DIY: Square Lanterns

I thought these were gorgeous! I can't remember where I saw them, but I figured that they would be super easy to make. I haven't done one yet, but I did a quick paper mock up with looseleaf and some pencils and it worked just fine. So here are my instructions:

Materials:
Fabric / Paper / Ribbon / String
Wooden Dowels / Straws / Something to use as legs and supports
Glue (or Tape lol)

Instructions:
Okay, here is what I did in my Mock Up...

First:
I made the frame by taking 4 sticks for legs, and (taped because it was a mock up and it was all I had available) glued 8 supports in squares, one at 1/2 inch from top and one from one inch from bottom of legs, to form an open rectangle. Something like this horrid quick MS Paint example:

I suppose if you are using a rigid cardstock paper or something that you may not need the support sticks (shown in red), although still recommended for strength.

Second:
Wrap fabric, paper, or whatever around the legs and secure with glue (or tape, or staples).

Third:
Decorate with string, ribbon, beads, etc. Picture above used red fabric and yellow string for accent.

A couple of ideas:
A friend of mine thought it would be cool to just use ribbon and wrap it so it intersects and weaves and crosses and eventually covers most all of where the fabric or paper would cover, except for small holes that one would leave open, that way you could put a candle in it and have the light shine through the openings.
Which gave me another idea, and that was to layer paper underneath with a design cut out so that you could have a design that would show when there is a candle or light inside.

RE: A Lovely Comment from Eleen

Eleen said:
"Hi Jennifer, Thanks so much for sharing all your awesome and thorough research! I'm getting married in Jan 08 and stumbled across your site while researching color ideas. I was amazed - I'm sure you've saved me countless hours! You've found some great stuff. I've bookmarked your site and can't wait to see what other gems you find. I'm commenting on the Weather.com post, but really there are countless others that are really fun and helpful too. Happy planning, and congrats on your engagement!"

Thank you sooo much Eleen! I love to hear that someone other than just myself reads this thing. :) I hope that I can help you more as the big day nears. Congratulations to yourself and your fiance, and be sure to let me know how your day goes! I love getting news from readers and like to know that I'm helping out other people who are trying to plan their weddings.

Decor: Simple Centerpieces

I thought these were stupidly cute. As you see they can be decorated in anyway and can be filled with anything. I see that they put a plastic bag liner inside ones that are to be used as fresh flower vases. They come in 2 sizes, short: 5"x5"x6" and tall: 5"x5"x10". I imagine they would be fairly easy to make yourself.








The last picture is of their bud vase collection, it comes with the tiny "test tube" vase. Again, I think it would be easy to make.

Bride: Accessories

I've found some gorgeous accessories that I plan to order for myself. Here are my shoes, they come with 14 different colored ribbons all shown at the bottom of the picture, but I can always buy any ribbon to tie them with:

And my hair piece, it's a simple rhinestone triple strand headband, I'm sure I can find a way to stick a veil under it if I decide to have a veil:

And the garter I fell in love with. I don't care if it's the same garter, I just love the little blue crystal heart. I'm sure I can find the crystal heart at some kind of crafts store and attach it to any garter. Of course, I want to have a tossing garter so I can keep mine:

Flowers: Alternative Feather Bouquets

I saw these on IndieBride.com and fell in love, I couldn't find DIY instructions, but the picture of the set of 4 in the box were a DIY project posted by another bride. I loved these, for bridesmaids especially, and they could be altered and created smaller for grooms men's boutonnières. I also included feather centerpieces for additional inspiration.

Now, I have always wanted roses in my bouquet, well, since we got engaged and I started thinking of bouquets anyway, and I love the feathers too, but I found some amazing ideas for combinations of flowers and feathers. I think that the combination would look fantastic for the bride's bouquet and really set it apart from the bridesmaids'. I know the orange roses don't have feathers, I added that here as my own inspiration as they are the color of roses that I want. I'm trying to picture whether to go with a white feather base or a light light blue base. What do you think?

