Accessories

I decided that with the lace on my dress, pearls would be a good compliment for my wedding jewelry. This decision was much easier than expected. I wanted round shaped pearls that were off-white and I wanted dangly earrings. Oh my goodness, folks, this was not easy to find. We looked EVERYWHERE. Department stores, pawn shops, Khol's. I looked through everyone's jewelry boxes. Ok, not everyone's but my sisters sent me pictures of their pearl jewelry and I looked through my mom and grandma's jewelry. Finally, I found a nice necklace and bracelet set from my grandma. She told me she never wore them so I could have them. Double score! Now came the adventure of finding matching earrings. Again, we looked everywhere. I had seen some in a department store early on in the hunt but they were no longer there when we looked again. Dang. Finally, they may have had silver hooks (all my accents were gold) but I found earrings I liked. Seriously, huge relief.

When deciding on what accessories you want, remember this is your wedding and you are the bride! (well, you can be a groom reading this too but I don't think you'll be looking for the same things as I was!) If you're wanting to go with something classic like pearls, don't settle on costume jewelry from the kid's department. Look everywhere. Don't feel like you need to spend a ton on jewelry but make sure what you're buying will look as classic as you want it. If you want to go for diamonds, again, don't settle for costume jewelry. It looks fake. I promise. When I was deciding between gold or silver, I took into account my wedding colors and the metal of my engagement ring. I had champagne color accents in the wedding colors and a yellow gold engagement ring, so for me, the choice was golds. If you want a classic look, don't go towards bold colored jewelry. I would stick with anything white, cream or ivory. My dress was stark white so I wanted an off-white pearl. If you want a touch of color, I would suggest pale colors. Even paler than pastels. You don't want to distract from you and your dress! But ultimately, it's your day. Feel beautiful no matter what!

PS I also got my bridesmaids pearl bracelets from Khol's. That one wasn't as hard of a decision!

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.