Paper Star Lanterns

Besides my shoes, one of the other big crafty-projects for our wedding this summer is the decorations. We decided right away that our "theme" would be magic, seeing as we've been performing magic together for almost a decade (and that he proposed during one of our shows!). While it's really "us" ... magic isn't a common wedding (or even party) theme. So we're going to have to create much of what we envision from scratch. 

Our wedding reception will be in a local community centre that is quite pretty even without decorations. While we'll leave much of it alone, my one concern was that the ceilings are high enough that the room might look empty without some decor. So we decided to try "lowering" the ceiling with some glowing paper star lanterns, creating a bit more atmosphere. Imagine...a sparkling, twinkle-light canopy of stars...inside, no less!

Paper Star Lanterns - the inspiration

Turns out, it's not all that easy to find paper star lanterns. Either they are "Christmas Only" items, the wrong colours or sizes, or totally overpriced. So my mom said "Why don't you see if you can find a template and try making them yourself?" BINGO!

A quick Google search produced this website: Homemade Gifts Made Easy which had not only instructions on how to make paper star lanterns, but also a template! I quickly printed it out and made a prototype. While not exceptionally easy, it was do-able. So I set out to find some bigger coloured paper, and to make my own. 

I popped into Michaels (I can't believe the people there don't know me by name yet...I'm in there at least twice a week!) and headed to their scrapbooking section. Lucky for me, their paper was on sale...5 for a dollar! Since I needed 5 sheets per star, this was a perfect deal. I grabbed a bunch of paper, a star shaped hole punch, and was on my way. Altogether I spent less than $20 to get the paper and hole punch for my stars. Score!

From there, the first (and extremely time consuming step) was cutting out the templates and folding them. I am beyond lucky to have had MAJOR help with this step. (And by major help I mean someone else did all of it!) Laura - you are amazing. THANK YOU!!

Template and one of the cut/folded papers

Each template makes one "cone" for the star, so you can see how much precise cutting and folding each took...times 5 per star...times 15 stars. Wow. Again, thanks Laura :)

The next step was to add the star punches before it was all glued together. Since everything had fold lines already, it was easier to get the punch in there. Just fold, and punch 2 stars at a time. See?

Fold and punch...

...then open sesame!

Basically you just keep folding and punching until you've got enough holes to shine the light through. Then you glue the cone together. Here's what mine looked like at this stage. Not bad!

It turns out that punching stars in the paper and gluing single cones together is the easy part. It gets more complicated (and frustrating) from here. 

Once you've got 5 of these cones made, you start gluing (or taping) them together. The little tabs on the edges of the paper help, but the process is still really awkward. I wound up using a glue/tape combo to keep it all together. 

Two together...

...then four...

And finally, all five!

Getting the fifth cone on there is a giant pain in the butt. If anyone else has done these and has a tip for simplifying, I would be forever grateful!!

One of the main appeals of the star project was the idea of lighting them to create a really "magical" atmosphere for the reception. After puzzling over twinkle lights and how to manage cords, I stumbled upon a solution. Wandering through the wedding section at (where else?) Michaels, I found these teeny, battery operated LED lights! PERFECT! On the day of the wedding, we'll drop these into the centre of the stars as we suspend them from the ceiling, giving them a pretty glow.

Battery operated LED light, with hook to thread the fishing wire through (off).

On...and very BRIGHT!!

A handy "side effect" of this project is that we're producing a TON of star shaped confetti. Next step...find something to do with all of it!

I'm happy with the project so far, but there is still tons to do :) Let me know what you think (and if you want to help!).

Meg 

Whitecaps Cake

So many projects...so little time :) This week the shoes are on hold as my schedule is a bit nuts, but I did make the time to create a very special cake for my awesome friend, Pene. Check it out!

As you can see, I re-created the Vancouver Whitecaps logo in chocolate for the top of the cake. Why, you ask? Well because this isn't just any old cake. This is the going-away/good luck cake for Pene...who JUST MADE THE WHITECAPS! To play professional soccer has been her lifelong dream, and she made it come true. How amazing is that?! 

The logo is made from Wilton Candy Melts (get 'em at Michaels Craft Stores). Basically, I just printed out the logo, taped it down on the counter, and put some wax paper on top (also taped down). After heating and tinting the candy melts, you just pipe it over the image with an icing bag. You can see my mid-way progress below:

And the completed version:

The cake itself was pretty same-old, plain old. Just a rainbow-bit Betty Crocker cake mix (her fave...mine too, incidentally), with my homemade buttercream icing. 

But take a basic cake and add a meaningful chocolate logo ... instant happiness!

