Realistically speaking, a new year's eve party and a wedding reception aren't really that different when it comes to decor.  A set of colors, a theme, or a common element are decided, and the rest builds from there!  With new year's eve gearing up to start in about 24 hours, here are some last minute DIY decor ideas that could work whether you're getting hitched or just looking for that kiss at midnight:

1) Use etching materials (~$10) and simple champagne fleutes (~$1 ea) to etch your guests' monograms, and make their toasts truly a personal experience.

2) String large scale pieces of glitter, construction paper, or left over wrapping paper onto fishing line to create a truly glitterati-worthy garland.

3) Cut some branches from your dormant trees in your backyard, and use some spray adhesive and glitter to make them dazzle as sparkling centerpieces.

4) If you have flooring that provides for easy clean up, sprinkle fine glitter throughout the party area for a glowing floor.

5) Hang a giant sheet of white or black or silver paper, and provide sharpies of varying metalic colors with which your guests can write their resolutions! 

And here are some pics that I threw together that make me think of a new years eve wedding! 

Some things you just can't buy.  Some things you can buy if you wanted to take out a second mortgage on your parents' home.  And some things you can simply make.  DIY wedding projects are so much fun because you save a bundle of money while creating something totally you for your wedding.  Projects are also a really great way to include others in your wedding plans.  Maybe your future mother-in-law is crafty with a sewing machine.  Maybe your cousins would love to come over and have pizza as payment for cutting out hundreds of paper flowers. 

Today I'll be featuring three really great DIY projects that you can tackle at home!  These projects come from a website called The Sweetest Occasion which has all kinds of crafty projects for the everyday guy or gal. 

First up we have a ring pillow that is totally stitchable.  They used some striped fabric, but you could use just about any that you love. 

You will need the following supplies: 
one yard of fabric
twill tape or ribbon
thread
needle
sewing machine

Next we have a gorgeous ruffled garland that you could make for any number of uses.  It could be a swag for a chair, banister, or light fixture.  I even think you could pull this off as a belt! 

You will need:

4 yards of fabric
Rotary cutter
Pinking shears
Thread and needle
Sewing machine
Twill tape or ribbon

And finally, DIY paper pinwheels which would be totally fun as decor during a spring or summer wedding or as party favors for the kids. 

You will need:

Paper cut into 6" squares

Brads

Pencil

Exacto-blade

Straws (optional for handles)

So again, three very easy projects to make some details of your wedding stand out as memorable and unique projects.  Click on the pictures to go to detailed instructions for each project.  Go on, grab a friend, and get crafty! 

A long time ago, I had been hunting for old mason jars for candleholders for part of our wedding decor.  I came across a box of jars at a garage sale for a quarter!  I thought I had hit gold because this box was huge and probably held about 30 jars.  As I peered in, I could see that the jars were covered on the inside from candlewax.  Apparently, someone had had the same idea as me...

Let's face it - candlewax can be a bitch to get out.  Can I say that here?  It needs to be said.  It's a tough, gripping substance that clings to wherever it settled.  But I had hope for these jars, and my thought was that worse case scenario, I was only going to put another candle in them, so who cared if there was already wax on the bottom?  When I brought the box home, my lovely husband-to-be sprung to my side and told me that a long time ago when he worked for a restaurant, they had had to clean the wax out of glass candleholders all the time and that a cold water bath was the way to go. 

So today, I'm going to walk you through my wax-waning process which turned out to be quite simple! 

Here are a few of the jars that I needed to clean.  You can see that there is quite a bit of wax on the bottom of these.  I'm assuming that a votive or tea light was placed in these, and this is how the wax melted. 

 Here's an even closer look.  There is a LOT of wax here.  Way more than a scrape of a butter knife or a fingernail can handle.

And if you still didn't believe me or wanted an even CLOSER look at the wax, check out the bottom of this jar which is completely covered.

To combat this problem, I filled my sink with an ice bath.  I used all the ice we had on hand which happened to be quite a bit, but if you've only got one or two trays of ice, you may want to go get a bag of ice from the store.  One small bag should be enough to clean all the wax out of your candleholders.  I filled my sink up about a third of the way, and then put a little ice water in each of the jars and let them sit in the ice bath for about 2 minutes to get the wax good and cold.  The egg heads of the world could tell you that what is happening is that the wax is contracting because of the change in temperature making it easier to pop out of the jar. 

Next, you'll need some long, pointed object to pick away at the ice.  I dismantled an old pair of kitchen shears, but you could use a butter knife or something else.  It worked best if I used the pointed edge to break up the wax a little followed by trying to squeeze the point around the perimeter of the jar.  It was kind of fun to watch the wax break up and then make a little pop out of the mold. 

