Sage advice on planning a stellar party from the uber creative Jordan Ferney of Oh Happy Day, applicable to everything from a birthday party to a wedding. I chose this photo from her post simply because it fits in with my recent rainbow infatuation. Seriously, I am obsessed. I shall blame it on the dismal weather.

The rainbow obsession continues. As I sit here, camped in front of the heater with two sweaters on, sipping coffee and looking out the window at about 7 inches of old snow now covered by a crusty "wintery mix" of freezing rain and slush, I am struck by how over winter I am and how much I would welcome the colors of spring.
Linda of Craftaholics Anonymous posted a wonderful tutorial on how to make your own cheerful pom pons from scraps of knit jersey. How fun would it be to decorate with loads of these in every color of the rainbow? Linda recommend making your poms out of old tee shirts - I usually give my unwanted or ill-fitting stuff to a clothing drive, but if I had tees that had holes or ones that were too worn out to donate, this would be a great use for them. (Not that I have worn a tee shirt in months... I forget what mine look like). I might also head down to my local bargain fabric store, where they sell loads of knit jersey fabric for $1 a yard. (Yeah, Lorraine Fabrics!) I love that these are made out of fabric and they could be reused, much nicer than tissue paper in my opinion, and just about colorful enough to make me forget about the wintery mix.

My newest obsession is Project Wedding's DIY section, Jordan Ferney (of Oh Happy Day) has the best ideas! These mobiles make me smile, could be because they are rainbow colored (yet another recent obsession) or could be because they cost less than $25 to make... You can decide!

Came across this yesterday on Design*Sponge... I can't tell you how much I wish there was a book like this on the shelves when I was getting married back in 2004. If you're interesting in this DIY, creative, everything meaningful, nothing glitzy, low-key, high energy vibe - this ones for you!
Handmade Weddings, by Eunice Moyle, Sabrina Moyle, and Shana Faust available at Amazon.

Placecards shaped like animals from JonNi. The horses are my favorite, because they appear to be galloping when you look at it from an angle. There's also peacocks, french bulldogs, butterflies, elephants and a menagerie of other creatures.

Just a smattering of my favorite lanterns for sale at Jamali Home and Garden. They have the absolute best selection (and great prices) for everything from the most random decor stuff (a bag of oak leaves?) to lighting and garden pots.

Oooooo. Succulents! Sold in collections of 100, 18 or 6, these are perfect for favors or centerpieces! From Succulents Galore.

Adorable! I love this idea, especially if you have no need for more mirrors in your house, (like me) but love old ornate frames. These would also make a great welcome sign or menu board for a reception or even a beautiful canvas for someone who is handy with a bit of chalk. Love it. From Revived Vintage, and very reasonably priced!

These are paper. 'Nuf said.
From The Green Vase. Via Oh Happy Day!

These waldorf star lanterns would be adorable in different sizes running down the center of a long table or as part of an assymetrical centerpiece. Maybe best with LED lights rather than candles? The floating acorn cap candles were just too cute to pass up. Both items from Green Baboon.

These made me smile this morning. They'd be adorable as simple centerpieces at an outdoor wedding. All from Urban Outfitters. All very nicely priced. Via Oh, Happy Day!

Check out the literal eye candy over at Amy Atlas! Complete with behind the scenes glimpses at the making of three amazing dessert tables. Photography by Andrew McCaul.

Ah! Too cute! I die!
Check out these amazing little paper sculptures by Concarta. I love the look and I love the details she puts into these.

I haven't had a lot of time recently to look thru my favorite blogs, but I just came across this post over at Design*Sponge, and liked it so much I thought I'd pass it on. It's basically a full tutorial on how to make a gorgeously wild looking strawberry wreath centerpiece. The interesting thing about them is that they can be made ahead of time, great if you need to make more than one for a larger event. You know me, I can't resist a good DIY project!

My sister pointed me towards this adorable project, (she's great like that). They're candles... in wine glasses... with shades! Genius! What an awesomely, inexpensive way to set up your tablescape. Tutorial here!
On another note, thank you so much everyone for suggesting all those exercise options. I have literally looked into every single one of them. At this moment a brand new collection of workout dvd's are on their way to my door. I am also looking into Bikram yoga. Now if I could only get the baby to enjoy his alone time...

My sister (the super-crafter) told me about this amazing website, Save on Crafts, and the DIY'er in me just peed myself a little from joy! They have anything you could possibly want for DIY decor projects. Bulk feathers? Yes. Branches? Sure. Solar powered lanterns? Yup. Moss? In large quantites. Beautiful vases for cheap? Ok. Cake Stands? That, and so much more. If you are trying to do your own wedding decor, or are looking to score some craft supplies I would highly recommend checking this place out.
Have a great weekend everyone!

Ooooo. Rosanna has introduced a bunch of new serving pieces that would be just perfect for weddings. I love, love, love the compotes and cake stands and would make them part of my dessert table any day of the week! So jealous that Amy of Sweet Designs has one to give away!

Confession: if I had one, I would keep it!

I came across a very inexpensive source of felt recently in loads of different colors (if you are in the Providence area, Lorraine Fabrics in Pawtucket has huge bolts of felt on sale in their Bargain Loft for $2 a yard- sorry, no online shop). I'm dying to find something to do with my new stash, and my sister put into my head to make a wreath. I have come across some fabulous projects in my search that might be interesting to all you crafty brides out there. Links to the tutorials are below:
Mum wreath - not originally designed for felt... but you could totally do it.
Felt Flower Wreath - So cute!
Winter Wedding Wreath - involves some additional material, but beautiful nonetheless.
Felt Ruffle Wreath - I love this one, it's so beautiful in white.

We got married in a very unassuming spot where you might not expect there to be a wedding, and we needed a way to direct guests to the door -"WEDDING! THIS WAY!"- without actually putting a sign on the door. Our solution was to ask our florist to make us a big wreath from our wedding flowers. I thought it looked great, but it wasn't cheap! This DIY wreath from Pickles would have been even more awesome, and I could have totally done it myself for way less! They have billed it as a Christmas wreath, but I could see it working year round, and you could even use your wedding colors to personalize it a bit. Wouldn't it look great in yellow and white on the door of a church? In fact, I think I'm going to do a black and white one for over our mantle, just for kicks.
Spotted over at Ohdeedoh.

It snowed here over the weekend and put everyone in a festive holiday mood. We got our Christmas tree and decorated the house - something we have never really done before, but wanted to this year to make Niko's first Christmas special. Now the whole house smells like an evergreen, and I'm thinking of doing even more decorating because I'm so pleased with how the first round changed the mood in the house! This snowflake curtain project from Bugs and Fishes is calling my name! I also thought this would be an amazing project for a crafty winter bride, imagine this times 10 hanging in a larger window or an open space... pretty!