DIY Brooch and Button Bouquet - Part 1

So... One of the biggest projects for the wedding was the bouquets.

Like so many things with weddings, there are so many options, and you can easily spend so much time and money on flowers, that will, as is their nature, wilt. Now, don't get me wrong, I LOVE beautiful flowers, I have pinned so many beautiful bouquet combinations in the last few years, but I just wanted something different.

When I googled "alternative wedding bouquets" I got a lot of very cool ideas. Some seemed less functional than others. For example, I love the idea of a candy bouquet. I also love the idea of eating candy. Given this, I feel like, I personally, am not compatible with candy bouquets. I found bouquets made of feathers, paper flowers, silk flowers, flax flowers, butterflies, and so many other things. Another thing I found was a small bouquet, made of buttons that someone had given as a mothers day bouquet. So I googled "button bouquet" and I found images of bouquets people had made for weddings and had made. They I found that some people made "brooch bouquets". I loved them! They were all so eclectic and unique.

I found that there are some very talented people selling them on Etsy and Facebook.. But I thought.. I bet I can do that. It can't be THAT hard. And well. It wasn't THAT hard. But it took a lot of time, and buttons are pricier than you may think. However, I think that making the bouquets were so worth the effort, that I would like to show you how I made mine. If you have time, and love to create things, this is a fantastic way to make yourself a bouquet that will one day be an heirloom for your children. 

It was a pretty long process so I have divided it up into two posts: the first is on starting out and making your stems, the second post is about assembling the stems into a bouquet, and finishing touches to perfect them!

Part 1: Starting out and making your Stems

Starting Out

Shopping List

1. Wire - 24 or 26 gauge You can find this through florist stockists, on Ebay or in some beading and craft stores. I find the 24 was sturdier and held buttons better.  Prices vary, once you find a store of brand you like, if you can buy large, you should.  I did not realise how many metres of this wire I would go through.  I literally used hundreds of metres of wire.
2. Wire snips - again, you could find these on Ebay or through craft supply stores. These are invaluable for the project.  A decent pair will cost around $10-$20.
3. Buttons. Buttons. Buttons. Depending on how eclectic, varied, large, you want your bouquets, the size and shape will vary.  For each stem you want 2-4 buttons, varying in size and colour. 
4. Depending on how varied, how shiny, how bright, how colorful, how big or how small you want your bouquet, the end materials you end up making your stems out of will change. Here is a list of what I ended up including in mine:

While this was definitely cheaper than buying pre-made button bouquets, the costs can easily add up. Here are where I bought most of my trinkets and buttons:

Notes on buying the goodies:
Etsy - I found some great stores that make their own buttons. They were a great resource for specific colors. 
Ebay - this is a mixed bag. Literally. Often I would buy large bags of thousands of mixed buttons. In some bags I found lots of vintage buttons and unique sets. In others there were literally hundreds that were not in my color scheme. Also, some suppliers from Asia sell bulk amounts of buttons. The medium sized, white buttons I used as a frame for novelty buttons and cabochons.
Amazon - I only bought a few specialised buttons off here.
Second Hand Stores - awesome for cheap, old jewellery. You can use clip on earrings and costume rings just like brooches.
Garage Sales - hit and miss. Sometimes you can find jars of buttons or costume jewellery, sometimes nothing.
Friends - often people have jars of buttons sitting around they aren't using. One of my bridesmaids even went out and bought a few special buttons for the bouquet.
Craft Stores - obviously this is the easiest and fastest way to get buttons. Sales can be good, but I found these were generally more expensive.

Setting Up

This turned into a year long project. Luckily I had just bought a dining room table. In the beginning I used one chair and sat at one end in the evenings crafting. By the time I was done, I had taken over the whole table. And the chairs. I had jars full of different colored buttons. And dishes full of different charms and beads. 

