Ooooh Sparkly!

I am currently in the midst of planning my wedding, and being the crafty creative soul that I am, decided everything I could possibly manage, was going to be DIY.
After finally settling on a chic modern vintage theme, (yes I do realise modern vintage is an oxymoron, but it works! Trust me!) my bridesmaids and I are in full vintage decorating swing!
Invitations are well under way, the ones for overseas relatives are made and sent, and after much playing around and perfecting, this is the final product.

Yes I hand stitched those bunting flags after I roped my *soon to be* hubby into cutting all the little triangles out for me...haha...it was 600 flags or something ridiculous.

Hand stamped initials, I originally started off with lovely silver letter stickers, but I would have had to buy dozens of sheets of silver alphabet stickers just for the H's and the D's....so we thought a stamp would be more cost effective. Not as nice looking, but still pretty cool!

The inside continues on with the cute bunting theme, and then I cut little slits inside the folds of the invitation, threaded through some organza ribbon, and attached the (hand folded) RSVP card inside it's (hand made) envelopes with the cutest little wooden peg!

Inside those cutie tootie envelopes, are the most painstakingly folded origami hearts which I printed our RSVP details onto.

Gorgeous result....but with 60+ to do....I'm beginning to think it was a terrible idea!

Phew! Pretty impressed with myself....but at the end of the day, I guess most of them will end up in someones bin after a while of sitting there looking pretty....and all that time seems kind of a waste...Buuuuut I wouldn't have it any other way! I love hand made everything!

Along with hand made invitations, I have also embarked on an eclectic vintage bottles collection journey, with which I am slowly hand decorating with gold glitter.
Oooooooh Sparkly!
 So far I am very impressed with the result of simply painting them with PVA glue and sprinkling over gold glitter...but there will be glitter EVERYWHERE....so I think I will give them another coat of the glue to seal it and see how that turns out.

Can you just imagine these filled with soft pastel Stock, Lisianthus, Roses and Dusty Miller?! *florist porn!*

I thought I would be happy with a rough wobbly *rustic* edge to where the glitter ends, so I just hand painted on the glue with no guide....but after completing a couple, I decided it really didn't look as nice like that. 

Soooo I improvised, grabbed some handy dandy cello tape, and used that as you would painting tape, then peeled off at the end which resulted in a beautiful clean edge. Woohoo!

I seriously recommend doing that, the wobbly line at the top kind of gives it a "my kids made this" look...heh...which, yah know...is cute for some things....not so cute for reception tables!

The sweet corked jar with the love hearts I did on a whim, used up some heart stickers on something else, and thought, heyyyy the remaining sticker backing could make a little stencil, so I peeled it off, stuck it to my jar, and went nuts with some gold spray paint! Took a couple of coats, and a tiny bit got under the sticker stencil but it was easily fixed with some terps on the end of a cotton bud. Few gentle wipes and it was perfect! Easy peasy, cute jar gone to cuter in 5 minutes flat. (Quick dry spray paint is a must if you are as impatient as I am!)

Vintage Pretties!

Two of my lovely bridesmaids and I are having a girls night this coming Friday! Woop! Annnnd what better way to spend girly bridesmaidy/bride time than to get another wedding project on the go??

We are going to attempt to make our own buntings with this GORGEOUS vintagey fabric we picked up on the weekend....here's hoping the wine doesn't result in terribly wobbly stitching, haha, wish us luck!

Aren't those floral prints just delicious!?

And to finish off this post, I will share with you one more DIY creation you can do to showcase your domesticated goddess within!

Home made tahini!

Yuummmmooo! So many uses for tahini, use in hummus, use in dressings, use in desserts, you could even enjoy it simply on some toast in place of peanut butter! MMmmmmmmMMM!

Now some recipes say DO NOT brown the sesame seeds...and others say, DO IT! TOAST THOSE BABY'S!  (Ok maybe not so excited, I may have embellished a little)
So not knowing which direction to take, I did a batch of each...annnnnnd they both taste identical...so I'll leave it for you to decide.

Home Made Tahini

What you need:

2C sesame seeds

aprox 50-100ml olive (or other vegetable) oil

Method:

Place all the sesame seeds on an oven tray and put on the top rack at 200C. I don't know exact times, as I just  kept an eye on them and gave them a stir every couple of minutes until lightly golden (or not, up to you)
The main thing, is they are in the oven until fragrant, because thats when they have warmed up their natual oils enough to work in your tahini.
Just make sure you WATCH THEM because they can turn from lovely light golden brown, to black within a matter of moments.

When your seeds are toasted to your desired level, throw them all in a food processor and wizz them up until a dry paste starts to form. 

Sloooooowly drizzle a little at a time, the olive oil in while its going, and with much patience, (about 15 minutes on high, with a couple of scrape downs during that time) your tahini will turn from a dry paste to a luscious shiny oozy consistency. This is what you want!

Then simply throw in a jar and keep in the fridge, from what I've read, it can keep in your fridge for several months... (as if it will last that long with me around! ;) )
This made around aboooooout 200ml.

NEVER spending $12 on a 150ml jar of tahini from the supermarket again!

Happy DIYing! 

Stay beautiful! xx