 Et voila!  This jar is clear!  (Say that with the lady's voice from Polterguiest.)  The waxy leftover was dumped back into my sink...MOMENTARILY!  After I went through the wax removal process with all my jars, I had a sink full of cold water with wax bits floating everywhere.  THESE SHOULD NOT GO DOWN YOUR DRAIN.  You will end up with moderate to severe plumbing problems when that wax builds up in your drain pipes.  Instead, take a strainer or mesh or even your hands to get all the wax out of the water (it should mostly be floating) and throw it away.  Then you can drain the water. 

This whole process will also come in handy when it comes time to remove wax from candleholders after your own wedding.  I know that some rental companies will charge you less if you clean out your own wax before returning the candleholders. 

And while we're on the subject of wax, if you end up with wax on fabric (tablecloths most likely), you can get it up if you put a piece of newspaper over the fabric and iron the area.  The wax will be soaked up into the newspaper leaving your fabric back to its previous condition.  Yay!!

I hope this little process proves useful for you, dear readers.  What other practical cleaning processes have come into play for your own weddings?  Share on the message boards! 

Adding a slush fund to your wedding budget is something that every bride and groom is going to need.  While you think you’re on top of everything (like I did), you are going to end up needing/wanting/using numerous random things (like I did), so let’s all come to terms with a little bit of your budget set aside for miscellaneous supplies.  And hey, if I’m wrong, and you don’t end up using it, no biggie.  Just keep your receipts.  J

Here are a baker’s dozen $5 purchases that ended up being life savers in preparing for our wedding…

Fishing line – Not just for reels anymore, a good spool of fishing line came in handy in SOOOOOO many situations.  I used it to hang tissue poms so that they looked as if they were floating.  Fishing line is really strong, so we even used it to tie back curtains and to secure things to our tent frames. 

Chalk – Lots of handy uses here and there for a good piece of chalk.  It’s great for covering stains on white dresses, writing on things, and making removable marks on cement for where things should be placed outside. 

Boxes – Whether it’s a bunch of reused cardboard boxes or the sturdy plastic tubs that usually house Christmas décor, you are going to need to transport millions of items back and forth between where you store your wedding décor and your ceremony and reception locations.  Have on hand all different sizes so that your projects that consumed significant time and money will be well protected as they are ferried back and forth. 

Glue gun – I used my new glue gun for making my flower girl head pieces, but glue guns can also come in handy in attaching anything to anything. 

Sharpies – When it comes time to label all the boxes and bags around you, a good ol’ permanent marker will come in handy.  A sharpie is also good to mark things on the bottom so that you know what is yours and what is borrowed from which friend. 

Thumbtacks – We used these to attach fishing lines into grooves in walls and also to hang agendas on the walls in our dressing rooms so that everyone knew everything under the sun. 

Yard stick – Soooo handy when it comes time to measure fabric or ribbon or whatever.  Do not guess if you are trying to make 10 somethings that are all supposed to be uniform.  Measure twice, cut once (spend once). 

Pinking shears – If you are using fabric, these funny scissors will cut a zigzag into the ends so that the unraveling happens at a much slower rate or not at all…(I actually spent $20 on these, but they were so handy, I felt the need to include them here.  Don’t hate me.)

Journal – Carry a pen and a notebook with you EVERYWHERE.  I could be miles from my computer and have a great idea or hear a song that you must play to get people dancing or meet someone who has the number of a great florist or something.  Don’t leave your house without your journal if you are planning a wedding!

Wooden dowels – We used these as makeshift curtain rods which we tied to our tent frames to make it look like our curtains were just magically hung in place. 

Zip ties – You never know when you’re going to need something strong to tie something down, back, up…And you can always cover an ugly zip tie with a pretty piece of ribbon.

Baggies – Keep all those little pins and what not separated and organized. 

Tweezers – I used tweezers to attach my stamps (I had the “lick” kind”.)

Lint rollers – Good for giving your fabrics a once over before the wedding begins or pictures are taken. 

And I’m sure I have ten thousand other little odds and ends that needed to be purchased, but these were probably the most frequently used in a pinch…

So what have YOU purchased for your wedding that has turned out to be super important regardless of how little it costs or how odd it seems? 

Hidy-ho, neighbors!

I'm a bit in a frantic mode right now as about ten things on our to-do list are dangling in front of my eyes right now.  Our poor little house looks like a wedding threw up all over it. 

Anyhoo, I wanted to share with you a project that I just finished up this morning - DIY chalkboards.  These are SO MUCH FUN to make, and the ways you could use them are really unlimited.  We decided that we wanted them for table numbers and other signage around our wedding, only black and green chalkboards really didn't go with our color scheme.  I recently discovered, however, that chalkboard paint now comes in a dyable solution!  You can pick from a ton of different colors to make chalkboards that match your decor!

