50 Shades of Turquoise

I finally got around to starting the homemade part of the centerpieces last weekend, dying the Ball jars different shades of turquoise! 

Ombre Shades of Turquoise

I have known what I wanted to do for them for a while now but wasn't sure which tutorials to follow. There are some that say you can used food coloring and glue but I was wanting to go for something that would be more permanent. I happened upon a few tutorials where the people ordered Vitrea 160 glass paint from Cheap Joe's. The tutorials used the Vitrea 160 Turquoise and Vitrea 160 thinner to get the translucent blue effect on the jars. Soo.. taking my own spin on it I ordered the Vitrea 160 Turquoise (and the Blue Lacquer as well which I didn't end up liking as much for my color scheme) and decided to used Modge Podge as my thinner. 

I started with about a dime size of the Vitrea 160 Turquoise and then slowly added a tablespoon of Modge Podge until it looked about the right consistency and color. I changed up the amount of Vitrea I used to get the different shades of color. The amount below worked for about 5-6 jars and then I would mix up a new batch. 

Once you have the right shade stirred up, then paint a VERY light coat on the jar. This part is actually more difficult than it looks, especially for a perfectionist like myself. No matter how great of a painter you are or how careful you try to be, there are inevitably going to be brushstrokes on the jar. The brushstrokes do fade as the jar dries and even more later when you bake them but if you are a perfectionist like me you are just going to have to BREATHE and accept that these homemade beauties are going to have some brushstroke character. 

TIP: Despite this photo on a cookie sheet, I found out later on that using single paper plates for each jar works much better than the plastic sheeting on a cookie sheet. It gives you the ability to turn the plate and get to all sides of the jar quickly and efficiently.

Next step, once the jars have dried for 24 hours or in my case at least 12 cause I was impatient, you are going to bake the jars in the oven at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes. I fit about 6 jars on a cookie sheet. Just be careful! 

Finally, after letting these blue beauties cool down, they are all set and ready to go. I love, love, LOVE the different shades of turquoise that I made because they each have their own character. Now picture these on wood tree slices with beautiful peach and pink flowers and you have my centerpiece vision!! (See my inspiration below!)

Via

Did I mention that I did this to 24 Ball jars?!? It took about 4 hours (not counting the baking) but it was totally worth it. 

50 Shades of Turquoise.

Please enjoy the array of turquoises that follow! 

Hope you love them as much as I do! 

Peace!
Allison 

.: If you like this wedding post, check out our Rustic DIY Barn Wedding tab above or click on the link!:. 

Projects!!

So as promised, here are some of the projects I've been working on the past few days. It seems like lately I've been working on at least three projects at once and these last two days off have been no different. 

As anyone who has planned a wedding, been in a wedding, or currently planning one can imagine, wedding vendors charge CRAZY prices for things that they have already bought themselves. Obviously, it's not practical for a bride and groom to purchase 200-300 chairs, 15 tables, etc. for one day of celebration. But, it seems quite ridiculous that these companies are able to charge $3 a chair and $15 a table when they had to have payed these items off within a few weddings. 

Here we arrive at my most recent projects. As most brides these days do, I have been "pinning" things like crazy for the last two years since we got engaged. However, these same vendors have obviously been pinning these same cute ideas and also charging CRAZY prices for these oh so sweet ideas. Sooo.... my solution?? I decided to make my own! 

Mr. & Mrs. Signs for Bride and Groom's Chairs

Cost to rent (let me repeat only to RENT!) the lookalike of these puppies: $30

Cost to make these: $8 

Materials: Two Wood Slices- $4 each at Michael's 

Ribbon- Free (Had on hand)

Paint- Free (Also had on hand)

Next up: A personalized banner to hang behind the bride & groom table. 

For the font, I used Word to pick one I liked. I settled on Courier New because it looked like typewriter font, which I am always a sucker for. 

Fortunately this one was all my idea so you can't rent this one. 

Cost to make: $12 

Materials:  Banner triangles- $6 a package at Hobby Lobby 

(Notice every other triangle has script already printed on it! Loved this aspect!) 

Paint- Free (Already had) 

Wood chalkboard arrow

Now this project is a grand slam in my book. 

Cost to rent chalkboard arrow sign- $30 (THIRTY FREAKIN' DOLLARS!) 

Cost to make this- ~$8

Michael's actually carries these wood arrows for about $6 if I remember correctly and the post I nailed to it was only like $1.79. Both the turquoise paint and chalkboard paint, I already had on hand so once again this one was a slam dunk! Plus, it is reusable! Just erase the chalkboard and rewrite something else. I can see using something like this for a garage sale, a birthday party, practically ANYTHING! 

Nautical Style Centerpieces for Rehearsal Dinner

Our rehearsal dinner is going to be a non-overboard (pun intended) nautical theme so I figured I would make some easy and cheap centerpieces. My first stop was Hobby Lobby of course where I found some nice plain glass bud vases for $6 a piece. But then (Side note: after I already went ahead and bought the vases and was walking to the car) I had an EPIPHANY as I noticed Dollar Tree across the parking lot. Of course! So, I proceeded to go to Dollar Tree where I found almost the EXACT same vases for $1 a piece and some colorful gemstones to go with it. 

I already had some rope on hand for some other wedding projects so I jumped on in as soon as I got home. I ended up hot gluing the rope about 1/3 of the way up the vase to allow you to still be able to see into them. Then I placed the gemstones and a vanilla tea light in and BAM! cheap and easy nautical centerpieces. Actually, I have really been trying to make all of these projects practical for uses outside of just the wedding and these vases will be a great touch in any of our rooms as decoration.

They'll look even better and more nautical once they are on the yellow tablecloth I got for the rehearsal dinner. I'm pretty happy with how they turned out. 

Cost: $6 ($1 for each vase and bag of gemstones), and already had the rope and tea lights.

Finally, I also did one home project last night. Our front door has been looking a little sad with no charm whatsoever, so I decided to spruce it up a bit. 

Enter, the letter F. 

For only $5.50 ($2.50 for the F and $3 for the wreath hanger at Hobby Lobby), I'd say it looks much nicer. I'm hoping to get an actual wreath to lie beneath it in the near future. 

As you can tell, it was a project filled last two days but I am just thankful I could be this productive. The countdown is getting pretty tight! 80 days! 

Peace,

Allison

Ready for a new adventure!

Welp! Here I am, starting my first ever blog post on my first ever blog. After months of drooling over my favorite DIY blogs, Pinteresting, and DIYing my own projects, I finally decided to just jump in head first and do it! 

I have come to the conclusion that this blog is exactly what I need in my life right now. Something that is completely and utterly mine. A place where I can share my creative house ventures, our DIY wedding, the excitement of B and I starting our life together, and the hilarious antics of our crazy puppy dog, Rhiley. (Hence the blog name!) So here it goes. Bear with me until I get the hang of this, but I hope you are as excited about this as I am!