Brooch bouquet

What is hotter this wedding season than the infamous Brooch Bouquet? 

NOTHING!

(Well, maybe Mason Jars, burlap, chalkboard signs, and photo booths)

So, when I showed my friend some Pinterest pictures of a brooch bouquet she was obviously smitten with the idea.  And being the crazy person that I am, I instantly said, "I could SO make that".  Sometimes I can be so CRAZY!  I mean what's so difficult about a brooch bouquet?  It's just a bunch of brooches wrapped up to look like a bouquet- easy peasy! 

I've seen some pretty awesome tutorials online (here and here) which show you how to create a brooch bouquet of your very own.  Looked simple enough.  Man, I can be so delusional sometimes!

So within a few days, my friend had started purchasing brooches by the dozens on eBay and I began performing Google searches of 'brooch bouquet' to see what I had gotten myself into.  Let's just say I learned a lot from my google searches and from the actual process, the following is a mental dump of all that I learned.

Step 1:  Gather your brooches

The number of brooches you have will dictate how large a bouquet you will end up creating. 

More brooches = Bigger bouquet.

Things to keep in mind during the 'gathering' process:

 -Color

-Size

-Style

What am I talking about?  

Color:  If you want a 'silver' bouquet, don't buy gold brooches.  Likewise, if you want to have your bouquet match your Yellow wedding colors you probably want to avoid Red colored brooches. 

Size:  A good mix of small, medium, and large brooches will give you some versatility when building the bouquet.  If you only purchase BIG brooches, you may find you have gaps between the brooches, too many SMALL brooches and you have to buy way more brooches to make the bouquet, all Medium is good but it won't look as 'cool' as if you had a variety of sizes. 

Style:  Do you want a 'vintage' look to your bouquet?  Then go for older looking brooches.  Do you want something glammed out with rhinestones?  Only buy rhinestone brooches. 

 

Basically, you should select each brooch for your bouquet just like you would choose a flower for a floral bouquet.   

Money Saving Tip:  My friend purchased all her brooches from eBay lots and while some of the brooches were not 'brooche bouquet' material (sorry cat shaped brooch!) she saved a lot of money and accumulated several brooches at once.

Step 2:  Wire 'em up!

You are going to need to get yourself some 20 gauge floral stem wire to wire the brooch 'heads'.  The online tutorials I referenced above wired 'pin' part of the brooch, I noticed that the 20 gauge wire fit nicely into the side loops of the brooch pin and decided to string the wire there instead.  This way, if my friend decided to take her bouquet apart Blasphemy! and use the brooches as *gasp* actual brooches she could easily take out the wire and the brooch integrity would not be compromised. 

Here is a closer look. 

Disclaimer:  The florist tape isn't used until Step 3, but I forgot to take a close up pic of just the wired brooch 

After wiring brooches for what seemed like FOREVER I had a good bit of wired up brooches!

Actually, it was more like 1 'Pride and Prejudice' and 2 episodes of 'Extras'

Full disclosure people, your hands will hurt.  If you are not used to working with wire this will suck for you.  Oh, and it is just the beginning! 


I was so excited after wiring the brooches I couldn't resist putting them in a bud vase to see what the 'finished' product would look like.  But the brooch stems were not as strong as I thought and they were all floppy and hard to work with.  Which is why Step 3 is important.

Step 3:  More wire!
I know what you are thinking, 'Didn't I JUST wire up a bunch of brooches?'  Yes, yes you did.  But that was just a sort of 'pre-wiring' if you will.  Hold up one of your wired brooches, unless it can stand up straight all on its own little wire stem, then you don't have enough strength on that bad boy.  You don't want a bouquet that is all limp and floppy.  The whole point of a brooch bouquet (aside from looking bad-ass) is to have a timeless piece that will not only look amazing on your wedding day, but will look amazing on your 75th wedding anniversary as well.  So make those stems stronger by adding in a length of 18 gauge wire.  All you have to do is cut a strip of wire the length of your 'stem' and push it up until it touches the base of your brooch, then use florist tape to stick the 18 gauge to the 20 gauge.  Now your brooch stems are strong! Strong enough to form a bouquet.

Step 4:  Bust out your 'base'

My Internet sources (mentioned at the beginning of this post) said to use a fake hydrangea as a 'base' for the bouquet.  Initially, I didn't think it would be necessary- that was VERY wrong of me.  You are going to want something to help you form that oh so pretty bouquet shape.  So after going to Michael's (Note:  The Dollar Store would also work) and buying a hydrangea stem I was ready to get some serious bouquet action going.  Turns out I didn't need as big of a hydrangea, so I had to make another trip to get a much smaller skimpier looking hydrangea stem (Not pictured, Sorry!)

Tip: Gather up your wired brooches in your hand prior to buying your fake hydrangea, this way you can get an idea of how big of a flower you will need. 

Step 3b*:  Spray Paint!

*Optional

I spray painted the hydrangea a metallic gold to blend in with the brooches.  You could also use silver or black, or just go with the 'natural' look.  Totally up to you!

