Emboss it!

This is going to sound like some silly hair-accessory commercial (hence the worthy title). I've had a couple requests to describe how I managed to emboss my own handwriting, and so here it is:

This is actually super simple, but it took me a while to think of it. I was so used to using stamp images that it never occurred to me I could emboss anything else.

Here's the supply list:

-Paper, or whatever you're going to emboss
-Embossing powder (can be found in the stamping aisle of any craft supply store)
-Embossing heat gun -or- hair dryer with low setting
-Gel pen, preferably in a color to match the embossing powder (I used a metallic red one without any issues)


Take the pen and write whatever you're going to emboss on the paper. I somehow magically forgot to document this step, of course.


Sprinkle your writing with the embossing powder. I prefer a generous sprinkling because it fills all the cracks and details that way. Be sure to have your embossed surface on a spare piece of paper to recover the powder after the next step.


Dump the powder off onto the spare piece of paper. I usually flick the embossing surface a few times with my finger to get any extra off.

Take your embossing heat gun or hair dryer set on low and gently wave it back and forth over a small area of the embossing powder until the powder changes color and melts. You don't need to let it melt for very long; depending on the color of the powder, 5 seconds should be more than enough time. You'll need to move it slowly to other sections until the whole design is melted. And here's the final result, though as a quick-and-dirty sample, it's not my best work!


This is one of the bridesmaid gift boxes I've been working on. I made the floral image with a stamp and then wrote in the empty space and embossed their names on the boxes, too. I am quite pleased with this technique! It's a very easy way to make your handwriting pretty and permanent, without the smearing concerns of just using a gel pen.


Pro tips:

-WARNING: You will get sparkly stuff everywhere.
-With darker/ brighter colors of powder, be wary of tiny leftover spots on the surface after you flick off the powder. If you want your final product to look smoother, you may need to go through and gently rub them off. I found that this red powder sort of stained the paper in some places.
-If your embossing powder is heavy on the glittery stuff, you may not be able to see the powder change color when it's melted very easily. There's a very brief moment when it will sink down and darken, be sure you keep your eye on it!

What have you discovered that should have been a "duh"?

(All pictures in this post my own).

My Hair Flower

These tutorials are so common now I don't really know that I should go into much detail. I can direct you here and here to find ladies who pretty much did this the same way I did, only I took the hard way-- I sewed mine to a bobby pin by hand instead of hot gluing, and then sewed a pearl and beads into the middle, then regular-glued the whole thing for stability. Ah, well. If my crazy little cat decides to finish eating this one (yes, she's already tried, twice. The scary thing is she knows where I keep it, too), then at least I will have a much shorter, easier way to make a new one.

(Personal photo)

Not bad though, right?

Ta-Da!

So, I did it. I went on Friday and bought (one of) my wedding band(s). I stopped by the Zales store where we had first seen the band, and they had it there but the price had gone up. Well, they'd changed the tag on it but it was still the same price in the system. I won't go into whether I believe the reason they gave me for its disappearance from the website and the price increase, but either way, I was frustrated, and a little sad. And that's how I figured out that I do, in fact, really like this band.

So, I bought it. Yes, I bought my own band-- no point in having S. come out to get it for me, he'll pay me back for it later. In the meantime, I've been quite pleased with my decision. Now I just have to decide which other band to get of the three I posted about here. Ready for some glamour shots?









What do you think?

(All pics my own).

Uh-oh...

On Wednesday, I posted about my wedding ring dilemma. Now, having gone back today to look at the curved round-and-baguette enhancer, the website at Zales says it's gone!

It would be just my luck that they sold out or discontinued it just when I'd decided it would work. Now I'm going to have to start frantically calling stores to see if any of them have any left.

Did you find the perfect wedding band, no problem? Or was it a headache to get the one you wanted?

Wedding Band Epic

Fair warning: this post is going to make me sound neurotic, crazy, and self-absorbed. It's okay. I have been known on occasion to be all three.

The hardest thing about planning this wedding (thus far) hasn't been picking the cake pattern, or finding a DJ, or an endless hunt for the perfect dress.

No, I have all those things squared away. The hard part has been finding a wedding band to go with my engagement ring.

