Pinterest Challenge: Bottle Vases

So...there have been lots of tutorials on Pinterest on how to turn wine bottles into vases or tumblers. Some of our dear friends are getting married, and wanted to try it, so we volunteered our space. Turns out it works pretty well!

What you need:

Bottles

Kitchen twine

Acetone(nail polish remover)

Bucket of ice water

Lighter

What we did:

Cut a length of kitchen twine long enough to wrap around the bottle four or five times. Then soak it in acetone(nail polish remover). Wrap the twine around the bottle, tie it in place, and light. Make sure your fingers are a safe distance away from the flaming twine.

Rotate the bottle quickly and evenly, so the flames run around the length of twine. This may take a few minutes, and you should be able to turn the bottle a good half-dozen times before the flames die down. Once the flames go out, immediately immerse the bottle in the bucket of ice water, with the neck pointing down.

The bottle should separate into two pieces with a loud "crack!"

Our first couple of attempts yielded somewhat uneven and rough edges, but after a bit of practice, the bottles started separating cleanly.

Obviously the edges will need to be sanded and smoothed, but overall we were all very impressed by how well this method worked.

In between adventures with flaming bottles, a couple of my friends managed to catch Ruth and say "hello". Ruth wasn't terribly interested in making friends, though.

Mr. Bear was worried Ruth might scramble and claw at Jessie, as we have both been on the receiving end of Ruth's social anxiety.

Pinterest Challenge: DIY Circus Marquee Letters

For our wedding, Mr. Bear and I decided on a vintage circus/carnival feel. I set to gathering inspiration on Pinterest, and stumbled across this tutorial on Ruffled:

We used much of the same materials: 2 sheets of foam board, 2 sheets of poster board, metallic spray paint(ours was gold), red spray paint, hot glue, and string lights.

Here's how ours came out:

The font I chose was Big Top. The extra flourishes made it a bit more challenging to cut out, but since the letters have walls, you can't really tell where any of the rough spots are.

We used round string lights from Target($13 per string of 25), and spray painted the inside of the walls metallic gold to really reflect the warm light of the bulbs.And here's how it looked on the big day:

They are now gracing the walls of our home, which is becoming more and more circus/carnivale-y awesome by the moment! Hurrah!

I"M GETTING MARRIED TOMORROW!!!!

So here's a brief roundup of our DIY activities over the past month(though mostly in the past week):

Our adorable cake topper(she's standing on a suitcase, 'cause he's so tall!) that I custom-painted.

Red/aqua heels, pink crinoline, and dotted tights. And darker hair for us both.

My fascinator. Two curled goosefeather pads from Etsy taken apart and reassembled, and a brooch.

My "I-Spy" list of things for people to take pictures of with digital cameras, phones, or the provided disposables.

My coffee-filter rose, brooch, and ostrich plume bouquet. Also, lights.

 

Wedding-themed mad libs!!!

Our marquee letters. In true Bird Hearts Bear fashion, I designed and Mr. Bear built, with the help of some of our fabulous friends.

This is what will print out at our photobooth. Mr. Bear actually wrote the photobooth program for the laptop himself, because he is genius. I designed the layout. We are an awesome team.

Today I blow off some steam by attending The Farm Chick's antique show with one of my bridesmaids, after which a couple more of my fabulous friends will be by to finish sewing the lace overlay for my dress(which is utterly GORGEOUS!!!) and I will finish assembling my bouquet. Everything is falling into place!!!

Wedding Daze

Wow, we're less than a month away from the wedding. So little to do, so much time. Wait...scratch that, reverse it.

I've been getting exciting packages in the mail all. the. time. Like these awesome flasks I had made for my bridesmaids and myself by Whimsy and Ink on etsy.




So much fun! Awesome photos await us.

And my reception dress(because I'm planning on only getting married once so I may as well have fun with it) by Betsey Johnson.


I heart the ruffles. I'm going to feel like Kaylee in "Shindig".

I've been making some progress on my bouquet, as well. I actually purchased the watercolors I need to paint my coffee filter roses, and I started putting the brooches on floral wire. This is going to be a blingtastic bouquet!

 Seriously, though, it's going to weigh like ten pounds.

The lace for my wedding dress arrived, as well, so fitting the dress and adding the lace overlay is next on my list. Thankfully the weekend before the wedding is a four-day weekend for both Mr. Bear and myself, so that'll be our crunch weekend to get everything done that still needs to be. Mr. bear impressed the hell out of me the other day by writing his own photobooth program for the reception. So...that's done, then.

I've been trying not to get too overwhelmed with everything, and take some time to enjoy the gorgeous spring while it's here. In that vein, here are some shots of our gorgeous blooming front yard, where I managed to not kill all the bulbs.

I'm doing a test run on cake this weekend for Mother's Day. I shall post my triumph(or failure) for you all to see next week.