Step 4:  Put that bad boy together

So by now you have super strong brooch stems, a nice hydrangea base, and sore hands.  Take your hydrangea and begin shoving brooch stems through it to form your bouquet.  You will probably want to put the larger brooches at the bottom edges and use the smallest of brooches as filler whenever you see gaps.  The florist tape should make each of the brooch stems tacky enough that they almost stick together on their own making the formation of the bouquet that much easier.  Along the way I discovered ran out of florist tape and had to use some 'other' kind of green floral-type of tape.  I tended to like the 'add a brooch, wrap the bouquet' technique where each time I placed a new brooch into the hydrangea I wrapped the entire base of the bouquet with tape.  This helps stabilize the bouquet and makes it stronger.  When I finished with my 'wrapping' I had a super duper strong bouquet, I mean those brooches weren't going anywhere.  I shook it and flicked it and those brooches held their place so well.  Seriously folks, I was pretty dang proud of myself.  There were a few times when I thought I was being overly ambitious and going way too out of my comfort zone with this thing, but when I saw this practically done bouquet in my hands I was like 'HA! In your face!' Who was I talking to?  NOBODY!  I was all kinds of crazy excited that I was picking a fight with absolutely no one.  Sometimes I can be really silly. 



Brooch bouquet all taped up and ready for some finishing touches.

Step 5:  Finishing touches



Your bouquet is basically done, but the bouquet stem is all green and not pretty enough when compared to those amazing brooches.  I choose to use lace to cover the stem, but some satin ribbon could work too.  Unfortunately I didn't take a picture of the 100% completed bouquet (mainly because I forgot) but here is another close up of the bouquet after having wrapped it in tape for like the billionth time.

Can you see yet another wedding sign in the background? 

 

In summary, here's what you need to get you through it:

- Brooches

-20 gauge floral stem wire

-18 gauge aluminum wire

-Wire clippers

-round nose pliers

-regular pliers

-Florist tape

-Fake flower hydrangea

-Gold or Silver spray paint (optional)

-Ribbon and lace



Making a wedding sign

A friend of mine was getting married and asked me for some help.  One of the 'crafts' I helped out with was a wedding sign.  She was having an outdoor wedding and wanted to have a sign to guide her guests on where to go to when they arrived at Fort Mason. 

Before I get into the sign details, let me just tell you, if you are thinking about maybe getting married at Fort Mason, I would HIGHLY recommend it.  The General's Residence is BEAUTIFUL!  (I know I'm using a lot of CAPS but this place totally deserves it).

Okay, I'm done gushing about the location, back to the sign making.

 

She initially thought a chalkboard sign would be a great option, until I suggested a cheaper alternative (essentially free since I had all the materials already).  We could use an old canvas I had lying around, paint it black, use some white paint and BAM! instant 'chalkboard'.

 

Step 1:  Paint your canvas 

Since we were going all DIY on this thing, we went with a Robin's Egg Blue background instead of the standard black.  I spray painted the canvas (but you could also use some acrylic paint) and then got to work on my design.

 

Step 2:  Come up with a design

When designing a sign, you can find lot of inspiration online.  I found a great image of a pointing hand that really helped set the 'mood' for the sign.

 

Step 3:  Create a template

I recommend using a large piece of paper and pencil to create your template.  This way you can eventually trace your design onto the canvas directly. 

 

Here is my initial design (eventually we went bigger with the hand image so there wouldn't be as much empty space).

Looks good, but a bigger hand would be better.

 

 

Step 4:  Trace the design onto your canvas

After drawing everything out, I covered the back of my template with graphite (thankfully I had a random chunk of graphite which made covering the back of the paper easier, otherwise I would have had to use a pencil)

Then I began the tracing process.  I used a pen and used a book to support the back of the canvas (don't want to bust through it!).  I'm not going to lie, this part is annoying- you've basically just traced the same design twice, but man it creates a sweet looking sign.

After tracing you are left with this! 

Step 5:  Begin painting

Make this bad boy official and start putting some ink on it!  I wanted to use white and black, so I painted my 'white' areas with some acrylic paint and used a black sharpie to fill in the 'black' areas.  I know what you are thinking, 'Black sharpie, is she for real?'  YES, I am so for real.  Black sharpie is your friend and if I'd had one of those cool white sharpies I would have used that instead of the white paint too. 

This sign looks great!  Can't wait to see the final product.

 

 

Step 6:  It's done!

Please excuse the garbage can next to the sign

Glittery Lights

Who doesn't like glitter?  Nothing says holiday decor like glitter covered items.  Glitter reindeer, glitter Santa, glitter ornaments, glitter stars......glitter EVERYTHING!

 

Well sometime last year I acquired a little bag of those old fashioned Christmas light bulbs.  Now I don't own a string of Christmas light bulbs (although I do plan on getting my hands on some soon) but I do have a Christmas tree in need of some extra ornaments. 

 

To make my new bulb ornaments all I needed was a Christmas light bulb, an ornament hook, a bit of glitter glue (or just some glue and glitter), and some pliers to twist the hook onto the bulb. 

 

 

 

After wrapping one of the ends of the ornament hook around the bulb base I had this nifty little ornament. 

