Here Comes The Bride Sign

Here Comes The Bride signs are a cute trend this year for weddings!

Take a look at these cutie pies walking down the aisle:

 I give the sign a 4 but that kid gets a 10!!!

There are so many ways to do it and I realize it's not so much the sign that makes it or breaks it- it's the kids!! And no matter what, they always make it look adorable!

Or you can forget "here comes the bride" and convey a different sort of message:

Ha ha

For the wedding we decided to continue with the frames theme so I got 4 pretty frames from the dollar store (4 x 6) and painted them with Martha Stewart's liquid gilding paint.

I used brass instead of gold because I found the gold to be too orange- I wanted more yellow.

I removed the glass and all the hardware on the back to make it as light as possible.

Life Designed

I weaved the ribbon inside the frames and adhered them to the cardstock with double sided tape.  And... here it is!

Life Designed

I really like how it looks- fresh, simple, vintage, romantic!

What do you think of this "Here Comes The Bride" trend?

Señor + Señora DIY Frames

I've spent months preparing my friend's wedding decorations and it all comes to fruition this Saturday!

These are the custom made cake toppers she got from Etsy. SO adorable don't you think?
As you might be able to tell, the bride is Korean and her groom is Mexican.

Custom Cake Toppers from Etsy

In addition to this, her mother-in-law drew caricatures of the beautiful bride and groom which they used on their wedding invites:

I also used these caricatures for their "well wishes jar" which I'll post later this week!

For the head table back drop, we're going to have a bunch of hanging empty frames which I've painted in seafoam and gold. Remember these frames I got at the thrift store months ago from my post "What To Do With Thrift Store Frames"?

Life Designed

Well, times that by 3 and that's what I've got!

Behind the bride and groom's seat I created these Señor & Señora frames:

Life Designed

I took two frames roughly the same size (about 15" x 12") and painted them a burnished/patina gold using the same method I used here.

One frame came with glass, the other didn't but I opted for no glass because I want these to be as light as possible as they will be hanging from fishing wire- not to mention glare from flash would not be good.

I found the lace pattern from good ol' Martha Stewart, dropped it into Photoshop cropped it and got the desired colour.

Life Designed

Here's the back of the frame. Lovely huh?

I cut the paper to fit into the groove but since there was no glass to support it, it was really flimsy. Foam core to the rescue!

Life Designed

Just a little bit of double sided tape and I was good to go!

Life Designed

A perfect fit! I got giddy and started locking that foam core in place until I realized I need to loop fishing wire through the frame first.  I'll have to wait until I get to the venue to cut the wire to the desired length and then I'll either use packing tape to lock the foamcore in place or my staple gun.

I couldn't justify buying an $18 zinc letter from Anthropologie so I was happy to find a wooden ampersand from Etsy and painted it sea foam.

For those of you wondering the colour is a fabulous find from Home Depot. Even before settling on the colour for the wedding, I came across a whole gallon of sea foam paint in the returned department at Home Depot. At the time I didn't really need it but at $9 for such a beautiful colour, how could I resist?? It was a custom blend but it's a perfect match to Martha Stewart's Araucana Teal paint.

It's all coming together in my mind... Here's to hoping everything looks as good in real life as it does in my head!

What To Do When A Kid Says He Wants The Ocean

(I forgot to post this back in March! Oh well, better late than never!)

After I did the decorations (here and here) for one of my nephew's birthday, I asked his older brother what theme he wanted for his upcoming birthday. I was expecting a Cars theme or Kung Fu Panda... He said, "I want the ocean!!!" Oh crap.

Then he added that he also wanted Kung Fu Panda + Transformers. Double crap. Not to mention his birthday was in March - the busiest time for me at school. Triple crap?
So I said I'd do my best but explained I have school. His response? "That's okay. You don't have to paint the walls" Haha thanks kid.

So... ocean time... What I wanted to do was hang a bunch of fish from the ceiling and create a sort of underwater atmosphere. So off I was on a hunt for fish! I thought about making some out of felt, or printing some on cardstock - both great ideas (especially the felt!) but very labour intensive! 


I searched online for fish balloons and came across these awesome fish for a really great price.

Life Designed

They are 24" long and we got 24 of them. (PS if anyone is in need of fish balloons, please drop me an email! I've heard they make great toys for the pool! One customer also used them for centerpieces)


I don't know why but I was expecting thin, flimsy balloons but these guys are actually a thick plastic beach ball material and boy...I would have passed out trying to blow up all 24 but my brother in law came to the rescue and used the electric air mattress pump to do the job.


AND the best part! They come with a pre made hole making them a breeze to hang! 

Life Designed

I also attempted to make "clam" cookies. But.... they didn't quite turn out how I wanted:

Life Designed

Oh well, I gave it a try! Can you see the icing oozing out of the "clam" in the background?? Haha...

Last minute change: regular sugar cookies! Thankfully my sister had sprinkles in her cupboard! 

Life Designed

To throw in a bit of Kung Fu Panda, I printed out a large Po along with dumplings and we played pin the dumpling in Po's mouth. The kids loved it!

Life Designed

And then there were the angry birds. I posted how I made these with pop cans here.

Life Designed

My dear friend and fellow blogger May from Charmed by Sweets made a transformers cake  which was amazing!! She is a master of fabulous fondant figurines!

Life Designed

And there you have it... an ocean/Kung Fu Panda/Transformers/Angry Birds party.

I did the best I could given my schedule and resources....Kiddo- I promise in 2 years time, I'll decorate the most fabulous party ever!