Friday, March 19, 2010
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Monday, February 8, 2010
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Pretty Posies
I'm so lucky and grateful that my best friends will be with me in Greece on the day of my wedding. We won't be having a wedding party, but that doesn't mean that the girls won't get flowers to let them know how special they are to me. I've created a little gift for them that I hope they love and wear.
I started with the following supplies:
I cut off the stems, glued a felt circle and clip to the back, and voila! They're adorable...
Do me a favor?
Boubounieres are the traditional Greek wedding favors given to the guests at either the end of the ceremony or at the reception. Each boubouniera contains five sugar coated jordan almonds, which represent health, wealth, happiness, prosperity, and long life.
In Kefalonia, the island where my father is from, two of the five almonds are usually substituted with Mandola, a traditional Cephalonian sweet made of roasted almonds coated with a mixture of honey, sugar, and lemon juice.
Having mandola in my boubounieres was very important, and because I already knew how I wanted them to look, I decided to make them myself. As with most of the other projects I've done myself for this wedding, the boubounieres took twice as long as I had expected to create.
The first step was to buy the supplies. The fabric was a gray taffeta I bought for a bargain in downtown LA, and the ribbon I found at my favorite local craft store in a yellow organza.
After I figured out how to measure and cut the fabric down to size, it was time for me to bring out my old trusty sewing machine. It's a Singer machine that my mom bought for me for 50 bucks when I was 12 years old... and I've been using it ever since.
My work however is still not done. The baggies are sewn and pressed, but when I get to Greece they must be filled with the candy and tied off to be complete. Yet another project to do once I arrive...
What they'll look like once I'm done.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Pressing Letters
I always knew that I wanted to letterpress my wedding invitations. Every time I see letterpressed invitations or cards, I love to touch them, smell them, and drool over them. I was determined to have letterpressed wedding invitations at any cost... well except for a high price tag. I had the time and the interest to learn how to letterpress myself, and so began my mission to learn how to letterpress, being the ultimate DIY bride that I am.
The day finally arrived to create my beautiful wedding invitations... and boy was it way more work than I expected, but it was oh so worth it. The journey began over 5 months ago, as a final project in the design class I took fall semester. After tweaking the design for quite some time I was ready to go to print.
I decided to take a letterpress class at the International Printing Museum in Carson, CA. There we learned to set type, and went over the basics of letterpress printing. I had a lot of fun, and the best thing I got out of it was making the connection with my instructor who turned out to be my letterpress mentor.
She worked with me through every step. From working the design, to setting up the plates, to renting machine time, to mixing paint. She was very patient and meticulous, and really took the time to make sure that my design was going to render professional looking invitations. Thank you Madeleine and thank you to Two Piglets letterpress shop for helping me along through this journey...
Spiro and I worked for 7 hours straight in the shop one afternoon, and I spent probably over 30 hours designing and tweaking documents to create the perfect invitation. I am incredibly happy with the results, and hope that everyone else will enjoy them too!
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
A Funny Thing Happened
I actually won something. Does that ever happen? I think not. I randomly submitted a comment on a the LA Style Unveiled blog unsure of what I was going to win, but figured 'what the hay'. I was pleasantly surprised when I got an email saying that I won a gift certificate to Recess Nail Spa in L.A., and man do I need it. Moral of the story: read your favorite neighborhood wedding blog and comment. You might win something. Wink, wink.
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