Fluffy Letters Tutorial!

Well, I've survived Christmas, and I'm only slightly traumatized. If I ever start blogging about my family, you all would understand. I suppose I just have to mention "family" and many of you are already nodding your heads...or banging them against the wall. Just me? Ok, then.

So, I'm back to wedding crafting and I still think it's about the best thing I can do with my time. Surprised? Me neither.

I love monograms. I see them all over weddings nowadays. Like these from Martha:


And, of course, I love these fabric poms:


I wanted to combine these two loves into ruffley monograms. I managed to do so, although I'm not sure that I'm madly in love with the results. I wanted to be madly in love with the results, but these things happen.


These ruffled letters are certainly cute enough to make their way onto a dessert table or a guest book table, where they will happily show off their ruffleosity and announce that this is, indeed, Chris and Kerissa's wedding.

For this project you will need:
* Wooden letters (I purchased mine at Michael's. They were painted white, which helped because I knew I would be covering them in a cream colored fabric, so they would blend well. They are approx. six inches tall.)
* Fabric (I used inexpensive cotton)
* Hot glue/gun
* Circle Cutter (Optional)
* Scissors

Here are the letters pre-fluffiness:


I knew that the fabric ruffles had to be short enough that you would still be able to tell that it was a "K" at the end of the project. So, I took my circle cutter and cut out a one-inch circle out of paper to use as my template. You could certainly freehand this as the circles do not have to be perfect.


Then, I cut some inexpensive cotton into a zillion teensy circles.


Next, I put a dot of hot glue in the center of the circle like so (but hopefully with a hand that was more steady than mine when I took this blurry photo):


and stuck it to the letter.

Repeat 50-hundred times. :)

To give it the ruffled look, I stuck each circle up tight to the one before so that it would fold the edges of the other circle up in random spots.




Sometimes the cat helps. But she looks irritated when you explain to her that she cannot nestle in that fabric. See the look?


Here are my tips, also known as "what I would do differently next time":

(1) I ruffled the whole letter. This probably isn't necessary but I thought perhaps I would hang them, so I wanted ruffles all around. However, I think I liked the less cluttered look of the letter when only the front was ruffled, like this:


The fabric was able to hang over the side and look gently ruffled. But, then I ruffled the sides and it looked like this, which I wasn't as thrilled with:


(2) So, if you do want to ruffle the whole thing, I learned that it is best to start with the back and sides first. I ended up flipping the "C" over and using the back as the front (thank goodness it was a symmetrical letter!) and making the ruffles a tad less crowded on that side. As you can see, I had perfected my ability to use a little less fabric and make it a little less ruffly by the time I got to the "K."


(3) I also trimmed the edges of the ruffles in the center of the letter to make sure that the edges were still defined and the "K" was identifiable, instead of a ruffled blob. :)

I do love me some ruffles!

These are the smallest letters I've purchased, so some ginormous monograms are certain to follow.

A little taste of summer...

It's snowy/rainy/cloudy/a little sunny here in Seattle (so, you know, normal weather for us). I'm thinking about how nice it will be in the next few (ok, six) months to not have to consider donning two pairs of socks and some long johns (I'm cold all.the.time.) The thought of sun and warmth reminded me of the cute little vegan tea party we had last summer. On a bit of a whim I decided to throw the tea party for a friend's daughter - she had a dress and no where to go. What a tragedy!

I was inspired by some Laura Ashley plates I found at Michaels, which were teal and hot pink. Apparently, I have a surprising amount of teal and pink stuff in my house, so the rest of the decor just sorta came together! (I mean, really, I had hot pink wrapping paper to use as a table runner and teal tape! It was meant to be.)

Of course, I forgot to take photos until after everyone left because I was behind in making the tea sandwiches. Some day time management will just click with me, right? (Right!?)

The four year old guest of honor picked out these lovely gerbera daisies, which just happened to match absolutely perfectly. I just love it when things work out that well! And, because I'm obviously certifiable, I took some lettered beads I had at home and spelled out each of the kids' names and attached them to place card holders. Cuteness!

I also had some pretties hanging from the ceiling.


Here is the one photo I managed to take of the spread.


I made jelly sandwiches on white bread,


and these amazing vegan cucumber mint tea sandwiches with wasabi maple spread on wheat bread from here.


