.

How To: Crafty Wedding Favor Bags Filled with Sweets

So you want to have a crafty wedding? Taking on the entire task of making and planning everything yourself can often be too much to bear. Instead, why not pick just a few things to make for your special day? Favors are a great place to start: they're simple and can be adapted to suit your tastes and colors.

These sewn favor bags are perfect for filling with any kind of candy or sweet you desire. I filled mine with my favorite handmade candies from Papa Bubble. Aren't those little hearts just adorable? If you are making cookies or little cakes simply make the bag a bit bigger.

What you need:
(these instructions are for making one bag, so multiply it for the amount of guests you have)

4" x 12" piece of wax paper
Paper and scallop edge scissors
Sewing machine and thread
Hole punch
Scrap of wallpaper or wrapping paper
Scrap of colored cardstock
5" string or thread
One shank button

1. Fold your piece of wax paper in half to make a 4" x 6" rectangle. Fold the top down 1 1/2".

2. Sew down both long sides of the folded wax paper, backstitching at the beginning and end. Trim the threads. Tip: Use a leather sewing needle to sew through paper and make sure to change the needle before you go back to sewing fabric.

3. Use the scalloped edge scissors to trim the top part of the wax paper bag.

4. Cut a simple flower shape out of the decorative paper and punch a hole in the center. Type, write or print out your message on cardstock, punch a hole in one end and trim with scalloped edge scissors. Also, gather your button and string.

5. With the top of the bag folded over, punch a hole through the top of the bag in the center. Fill the bag with candy or other sweets.

6. Insert one end of the string through the hole from the back of the bag. String the written tag on first, then the flower and finally the button. Bring the other end of the string over the top of the bag, wrap around the back of the button and tie in a knot behind the button to hide it. Trim the string.
And there you have it! Simple and sweet favor bags for your special day!

Kayte
loveforever.etsy.com

How To: Making a shawl for a cool spring wedding

March heralds spring and that means weddings are in the air!!
But it’s still too cool for those fabulous strapless and spaghetti strapped wedding dresses. So let’s make this shawl, choose your color, choose your fabric. Here we chose white satin with a grey cotton ribbon for the fringe. You can use satin, silk, velvet or any ribbon you like….here’s an opportunity to do your “something blue”.

Need
Fabric 62” x 21”
Ribbon or braid approximately 13 yards (cut into 12” strips)
Thread suitable for the fabric chosen
New pins

1. Fold fabric in half length-wise and mark seam. Opening fabric out flat, lay ribbon or braid on right side of fabric with end up against the width end of the fabric. Make sure the ribbon lays flat on what will be the good side of the fabric, each strip paralled and at least ½ inch apart on only one half of fabric.2. Pin each strip in place on both ends of your fabric. It will help to baste stitch each strip of ribbon in place.

3. With ribbon basted in place, fold over side of fabric without ribbon using your center seam mark as your guide for the fold.

4. Carefully stitch the two ends and most of the open length together. Leave a small opening for turning shawl.

5. Turn shawl inside out
6. Iron shawl carefully, making sure that ribbon strips extend to form a fringe at both ends.

7. Hand sew the opening close and iron flat.

Voila, you have the perfect shawl for a cool spring wedding.

By Marilyn Ng-A-Qui
vyphuisdesigns.etsy.com

Wardrobe Refashion: How-to Make Your Dress Form Look Like You (Only Better)

Although I have a pile of clothes waiting to be refashioned and an equal stack of fabric that could become cute new outfits, first things first. My kick-off project was to tackle getting my dress form ready to roll. Since it is a task that many home sewers might not have a lot of experience with, here is some professional advice to guide you. This process is different from making an exact replica of your body. Instead, this form yields clothing that not only fits, but also flatters.
Here is my dress form. Unsurprisingly, it has great proportions and a very standard figure. Very few people in the world will find their measurements to be the same as their dress form, no matter how fabulous we all know we look!
At this point, it is time to make direct comparisons. Take thorough and accurate measurements of your over-bust, bust, under-bust, waist, high and low hip, and those of your form. This is not the part where we flatter ourselves. This process is meaningless without total honesty. Establish where you and the form differ and by how much. In my example, the form and I are the same except for the waist.
You'll need various forms of padding (e.g. shoulder pads, bust pads, and batting) to pin onto your form. The most effective way to pin them is by using straight pins with the length nearly flat to the form, and the tip pointing towards the center of your pad.

