DIY Extravaganza!

Yesterday, I made the mistake of going to Michael's on my way home from work. I went there for a hot-glue gun. I came home with a whole ton of stuff - and no hot-glue gun. Oops. Guess you could say I got a little...er...distracted... A lot of the stuff I bought will be part of my gift to my bridesmaids (so I won't be posting pics, sorry!) but I also got some supplies to finish the flower girl baskets (well, one of them...) and play around with centerpiece ideas. Of course the first thing I did when I got home was take over the kitchen table and had myself a DIY extravaganza!
First of all, the flower girl baskets:

Before

After!

You have to tilt your head for this one...sorry about that :)

I originally bought some coral silk gerberas to put on the sides (where the bows are) but I decided that was a little too much. I'm thinkin simple is better. I used up all my ribbon on this one, so I need to go back and find some more so I can finish the second one. And since I didn't do the silk flowers on it, I didn't even end up needing the hot-glue gun! :D

My next project was some centerpiece action. I found a (plastic) Ivory tablecloth to simulate what I will have at our venue (the real thing will be much prettier - and less wrinkly :) I also recently decided that I am nixing the coral runner idea, so I wanted to see how that would look. So for the flower centerpieces (which will be on half the tables), this is what I'm thinking...

For the other half of the tables, I'm just going to do a simple candle centerpiece, using the same vases as the others. This is my first mock-up:

I'm still not sure what color petals I'll use - possibly the same color as the ones I got for the flower girls (which is a pinkish coral) or just an ivory. The ones pictured came out of a box I got at Michael's, which was called coral - but it was really just 1/3 pink, 1/3 orange, and then these ivory ones with orangeish tips. The ivory/orange ones are what I used in the picture. I'm also not sure about the pillar candle - the one pictured is ivory, but I'm thinking of having Matt's mom make them in the same coral as the votives will be. Oh, and I also am pretty sure I've changed my mind and want to go with round votive holders instead of square. :) I actually received the square ones I ordered this week, but they are WAY smaller than I thought. Like tea light size. So those will be getting returned. And I've pretty much just decided that this is just a sign that I should have ordered round ones. :)

The last thing I played with was the aisle decoration. I am going to line either side of the runner with petals, and then do a pillar candle in a cylinder vase every few feet, sort of like this:

(tilt your head again. sorry, the computer doesn't like me today...) I stole this idea from another bride, but I really like it. I think it's really elegant, but I love the simplicity. So now I just need to find some cheap pillar candles and cylinder vases!!

Well, that's all of my DIY adventures for this week. What do you think?? I think I'm getting there. I'm not 100% happy with everything, yet, but I know that is mostly because everything is sort of half-done. When I have the real flowers, on the real tablecloth, with the real candles, etc., I think it will look great. At least I'm hoping!!

In other news - the invitations are almost done!! Woo hoo!! I should be finished with the design next week and ready to order those bad boys!! Once they're all sent out and everything I'll post pics.

Well, happy Friday! Here's to hoping I get some more wedding stuff checked off the list this weekend! :)