Happy Holidays and Holiday Update!

It's been an interesting December as I've spent most of the Holiday sick, and a day of almost blindness (apparently I'm much more allergic to cheese then I thought). So I've spent a lot of time making presents for my family.

As a treat for all of you, and in the spirit of DIY, I'll share my Holiday thus far.

Struggling to stay in the holiday spirit and while totally useless for most anything, I decided to make presents for my whole family

For my step-brothers I made felt meat pillows which they seem to really like. These we're much easier to make then I thought and made pretty cool presents (although my step father thought I was incredibly weird). Here's one of the pillows being enjoyed.

Two years ago I made my husband a scarf for Christmas that he wore to bits, so he was in dire need of a new one. I like this one even more then the first one I made him. I knitted it out of wool using a basic knit and adding tassels. I think it looks pretty sharp! Here he is enjoying it! (He's worn it everyday since Christmas!)


My step father was nominated for Pulitzer for the book he wrote The Revenge of Thomas Eakins, an artist who he now greatly admires. So I painted his favorite Thomas Eakins painting on a picture frame for him. I bought a little wooden frame at Micheals, found the painting online, and painted it with acrylics.


My mother loves the painting of the Lady of Shallot by John William Waterhouse. So I painted her a picture frame as well. Both paintings for my mom and step-dad were difficult and for most of the painting I had to use the tiniest little brush... it was like one hair! Here's my mother loving it! (excuse the bad glare, I couldn't find my nice camera)


Lastly a good friend of mine commissioned me to paint a picture of his new baby as a surprise for his wife. I think it turned out pretty cute! I did it with oils, and yes, I was up till 6am finishing everything!


Fortunately I did manage to get some skiing in. Here's my favorite picture of the ski hill and a picture of me in all my skiing glory! So far we've just been going to Mt Baldy, California, which is pretty uncrowded and a fun intermediate mountain... unless it rains and ices up the snow!

I'm super glad to be back at my computer, as I have a ton of back blogs to catch up on! Happy Holidays everyone! I hope you all have a wonderful, wonderful Holiday and actually keep your New Years resolutions! te he! My resolution is to have more home cooked meals, which shouldn't be too hard considering right now, we do zero a week.

OMG Shoes!

I am drooling over these Irregular Choice Flickflack Pumps!!! I want them bad! They could probably work with a Vintage Themed Wedding or with a less traditional dress. I almost wouldn't want to wear them outside because the bottoms are so cute! In fact all of the shoes from Irregular Choice are totally unique! Here are a couple other favs: Irregular Choice Inside Out Mary Jane, Irregular Choice Alphabite Pump, Irregular Choice Tape Me Up Heel, Irregular Choice Amazing Grace Mid Boot, and lastly the coolest boots in the whole wide world Irregular Choice Space Snacks Boot.

Thanks for the Owl Invitations!

Magpie saw my blog and blogged on her blog, Unless Someone Like You, about these adorable owl invitations. Anyone who is into an owl themed wedding, check it out!

Owl!

Right now I'm obsessing about owl everything. I'm trying to find wedding stuff to blog about a white owl wedding, but I'm not finding anything that goes with what I'm looking for except this Owl Necklace. I loooove this owl necklace, I want it so bad! I think that it would really enhance the right dress, especially a 30's inspired wedding dress. I'm really inspired by a woodland creature themed wedding, Etsy seems to have a ton of that right now and if it's done right, it could be really cool!

Vintage Place Holders

These are so cool, they are advertised as Fork Easels but they are perfect as inventive place holders for the tables. I love how they are place holders with a dining theme and double as gifts for your guests! Two things covered under one expense...love it!


These are in the same spirit as the typewriter cuff links for those doing a vintage themed wedding.

Thank you and a Request!

I just wanted to personally thank you all for the contributions you've made to DIYWeddingGirl! I love reading all of your comments, ideas and tweets! I started this for fun and am thrilled to see that ideas and things I find can contribute to one of the most special days in someone's life!
My though is that anyone who utilizes any of the ideas from DIYWeddingGirl site and wants to share them, I will post pictures and blurbs that you send me! You can email me at diyweddinggirl@gmail.com and even if your wedding is a year away send them then, I'd love to see all this in action!
Much love!
Siena Heart

Vintage Cufflinks for the Guys.

If your having a vintage inspired wedding these authentic typewriter key cufflinks are perfect for gifts to the groomsmen to wear on the wedding day! QA Create will make the links for whatever letters you want (including function keys)! I think this is a lovely way to personalize your wedding and give a gift that's cool and usable in the future.