The #1 trick of padding a stand is making the measurements the same as your own, but doing so by putting the extra where you wish it was.

If your bust measurement is bigger, try putting the padding on the breasts. If your hip measurement is bigger, add it to either your butt or sides depending which you think looks more pleasing. Even if you carry most of your extra waist in the front, spread it around to give a more even silhouette.

Here is an example with padding added to the breast using a commercial bust pad.This one is for adding a little extra lift to the butt area to extend the hip measurement using two shoulder pads with flat edges together.
Here are the steps I took in my own case. First I used two thin shoulder pads in the small of the back. Then two sets of thick shoulder pads to either side. The tapering edges of the pads help smooth out the shape to keep from having big jumps in size.
Next I used a folded piece of batting directly in the waistline to help bulk it up more. Then I used a single layer of batting to assure the smooth transition to the rest of the form.
The measurements all matched at this point, so I added a ribbon to mark the new waist. Using a Sharpie, I extended my center front and princess lines onto the padding.
The form is now precisely my measurements and will make a dress that fits my body. By fudging the placement, the added bonus is any clothes made on this stand will be well proportioned, which ultimately makes me and my projects look even better.


~Kari
http://ikyoto.etsy.com

How to: Make a flower hair pin for the wedding party.


Recently my friend got engaged and I am lucky enough to be in the wedding, I mean it!
Some girls don't like this duty but my friend is awesome and hasn't turned into a bridezilla - yet.
When I picture wedding parties I always imagine cute flowers in the girls hair and I love hair accessories in general. This is a mad fresh, economical way to reuse fabric scraps that I never seem to want to part with for some strange reason. These fabric flowers couldn't be simpler and will not wilt through a full day of drinking, dancing and eating. Oh, I just thought of something you could attach these to safety pins and make some for the guys's tux's too!


First take a scrap piece of fabric, fold it in half and cut it in the shape of a petal, whatever kind of shape you like.


Repeat this step varying sizes and shapes with different and interesting scrap fabrics.


Arrange your pieces to form an abstract flower, cut two little pieces for the center, any shape you like.



Now just start stitching everything together. Double up your thread for a little strength. Be sure to leave enough thread at the end for tying and when you are finished sewing leave a long end.

Get a nice little bobby pin, I like using the traditional small tight fitting ones.

Turn the flower over, use the extra thread you left in the beginning and end of sewing to tie to the bobby pin where the bobby pin folds, tie a bunch of knots and put a dab of hot glue to keep the flower tied on if you wish.

Now just pin it in your hair and get ready for a day of being yelled at by your BFF bride.
Kidding....

-Bungaloe

How to Elope with Style

Lots of little girls dream of their weddings. All I ever fantasized about was the dress and the jewelry. So when my now-husband and I decided to get married, we quickly dispensed with the notion of a shin-dig and decided to do it on our own terms.

Niagara Falls called to us, so we booked a room with a gorgeous view and came up with excuses to get away for a few days in April.

The mayor of Niagara Falls, New York performed the ceremony. Rather than the boiler plate we'd expected, we got his take on the wedding vows, which were much sweeter and more heartfelt.

Although our nuptials took place in the dark ages before Etsy and the {New New}, they did include many handmade and DIY elements.

My dress was custom made at a local shop called Kimera. My cute capelet also came from a local shop that carries lots of handmade goods, Rapisarda. My husband worked with jewelry designer Lady J. to create an engagement ring based on one that had been my grandmother's. We got custom wedding bands from the Original Titanium Workshop.

As a gift on the day we got married, he got me a beautiful handmade purse from Refinery, a local pioneer in handmade retail.


Afterwards, we let our friends and family know we'd gotten hitched by sending out this card:
which we made by taking a picture of some public art near our house that we thought kind of looked like us. With each card we included a cd of the theme song to Laverne and Shirley, "Doing it Our Way."

If I were to do it all over again, I'd still elope. We spared ourselves a great deal of stress, and to this day we still feel justified in splurging on travel since we saved so much money by not having a a wedding.

The only thing I'd change is I'd definitely do a lot of my shopping from the {New New}!

Stylish elopement necessities from Ikyoto, bluestitch books, metalicious, groundsel, jesswitaj and Lingua Nigra.

-MaryAnne
wabisabibrooklyn.com
wabisabibrooklyn.etsy.com