Posts tagged with diy.

DIY - Kusudama Project

Ams, July 6, 2009 at 9:01 AM

Jack and I had ordered the rest of the origami we needed way back in May. We had shipped it to his workplace thinking it would be easier to receive there. Well it wasn't; it was sent back to the company because it was "unable to deliver". WTF. So we had it shipped back to us to our condo this time and guess what? It arrived fine. WTF. It arrived a few days ago. which means unlike the month and a half we were estimating that we would have to make our kusudama balls we now have less than two weeks. WTF. So now because I (possibly) have food poisining and didn't go in to work today, I'll sit on the couch with my tempermental tummy and fold paper flowers all day. We got through quite a few already, but we still have much more folding to do. UGH!

Read up on how to make these kusudamas here: DIY Project: Kusudama

Tagged with wtf, orders, diy, origami | Comment (1)

Centrepiece Design Decided

Ams, May 25, 2009 at 10:04 PM

I have finally decided how to decorate/arrange the centrepiece. I first have to order them - about 18-20. We're going to have about 16-17 tables and then two for the head table. So I figure having one extra should be good, right? Anyway the company I'm ordering them from only ships to the states. I had ordered a trial centrepiece from them and had it shipped to my aunt and uncle's place in Michigan. I e-mailed them asking if they gave discounts for a bulk order and if they were willing to ship the order to Toronto. I even said I was willing to pay extra for shipping. I hope they give in. It would be so annoying to ship it to Michigan and then have to go pick it up sometime in June. As if I don't have enough to do already. =/

So I'm not going to say what the centrepiece is since I want it to be a surprise. But it is not what people typically go with, and it has an East Asian theme to it. I hope they turn out well.

Tagged with decor, orders, diy | Comments (0)

Origami Paper

Ams, May 19, 2009 at 10:25 PM

We just placed our order for origami paper from Origami Corner. We ordered a sample pack before and were happy. Hopefully it will get here soon so that we can start making our ceremony decorations as soon as possible. Once those are done then we can order our items for our wedding favours and start assembling those too. Still have to order our centre pieces and assemble those as well. UGH. I hope these DIY projects go well.

Tagged with decor, orders, diy, origami | Comments (0)

Huge Update

Ams, April 18, 2009 at 8:38 AM

So I'll make this one mega-huge post and update about all the things we've done for the wedding recently and things I still have to do.

Jack and I asked Jack's aunt (hi Theresa! I know you read this. =_o) to play the piano at the wedding ceremony. She has her Masters in music from UofT so we're pretty lucky to have her play for us. We're still selecting which songs we want played during the ceremony - wedding party walking down the isle, us walking down the aisle, during the signing of the registry, and leaving the chapel. My mom really wants a hymn sung at some point during the ceremony, so we have to pick one for that too. Any suggestions for any part?

We also bought our wedding rings a while back. I got mine the week after we ordered them and Jack's only came in this week. We have to go pick his up but I'm going to take mine back and ask if I can downgrade it. after trying it out when i got home I felt that hte band was too wide. It looks stupid on my short fingers. I didn't really notice that my engagement ring narrows in at the top, making it look smaller. So the wedding ring looks too big and very mismatched next to it. I really hope they won't give me a hard time for wanting to ge the next size down. I'm assuming they won't though. Who would deny a downgrade? But we shall see...

The weather has been pretty nice the past week. On Thursday Jack and I took advantage of the nice weather and decided to walk around Toronto looking for locations for our engagement shoot. We really want to do something in Toronto since we love living in the city so much. I especially like how there are both old and new elements all over the city. We saw some random locations where you walk by brick walls and iron gates with a tall glass and metal building down the street. I love it. We're going to check out the distillery district this weekend to see how we like it. I'm hoping to decide on a location soon so that we won't have to keep looking.

I have to start making a list of photographs that we have to take after the ceremony. I've been told by a few people that the family & friends official picture taking is one of the most stressful/ chaotic parts of the day. A lot of times guests don't know what's going on or who is supposed to be in which picture. So I'm going to try to reduce this stress by making a list of the order of pictures as well as who should be in what picture. I'm hoping this will give greater order and organization as well as minimize the bickering from guests who want to give in their two cents about what pictures should be taken. I'm contemplating sending out the final list to our guests too so that they know what to expect, but I'm not sure if everyone will appreciate it. I know some people get pissy when you tell them what to do, even if it is for your wedding.

