DIY Wedding Prep - Removing Labels from Bottles

You know, I don't think many DIY brides have any idea how much work their totally-DIY wedding is actually going to be until they are up to their necks in it. This was most certainly the case for me; it was all fun and games pinning adorable photos to my Pinterest board, but the fun began to fade a little when it came time to execute many of these tedious DIY projects.

A lot of our wedding decor involves wine bottles (good thing we love wine!), but leaving the labels on the bottles just wasn't an option for us. While staring at a giant box filled with over 40 wine bottles with labels on, I began to wonder how I would get them off without damaging the bottles, or my hands.

I came across this recipe and how-to-guide that I altered a little and hoooly did it ever work well! For that reason, I am passing along this how-to-guide to all of you!

What you will need:
White vinegar
Baking soda
Dish soap
Lots of warm water
An old butter knife
Rubber gloves
A scouring pad or brush

How-To:
1. Depending on how many bottles you have, fill your sink or tub (I used my tub) with warm water.
2. While the water is running, place all of your bottles into the warm water, submerging them so they fill with water and stay under the surface.
3. While the water is still running, add 2 tablespoons of dish soap to the tub (1 tablespoon if you're using your sink).
4. When your sink or tub is full, turn off the water and add 2 cups of vinegar and 1/2 cup of baking soda (half these measurements if you're using your sink).
5. Let the bottles soak in the mixture for at least 2 hours, longer if you can.
6. Remove the labels. Some will just fall off, others will need a little help from a knife or scratch pad/brush, but for the most part this should be an easy task.

Let me know how it goes, or if you have any other DIY hacks to share! 

Getting Crafty and Sentimental

I'm back! It's been a while and things in my world have been super hectic but I'm back! Maeghan and I are up to our necks in wedding planning; our apartment's wedding "corner" is now beginning to take over our entire apartment and there are to-do lists everywhere. Although stressful and hectic at times, we are having so much fun with it all and are still remembering what this day we are planning is all about.

For all holidays and celebrations between our engagement and our wedding, Maeghan and I decided to spend little-to-no money on one another and put the cash towards our wedding and honeymoon. So for Valentine's Day I had to get creative and crafty in order to come up with a gift that was thoughtful, not too cheesy, but really showed Maeghan that I love her.

I'm sure most of you are familiar with the "52 (or) 365 Reasons Why I Love You" gift (52 usually being written on playing cards and representing the number of weeks in a year, and 365 for the number of days). For my Valentine's gift I used this idea and put a wedding spin on it.

February 14th marked 182 days until Maeghan and I's wedding, and with the chaos of wedding planning filling our every day, I thought giving Maeghan a jar full of reasons why I want to marry her would be the perfect gift. So for the next (now) 174 days, Maeghan gets to read one reason why I can't wait to marry her and be reminded why we are planning this huge party in the first place!

Do you and yours skip V-Day altogether, go for material gifts, or try to cheese-it up as much as possible?

It's coming, whether you're ready or not!

By it's I mean the holidays. They're fast approaching and I don't need my calendar to tell me this. The cold and snowy weather, the twinkling lights on houses and in store windows, the festive music on the radio, the packed malls, and the trees for sale outside the supermarket all scream IT'S COMING.

However, this year I vowed to be more prepared. My best friend Pinterest and I have been preparing for months. She's given me so many fantastic ideas for creative DIY decorations and gifts, as well as material gift ideas for those hard-to-buy-for individuals in my life (you know who you are). But today, I thought I would share with you an adorable DIY decoration/gift idea that I used last year.

I assume this post will be most popular with young lovebirds, however, wouldn't it be cute for all of you well-seasoned lovebirds to have a little throwback to your first christmas in your first home or apartment?? You're welcome in advance for the brownie points.

For me, this craft required a trip to Michaels (always) but I'm sure you could find all of the necessary items at places like Walmart, or maybe even a dollar store. I purchased a brick of grey clay (the non-oven bake kind because I find it easier to work with, but either will work), white paint, and some ribbon. I used a paint brush and a black fine print sharpie that I had at home. 

While Maeghan was at work, I cleaned off our countertop (to make sure there wasn't anything that would stick to the clay), and started to shape my clay ornament. I chose to make mine into a heart; however, I saw others had made circles, diamonds, and squares. Once I had the closest thing I could get to a perfectly shaped heart, I used a pen to poke a hole at the top of my ornament so I could string the ribbon through later. Finally, I took my apartment key off my keychain and pressed it into the clay so that it was about halfway through (the clay was coming all the way through the hole in the key). With a butter knife and some very steady hands, I lifted the key out and used my fingers to touch up the edges of my key imprint since the sides caved in a bit while removing the key. 

After letting my ornament dry for a few days (in a drawer so Maeghan wouldn't find it), it was ready to be painted! I chose white, no idea why, but feel free to get creative with your colours, just keep in mind you'll be writing on it after. Once the paint was dry I used my sharpie to write out "Our First Apartment" and then the address of our first place (we don't live there anymore, potential burglars!). Lastly, I cut off a piece of ribbon long enough to make a loop to go around a tree branch, and fed it through the hole I had punctured at the top of my ornament.

I gave my creation to Maeghan as part of her Christmas gift last year, and once it was opened it became the cutest ornament on our tree! Our tree for Christmas 2014 goes up in a couple weeks, and I'm sure this will be the first decoration on it.

Hope your holiday preparations are going well, friends!

DIY Center Pieces: Part 1

I think I got my love of thrifting and DIYing from my parents. My father is the world's thriftiest man, I promise you, and my mother is Wonder Woman when it comes to DIY projects. So together they make the perfect team!

Thanks to them, Maeghan and I inherited a MASSIVE box (it took both of us to load it into our car and then into our apartment...) of vintage mason jars that we're incorporating into our center pieces for the wedding. I'm sure most of you have got the vibe already, but Maeghan and I are so excited about our vintage-rustic theme, so these mason jars are the perfect treasure. Along with the jars, my mom sent us home with a bin full of lace, beading, and twine that she inherited when my grandmother passed away many many years ago. Luckily, a few months earlier Maeghan and I stumbled upon and purchased a huge sack of burlap at a garage sale for five bucks!

With all these crafting supplies filling the far corner of our apartment, I convinced my wonderful maid of honour to spend the entire day with me re-purposing the jars. She even came prepared with OJ and champagne so we could sip on mimosas while we worked! We laid out the supplies, plugged in our hot glue guns (which in hindsight we should have placed on some scrap cardboard...sorry Maeghan!) and we were set to decorate!

After a few hours, a few mimosas, and when we'd run dry on creativity we had re-purposed over half of the jars we will need for the center pieces! Of course we had to place tea lights in all of them and light them for a true visual...

Hopefully even after all of the finger burns from hot glue I can convince my MOH to help me finish...