Making Your Stems

1. Cut your wire into a length approximately the same as your elbow to your hand. (This is dependent on how big you want your bouquets, but experiment. I ended up cutting a cm or two off the end of mine. Remember you can always shorten it.)
2. Stack a bunch of buttons together on the table in front of you. Experiment with the number of buttons, color arrangements, and patterns. These are your flowers. How varied do you want them? Do you want recurring patterns? Do you want them all different? I stacked lots of different buttons together, and then would twist a bunch of the wires. Do it in groups. The progress is slow at first, but when you are done you have a whole bunch of stems.
3. For the twisting. Take your wire and bend it loosely in half. Take your stack of buttons, maybe 3 or 4, and thread each end of the wire through two opposite button holes. The smallest first. Push the stack of buttons to the middle of the folded wire. Then twist, twist, twist. The tighter you make the twist, the more secure and strong the stem. Think of a huge flower or a weak stem, the flowers droop.
4. Try stacking a large button below a medium button below a small button, this is a sturdy and symmetrical way to start a stem.
5. Try adding a bead, pearly or vintage button to the end of the stem.
6. Do you have vintage buttons? Try adding a vintage button or brass button onto a plain white button. 
7. Try a cabochon or flat back stem. Thread a medium sized plain button onto your wire. Add several small ones underneath it, to give it some strength. Twist down and secure. Take a hot glue gun and add a cabochon onto the end.
8. Want to only use brooches, or add a few to the button stems? Try a thicker wire. Or make the stem double the strength.... Since most brooches don't have button holes like a button, look for twists, holes in the pattern, or hook the wire into the clip device on the brooch. To make it stronger do this with two sets of folded wire. Or, secure the end with some hot glue.

So what do you think? Are you considering making your own bouquets? Or have you already made some...? How did you do it?

Stay tuned for the next post where I will talk about assembling the stems and creating the bouquets themselves. And maybe even adding some flair for neat ways to give them to your girls. They really are a beauiful gift.

DIY Fabric Garland

Here is a simple and gorgeous DIY that I helped Steph make for her wedding. We made long garlands for her day, and Rob and I had spiral ones for our day. Either way they are easy to make, and make such a beautiful statement. They can be personalized to your wedding or party colors and you can make them for a bargain, or you can splash out and they will cost a little more.

Like I said, these were for a wedding, but you could use them at a baby shower, hens night, birthday party, or truth be told, I just want one for above my head board of my bed!

Here is what we used,

A couple of yards of 6 different fabrics. Three accent colors from their wedding color scheme, a crepe chiffon, creme lace and white embroidered cotton.

Base for the garland, we used a heavy duty twine (see notes below for alternatives).

Here is what we did,

Cut fabric into strips of varying thickness, the thickest were one inch across, the skinniest were half and an inch. 

The fabric was one yard in width, and I cut it lengthways. 

When you have a pile of each colored fabric, start by deciding if you want a pattern or just a whimsical mix. 

One color at a time, I tied the fabric strips along the twine, mixing them along the length of the garland. To make a longer strand you can tie the strip at one end, and to make a fuller looking and shorter garland you can tie them at the center.

The lace strips have a sweet vintage feel while the chiffon sparkled in the light.  

Options - 

Now, Steph bought her fabrics and splashed out. They were stunning colors, and a beautiful lace. We did another set with ribbons too. If you wanted to go that route, the advantages are that you can get the exact colors you want, and you can get the exact amount you want. The ribbon one needs a lot of spools to fill in the garland significantly so can get really pricey fast. 

If you want to get a bargain, I suggest you try looking at second hand and thrift stores for fabric scraps, sheets and old linen. Or, I had great success looking through the scrap and clearance bin at Spotlight (Aus, NZ), in the US you could try Joanne's, Michael's or Hobby Lobby. 

You can change the length, fullness, and shape of these garlands. For spiral ones, which hang in a large circle, I used a dog frisbee (odd I know), but it was basically a large plastic ring. For Stephs day we used heavy duty twine so they could be hung from trees and tables.

This weeks Etsy picks - Burlap

This week on Etsy I have been searching through Burlap items.. I think it is from a combination of the "Fall fever" that is taking over the blogosphere and because I am helping a friend plan her rustic themed wedding day.

Here are my top five "burlap" items on Etsy this week.. 

What do you think? Do you love burlap too? I love the texture and the versatility for crafting and decor. 

Etsy Store: Next To Heaven

This is so rad! It's a door stop. But it's not just a door stop - it has an eliphont on it! My Mum would love this! 

Etsy Store: Sew Simply Blessed

I love this beautiful cushion! I love the simple texture of the burlap with the unexpected pop of color from the gold polka dots.

Etsy Store: Pink Slip Inspiration

 I adore handmade Christmas stockings, and the red with the burlap just seems so festive!

