Centerpieces

For our centerpieces on the tables at the reception I wanted something not on Pinterest. Not that Pinterest is bad, I just didn't want to have the same reception as everyone else. Then I was stuck. It's kind of hard to think of these things on your own. Jordan had beta fish in cool vases. Jaime had cornocopias of flowers (she got married right around Thanksgiving). Brooke (who also got married right after Christmas) had ornaments. The bar had been set! I thought of something but I Googled it just to see what it would look like. There weren't many options on Google but it looked like it could work. So it was settled. We would have books as centerpieces.

I wanted thick, hardback books that had red covers. In order to save money we went to every thrift store around us. We nearly cleaned out all the red covered hardback books! But we found some pretty good finds. Plus, if you're like me and love the smell of old books it was great. It took us some time to do this but we bought about 4 or 5 books for each table.

Now came for the set up. We placed 2 table runners on the table over a white tablecloth. One was wider and was red. The other went on top of the red and was the gold color. We found square and circle mirrors at the dollar store and also battery powered candles (off-white and darker red.) We placed the candles wrapped with a band of ribbon on the mirrors and gave each table two candle and mirror combos. We then sorted the books in size order so it was easy to put them on the tables in nice stacks. We then plopped a Harry Potter book or Lord of the Rings book in the pile because these are our favorites! Now, our centerpieces were personalized.

To top it all off, we put 4 framed (gold frames from Target, Wal-Mart and the dollar store, not too hard to find them) pictures of us on each table. Three of the pictures were from when we were little and one of the both of us. And voila, beautiful centerpieces!

When deciding centerpieces think of the theme your wedding has or stick with the wedding colors. Pictures are always and easy go to and they're also fun. There are a lot of things you can do with pictures. Pinterest is a pretty good place to look for ideas of things to do with pictures or anything else, really. Think of something that fits both your personalities even if it's subtle.  If your venue allows candles, those create a wonderful glow to the room and can be more pleasing than regular lights. Battery powered candles work great too. Flowers are also a simple and elegant option. Flowers are especially welcome at spring and summer weddings. Centerpieces should enhance the overall feel of the reception hall and the wedding itself.

Frames

I started these cute frames for at craft-a-plaooza projects, but finished them 15 mintues ago. I found the idea on pinterest, but I don't remember the link.  

This cute little baby is 6 years old today. Happy birthday, sweet boy!

You need a wooden frame-- any kind or size. I just used from every inexpensive ones from Michaels.
joint compound (for dry wall)

paint (I used Folk Art brand artist pigment- burnt umber. It was very thick so I thinned it a bit.) You could use spray paint, too.

Rub'n Buff Wax Metallic finish ( a great product, cheap, long lasting, and useful)

decorator tip (round) and bag,
brushes

Put a about a half cup of joint compound into a bowl. It is thick! Slowly add water until it is the consistency of frosting. (Use more or less joint compound depending on how large your frame is.)

Fill a decorator bag with the compound and pipe a design on the frame. You could draw a design on first. (Obviously not the route a Wayward girl would choose. I might next time, though.)

Let that dry for a while. (I let my dry for 6 weeks. It was nice and dry. You could probably let it dry for several hours or overnight.)

Paint the frame. Let it dry. Give it another coat if needed.

Put a tiny dab (and I mean tiny) spot of Rub'n Buff. I dabbed mine off after I got too much on the first time.
Dab it on the piped design and around the edges. Buff it a little.

My first touch was too heavy, and I left too much gold. I painted over it.

I was working fast to get this posted, but I might go back and tidy this up.
I plan to put mirrors in both frames.