Of Weddings and Watercolors

(click any image to enlarge)

I am so happy to finally be able to share a few photos of the ongoing wedding preparations. We are just over a week away from the wedding and we are in high gear...and loving every minute of it!! The pictures today are of the ADORABLE crocheted brooches that my friend Connie and her daughters have made for the bride's attendants, mothers and grandmothers of the bride and groom, and helpers...

I gotta learn how to crochet...these are just so fun. My part was to supply many of the centers from my vintage earring stash...

...and I made the leaves out of wire-edged ribbon...but the cute crochet flowers and the know-how for connecting them all together and backing them is all from the genius of my friend and her girls...

(here's a link to the tutorial Connie used to make the flowers: http://simmy.typepad.com/echoesofadream/2006/03/crochet_flower_.html)

They made 20 or so of these...wow!

Here's a bit of one of the sister-of-the-bride's dress...each attendant is getting a purple dress of their choosing...it will be great to see all the shades of purple together...

...and here's a closeup of one of the flower brooches...

While I was making ribbon leaves for the flowers, I made a dozen small ones to use as simple boutonnieres for the guys...we just added a little coordinating embellishment and wrapped the stems with satin ribbon - easy-peasy... (I'll be making a fresh flower boutonniere for the groom though)

I love the DIY nature of this wedding. Not only have we pulled the wedding details together really quickly (less than 3 months), but we have been very frugal in doing so. (I can't wait to show you the $10 wedding dress from Goodwill!!!) The table coverings are mostly all thrifted vintage tablecloths as are the vases for the flowers. We've borrowed and/or thrifted all the tables and chairs, and we are using vintage furniture pieces here and there (like a vintage dresser for the cake "table"). The the overall look will be relaxed, cottage elegance with plenty of touches of charm and sweetness. We are really looking forward to seeing it all come together!! I hope you'll stick around to see how it all turns out...

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Over the last week, I also finished some spot watercolor illustrations for a dear friend of mine in Colorado for whom I've done work in the past. She is a calligrapher and is a lovely seasoned citizen with a beautiful, generous spirit. She did the calligraphy quote (I'm sorry I don't know the author of the quote...she is adding it now) and sent it to me to embellish as I saw fit. It's been a WHILE since I've used my watercolors...it was fun to paint non-digitally for a change. Here's how it turned out...

Yep, I had to use one of these to paint the tiny details...

...you can't zoom in 200x and 300x on a piece of paper on your desk like you can on your monitor. :o) This was such fun to do...

OK, better wrap up this post...heading out to the studio to paint signs for the wedding and glue some cupcake platters...photos to follow, I promise... 

Hope you have a beautiful day!