Maui Jewelry

When the weather is dreary I always think of vacationing, and one of the most beautiful places I've been is Maui. While staying there, you see signs asking people not to take the beach home with them. In fact rumors were created saying if you take any of Hawaii of the island, you'll have bad luck for 10 years! And I can't blame them for being so cautious, because if I could, I'd plop the island in my pocket and take it home with me!
I met Jamee Jones, jewelry maker and owner of Jonara Blu Maui, who runs her business out of Maui on the side of the Volcano. Imagine the view! She draws all her inspiration for her jewelry from her breath-taking surroundings. She mixes shells, pearls, silk and beads into delightful pieces that are perfect accessories for any beach wedding. This is a excellent way of taking a piece of Maui without offending the islanders.

While scheming my imaginary Hawaiian wedding, I picked out my favorite piece called "Champagne Circles," (love the name also) which is made with mother of pearl shell, Swarovski crystal, silk, gold and freshwater coin pearls. The freshwater pearls are an added bonus for me, because it was my husband’s first gift to me! And I also handmade freshwater pearl necklaces, as gifts, for all by bridesmaids.

Gifts for your Guests

For my wedding I designed buttons and had them made at CafePress.com. I ordered the small ones and could barely see the image, so I scratched the whole idea. However I still think it's a great idea, and if I had spent more time on it and bought bigger buttons I think it could have been a fun, personalized gift for my guests. I also love the idea of the buttons being a little out of the ordinary and then I found these Robot Love Buttons at ShanaLogic.com. I think they are incredibly sweet and a present that your guests might actually keep. Forget those sugar coated almonds that break your teeth!

My Favorite Cupcake Things

I must be going through a cupcake phase, I can't get cupcakes off my mind! How cute would it be to have a cupcake themed Bridal Shower or Bachlorette Party! Here are some of the products I've fallen in love with! I'll keep adding cute stuff when I come across it.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW

Picture from anapaulaoli

Personalized Lunch Boxes

I had a spa day for my bachlorette day where I made little gift bags for all the girls. I just put all the stuff in pink paper bags, but a personalized lunch box would have been sooo much cooler. When I was a kid lunch boxes were still a big deal so I get nostalgic every time I see them. You could stuff all kinds of cute gifts in their for the girls!

Invitation Blog Part 1 - Invitations on Etsy

I'm a classically trained fine artist with skills in graphic design and illustration, therefore I'm really picky when it comes to any design and I have a high appreciation for well design art and products. Here's my picks for cute wedding invitations on Etsy.

Etsy has a massive collection of people selling wedding invitations and mostly for a real steal. Handmade invitations can run from at least $10 a card.
My all-time-favorite store is Enfin, La Voila!, with absolutely charming cards that range from $4.5o to $6.00 with animal and nature themes. Had I seen these when I married, I might have changed the whole theme of my wedding!


At Dear Emma Stationary I found more nature themed cards but these have more of a 50's vibe to them. What I like about this bird set is that you can have the invitations match all the paper goods for the wedding day - including the table number! This is super helpful because you can get everything in one place.



For those of you who like modern and simple designs, you can visit Stelie Designs. What I like about these bird cards is that they are not so traditional or ornate like most wedding invitations - yet they are still very sweet.


At Just Ink on Paper, they have this sophisticated accordion fold invitation which has a very nice and simple designed. What I love about this is that is give you plenty of room to put information.

Cupcake bag

I don't know why I'm soo into retro cupcake patterns these days! This cupcake bag from LuckyFindDesigns would be perfect for any bridal shower gift, you can also fill it up with anything naughty! Right now they are 25% off for Black Friday.

Custom Wedding Map

I'm currently researching for a massive invitation blog, but in the mean time I came across this Etsy shop that will make customized wedding maps. I've seen several on Etsy, but this is definitely the better designed map. For your DIY version of a map, those of you who have photoshop, illustrator or drawing skills can make your own and print them on your computer or at Kinkos. For those of you with no artistic abilities, you can get Adobe Photoshop Elements 7
and buy clip art at Fotolia.com for min $1 a piece and assemble a map that way.

Adorable Bridal Shower Gift

Jessie Steele makes the cutest retro aprons I've ever seen! If I could have one of each my life might be complete. Yet I have none so I share with you. My favorite is the cupcake apron and matching oven mitt. Any DIY Bride would love one of these for her bridal shower.
I found them on Amazon for pretty cheap, typically the apron goes for $40-$45 in online boutiques.

Original Cake Toppers

When I was getting married I had a hard time finding cake toppers I liked. Most of them were cheesy and except for some unsuccessful bidding on 50's ceramic cake toppers on ebay, I wasn't finding anything I liked. In fact I never found one.
2 years after the wedding I found this bird cake topper on a Etsy shop called Rain's End and thought they are soo original and adorable!


Another Etsy shop called Bunny with a Tool Belt have these unique little elephants designed by an Oregon artist named Hilary Pfeifer. These could really enhance a simply-designed cake.
My most favorite cake topper out of the bunch (of course being the most expensive) is from the Etsy shop by Jennifer Murphy who does these darling little rabbits and birds.


This has inspired me to come up with some more original cake toppers, more on that later!