Then there were blueberries (of course - they're blue!),


and strawberry panzanella with either soy or regular yogurt (which looks like a hot mess, but is absolutely amazing. Here is the recipe. Make this NOW.)


We also had homemade strawberry lemonade, which I managed to accidentally crop out of this picture. Good thing I got the random sprinkles in there, though. Excellent.

And yes, I labeled the sugar and the lemons. Sometimes I get carried away with paper goods.

Of course, there were cupcakes for decorating. They were vegan chocolate and vanilla (in hot pink and teal cupcake wrappers) with soy buttercream frosting.

The kids went outside (outside = best decision ever) and decorated their own cupcakes with sprinkles and more sprinkles! I don't have a photo of all the sprinkles I made, but because of concerns about allergies and hidden ingredients, I just took sugar and dyed it 5 or 6 different colors. It was inexpensive (thank goodness - they poured ginormous quantities on each cupcake), and it worked out quite well.

As an after-cupcake-decorating event, I made little books using my grandmother's sewing machine (which was really just an excuse to create a whale border on something), laid out tons of puffy stickers on a small picnic table with crayons and colored pencils and let the kids create their own books.

Do you think I have a photo of the table or the end products? Yeahno. But the kids had a great time, and so did the adults!

My 12 Homemade Gifts of Christmas...a tad late.

Here are the gifts I made for Christmas 2010 in song form, of course. I know it's January 10th, but sometimes life happens and you finish some of your Christmas crafting projects on January 9th. Right? (I'm looking for some validation here...) :)

On the first day of Christmas I made for a friend: a ruffly cotton garland for a tree*

(*Ok, so it's not for a tree. I'm going for effect, here.)


On the second day of Christmas I very carefully sewed: two stuffed pigs

and a ruffly cotton garland for a tree.


On the third day of Christmas I made all by hand: three pretty tutus,

two stuffed pigs, and a ruffly cotton garland for a tree.


On the fourth day of Christmas I cut out and sewed: four heart-felt bags,

three pretty tutus, two stuffed pigs and a ruffly cotton garland for a tree.


On the fifth day of Christmas I made on my own: five flower headbands,

four heart-felt bags, three pretty tutus, two stuffed pigs and a ruffly cotton garland for a tree.


On the sixth day of Christmas I made lots of these: six shapes of press cookies,

five flower headbands, four heart-felt bags, three pretty tutus, two stuffed pigs and a ruffly cotton garland for a tree.

On the seventh day of Christmas I stayed up to make: seven hundred PB blossoms,

six shapes of press cookies, five flower headbands, four heart-felt bags, three pretty tutus, two stuffed pigs and a ruffly cotton garland for a tree.


On the eighth day of Christmas I didn't sleep to make: eight pounds of peppermint bark,

seven hundred PB blossoms, six shapes of press cookies, five flower headbands, four heart-felt bags, three pretty tutus, two stuffed pigs and a ruffly cotton garland for a tree.


On the ninth day of Christmas I stayed up to late to wrap: nine(ty) lovely presents,

(the gifts that were shipped)

(the gifts that "stayed home")

eight pounds of peppermint bark, seven hundred PB blossoms, six shapes of press cookies, five flower headbands, four heart-felt bags, three pretty tutus, two stuffed pigs and a ruffly cotton garland for a tree.


On the tenth day of Christmas I whipped up late one night: ten homemade marshmallows,

nine(ty) lovely presents, eight pounds of peppermint bark, seven hundred PB blossoms, six shapes of press cookies, five flower headbands, four heart-felt bags, three pretty tutus, two stuffed pigs and a ruffly cotton garland for a tree.


On the eleventh day of Christmas I may have eaten up: eleven vegan sugar cookies,

ten homemade marshmallows, nine(ty) lovely presents, eight pounds of peppermint bark, seven hundred PB blossoms, six shapes of press cookies, five flower headbands, four heart-felt bags, three pretty tutus, two stuffed pigs and a ruffly cotton garland for a tree.


On the twelfth day of Christmas I finally gave away: Twelve pumpkin cupcakes,

eleven vegan sugar cookies, ten homemade marshmallows, nine(ty) lovely presents, eight pounds of peppermint bark, seven hundred PB blossoms, six shapes of press cookies, five flower headbands, four heart-felt bags, three pretty tutus, two stuffed pigs and a ruffly cotton garland for a tree.