Way to go Pene!! Good luck with your big adventure :)

Meg

Crystal Kicks

Once upon a time, before there was Pinterest, there was plain, old Google Images. While not as beautiful as Pinterest, Google Images still hands over TONS of ideas with a few quick keystrokes.  And it was to Google Images that I turned after I got engaged last year when I wanted to find some truly amazing shoes. Enter Christian Louboutin's "Aurora Boreale" - a $3,600.00 pair of shoes that is completely encrusted in Swarovski crystals. 

Obviously, I almost died. First, because the shoes are so amazing, and second, because of the cost. So I set out to see if I could find them any cheaper. Along the way, I stumbled upon a super fun blog called Redo My Shoe. The author makes a living by strassing (aka: crystallizing) people's Louboutin's that they send to him. Awesome, right? I thought so. And then I thought:

"I'm awesome too...and I bet I could strass my own shoes!"

After some Google/YouTube research, I discovered that lots of other people have tried this, and (mostly) succeeded. So after I psyched myself up, I decided to give it a go. While nowhere close to being done yet, I thought I'd blog my progress so far. Let me know what you think :)

First, I purchased plain black patent leather pumps (at 40% off - yeah!) from The Bay, then wore them to work (inside only) for about 2 weeks to break them in. 

Next I painted them silver (to give the crystals a similar colour base). This is after the first coat of paint only. (Ugly, right? Yeah, it was bad.) It eventually took 5 coats of paint to cover the black. Totally worth it. 

After about 3 coats of paint (below), I decided that I wanted to paint the soles red to look like actual Louboutin's. After some drama at the paint store (RED PAINT on my FAVORITE LULULEMON HOODIE! Rawr!!) I started the slow, painful process of taping off the silver in order to paint the soles. (For those of you who are panicked about my hoodie...Tide to Go saved the day. Disaster averted!)

Check it out! Looking good, right? After 3 coats of red, I peeled off the tape and added another 2 coats of silver to the shoes. They are now ready to strass! 

I decided to start on the heel (at the bottom) and work my way up. That way, if it turned out I was terrible at applying a zillion crystals, at least it would be on the heel only. Check out my progress to date (April 5, 2012): 

So far that is about 300 crystals, and about 90 minutes of crystal-work. (The painting/prep work took very little time, but was spread out over a number of days so it could dry properly.) As you've probably noticed, all the crystals are the same size (and TINY). This was by design. Once I move onto the sides of the shoes, I'll start intermixing 3 different sizes of crystals. I'm still nervous, but I have a plan :) For those of you who are wondering, I expect about 15-20 hours of strassing altogether, and somewhere in the region of 3000-4000 crystals (total). 

As you can probably tell, I'm REALLY excited about this project. (The photos don't do the crystals justice - they sparkle like you would not believe!) I can't wait to keep working on them and then to finally wear them. Watch for a flash of sparkle at the altar!

What do you think? :) Chat soon,

Meg

Wrap Bracelets

So it's been awhile since my last post...sorry about that :) It's not because I haven't been busy. It's that I've been SO busy I haven't had time to write about it! Thank goodness for quiet Sunday afternoons :)


One of the projects that inspired this blog was the wrap bracelet trend. I was hearing these bracelets were selling for over $300 in Vancouver, and I figured I could make one for myself for less than $15. Turns out, I was right! 


Here's the inspiration (by Chan Luu):

And here's my completed project! (I really need a better camera):

Not bad, hey? And guess what? It was EASY! After a short (literally 5 minute) instruction session from a co-worker, I was off and running. I've made a bunch since I started, but the one pictured is my favorite. I get TONS of compliments, and people never believe me when I say I made it myself. Super fun :) I'm really excited about making some this spring that are NEON - because I am loving that trend. Nothing like re-living the 80's!

If you want to make your own, I found a good tutorial online HERE. Or, if you'd like to buy one, check out Taralicious Designs on Facebook. She makes GORGEOUS stuff! I just wish I had a bigger jewelry box... :)


Meg

Ninjabread Men

I started playing ice hockey this year. Since it's just beginner, rec-league hockey, our house league has pretty plain, simple jerseys. The only difference between teams is the colour. I was very excited to be assigned to the black team this year for two reasons. First, black is perennially slimming and with all that gear on...well, you get the idea. Second, black lends itself to all sorts of awesome team names. And I had a great one in mind. 

At the first game, we were asked to submit team name ideas by email. The first idea submitted? Black Currants. Terrifying, right? Tiny fruit...ahhhhhhhhhh!!! Next up: Black widows. Really? Spiders? Deadly or otherwise, you can still step on them. It wasn't looking good. So I decided to weigh in. 

"What about Ninja's?"

After all, Ninja's are pretty badass! They sneak up on you and them BAM! Wasn't that how we wanted to score all our goals this season? I thought so!

