DIY Pallet Bench

I have like pallets on pallets on pallets right now and have been in search of ways to turn them into furniture or functional pieces.

So I found this....

From here 

...and thought, I can definitely make that. Just cut a pallet in half, add legs, add support and you've got yourself a bench.

Supply list:

For the Bench:
-1 decent, not rotted, pallet
-2x4 left-over pieces in our garage
- 3" wood screws
-Power drill
-Primer (like my go-to Zinsser 123 for all surfaces)
-Paint brush
-Interior Paint + Primer (left over from painting walls in our house)

 For the Cushions:
-3 yards duck cloth fabric ($15) or buy king-size pillow cases you like
-2 king-size pillows (from Ross, $17 for the pair)

Happy crafting!

Cool Trunk Turns Side Table

I love rethinking the use of everyday objects and re-purposing them into something else useful.

I was handed down this really pretty silver and gold trunk and for years I used it as my living room coffee table. Once I had more space, I obviously needed a bigger coffee table and began to brain storm on how I could make use of this trunk. It was too pretty to just put in the closet.

Then I came across this....

From this blog

 You just add pretty feet to the trunk's bottom and voila! Table. I don't like all my furniture to be super matchy-matchy, but let them compliment each other.  This trunk is perfect for our guest room as a bed side table since the color scheme is pretty, but earthy and a metallic accessory would be the cherry on top.

I used the legs that were cut off left-overs from my crate coffee table project and just so happened to be the perfect height of 4 inches. I attached them with super glue... no lie... and that was that. Super easy, functional for pillow/ blanket storage, and a little metallic flair all in one. You can find wheels or legs at any Home Depot or Lowes and make the table as tall as you'd like.

Had I purchased legs specifically for the trunk, I would've needed to drill holes in the bottom for the legs to screw into and reinforced stability with super glue. I may be doing this in the near future to a couple other trunks I have :)


I hope this inspires you to remake something in your own home

Cheers

Anthropologie Knock Off Wall Hook

Dolls, feast your eyes on this tiny treasure

When I saw the price tag of $128, I almost died... which is usually my reaction with anything from Anthropologie, unless it's on super sale.

So I came up with the 2 hooks below for pennies compared to the original

Anthropologie: $128

vs.

Knock Off: $30-$60

(depending on your choice of mineral)

 Depending on what kind of rock/ mineral you choose will make the cost of your project fluctuate. You can find some beautiful samples all over the internet or at a Gem and Mineral show.


To make your own Anthropologie hook you'll need:

-Rock, Mineral of your choice
-Gold jewelry wire
-needle nose pliers
-Wire cutter/ strong scissors
-Iron hook, found mine at Hob Lob for $3 and it was a flat spiral shape which makes a good base for           the rock to lay against
-Gold spray paint
-Hot Glue

Step 1. Spray Paint hook
Whatever color you choose, spray the entire hook front and back and let dry over night so it's perfectly set when you handle it

Step 2. Hot Glue Rock to hook
Position your rock on the hook so that the majority of the backside is as flat as possible to give the glue something to stick to. Set that position by squeezing a generous amount of hot glue on the hook and press/ hold your rock in place for 30 seconds - 1 minute.

Step 3. Fasten Jewelry Wire to rock/ hook
This takes a little coordination. Begin by cutting 5ft (60 in.) of your wire, find the middle by putting the 2 wire ends together and pinching downward. With your hook laying face-up, lay the middle of the wire right under the base of your rock and wrap criss-cross-style around the hook at least 4 times. twist 3 times, like a twist tie, to make a stable base.

Now, begin looping your wire around the hook and rock in a criss-crossed X- style while keep tension. Right side over and around, then left side over and around, then right... left.... etc... until you feel the rock is secure against the hook and will not shift. I used my needle nose pliers to pinch the wire around the rock in some places to better secure it.

Step 4. Hang hook
Hang your hook with a drywall screw for best results. You could even attach them to a long piece of pretty cut wood for a towel/ hat/ or key rack or by themselves as pictured above.




Happy crafting!

Create Your Own Wedding Schedule

All my little precious bridies, let me introduce you to your wedding LIFE. SAVER.

Being organized makes everything run smoothly and leaves zero question to where everyone and everything is to be and when. 

This simple tool will be what you can send to your wedding planner, venue planner, photographer, DJ, Bridesmaids, family....everyone really...which will give you more time to focus on important things like finding your dress and sipping  mimosas. You're a few steps away from worry-free planning!

1. Create an Excel Spreadsheet.

I literally use excel for EVERYTHING in my life. It's just so easy to organize and reference.

