To Tackle A Necklace-DIY

My next upcoming project will be an attempt to create my own necklace for my wedding day. Now, keep in mind.....I've never made any type of jewelry. I have been very lucky in finding some really great, inexpensive jewelry pieces, but I have not bought (or even looked for) a necklace because I've known from near the very beginning of my planning process that I wanted to make one myself.
I'll be using fishing wire for the cord, as I will be using the fishing wire for many other projects for the wedding (including hanging paper lanterns). I also tossed in a couple of bracelets I already had in order to maybe incorporate the pearl beads from them into the necklace. Also (not shown) are pliers and a beading board. I forgot to take a picture of them. =(
The only thing I need to run to Michael's for is a bead crimping tool. And how do I know this??? Well, from watching jewelry making videos on YouTube, of course!
So, I don't know exactly when I will get to this project, but it's sitting there waiting for me to play with it and hopefully I'll have accomplished a beautiful necklace before the end of next week. That's the plan, anyways. Wish me luck!
Is anyone planning on making their own jewelry?

Have You Gotten Your Man's Ring Yet?

Aren't these just gorgeous? And the price....wow! These rings are from Titanium Kay. This is where I bought my Mr.'s ring, which was also only $99. I got the Tungsten Greco Carbide style.
But these.....wow....I really like these.
I had a really great experience with Titanium Kay. They tell you on their site exactly how to measure for their rings (it's a little different than the usual way) to ensure the best fit. I followed their guidelines and it was a perfect fit! And I received it in something like 2 or 3 days!
Have you gotten your Mr.'s ring yet? What kind was it?

Love This Boutonniere!-DIY

Images by Jess Epstein Photography
Bout designed by Hillary Burgess

I absolutely love, love, love this! Maybe because I'm partial to the color, but also because I love the way it still looks quite masculine. I never really thought much of boutonnieres, and in all actuality...this is the ONLY one that's ever caught my eye.

For directions on how to DIY this bout, just click on one of the pictures.

Now, I just gotta run this by the Mr., although we don't even really know what he will be wearing for the wedding yet! Well, we could always plan his ensemble around the bout. Yes? heehee

Will your man be sporting a boutonniere?

Oh Wow! Just Found A New One!

Oh my gosh! I think this one is perfect. I had just written the previous article, and went to check me email. There was an email from Nature's Jewelry, so I went to go check it out. That's when I found this beauty! Now this I know I could wear! I could wear a thin chain with it, and it wouldn't make my neck look shorter.
Here's their description:
Genuine Mother of Pearl Beaded Heart Pendant 18in
A beautiful symbol of love and friendship. Genuine mother-of-pearl beads are woven together to create our dimensional heart pendant that slides on an 18" sterling silver chain.

If you like it you can click on the pick to take you to the store.

To Bling, Or Not To Bling

This one is a bit over bling, has sharp corners and is far from simple, but it's so beautiful!
This is more of what I am really looking for....small Swarovski crystals set all the way around the necklace....
I like this too, but I'm not too sure about the pearls with it...........
....and another favorite. Simple and delicate, even though the Swarovski crystals don't go all the way around.




Do I want To Wear A Necklace?

I know that for sure I will wear earrings, but I'm not quite sure about a necklace. You see, I have a bit of a short neck and I'm afraid it will make my neck look even shorter if I wear a necklace. Especially since I plan on wearing my hair down. You know what I mean?
I guess I really won't know until I put them on together.....but if I do decide on wearing one, the styles above are what I would like. I love Swarovski crystals!

I hate my short neck!

I Feel Like A Princess In A Tiara

I knew from the very beginning that I wanted to wear a Tiara. I found this one on Ebay for what I thought was a really good price. The stones are absolutely beautiful (the picture doesn't do it justice).
I also bought a 2 tier fingertip veil to wear with it, although I haven't tried them on together to figure out placement for them. But I have plenty of time for that. In the meantime, I will scour the internet for pics of other brides for some tips and ideas.
It's funny how much you learn as you investigate things for your wedding. I knew basically zero, zilch and now.....well, let's just say I know quite a bit now. I really don't know how I would have done it without the internet. Simply amazing.

Wedding Dress From Ebay?

(This picture is not me, but it's the dress I ended up with from David's Bridal.)
OK......So we had finally decided to set the date and get hitched after 8 years of loving each other. I was so excited and immediately started looking around for a dress. Because of the economy and seeing that I had just gotten laid off in December, I knew it would have to be a great bargain dress. As I began to scour the internet, I saw that dresses were not very cheap. Then I had a light bulb go off in my head. Ebay! The place I had gotten so many bargains from in the past....why not a wedding dress?
I found a beautiful ballerina-style dress from a store in China. I breezed through the feedback of this seller, and everything seemed to be ok. So for $68, free shipping and a beautiful custom made dress (replica, of course), I thought, what the heck? After all, through Paypal I had full purchase price protection. Definitely worth the gamble at such a bargain price. Besides, I had heard that many bridal dresses come from China anyway, so it seemed plausible that this offer wasn't THAT good to be true. It made sense to me. So I did it!
3 weeks later, I wrote the seller asking if my dress would be shipping out by May 31st, which was the timeline he had given for making and shipping the dress. I never received a response. I went back to his feedback....which I had been doing in between time anyway, and saw a recent negative feedback for him. Hmmmmm...I thought. I watched daily as the negative feedbacks rolled in. One after another. I wrote him again, telling him my concerns because of his non-response and negative feedbacks. Still no email.
I finally filed a claim through Paypal and am currently waiting to see where that goes. Lesson learned. I actually learned a lot about the whole feedback thing. Did you know that with some sort of program, they can actually put up FAKE feedback? I always do a lot of researching on the internet, and learned SO much on this subject. There are ways to tell that's it's fake, but that's a whole other blog!
After all this chaos I decided to look for a dress the conventional way. I got in my car and drove my butt to David's Bridal where the staff was more than helpful. After trying on eight dresses, number nine was "the one". I absolutely LOVE it! I have a little over a year to lose a few pounds so that the dress can look like it should on me. lol
Thus far, for my wedding attire, I've purchased my dress(David's), my veil(ebay), my petticoat(ebay), my tiara(ebay) and my shoes. I still need jewelry and I'm still contemplating on gloves(but probably not) and putting some straps or sheer 3/4 sleeves on dress.
UPDATE: I did finally end up getting my money back through Paypal. Lesson learned.