A handmade cottage: wedding decorations

Thursday 18 May 2017

Our Wedding cross stitch sampler & cross stitch table numbers / letters

Hubby and I recently celebrated our 4th anniversary. As most of you know, we handmade a lot of the things that featured in our wedding - and one of my favourites was this Wedding Day Cross Stitch Sampler. I also used the same kit to create table numbers! (well letters, actually.) I had never cross-stitched anything in my life before making this so I admit it was a bit of a plunge into the deep end, but when I saw this beautiful kit from socreastitch I just had to make it. Cross stitch is a lot easier than you might think, and many kits are colour coded. That said, this one wasn't but if I can get the hang of it, anyone can. It was such a pleasure to make - and I still remember evenings spent stitch in front of the fire stitching while hubby designed invites. We had the sampler on display on the actual day and it now hangs in our bedroom as a reminder of our beautiful day.

Thursday 8 December 2016

Festoon ceiling garland decoration + for Christmas or Weddings

If you fancy doing something a bit different with your Christmas decorations this year, here is a very pretty and affective way to add sparkly to your festive season. This string of ceiling decorations are so easy to make and you can easily adapt it to your own style. I had a lot of leftover baubles so I came up with this garland to make use of them. I like to keep mine simple with brown string, fairy lights and mis-matched baubles but you could easily keep them uniform or even add tinsel!

You will need:

A length of brown string / twine / ribbon

Battery operated wire fairy lights in silver or copper

Selection of baubles

Friday 27 June 2014

How to make natural wedding confetti: with dried flower petals

Photograph by Binky Nixon

A friend bought me these beautiful roses the other day. It took me right back to drying out petals to make our natural wedding confetti. It was so easy to make, and my friends and loved ones enjoyed helping us too. This was our basket of confetti on our wedding morning - we wanted dried rose petals in red, pinks and orange for our guests to throw. It didn't cost us any money to make, as 6 months prior to the wedding day I simply asked my close family and friends to dry out any roses they were given / or had growing in the garden ... and whenever I, or my gal pals bought ourselves flowers (as we girls like to do) we simply chose roses! Then on my wedding morning, my friends all popped in to see me, tipping in their confetti offerings on the way, it was such a lovely joint effort. Here's a simple guide to making your own dried petal confetti.

At the end of our wedding day, Mark the lovely caretaker had swept the confetti into a heart for us ...

Awwww : ) Photograph by Binky Nixon.

How to make dried rose petal confetti:

I used mostly roses but there are some others in there too! Lavender, Delphiniums and Hydrangea petals all make lovely confetti too ... and a mix of colours really brings it all to life. IMPORTANT NOTE: Air dried petals can stain if wet so I suggest you use freeze dried petals if you plan on throwing confetti in the rain! otherwise they work perfectly. Also note that while fresh petals look beautiful they can also stain, and wouldn't look as pretty in pictures as they're much heavier and will wilt quickly.

When you've enjoyed your vase of flowers and it's looking a little tired, pull all the petals off at the flower head in one go (where they attach at the stem) As doing this petal by petal will take an age!

Lay a piece of kitchen roll (paper towel if you are Stateside) on a large plate or tray and lay the petals out, making sure they're not too overcrowd or overlapping too much as the air needs to get to them.

Then put them somewhere warm and dry - an airing cupboard is perfect. That's it! When each batch is completely dried out, empty them into your basket (keep somewhere dry) and stick a fresh batch in the airing cupboard!

Photograph by Binky Nixon.

To read more, or see more pics from our handmade wedding click here.

JM x

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Thursday 12 December 2013

Rustic DIY christmas decorations

I am never happier than when I'm decorating the house for Christmas. It's such a lovely time. I make a huge mess, eat loads of mince pies and gradually transform the house into a magical rustic wonderland. I've experimented with various ways of decorating over the years and have found the following creations really bring the house to life, yet they are really easy to make. They would also be perfect for a winter wedding. When it comes to style there is no right way. We just need to create a lovely warm space that reflects us, and the way in which we want to celebrate. I love rustic traditional decoration but hopefully these tips will inspire you whatever your sense of style.

Decorating with nature

When it comes to Christmas decorating (or even interior design) I find it's easier to transform one little area at a time. We can use all sorts to make a feature - decanted Sherry or Port and pretty glasses on a tray are a lovely feature, as are nuts in a rustic bowl. Perhaps pick some Ivy / evergreens / berries from the garden and scatter them. Ivy looks lovely wrapped around picture frames. It lasts a long time and dries green, not brown. I've literally covered my house in it.

Fireplace decoration

I like sparkle as much as the next girl but the traditional log cabin vibe just says Christmas to me. I bought some really cheap long plain garlands (they're not real) and I simply laid along the mantle, added pine cones and berries. You can add real greenery or sparkle / baubles to it as well. Pine in the house smells wonderful ...

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