Create the following tabs: 

-Guest List

-Invites (For list of invitations you'll need to get ready)

-Vendors

- Music

-Wedding Week Check List

-Rehearsal Day Schedule

-Wedding Day Schedule

Naturally, edit this list to fit your own needs and you can make it as organized or as basic as you'd like.

2.Add Details

Guest List:

 I color-coded mine and added columns for other events like bridal brunch and rehearsal dinner so all of your events are in one spot and you can use the same list of names/ addresses. I made a separate tab for addresses as it was the solution to simplifying the couples and families with the 'one lives here, but the other lives there' issue. Add a column for addresses here if it makes more sense for you to do so.

Yes, I'm the OCD human who put a key to categorize our guests, but we wanted to see the breakdown of family to friends and so-on for planning reasons. You obviously don't have to go that far lol.

Invites/ Prints:

I was very DIY and did all my own design and prints. Even if you're outsourcing your printables, it's good to have a list of deadlines and when they're completed. Trust. The 'P Party' was a sleepover I threw for my sweet bridesmaids (Pinterest, Pizza, and Pj's!) since they offered to help put programs and wedding projects together. We all honed our bow-tying skills for sure lol. 

Vendors:

Self-explanatory pretty much. Keep all your vendor's info in one place and you'll never have to go searching for numbers or addresses.

Music Preferences:

You'll send this to your DJ/ band. First dance, garter/ bouquet toss, intro/ exit music will all need to be chosen. We also had a handful of songs we didn't want to be played even if requested and some we definitely HAD to have which I included as well. 

Wedding Check List:

The week before my wedding is what I focused on here, but I would suggest to list as far out as possible to make sure you're not missing anything. TheKnot.com has an excellent timeline of when to do what here.

Rehearsal Day Schedule:

My favorite of the tabs thus far because anyone involved can easily see when and where they're you'd like them to be. You don't have to plan minute-for-minute (despite what you plan something will run under/ over your time plan), but I suggest planning a gentle timeline that conveys meeting times or points of interest. These were included in the welcome bags at check-in for out-of-town guests who were involved in the rehearsal.

Wedding Day Schedule:

This was given to my venue planner, DJ, bridal party, house party, parents, and photographer. They were all very happy to not have any confusion on when to be where and everyone was on the same page. Big weight off your shoulders so you can focus on having fun with your gal pals. With everyone having this schedule, they ended moving me around when I needed to be somewhere which was nice because I didn't even have to think about it lol. 

Address Book:

Yall, I use this to this day. No lie. You're wedding is when you'll be collecting your nearest and dearest's addresses and, if you didn't already have a list of addresses like me, is your master list for all future Christmas cards, party invites, change of addresses, and general correspondence. If someone moves/ changes addresses or we get new friends and add their addresses, I update it here so I will always have a running list of who to send cards and things to. At some point, I had a column for thank you notes, so consider adding that to help you track who you've thanked for your awesome gifts. Also, invest in an address stamp or some labels to print your return address as it'll save your time (and hands) in the long run.

There you have it! Super easy, but will save you so much worry and time during your wedding adventures and beyond. If you amend anything, let us know in the comments for others to see your awesome ideas :)

Cheers!

Wedding Chic on a Dime!

All my foxy little brides on a budget, this one's for ya'll!

My husband and I paid for our wedding with the exception of the open bar (thanks to my awesome FIL aka father in law) and the cakes (thanks mom and dad!). With that being said, we were able to pull off the whole shebang in under 10K thanks to a couple little diy's and tricks of the trade. A LOT of the lower cost was due to our location which was an all-inclusive (meaning ceremony, reception, food, cake service, etc..) hotel but it was in a small town. Our cost would've doubled had we done something in the city, but it just worked out to have it in our college town.

Pinterest was just becoming a thing when we were engaged, unfortunately, so I hardly got the chance to have the super adorable 'Pinteresty' weddings you fine ladies are having now. Regardless, I feel like I could pass on some budget-friendly knowledge to anyone who's looking for ways to save a penny or two. 

 1. Flowers
I've decided I actually need to quit my life and become a weddings-only florist because they make a KILLING. If you haven't looked at the cost of having even just a couple arrangements, girl you might as well just kiss $500+ goodbye.

I was like no thank you, I'll just spend $80 and made my girls' and my bouquets. Ya'll... it's so much easier than you think and the possibilities are endless. I chose to make a few fabric flowers and add in some fake florals, broaches, feathers, and some sentimental jewels as well. The handles?... paper towel rolls... shhhh.  I'll have a how-to on the flowers soon, but until then, here are a couple photos so you get the idea :)

Floral bouquets: $150 ea
Vs.

Fabric bouquets: $10 ea

I also made the flower ball our precious flower girl carried. Styrofoam ball, tissue paper, ribbon, and and little hot glue, and you've made magic!

