DIY On Acid

I'm tripping balls just looking at this shit. And by "shit" I mean our handcrafted wedding decor. Somehow our "color palette" ended up being this: Cracked-out pastels with a hot dash of emerald green, off-white, black, and a touch of candy apple red, just to keep things sexy. It's gonna be like listening to Magical Mystery Tour while riding the Alice in Wonderland ride at Disneyland ON SHROOMS. (I hear that's really fun, btw).

 

Looks like Mr. Caterpillar couldn't wait til after the parade to hit the Bolivian Marching Powder. But aren't the colors FAB?

We started out with a more narrow palette, but since we made the decision to use mostly all re-purposed materials to craft with, it wasn't always the easiest task to get everything to "go to together." SO. This is what I decided to do.  Get my ass to the paint store and buy me an assload of acrylics and just paint over EVERYTHING. No color scheme really. Just a bunch of colors that looked cool together... and thus, "Pastel Insanity" was born. I hand-painted every bottle and vase:

 

Here's a list of re-purposed materials we've used so far - Most of which we found in our own closets & recycling bins:

• CD jewel cases
• glass bottles
• Chinese character paper Mike got in China years ago
• Sheet music
• Old road maps
• vases that were collecting dust in our closet
• paper shopping bags
• old photos from my Grandparent's era. 
• CD jackets
• Old record sleeves
• Tins from various food/retail products
• Wine corks
• coasters
• Tickets stubs to plays I was in as a teen
• extra buttons
• script brads
• beads from necklaces I never wear
• pennies
• Wine bottle carrier
• cereal/food boxes
• shoe boxes
• fake flower petals
• tissue paper from retail stores (you know, that extra paper some stores feel the need to shove inside your bag for no good reason)
• Old posters from our college dorm daze
• The wire clasps around champagne bottles
• beer bottle caps
• figurines
• bridal magazines to use for oragami (best use for those things EVER)

I have ZERO art skillz.  But somehow I managed to paint a messy mix of different colored flowers onto wine bottles and vases and it actually ended up looking really cool. And not messy at all. It took a little trial and error, but what DIY project doesn't? So, aces! I'm happy with this result. The decor is fun, colorful, vibrant, and will give our guests a contact high when coming within 5 feet of it. (Score!)

We still have plenty more crafting to do... but I wanted to share our progress so far, in hopes of inspiring fellow timid DIYer's out there. Now... how the hell should I arrange all this shit?

Craft Teaser

We're in the process of crafting every single piece of decor this wedding will be adorned with. Big task? Umyeah, it's huge. But we're using crafting as a fun activity we do together. Practically every night. And believe it or not, Mike actually really enjoys it. Seriously. No joke. I'm here to tell you that crafting can be accessible to anyone, even to the most alpha of males, or to the artistically challenged. Mike's crafting expertise lies in making cranes, and stringing them on garlands.  Where I do most of the painting and flower making. We're a team, yo. Once you find the craft you are good at, crafting becomes this relaxing activity that can be done while listening to music, having conversation, watching TV, or even used as an activity for a friendly get-together.

We had a craft party. All we did was provide the booze and the materials, and the friends just came running.  They wanted to craft. Like yearned to craft. And you know why?  'Cause it's really friggin rare as adults to get an excuse to go relive your carefree childhood preschool crafting days without ever having to purchase, set-up or clean a goddamn thing. See below:

booze + craft supplies = happy friends.

Since starting to craft, I have NOT looked at one single DIY tutorial.  I did at first. And it drove me nuts. Nothing I made turned out right. At all. The yarn flowers that I thought were so very approachable and non-scary? Yeah. Not as easy as they look. So I hated crafting before I even started. And that freaked me out a little, 'cause the decor budget is but a weeeee little number in comparison to everything else. So if we were going to spend all our time, efforts, and money on crafting supplies, then we better damn well make these centerpieces look presentable. On some level.  I get that we aren't professionals.  So expectations aren't quite that high. I want our wedding to look homemade.  The less perfect looking the better.  I don't need clean lines. Or napkins that match the green piping on the centerpiece vases. NO. I'm NEVER that put together. And I don't want to pretend I am on my wedding day.  Furthermore, as a means to make this wedding as green as we possibly can, we decided to use mostly used/recycled materials to craft with. And honestly, most of the stuff we found came from our own home, or from our friends' and parents' homes. Seriously. Go through your closets. Clean them out. Get creative.  We found 50 CD jewel cases that weren't being used. Um, hello iTunes, right? So I was like, ok, what can we do with these? Then a light bulb went off: LANTERNS! We can make these into lanterns! And then the ideas just started to flow.  We hopped on the creativity clydesdale bareback stylee and we're riding that thoroughbred beast all the way to wedding decor wonderland. And so far, it's been a beautiful ride.

Here's a pic of what we call "The Craft Storm." This is my one warning if you are taking on crafting the decor for your entire wedding: Prepare to have your home being eaten alive by the craft monster.

Our craft table two months ago:

This is what it looks like now:

Our dining room table: GONE.  Our crafting spirits: LIFTED.

 I'll post all my crazy crafting tutorials once I get a chance to breathe. Things are a little nuts in Bowieland as of late. I know you all are dying to learn how to make my lanterns, but remember this is a craft teaser, so your balls will sadly be left a tad blue today.

Happy crafting, Bowie Lovers!