Etsy Store: Tickle Berry Cottage

I think these burlap ribbons would be perfect for the finishing touch on any gift.

Etsy Store: Crafty Frills

And finally a wedding item! I love the simple rustic look of the white frosting and the natural tones in the flowers.

What do you think? Have fun checking them out!

Relive the smiling - Day 11 of Blogtember

My first thought - our wedding days. 

Especially the one in New Zealand with our friends and family. The week leading up was so much fun, and the day was amazing! Surrounded by people we love in the beautiful Ohope sunshine. Perfect! 

Check out our beautiful photographer's website here.


Today's post is in response to the Blogtember prompt "What memory would you like to relive?". You can check out Jenni from "Story of my Life" blog for more info.

Vintage Dress in a Modern World - Anniversary Edition

So like I posted on Thursday, today is our first wedding anniversary. Which is exciting. Because I have never had a wedding anniversary before. Rob hasn't either so we are pretty smiley.

I have been wanting to share one of my all time favorite dresses, but thought it would be cute to post it on our wedding anniversary. So here it is.

I bought this dress at a Polka Dot Vintage Fair in Perth last August. It was on a sale rack, and I just absolutely adored the lemon color. I was reticent to try it because I don't really wear yellow, but I grabbed it as well as the light blue dress next to it. Turns out I loved it, regardless of my sickly, freckled skin tone, so I bought them both.

The first time I have ever worn lipstick.

I was going to wear a different dress, but advice from a friend made me change my mind. I had been wanting to wear white for the day, but I loved the feminine look of this one. It was definitely great advice. I think it was perfect.

My amazing hair dresser, Laura, gave me a vintage, curled side pony tail, and added some flowers pins I had bought to match the dress.

I wanted to have flowers for our registry wedding, because I was in the middle of making all the bouquets for the January day (here is a pic of them, a tutorial will be up soon). I couldn't decide whether to go pick out flowers or not, but again, lovely friends convinced me. I had an amazing time going through all the flowers in the florist and asking for this one and that, and I was very impressed with myself when it was all finished. Liz gave the bouquet a special touch by wrapping strands of fabric around it that I had been using to create bunting for the January wedding.

Walking back to work with the bouquet, the day before. It suddenly got real.

I sure know how to pick me some flowers.

Liz making them super awesome.

We had six friends with us for the ceremony. We all got ready together at our place, and the girls helped me get dressed. We had some champagne and nibbles and hung out together, before we went down to the office. It was a really special time. 

I was scared about the lipstick.

Lol this is not a staged photo.

Getting ready - my beautiful vintage robe.

Lol again, not a staged photo.

Very excited before hand.

Another very cute dress if I do say so myself.

At the office we had photos with the view of the Swan River behind us, and all had a pretty excited vibe on. Rob and I were very nervous and I had the giggles. 

When we entered the special room where the ceremony takes place, I practically skipped in. We signed all the paper work first and then we got to the best part..

Getting the legal part done.

  Brad, who is one of my oldest, closest friends was my witness. Phil, who, likewise is one of Robs oldest, closest friends was his witness. The celebrant went through the legal stuff, while Rob gripped my hand tight. 

The next part was our pledge, which had me in tears and sniffling between each line. Rob made his pledge and then we said "I Do".

And cue emotion.

The kiss was the best kiss of my life. That is all there is to say about it. Oh, and after Rob was covered in red lip stick haha.

Before we knew it, our friends were cheering and it was official. The man I had been in love with for the last six or so years, was my husband.

There were cuddles and tears and "churs" and more cuddles and smiles. We were like, on this happiness cloud. 



 

After the ceremony we caught the bus to our local, where we had booked a special area for all our Perth pals to come up and celebrate with us. It was filled with vintage furniture, and we had delicious food and sangria all night long. It was an amazing night, second only to our night in January, where our family and NZ friends were.

And that was our "special day" number 1. It really was such a terrific day. I really feel blessed to have shared it with Rob and our friends.

Thanks for having a look through, I hope you enjoyed hearing about our day (and liked the dress!).
Sarah xo

Thank you to Charlotte Horton and Liz Mahon for the ceremony photos. Thanks Tracey Eyre for risking life and life and limb to take the bus shot. And thanks Adora Tiernan for the awesome shot of Liz and I!