If you remember, here is my beauty:



It's platinum, with a cathedral setting, and alternating round and baguette diamonds down the sides. It's a hard ring to match.

I've been going into every jewelry store I pass trying to find "the one". I haven't been having any luck.

I have quite a few considerations, too. First of all, I'm kind of superstitious-- I want to wear the ring that S. puts on my finger on our wedding day for the rest of my life. So getting something "for now" doesn't really work for me. I also want to be able to wear it both with and without my engagement ring. Because my e-ring is so large, a band will probably only look good with it if it's narrow. But a narrow band won't look good on its own. And I do want to continue to wear my e-ring where it belongs, and I do want to look married when I do (so no moving it to my right hand or only wearing it).

Secondly, I work with animals, specifically large, unpredictable animals. I don't want something that's going to break or fall out if I have a bad day at the ranch. I want a band that will lay flat against my hand and not cause a danger to my animals, or itself.

Thirdly, I love sparkle. I really, really want more diamonds in the band if at all possible, and besides that, plain metal looks strange with my ring.

Fourth: I have sensitive skin and all the women in my family have had reactions to their wedding jewelry. My engagement ring is fine so far, but it's platinum, whereas theirs have been white gold. I don't want to have to buy a platinum wedding band but I'm worried about long term wear-ability if I don't.

And fifth, but really key, is cost. S. already spent way more on my e-ring than we thought we would.

So, to sum up, my ideal ring:

-Will look good both with my e-ring and on its own
-Won't cost much
-Will be made of platinum and have diamonds.

Yeah, I know what you're thinking. I've been thinking it too, lately. Such a ring doesn't exist!

I'm coming to terms with this. Right now, my best solution is to get two bands, one to wear with the e-ring, and one to wear without.

Here are my contenders if I go this route.

This one has a slight curve in it, but it lies nicely along my e-ring:

Source

And one of these for everyday (animalday) wear:


Source



Source


Source

Of course, none of these are platinum (sigh) but I think if I want to keep it under budget I'm going to need to give up on that particular dream. My mom has this old trick of painting the inside with nail polish to keep it from causing a reaction. Hopefully that will be enough!

S. has also expressed an interest in maybe getting matching bands, so that might be an option too.

Did you have any trouble finding a band to go with your e-ring? What do you think of my choices so far?

Vending MACHINE-- The DJ

I feel like a little kid who hasn't done their homework.

Tonight we have an appointment with our DJ. He didn't give us any explicit instructions, but S. and I had both agreed we should have a tentative music list ready to go anyway.

Notice I said "agreed", by which I imply that we haven't actually accomplished said task. I've been putting songs on the list for a little over a month now, but S. hasn't added anything. Odd, because music is definitely more his thing than it is mine. So, we shall go before the DJ tonight with only a sparsely-populated list of ideas, and hopefully he won't give us detention for not having done our assignment.

Our DJ was really a simple decision-- he's a co-worker of S's. It's actually quite funny how many people he works with that do wedding stuff on the side (see future posts about a possible day-of-coordinator). S. has seen this guy's work at parties before and agrees that he's quite capable, so I have confidence that he will give us his all on our wedding day.

Was your DJ an easy choice or a hard one? Did you have to look very long to find them? Did you have your music list picked out fairly early?

Wedding Dreams?

I've been having my first wedding dreams. Last night, I had one where it was as if we were having the wedding now-- everything that we haven't figured out was the stuff that was missing. I had to buy S.'s suit twenty minutes before the ceremony. We had no food for people to eat because we had no caterer. I was trying to buy candy for the candy buffet without S. seeing me. But-- I was incredibly, amazingly, fantastically joyful. All in all, it was a pleasant dream.

Odd, because usually wedding dreams are stress dreams. Clearly, there was stress, but I wasn't worried throughout the course of the dream. I was just happy to be marrying the love of my life.

I sincerely hope I can actually be that fancy-free on my big day. It's inspiring, to have gone through a practice run in my mind, and having felt that good about everything. I promise myself that I will try to let the little things roll off me that day, and instead focus on my happiness!

What about you? Do you have dreams about your wedding, and if so, have they taught you anything?