 

 

 

So where does the glitter come into play?  On the bulbs of course!  Some of the light bulbs were a bit scratched and really the only way to save them was to cover them up with glitter. 

 Check it out!

Shiny!

Glitter makes everything better!

Halloween mantle

I wanted to dress up my mantle for Halloween, but didn't want to fork over a bunch of cash on decorations.  With this in mind, I decided to make some decorations out of paper. 

 

I made a little Halloween garland using some different colored paper:

 

Using some cardstock paper I cut out a bunch of triangle shapes and then cut out some shapes for the faces as well.  I think it turned out well.  The only 'problem' I had was not having any black cardstock.  Thankfully I had a black majic marker and it turned some white paper into the perfect black! :)

 

Here's a close up on the witch.  I cut out the 'hat' from some of my 'black' paper and the eyes out of white paper, the nose out of the lime green paper and glued it all together. 

Becoming a pumpkin

For Halloween this year I've decided to become The Great Pumpkin.  After searching the internet for a bit I saw this Crafty Pumpkin Costume | FaveCrafts.com and was inspired to create my own version.
After a 'quick' trip to Michael's, I gathered up all my materials and got to work.

Materials: 
XL Orange T-shirt
Elastic
Green pipe cleaners
Headband
Brown foam sheet
Sheet of black felt
Sheet of green felt
Orange thread
Black thread
Needle
Scissors

First off, I cut a little slit in the hem of the T-shirt where I would then thread the elastic through. 

 

Tip:  Use a safety pin to help you thread the elastic 

Then I cut off those sleeves! 

Using some of the sleeve material I just cut off, I created these little strips which I could then use to bunch up the shoulders.

All bunched up!

I then used some paper to create a template for my pumpkin face.  After cutting out the shapes I layed them out on the black felt and got to cutting.

 

 

Then I layed out the shapes and got to sewing.  Using the black thread I sewed on the felt shapes. Once that was done I put on the pumpkin shir and was able to determin how much 'poof' I wanted at the bottom.  Then I just sewed the elastic together and BAM!  I'm a pumpkin!

BUT....
The picture had a little hat on it.  And if you know me, you know I LOVE mini hats.  So I had to try and make one.  I mean, every pumpkin needs a stem, right?

I made a template out of some paper and then traced out the shapes onto the brown foam sheet.

Using some hot glue I glued the 'stem' piece which I would then put through the big round 'donut' piece.

Note:  You will need to create some fringe on the stem piece

 

Getting ready to glue the stem to the hat brim (aka donut)

 Glue each fringe piece to the brim.

Turn the mini hat over and admire your work so far...

 

 

Glue on the top to the hat.

Cut a strip of foam and glue it across the bottom of the hat.
and thread the headband through...

I curled some of the green pipe cleaners and glued them to the hat (right over the overlapping edge on the stem).  I made some leaves and covered the bottom seam with some green felt as well.

My very first homemade mini hat!

 I'll show you a completed picture come halloween!

 

Rocky Road time

In anticipation of my niece's baptism, I have decided to make Rocky Road to hand out along with the favors.  While I'm not a huge chocolate fan, I do love marshmallows so do enjoy this treat.  It's also super easy to make.

 

First assemble all your ingredients.

Don't worry you won't use all that butter, but you will use all those chocolate chips!

Then line a square pan with aluminum foil.

Shiny

 

Add about 2 layers of marshmallows (more if you like)

delicious marshmallows...mmmmm

 Then in a double boiler (I just use a pot filled with some water and a metal mixing bowl) melt the butter, chocolate chips, and peanut butter

Tip:  mix with a wooden spoon, otherwise plastic may melt

After everything has melted, add the mixture to the mashmallows in the pan

All nice and melted

Once everything is combined you will have this: 

All mixed up!

 Just stick the pan in the fridge overnight and the next day pull out the foil and your Rocky Road will be all nice and squared (makes cutting easy). 

The foil prevents the Rocky Road from sticking to the pan

Recipe:
2 tbs of butter
1/2 cup of Chunky Peanut Butter
1 1/2 cups of semi-sweet chocolate chips
mini marshmallows

Line a square pan with aluminum foil.  Place two layers worth of marshmallows onto the foil lined pan.  In a double boiler combine the butter, peanut butter, and chocolate chips until melted.  Add the melted mixture to the marshmallows in the pan (mix it up until all marshmallows are covered).  Place the pan in the refrigerator (~ 3-4 hours).  Cut and enjoy.

Baptism Candle

In preparation for my niece's Baptism, I decided to decorate my own Baptism candle.  Actually, it was seeing the $20+ price tag on store candles which made me decide that I could not only decorate my own candle but do it for way less.

Step 1:   Purchase a simple white taper for like $1.50

Step 2:  Find some lace trimming, ribbon, metal beads, and random millinery flowers and make a pretty bow.

Step 3:  Hot glue some ribbon around the base of the taper

Step 4:  Hot glue the ribbon accent you made in Step 2 to the taper

And that is pretty much it.  Here are few close ups:

Close up of the millinery flowers

This shot is just to give you and idea how TALL this thing is :)