Party: Items I Loved

I had so much fun last night. I just had to show some of my favorite items! I loved these three items.
The first one is the body shimmer, it was a gorgeous lotion that didn't feel grainy like some other sparkly lotions do, it's a very subtle shimmer though, a little too subtle for my liking.
The second picture is the Jewels body glitter lotion. I liked it and it was subtle enough, but not too much so. I only found that it seemed to leave more sparkles in my palms than it did on my arms, but we were doing it all in a hurry trying to pass items around the room.
The third seemed to be the best. It's a gold dust, and it had smaller glitter than the jewels lotion, but it sparkled beautifully in the light. It seemed to stay on very well too, which the jewels lotion seemed to fall off on everything you brushed against.

The candle was amazing. We smelled and tried the Blissful Breeze and it was fantastic. What it is was a massage oil candle. You lit the wick, let it melt a bit, then poured the melted wax on your skin, it never got too hot, and massaged away. The scent was amazing, it lasted all night.

These two are a little more naughty. The Nipple Nibblers was really good. I've seen it in stores, but never had a chance to try it before. One of the girls there said she had it and she uses it as a lip balm. The consultant gave us all a bit on coffee stir sticks and told us to try it as a lip balm and it was fantastic. It tingled just a bit and it tasted great.
The Fireworks spray lotion was sticky, but it tasted fantastic. We were able to try both the passion fruit and the hot fudge. There are 10 different flavors that it comes in though. It warmed to the touch and was hot when licked off. It's definately one I'll be picking up when I host my party. I wanted to pick it up right away, but she only had the mint, hot fudge, and raspberry in stock with her. I'm looking to get the cherry and the passion fruit.

Life: It's Starting to Balance Out

So, the new bosses are here to stay and the old bosses are enjoying retirement. It's been busy and stressful, but things are seeming to begin to balance out. I am still losing my current position at work, but I will be heading into sales to give that a try. I'm a little worried, but being the only one in sales from the original ownership it seems that people are coming to me as a familiar face, so I could do alright. Once the mass confusion of the ownership change settles down a bit, it should be a lot easier.

The family issues that I briefly mentioned earlier have found their way to an end. My parents were possibly going to be splitting up, but they found a new love for each other in the midst of their crisis and have decided to give it another go. It seems that their love has grown due to this and we hope for (more) wonderful memories in their new/continuing relationship with each other.

I attended a "Passion Party" last night held by one of my girlfriends. We had about 10 women there and we had a fantastic time. I found some items I really loved, and I have decided that I'd like to host one myself. It was soo much fun. I found some awesome items for the wedding, from beauty products for myself to gifts for my bridesmaids. If you want to find out more about it, check them out at PassionParties.com.

Life: It's All Falling Apart

So let's start with work. The new bosses came in yesterday. Our original owners and the new guys were running busy yesterday, and it was a very busy day trying to get everything done and taken care of, but we managed and today for me has been a bit slower. About like normal this afternoon anyway. Sounds alright doesn't it? Well, this morning, the new manager informed me that I am going to be replaced with some guy from one of their other dealerships. Then he tries to give me a "consolation" prize that I could be a service adviser (been there, done that, and would rather shoot myself point blank in the face with a shotgun rather than do that again), a parts person (um how about No), or a receptionist (woo hoo really? wow, now I can flush my life down the toilet like I really always wanted!). He's going on about "we'll find you a position that you'll enjoy" and "you can always be our backup when the idiot we are replacing you with is gone on vacation or something". Yeah, nice consolation prize. Why don't you come out and tell me that you don't think that a 24 year old woman should be doing the job that I have been doing for a year and a half now. You want to find me a job that I really enjoy? Wait, I know!! IT'S THE ONE I'VE BEEN DOING!! I can't believe that this is happening, and I tell you, when it rains, it pours... This came on top of some serious family issues that I prefer not to speak about quite yet.