Here's how they turned out...

And here's how it all went down...

See that pine board below that was trying to blend in with the other discarded lumber?  Not so fast, pine board.  I've got plans for you...but first!  First, before anything else is done, we must pull the backings off of all the frames.  I found my frames at various garage sales and thrift shops.  As I pulled each backing off, I labeled the backings and the frames with letters.  The backings will become the stencils for us here in a bit...

With my frames fully stripped, I needed a place to lay them out, so I set up a little painting station in our well ventilated garage because I knew I was going to use an ocean load of spray paint. 

Next I used a good quality acrylic primer to cover everything.  This is probably the most important step.  Do not try to be cheap and forgo the primer.  Your paint will NOT stick as well even if your wood is totally bare and untreated.  For goodness sakes, spend the extra $5 and get the primer.  And I don't have one single explanation as to why the picture of the paint is on it's side.  I have been trying to fix it and alas, it won't budge.  Just lean your head a bit to the right, and you should be fine.  :)  After priming all sides, you'll paint the color of your choice onto the frames.  I went with a flat finish white paint, and I sprayed the hell out of these frames.  All sides received at least two coats of paint, and some three.  Don't skimp on the paint...

Now back to that pine board...  Using the backings from all the frames, I laid out the backings in an arrangement so that I minimized wasted space on the pine board.  I ended up using two pine boards for the amount of frames that I had.  Then I once again called upon my soon-to-be-handy-dandy-in-laws to cut out the pieces for me since power tools frighten me.  Like magic, when I came home from work that day, the pine board was gone, and all the soon-to-be-chalkboards had arrived.  See how the letters come in handy when you're trying to reunit the frame to the proper board?   

Now it's time to prime and paint the chalkboards.  I used Rustoleum's tintable chalkboard paint which was found at Menards but could probably be found just about anywhere.  Check out all the color choices you have!  For my color, I went with "Banner Blue".  When in doubt, ask the paint people before stabbing in the dark for what you think you need.  I couldn't figure out what type of primer I'd need for chalkboard paint, having never used it, so I asked and was directed to the primer on the right which actually doesn't say the word "primer" at all.  It's just called "Rustoleum Aqua Water Based Paint"...and it's white...so...hmm.... Sure enough, though, the "primer" worked like a charm!  DO IT.   

I painted my first coat when it was dark out and thought that one coat was good enough.  In the keen light of day, I could see that I would need more than one coat.  I ended up doing three coats, and I could have probably done a fourth.  The one can of chalkboard paint was plenty enough to give all of my boards three coats.  I didn't take a picture of the roller that I used, but it was a 150 "grit" foam roller that you can find at any hardware store.  I went through two rollers because I had a two pack, but I did find myself wishing I had a third for the third coat.  Instead, I wrapped my second coat roller tightly in a grocery bag after using it, and it was fine to use the next morning.  And check them out as they are reuninted with their frames!  So hot!  The paint is supposed to "cure" for four days before any chalk is applied. 

I had to pull a lot of the old nails out of the backs of the frames as they just became annoying after a while.  I just used a pair of nippers (is that what they are called?  That is what I like to call them...) to pull anything extra out of the backs.  To make sure the chalkboards stayed snugly in place, I went through about an entire package of glue sticks in my glue gun.  With the very last few frames, I ended up stealing some of my fiance's painter's caulk from his stash because I ran out, so get plenty of glue sticks if you ever try to do as many frames as this... 

And last but not least, I used brown kraft paper to seal the backs of the frames so that they looked finished and so that people couldn't see what happens when an overly-zealous adult gets crazy with a glue gun and nippers. 

Here's the price breakdown:

28 Vintage Frames - $50

Pine boards - 2 @ $5 each

Primer - 2 cans acrylic, one can latex - $15

Flat white spray paint - $3

Tinted chalkboard paint $12

Rollers - $3

Glue sticks - $3

Kraft paper - $6

Double sided tape - $4

Other things that I already had on hand:  Drop cloth, sharpie, roller frame, "nippers", glue gun, chalk, and a handy man to cut the wood. 

Here's the time breakdown: 

Shopping for stuff - probably a total of 3 hours, but this was broken up throughout the summer.

Researching how to do this - 1 hour.

Painting - 2 hours (with lots of breaks inbetween for drying times)

Preparing the pine - 2 hours

Attaching the painted pieces - 2 hours

MY GRAND TOTAL:    $106 and 10 hours of labor

VERDICT:  Here at the end, I am thrilled with my results, and I can't wait to see these on our tables at the wedding!!!  While labor intensive with multiple trips to the store, I think these are really fun and totally worth it!