2. Table Decor
I was given some brilliant advice when planning: Candle light. Candle light. Candle light.
In a semi-dark room, candles provoke a romantic and chic atmosphere. This was my alternative to having floral centerpieces... which, again, would've been an arm and a leg. I bought large 3-wick candles from hob lob (40% off of course), spray painted them navy, wrapped them in pink ribbon, added a couple bejewel-ments around the ribbon and sat them each in their own stand. The stands were small terracotta pots/ saucers I spray painted, and glued as you see them below.

Floral centerpieces: $250 ea
vs.

Candle centerpieces: $15 ea

3. Programs and Printables
I highly recommend printing your own invitations/ programs/ thank you's etc.... unless you want a calligrapher, metallic print, or a reallllllly specific color that your printer won't print. Even so, I strongly suggest to print some of the less-highlighted handouts (favor notes, door hangers, agendas, etc...) yourself just because that alone will save you lots of mula. You can find pretty paper at Michael's and Hobby Lobby had the best option for invitations and ribbon that I saw.

From a Printing Source -200 guests
Invitations: $400+
Programs: $250+

VS.

DIY -200 guests
Invitations: $100 (plus ink cartridge for printer)
Programs: $100 (plus ink cartridge for printer)

 Invitation From Hobby Lobby $25 for 50 count

Iridescent card stock ($7.50/ 100),  Paper Doilies ($2/16) at Michael's, 1/2" ribbon ($3/10 yrds) Hob Lob

***Include your 'Thank you for coming, this is how much we love you' note on your program to save paper and money***

All of the printables below were projects I did for other friends' weddings in Powerpoint or Word. You can get some pretty awesome fonts for FREE from this safe-to-download website. You can google free clipart and fun patterns for an even more sassy hand-out. Just save them as JPG. or a PDF. so it'll print like a picture and when you send them to other people (if you need to) they'll be able to see the correct fonts and arrangement.

4. Cake
So I've decided that the second career I need to jump into is wedding cakes. Although there are many alternatives to your #basic wedding cake (i.e. cookie towers and cup cakes), all of these options will most likely account for a large fraction of your wedding budget. I'm talking $700 for a basic white wedding cake.... like what? I'm pretty sure the shopping list, alone, for that one cake is probably around $30..... hence my new career choice lol


I was all on board the cup cake train when my mom mentioned cheese cake petit fours as a possibility and a light bulb went off. Not many people I know don't love a good piece of cheese cake AND it's different *bonus!* since that's also what I was going for. Enter The Cheese Cake Factory. A cheese cake from the CCF comes in 8 slices for about $48; however, each of those slices can be split into 3rds for an actual normal serving size. 6 cheese cakes x 24 slices from each cake = 144 pieces! Perfect for our 120 guests.

 Let's do the math:

Wedding cake from bakery: $500-$700+
Cheese cakes from CCF: $240

Also, wedding toppers can be anything these days. I found our initial above at Hobby Lobby for like $4.  The cheese cakes were a big hit and what makes it even better is that we can have our wedding cake every anniversary if we want. Just have to swing by a CCF :)

5. Favors

I've seen alllll kinds of favors. It's a fun way to do something sweet for your guests who've traveled from near and far that is unique to you and your new spouse. Cookie cutters, horse shoes (for luck), a candy bar so they can take home your favorite sweets, and a couple's favorite fast food snack...which is perfect after you've danced yourself back into a state of hunger are all good ideas. 

My advice here is to choose something unique that personifies you both i.e. blue bonnet seeds if you're from Texas or coffee beans if you're both big cafe con leche fans. Do it in bulk aka a grab-as- you-go thing if possible, like our candy bowl below, or some kind of food take-away because that is usually less expensive. You can buy little jars, bags, or envelopes on etsy or at a local party supply warehouse/ store. In Houston, I would suggest Arnes!

Here are some other unique ideas.

6. Your grand exit

This tip is for those who are looking for something other than sparklers, bubbles, or petals. We made ribbon dancers out of skewers and 2-inch ribbon in our wedding colors. It was actually really fun to run through and they were so inexpensive, we just had everyone trash them in end without care because we literally only spent about $20 on all 150 of them lol.

I will say I love a good sparkler picture if you have a night time wedding, but a lot of venues don't allow them anymore and they can get pretty smokey if you don't run through just as they're lit. My suggestion is to do something that will give you pretty pictures but that can be easily cleaned up or disposed of. Bird seed is traditional but it doesn't make for great pictures and glitter/ confetti is a NIGHTMARE so make sure it's biodegradable and that your venue allows it.

Here are a couple more ideas:

Like ours, but with bells! LOVE.

More tips on how to make your wedding day as flawless as you coming soon!

Cheers!