By Jaime Haywood, It’s a Jaime Thing

DIY BOTTLE & VASE DECOR, WINE CORK DECOR & MORE

 Using Modge Podge and a paint brush, you can apply anything from tissue or wrapping paper, magazine clippings, pictures and more to decorate wine bottles, vases, glass candle holders, gifts and other items for your wedding!  I’ve enjoyed making personalized bottles for friends using Modge Podge, as a little keepsake of memories all glued together.

 Recycled wine bottles are wonderful to use as vases for your wine themed wedding!  You can also dress them up by tying ribbon around the neck of the bottle, complete with a bow, brooch or rhinestones appliques!

 Ask friends and family members to save their bottles or wine corks for you.  With wine corks, you can create cake stands, picture frames and placecard holders or use them as fillers for the bottoms of your centerpiece vases!

 DIY PHOTO MAGNETS, ORNAMENTS AND PICTURE CONFETTI

Using metal favor tins, you can create all sorts of fun little treasures to use as decor, favors or gifts.  To make the ornaments, I just popped out the plastic from the lids on the favor tins, tied a ribbon, then popped the plastic back in.  I cut photos into circles to fit the shape of the tin, then popped the picture in.  I used the white round stickers that came with the favor kit to place on the back of the photo and write things such as “Christmas 2008?, etc.

Ornaments don’t have to be used only at Christmas, either!  Use them to hang on tree branches for your centerpieces, perhaps with a picture of each guest or as the start of a family tree.  When the wedding is over, let one family member from each table take the tree home as a keepsake!

To create magnets as favors, use the back of the favor tin, you know – the part that holds the candy.  Place the picture (with tape on the back) inside the tin like you would candy.  Then cut old magnets from your fridge and superglue them to the back of the tin…wa-la!  Instant photo magnets!

 Looking for something a little easier?  Print out special or fun photos from your computer and use a round object to trace a circle over the center of your picture.  Cut the circles out and scatter across your tables to use as large photo confetti.  Fabulous, creative and fairly affordable!

 DIY SEXY CANDLES IN A CINCH!

These candles are so fun to make and make excellent bridesmaids gifts or bachelorette party decor!  All you’ll need is a hole puncher, some pretty cardstock or vellum in the pattern or color of your choice, ribbon and whatever embellishments you’d like to add.  Simply cut the paper to fit the candle, leaving a small space so you can show off the ribbon when you lace it up like a corset!  Gorgeousness.  Throws a whole new spin on the phrase, “mood lighting”!

 DIY DO NOT DISTURB DOOR SIGNS

Create adorable “Do Not Disturb” signs for the guests to hang on their hotel doors after the wedding is over.  Print a funny message like we did for my cousin’s wedding saying, “Do Not Disturb, We Partied All Night At The K.S..R Wedding!”

 Simply design the message on computer paper and place over cardstock and secure with ribbon through the top long enough for guests to tie around the door knob.  They’ll love being able to sleep in the next morning!

 The fun doesn’t stop there, visit the wedding blog I write at www.itsajaimething.com for even more wedding inspiration, ideas and all things creative, including several other of my favorite DIY Ideas.  Happy crafting!  ~Jaime

“Hi Everyone!  My name is Jaime, I’m a wedding blogging, high-heel wearing, dark chocolate loving, red wine drinking Chicago girl who loves to plan, create, try to inspire and make people smile!  I write the wedding blog at It’s a Jaime Thing I created “It’s A Jaime Thing” to help organize all of my ideas, creative findings and inspiration into one spot.  I continue to write daily not only because I enjoy it, but also to hopefully inspire others along the way!”

Save

By Kathryn Storke, Snippet & Ink

Here are some of my DIY favorites:

CAKE STAND BORDER

I love paper, and all of the many forms it takes. This pretty cake stand border is such an easy way to dress up an otherwise simple cake, and all it costs is the price of paper and a pair of scissors. For complete DIY instructions go to Craftstylish.

FAVORITE DIY WEDDING

This is one of those weddings that comes together so perfectly, you would never know that the bride did almost everything herself – and on a reasonable budget! It doesn’t hurt that one of my favorite photographers (Punam Bean Photography) captured it all on film. See more photos of this DIY wedding here.

CREPE PAPER FLOWERS

Not only are these beautiful, but they won’t wilt, so you can make them as far in advance of your wedding as you’re able, and they will stay a fresh keepsake for you or your guests long after the wedding is over. (Crepe paper daffodil by Jordan Ferney; Shaped crepe paper flowers by Martha Stewart Weddings.)