A Winter in Review

Though the snow has melted now, we got dumped on a few times this year. I love the crist white contrast of the snow against the landscape, but the cold did keep me inside most of the winter, snuggled up with a bear and a corgi.

Welcome to our home!

Ponyo doesn't care for the snow either, and has to be coaxed out into it. She hates getting her paws wet.

Wedding preparations are nerve-wracking, but fun! We've been ordering and making decorations. The lanterns we will festoon the barn with arrived, and I told Mr. Bear we simply must assemble them all to see how they look en masse, to make sure there aren't any holes to fill, color-wise.

I think they look very fetching altogether, yes? After the wedding, I will create a chandelier out of them for the house.

Mr. Bear and I recently celebrated our anniversary(which one, you'll have to guess!) with a lovely dinner, a show, dessert, and gifts.

Such a handsome bear, writing a little love note. We left it in the
drawer of the little table we had dessert at in the restaurant.

Rice Krispie Bears for my Mr. Bear
made from my mother's vintage mold.

Flowers, chocolates, promises he intends to keep...

A silk handkerchief from WWII, given by
Air Force fellas to their gals back home.

With all the wind and cold we've been having, I find myself spending my time between classes wandering around the science building. If you take it in bits and pieces, it's almost like a Natural History/Art Museum.

Butterfly Display

Geology Display

Spiral Floor with Nautilus Mosaic Inlay

Had a lovely girls' night with my maid of honor, complete with silly beauty treatments. Seriously, if you've never heard of Curlformers and hate having to use heat on your hair to get curls, check these out!

Before

After

Out of Hibernation

My last post was approximately half a year ago. I know, it's a long time. You may remember it dealt with issues of depression, and I decided to put this blog on the back-burner while I adjusted to my meds and took time for other things. I'm happy to report that my physician and I have found a good dosage that works for me and I'm feeling lots better, enough so that I think it's time to start blogging again.

I do have some tutorials and things from the past six months which I would like to post eventually, but I'll save that for a bit later. We'll call this post a "round-up" of sorts. Here's what has been going on;

1) Mr. Bear and I are planning our wedding, which is less than three months away(!!!), and this is taking up most of our time outside of work and school. It's going to be an awesome shindig, and there will be many posts and pictures of the various preparations and DIY activities that are going into the Big Day.

My Wedding Inspiration Board on Pinterest!

2) I received a wonderful pressure canning set up from my mother for Christmas, and so far have made three small jars of jam. Expect lots and lots of canning recipes and updates on my various successes and failures.

3) Mr. Bear is building me a greenhouse this spring. We will be gardening in raised beds from now on, as I was not entirely satisfied with the container gardening we did last year, and we have suck a large yard it doesn't make much sense to not use it. I'm chomping at the bit to get started in the yard this year. :)

4) I am actively attempting to lose about 40lbs this year, having lost about 20 in the past 18 months. January 2011 found me at my heaviest ever and 60 lbs overweight. For my health and sanity, it is time to reverse that trend. Upping my activity level will be an integral part of the process.

I have many many goals associated with each of these things, and will be posting on my progress with them regularly as part of my attempt to be accountable for them.

My Grandmother's Trunk

 I never thought I'd be into the "Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue" thing, but I actually find I am. Today I went to my grandmother's house and went through the trunk in which she keeps the old family belongings that have been saved over the years. We pulled out baby dresses her grandmother crocheted and sewed for her, pictures, letters, and her mother's wedding dress.

 This is my great-grandmother and great-grandfather on September 19th, 1930, their wedding day. They were 18.

I used to spend part of every summer taking the train with my grandmother to visit her mother. I spent weeks playing in her award-winning garden, marveling over all her fair ribbons. Playing with her costume jewelry.

Her dress is a gauzy, flowing, cream confection of a dress. I could never in a million years fit into it, she was tiny. I would wear it in a heartbeat if I could.

I love the lace on the built-in slip, and the flower.

And the ties on the puffy sleeves.

We looked at a bunch of other things, too. Like her high school diploma.

Citizenship papers belonging to some of my relatives who immigrated from Ukraine.

A land grant. It's not really the president's signature, but I love the penmanship.

My great-grandfathers hand-operated hair trimmer. In perfect working order.

His monogrammed pocket squares. He was rather dapper.

What I was really looking for was a handkerchief to wear on my wedding day as my something old. I had many to choose from. My grandmother keeps them all in a cigar box.

They all have lovely details. Hand-crocheted edges, lace yellowed with age, hand-embroidered flowers, cutwork embroidery.

This is the one I ultimately chose. It is very delicate and thin, but beautifully embellished.

It belonged to my grandmother's grandmother, and on my wedding day I will pin it to the inside of my dress. Someday I will display my great-grandmother's wedding dress in my home and take joy in the incredible works of art wrought by the hands of my foremothers.