Fatal Boredom

Giant Head Piece

2011-07-22T00:31:00.000-07:00

Using the same technique I used to make the hair clips for the kids in my wedding, I made a big hair piece. It always attracted attention wherever I went.

My lovely little sister modelling the hair piece.


I attached the flower to an elastic band I took out of the waist band of some sweat pants.

The Wedding: Favours

2011-07-22T00:15:00.000-07:00

PROJECT 4: Wedding Favours

I wanted something fun to hand out as our wedding favour. After designing our head pieces (see later posts), I realized I would have all these thin wooden sticks left over so I decided to use them somehow. I had seen mustache party favours for birthday parties and I figured they would also be fun for a wedding. The were!

Very simple favours that are sure to create some laughs.

I painted each stick gold (with the help of my wonderful sister) and cut out mustaches from bristol board, which I then painted black and glued onto the sticks.

Our guests enjoying the hilarious wedding favours.

Total price for 80+ mustaches: $10 (for the paint)

The Wedding: Children's Head Pieces

2011-07-22T00:00:00.000-07:00

PROJECT 3: Children's Head Pieces

For the bubble girls in my wedding party (we had the kids blowing bubbles instead of throwing flowers) I made some cute hair clips from the old Christmas ribbons we have gathered over the years. It took a bit of trial and error, but I basically sewed folds into the ribbon creating the appearance of a rose. Unfortunately, I never made a tutorial (although I plan to make one for this Christmas when I have some ribbon lying around).

The bottom of each ribbon flower looked like this.


The top of each flower looked like this.

Once the flower was sewn, I glued a piece of fabric on the back and a plain hair clip (which I bought from Dollarama).


The fabric helps to hold loose thread in place and makes a firm base for the hair clip.

Another example.


They looked really cute.

The various hair clips I made. A great way to use scraps of old Christmas ribbon.

Total cost to make a dozen hair clips: A few dollars.

Collaborative Art Piece 1: Love Yes Yes Love

2011-07-21T21:47:00.000-07:00

I was on a Love High after André proposed to me in New York City. I decided to make a project to express my extreme happiness. That New Year's Eve, we had a low-key party during which our guests painted on a large piece of canvas we hung in our hallway. It was a beautiful experience, but the result was a big mess. I cut up the canvas into the letters Y-E-S-L-O-V to spell "YES" and "LOVE" over and over again. I glued the painted canvas letters on an old frame that the previous tenant had abandoned. I also manipulated pipe cleaners to write out one of my favourite poems: "love is..." by ee cummings. It was one of the poems our parents read at the wedding. I glued the pipe cleaners so that they created a border.

love is a place
& through this place of
love move
(with brightness of peace)
all places

yes is a world
& in this world of
yes live
(skillfully curled)
all worlds

When we left for Asia, I put this piece outside our apartment on Ossington Ave., like we did with most of our belongings, and it was snatched up within minutes. I hope that it hangs in someone's home and brings a warm smile to their hearts every time they see it. That's what it did for me.

The Wedding: The Invitation

2011-07-21T21:31:00.000-07:00

PROJECT 2: The Invitation

I really did not know where to start with the invitations. I knew I wanted to use that fancy transparent paper (vellum) and the colour silver. After much mulling, I decided to use the painting that my wonderful brother-in-law painted of us for Christmas as the image for our invitation.

I bought several sets of 6 silver greeting card stocks (and envelopes) for $1 per set (Dollarama). From Dollarama I also bought a few packages of stick-on jewels for embellishment. I went to The Paper Place on Queen St. West to get vellum ($10 for a package of 20), silver thread ($7) and a book binding needle ($2).

I printed both the image and textual info using Microsoft Publisher, setting my printer for an A7 layout. Vellum takes a long time to dry, so I laid out each page to dry for 20 minutes. I used the silver thread and book binding needle to sew the vellum to the inside of the card. I glued the image to the front of the card.

Of course, a paper cutter is essential for card making. In lieu of a paper cutter (it's better to have none than a cheap one), use a metal ruler and a good Exacto knife along with a single, confident stroke when you cut.

By far the most difficult aspect of making the invitation was finding adequate glue that dried clear and held well. I didn't end up finding it. On hind sight, I should have printed the image on a different material than vellum, but I really liked the transparency and texture of the paper. If anyone knows of a better (yet similar) material -- or a better glue -- please comment.

Total price for 50+ invitations (including envelopes): $60

The Wedding: Save the Date

2011-07-21T20:53:00.000-07:00

For my wedding, I designed and created many of the crafts. I reused materials meant for the trash as much as possible - some things, like paint and glue had to be bought new. It was the project of a lifetime and I hope that when we renew our vows we can throw a similar bash.

PROJECT 1: Save the Date

For our Save the Date, I was inspired by this cute example. I like the length of the paper and the simplicity of the design. The marked calendar is an adorable touch.

On one of my many wanderings through Kensington Market in Toronto, I bought card stock meant for pamphlets at B&J Trading Co. on Spadina for only $3.99. It was the same shape and thickness as the above example, and with three sides to each pamphlet, I had well over 100 sheets. I used Microsoft Publisher to design the template. It was much easier than I expected.

From B&J I also purchased two ink pads priced at $1.25 each. I had some coloured foam sheets at home (purchased at 20 for $1 from Dollarama) and I put my Exacto knife to use. Instead of designing both image and template on the computer, I opted for an old-fashioned approach and decided to make a cool stamp.

Designing the visual "logo" for our wedding was a lot more difficult than creating the computer template. I wanted to have the same simplicity of the Giving Tree STD, but I wanted it to be as unique as André and I. I started with a heart (duh!) and then made each half of the heart representative of us.


I am the one on the left, with the spiky hair, while André is the one on the right with the wavy hair.

I ended up gluing the newly cut stencils on the lid of a tin and a small piece of wood. I would recommend using only pieces of wood. The tin lid was not the best.

The materials. For some reason, Blogger won`t allow the picture to be upright.

Instead of marking the date on the calendar using Microsoft Publisher, I bought a small stamp collection from B&J for $1 and marked the date with a small red heart.

The finished product.


For a final touch, I stamped each individual letter on the envelope.

Total cost of 50+ Save the Dates (including envelopes): Under $10.