We're going to pack away all our wedding stuff soon and then continue with our DIY projects after we settle into the condo. We were going to make our own wedding programs but we've decided we don't have time and would rather just order them. I've been scouting out businesses with fair prices and quality products, and I've narrowed it down to two vendors. They are online though so I'm hoping that when we get the programs they will be as good as they look in the pictures. If not, oh well. We saved time by not making them. =P

I still have to order the centerpieces and hair accessories for myself and the BMs. I guess I don't have to wait until after the move to do this. We've booked our food taste testing and my hair and makeup trial for next month. We're hoping to also book in our engagement shoot and cake taste testing. I have to call the florist and place our order...apparently e-mail isn't good enough. Eesh! I'm such an online person. I can't wait until more people become this way too.

I still have to figure out what I'm going to wear for jewelry for the ceremony. My mom is insisting on me wearing a necklace even though Jack will be putting the mangalasutra on me during the ceremony. I think it's stupid, especially since you won't be able to see the necklace on me when i wear the sari. Speaking of saris, my mom tried teaching me how to wear one last weekend. She let me borrow a sari so that I could practice here. I need to get on that.

Still waiting on 23 people to RSVP. *sigh*

Okay, that's enough for one post. I need to get a few more things done before Jack wakes up. He got mad at me this morning because I woke him up before 7. I hope he doesn't stay grumpy today. [edit 9am] Just asked Jack when he wants to get up and he said noon. Yesterday he told me he wanted to leave the house by 10am...looks like another day where we don't get much done. *sigh* [/edit]

Oh fuck. I just got a Rogers message that we've used 75% of our monthly usage already. Screw you Rogers! Stop invading my browser! We live right next to their evil empire, btw.

Tagged with ceremony, planning, photography, hair, location, jewelry, orders, rsvp, diy, music | Comments (0)

Ams' DIY Project #1 - Kusudama

Ams, March 21, 2009 at 12:16 PM

So one of the DIY (do-it-yourself) projects that we are taking upon for the wedding are to make our own ceremony decorations. Our venue needs little to no decoration whatsoever because it is already simple and elegant, which is exactly what we want. We are going to make kusudamas to hang on the outside of pews though just so that our isle photos won't look too bungata. A kusudama is a Japananese origami ball, originally folder all by hand and using only paper to assemble together. The one we are going to make uses glue so technically it isn't a real kusudama, but whatever. We first made a tester one out of white printer paper and white glue, which I would not recommend to anyone to use as final products. We made a second one using actual origami paper and rubber cement which came out exceptionally well. It's amazing how proper products can make all the difference in quality. So here are the stages of our second trial kusudama. All prices are what we paid in Canadian dollars and were rounder up to the next dollar.

1. Here are the products we used. Rubber cement ($2) from Curry's Art Store, pack of 50 sheets of 15cm x 15cm origami paper ($4) from Curry's Art Store, fabric rope ($2 - $.50 per meter) from Fabricland (what a shitty website!), and a pack of four cushion tassles ($4) from Fabricland. So to make eight fully round kusudama would cost us less than $30. Since we're probably only going to make half circles it will be even less. =D

2. Fold one petal using one sheet of 15cm x 15cm origami paper using these directions --> Traditional Bloom/ Morning Dew/ Morning Glory. Man this one has a lot of names. o_O

3. Glue two petals together using a light coat of rubber cement between them and hold together like this. Rubber cememnt dries A LOT faster than white glue and I found it was a lot less messy to work with and easier to wipe away and clean up.

4. Continue to glue the petals one at a time together allowing each glued part to fully dry before moving onto the next petal. Here is one with two petals next to a complete flower with five petals.

5. Here is a picture of a flower next to my head to give you an idea of its size. However my head is unusually small in comparison to other people.

6. This kusudama requires twelve flowers to be made, which will take you 60 sheets. If you are going to make a half a circle then you will only need to make six flowers per unit (30 sheets). I turned one to the side so you can see what it looks like in the back. Yes I know this picture only has ten flowers. I think I got impatient and wanted to take a picture. =P

7. To assemble the kusudama together into the ball stage start gluing the flowers together. Again, wait until one part dries before starting to glue on other sections. This only takes a minute or two so be patient otherwise it will look sloppy. Trust me! The first two flowers are easy, but once you get to the third and yonder it gets tricky. You will have to glue them to more than two petals in the later stages so I would advise gluing two petals and waiting until those dry before gluing the flower to the third, and then the fourth. This just helps keep the flower in place so that it doesn't dislocate from the position you want it to be in.

8. Half of the kusudama (6 flowers) will look like this from the back. It's not really necessary to make sure the back spikes all line up since nobody looks there anyway. From this stage you would glue the ribbon/string/twine/rope that you want to use to hang your kusudama. If you want to use it as a topiary then you would glur your dowel at this point too.

9. Tada! This is what it looks like when it's done. I only did a half one so that it can be flush against the pew.

Our final ones will be red and gold. Hopefully they will all come out as well as this one did.

Tagged with ceremony, pics, decor, diy, origami | Comments (0)

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