Snippet & Ink started as a creative outlet for fun, but I’m lucky enough that something I enjoy so much has also become my full-time job. Snippet & Ink is a blog of daily wedding inspiration, in the form of inspiration boards and real wedding features. It’s a place where, hopefully, people can see how many different ways there are to have a wedding, that there’s no one right way to do it, that simple can be beautiful, and that inspiration can be found anywhere. I suppose my sense of color and design comes from my mother, an artist and interior designer, and her various creative friends – I grew up surrounded by women who taught me an appreciation for beauty and thoughtful details.

Save

By Amanda Colyer

For our DIY Wedding programs, I wanted to keep it simple and inexpensive, but still provide my guests with some entertainment. I decided on fan programs — with a fun twist — after seeing some great examples on the web.

Materials for DIY Wedding Programs:
– A2 sized folded cards (or card stock cut to size and folded)
– Golf pencils , pre-drilled with holes wide enough for ribbon to pass through
– Popsicle sticks , also pre-drilled
– Scissors
– Needle with a large eye
– Corner Rounder Punch
– Thin ribbon
– Double Sided Tape

Note: A2 is a great size because there’s room for content, but they’re not so big that they’re floppy. If you go with a different size, make sure that when folded, the programs will be sturdy enough to write on.

Designing my programs was a snap with Microsoft Word. On the front, I put the basics – names, ceremony details, and bird graphics to match our wedding theme. To jazz up the back, I came up with three wedding related games for our guests to play while they waited for the ceremony to start: a Mad Lib, a fill-in-the-blank, and a word search.

I had tons of ideas for games that I ran out of time to use. How about a crossword puzzle, Sudoku, maze, or connect the dots?

Once you’ve designed your programs (making sure to fit the card dimensions), print the front and back onto the outside of the cards. I used my regular ink jet printer and had no problems.

To start assembling, open up a card and put double stick tape on three sides.

Then put double stick tape on both sides of a popsicle stick, covering about half of the stick. Center on the card and press in place.

Close the card, pressing to seal the edges.

Using the corner rounder punch, carefully round all four corners.

Cut a piece of ribbon that, when halved, is long enough to reach from the end of the popsicle stick to the end of the pencil, while still allowing enough slack to write on the program.

Thread the halved ribbon through the hole in the popsicle stick.

Use a lark’s head knot to secure.

Thread the two cut ends of the ribbon of the ribbon through a golf pencil.

Knot the ends to secure, then trim.

Here’s the back of a finished program. Word search, anyone?

And the finished stack of about 50 wedding programs.

Our guests loved them! I had people coming up to me during the reception to read me their wedding Mad Libs. We got such a kick out of the reactions to these programs — I’m really glad I took the time to do them. They were quick and easy to put together, and total cost ended up being around $25 for 50 programs. The hardest part was drilling holes in the pencils and popsicle sticks. I’m dangerous around power tools, so my husband very nicely did them for me. And isn’t helping each other what marriage is all about?

Looking for DIY wedding ideas to add a personal stamp to your wedding – and to cut costs? Look no further! It’s DIY Wedding Week here at IntimateWeddings.com.

I asked some of the best wedding and craft bloggers on the web to contribute their DIY wedding finds and tips and they responded with some fantastic information.

Here’s who we have lined up for DIY Wedding Week:

Today: Amanda Colyer from Della Stella will be offering a fan program tutorial.

Tuesday: Kathryn Storke from Snippet & Ink will be sharing some of her favorite DIY wedding finds.

Wednesday: Jaime Haywood from It’s a Jaime Thing will be sharing some of her favorite DIY wedding projects.

Thursday: Sara Cotner from 2,000 Dollar Wedding writes about the six stages of the DIY process.

Friday: Justine Ungaro from The Unbride will be offering helpful tips on creating a personal website for your wedding.

Saturday: I will be sharing some of my favorite DIY wedding finds.

Check back later today for Amanda’s awesome program fan tutorial!

Bicycles are a big theme this year.  What better way to wrap up Green Wedding Week than with some bicycle themed ideas!

BTW, next week is DIY Wedding Week. Lots of great ideas are coming soon!

Bicycle save-the-date  from Etsy’s Cheerupcherup.

Tandem bicycle wedding invitation by Things are Better with a Parrott.

Another tandem bicycle invitation. This one is by Etsy’s Kiss + Tell Cards.

Just in case you just can’t get enough of tandem bicycle invitations, here’s one by Flickr’s Heatherjeany.

Wedding couple on a tandem bicycle. (Photo: Josh Goleman via ElizabethAnnDesigns.com)

Zoe and Quinn zooming along the BC backroads in their wedding garb. Read about their real wedding here. (Photo by 6:8 Photography)

Save