I didn't even post about the fudge (which I forgot to photograph), or the two apple pies (complete with star and Christmas tree cutouts)!


I need a nap!

Stay tuned as we get back to our regularly scheduled programming of wedding crafting. :)

Sources:

• Ruffle Garland from Ruffled Blog.
• Stuffed Pigs from Martha Stewart.
• Tutu tutorial on YouTube.
• Heart-Felt Bags from Martha Stewart.
• Braided Headband from this website and flower tutorial from 100 Layer Cake. (Stay tuned for an upcoming guest blog with a tutorial for making these!)
• Almond Press Cookie recipe from Martha Stewart, but I added almond extract as well.
• This is the recipe I use for Peanut Butter Blossoms. It doesn't use shortening or milk. Except I bake at 375 not 275...I assume that's a typo.
• I didn't have a recipe for the peppermint bark. I made that recipe up. :)
• Homemade Marshmallows from here, however I did not coconut-ify them, but don't think I wasn't tempted to do that! Coconut = yumminess!
• Vegan Sugar Cookie recipe found here. (Amazing.)
• The vegan pumpkin cupcakes were a mixture of the Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cupcakes recipe from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, which can be found here (I didn't add the chocolate chips), and the spices from Smitten Kitchen's pumpkin cupcake recipe from here. These qualify as the most amazing vegan thing I've ever baked.

Just what I need...

Another obsession. How ah-mazing is this paper receipt altar that I found here on 100 Layer Cake. I am literally dying with envy and drooling all over my keyboard. I wants. A lot.

If I had a million dollars (great, now that song's going to be stuck in my head all day), I would so make this out of silk ribbon. Mmmm...

Where have you been my whole life,

Groupon!? (You thought I was going to say Chris, didn't you? Well, him, too, but seriously people we're talking major discounts here.) I'm not going to lie, saving money makes me super excited. I'm one of those people that if given a compliment such as "I like your sweater," I respond with "thanks, it was originally $148 but I paid $30!" (That just might be the case for the sweater I'm wearing right now.)

If you don't know about groupon, you should come out from under that rock. :) Living Social is good as well. They send you daily emails for 50% off (or more) restaurants, spas, gyms, experiences, etc. in your city. They were quite handy for buying Christmas gifts this year. Wait. Technically last year, I suppose. I always have a hard time with that the first week of January.

Every once in a while Groupon makes my week. (I'm easy to please, I guess.) This is one of those weeks!
Today Groupon had a sale on photo books from Photobook America. Hello 70% off super nice guest book! This means I paid $35 for a $115 gift certificate to the website! And if I don't use it for a guest book (because I'm still considering guest book options such as polaroids of each guest), I will likely use it make a nice keepsake or gift for our families after the wedding! Love!

It's the little things...

like personalized wedding dress hangers that make me swoon over weddings. How gorgeous is this!?




With that lovely swooping "f!?" Mmmm. The dress photos are going to be that much more gorgeous hanging from this!

I purchased it from lilafrances on etsy, but be forewarned, there is a 10 week turnaround time.

And, yes, for the record I will be changing my name. I have two last names, both beginning with "F" so at least my initials won't change. :) And after writing two last names for my entire life, I'm going to be happy to have just one. And, while I appreciate all of the name options I've been given by friends and family ("Triple F" topping the list), I'm very sorry to disappoint you all with my decision to stick with one name. Ok, I'm not sorry at all. So there.

Biting off more than you can chew. Mmmmm...

I've been hemming and hawing (sp?!) about what to do for prettiness behind us during the ceremony. I've seen a number of things, but most just don't seem right. A big floral arrangement...meh. I detest many of those. I've seen displays using branches, but at the end of September, who wants to be reminded of fall and winter? Plus, dead branches make me kind of sad. I want something neat-o, but not overly ornate and not too...alter-y? Clear as mud, right?

My current insane idea is stolen from Martha but then changed up a bit to make it more fancy (read: difficult). I want to make this out of fabric garlands (the paper ones seem a little cheesy to me):


I know...I know...I'm crazy. I'm a little concerned that I won't be able to make garlands that are long enough, but maybe I'll be able to pull it off. Stay tuned! :)