As I had expected, the team loved the idea, and so we became the Ice Ninja's. [NOTE: No one is actually afraid of us, but it feels pretty good to scream "Hi-YAHHH!" before every period :o) ]

Anyway, my teammate and I thought we'd make some cookies for the team for Christmas. But instead of making plain ol' cookies...we decided to go with the theme and make Ninjabread Men! Check 'em out :)

The box:

Our finished cookies:

Pretty good right? We thought so! The number one question I get about these is "How did you shape them as Ninja's?!" And the answer is...cookie cutters. Grab some for yourself at Think Geek. 

The second most common question I get is "How do you make black icing?" It's actually pretty simple. Whether you use store bought or home made icing, start with chocolate. Brown is the best place to start to get the icing black. Then, add black gel food colouring, made by Wilton. (It sounds like a highly specialized icing thing, I know. But you can get it at Wal Mart or Michaels.) Mix it in and voila! Black icing :)

And there you have it! Another knockoff success :)

Meg

Rainbow Cake

So while the intention of this blog is to showcase my attempts at imitating fashion that I love, I'm a sucker for all sorts of good ideas :) A few weeks ago, I was surfing around on Pinterest (best.website.ever.) and saw this rainbow cake: 

The Original!

Since I had a potluck to attend, I busted out my food colouring and got to work. It turned out to be a really easy project, with lots of great results. Here's how it looked, step by step, as I made my own rainbow cake. 

Disclaimer: I can't actually bake. So to start, I went and bought myself two boxes of Betty Crocker white cake mix :) Whether you make it from scratch or from a box, trust me on this...use white cake mix. The colours will look way better than if you try to colour chocolate cake!

On to the process. First, tint the dye. I recommend actually having orange colouring instead of trying to mix it. I used the Wilton colour gels (available at Michaels or Wal-Mart) to get the vibrant colours. Next, you have to pour the batter into the pans. 

I know what you're thinking, because I've already been asked 15 times. "How do you layer the colours like that?!" Easy - and I'll tell you. First, you'll notice the colour layering is opposite in each pan. This is to evenly distribute the coloured batter between both cakes. I recommend starting with one cake, and then doing the second (rather than doing both at once). 

To layer the colours: Take the red batter, and pour about two thirds of it right into the middle of your pan. It will naturally spread out across the bottom - let it! Next, take slightly less than two thirds of the orange, and pour it directly into the middle of the red batter. It will also begin to spread, and this is good! As you proceed, keep pouring the next colour right into the centre of the previous colour, and you'll create the rings shown above. Use less of each colour as you go along, as when you do the second pan, you will start with purple (and therefore should have the most leftover purple from the first round.)

Once you're done, go ahead and bake. As you can see, baking isn't my strong suit. These are UGLY!

At this point, I thought I had a disaster on my hands. But...there was no turning back. I planned to torte and fill the cake right from the get go, so when I cut it open I was VERY pleased to see the inside of the cake looked lots better than the outside. Judge for yourself:

"ooohhhh....ahhhhh!"

From here, I filled the cake with white buttercream icing, and then covered the whole thing in more white buttercream icing. I wanted it to look really plain, so people would be dazzled by the inside when I cut it open. Here's how it looked all done:

Ta da! I couldn't wait to bring it to our party that night. When it was time for dessert, I cut it open and people were floored! I was too, actually. It turned out better than I had expected, and it tasted awesome! Here are some more pictures of the inside:

And there you have it - rainbow cake! Thanks to Pinterest for the inspiration and to Omnomicon for the how-to. Check out her page for the diet cake version!

 - Meg

The Big Idea

This is my very first blog post EVER - so thanks for being here to read it! You might just be my first ever reader. Pretty cool, right?!

So what is this blog all about? Take a moment and look at the title. What is the sincerest form of flattery? Imitation of course. And that's why I'm here.

Let's be honest. Who doesn't love designer stuff? I'll admit it ... I am a total sucker for a good label or a hot up-and-coming brand I've seen in a magazine. But without fail, when I seek out the item I am lusting after, I am flabbergasted by the price. So what's a normal girl (with a normal job) to do?   I thought for a long time that I was just going to be stuck either a) being bummed about what I can't have or b) buying a cheap, imperfect version of what I wanted at chain stores. But then one day, inspiration struck...

What if I could make my own?

That's what I'm hoping to discover as I go along. Being raised by a craft-superstar mom, and having spent a decade or so as a camp leader, I am relatively confident in my DIY skills. That being said...I've also had my share of disasters. I'll document both the successes and the failures here. Hopefully it will inspire some of you to do-designer-stuff yourself, too!

Thanks for reading - feel free to drop me a line anytime in the comments section. Cheers!