littlebittythings is NOW Open!!!

I'm SO excited to share this with you all...and some of you might already know if you signed up to receive a notice about it, but I'll tell it again!

My etsy shop, littlebittythings, is now open! I worked all weekend putting together some of my favorite purses and totes and barely managed to finish sewing them all before friends were buying them out from under my store! I'm blessed to have SUCH good friends - thank you, thank you!

Hop on over and check it out...or just look to the right on my actual blog page (not in Reader) to see my mini etsy store that's linked.

Thanks for shopping!

Quick and Simple...

That’s the way us DIY brides like things, right? Well, this project (or should I say THESE projects) were super easy and quick to knock out. I worked on them for a while, but that’s just because I started and finished one and then waited almost a month before I finished the second one. What could I be talking about? Oh, just my garters...I hadn’t previously given a lot of thought to my garter. Honestly, the thought to make my own never even crossed my mind. But I was in JoAnn’s one day shopping for something else (who knows what it was?) and I came across this material that was just PERFECT to use for my wedding. What to use it for? I didn't really know, but I bought it anyway! Now...I just had to find something that I could make out of this beautiful stuff. I hadn’t really settled on anything when I ran across this post...and knew immediately what to do with my material.

Looking at the instructions, it all seemed super simple, and it was. The directions were well-written and easy to follow. In fact, the hardest part about all of it was finding the elastic thread! It didn’t come packaged the way that I had envisioned that it would, so I kept going right past it. Once all of my materials were gathered, I spent about an hour one weekend working on this project.

I won’t re-post the directions...you can find them here if you’d like.

Here’s the final result. Pretty, yes?

Front

Back

Once it was finished, I decided that I really needed to be a two-garter bride. One to keep and one to throw, right? I tried REALLY hard to talk B out of the whole bouquet toss and garter toss, but he’s not hearing any of it. He wants to do this, and since I’ve accepted the fact that I have a VERY involved and opinionated groom...and it IS his wedding too...I set about making one more garter. The plain satin garter was gorgeous, but I had in mind another how-to post I had seen on weddingbee a while back.

Knowing I had bookmarked it, it was just a matter of finding the dang thing...all of you other brides out there can sympathize...I’ve bookmarked a LOT of things! Once found, I set about collecting my materials. I decided that although the tutorial talked about using a ribbon as the center of the garter, that I would use a narrow strip of my crepe-backed satin to tie the two garters together nicely. I found some lace at JoAnn’s that I liked, and picked up some narrow elastic, and I was set.

Like the other how-to, these directions were also simple to follow. I didn’t follow them word for word, since I wasn’t using ribbon as the center, but once adjustments were made for that small change, it was simple to finish. I used safety pins on the ends of my elastic to “thread” the elastic through my satin “ribbon” and then started pulling it through. I had to make several attempts to get the elastic bunched just right and the right length to go around my thigh. Once I finished that part, sewing the ends up was easy.
Here’s the finished product. You can tell the difference between the elastic thread (which doesn’t bunch) and the elastic band (that does bunch, huh?). I actually pulled the elastic out once and re-threaded it hoping to make it less bunched, but it didn’t really work out. So I left it. Once it’s on my leg, seen below, it’s not as bunched looking.

Here they are together, how I plan on wearing them. (Except I won’t be wearing them over pants, obviously!) B was sooo very helpful, telling me the entire time that I was taking these pictures that I wasn't supposed to wear pants underneath my dress! What do you think? I like that they match the eggplant color and love that one is kinda girly and one is more simple.

Here’s a cost breakdown for you:
Tossing Garter:
Material - $4.87
Elastic thread - $1.94
Thread - $1.72

Keepsake Garter:
Material - used from other piece
Lace - $2.91
Elastic - $1.72

Total together: $13.16

I’d say that’s a steal of a deal! And I love that I actually made this part of my bridal ensemble.

Are you planning on making part of your bridal look? Share the details with me!

Stormy Weather Anyone???

Does an image like this one....

source

make you want to possibly have rain on your wedding day?

I know, I know...that sounds kind of backwards. The last thing that most brides want on their wedding day is rain, but if you could get a picture like the one above...with your gown blowing in the wind as the storm rolls in, your hair all tossled about, and the skies above dark with thunderstorm clouds, while also reflecting the last rays of sunshine in the sky...would you do it?


Not actually stand there in the coming stormy weather until raindrops fall. Because let's be honest here, you didn't spend ALL that money just to have your hair and make-up ruined by rain! And definitely AFTER your ceremony if you're a bride like me with an outdoor ceremony. But if you also have an indoor reception following your ceremony...would stormy weather really be that bad?

I think that a shot like that one would be worth a few storm clouds on my wedding day. Of course, now that I've said that, I've probably jinxed myself to doom with a rainy wedding day...which isn't REALLY what I want!

Then again, if it does storm, then maybe I could have some rainy-day accessories like these...

source of all

What do you think? Worth it for that dramatic shot? Or you would prefer sunshine on your big day?

That’s Just Fine and Dandy!

You’ve got that right – it’s not only a great saying, but it’s an internet store that sells men’s accessories named, you guessed it - The Fine and Dandy Shop. Could these be accessories for the Big Day? Sure they could!

Go ahead, take a gander at what they have for you...I’ll wait here patiently. (I really couldn’t resist using an old-fashioned word there – you’ll know why after you click to their site!)

Isn’t their stuff great?!? I think so. It almost makes me wish that we were having an “old-fashioned” or “turn of the century” themed wedding just to get some of their great accessories!

A few weeks back, Matt with The Fine and Dandy Shop contacted me through the email contact on the right side of my blog. (Yes, it really works, and I check it!) He told me that he had found my blog and thought that the merchandise that The Fine and DandyShop had to offer would be a good “fit” with my blog content and for my readers.

Turns out that he was right. I am thrilled to offer this post for their wares. Here are some of my personal favorites (in case you didn’t click over to their store earlier):

A red/gold ascot

Black and silver polka-dotted handkerchief

A themed Double Decker bus set of cuff links (too cute for the Londoner!)

A fleur-de-lis set of cuff links (for the N'Awlins in us all!)

A great "newspaper boy" cap

This one just reminded of Sinatra and I had to include it!

And, of course, I couldn't not include a purple paisly bow tie!

Like I said - really great stuff. The Shop carries a line of men's accesories that includes (but is not limited to): ties, bow ties, ascots, scarves, handkerchiefs, hats, pocket squares, suspenders and sock garters, wallets, cuff links, tie bars/pins, flasks and money clip and SO much more. Just about everything that your groom would need for his Big Day.

Matt also mentioned to me that they keep a blog up too...I've been checking in on it occassionally and it's a great source of inspiration for men's wear. Here's the link for the blog. If you didn’t check out the store earlier, go now. You won’t be sorry.

Go ahead and dress your groom and his guys up in style!!!

**All images sourced from The Fine and Dandy Shop.

Shoes Fit for a Queen!

The last big accomplishment that my Maids and I pulled off on our weekend of shopping came about last. I had on my to-do list for the weekend that I wanted to find some wedding shoes. But it was totally a minor item on the list – first and foremost were the dresses.

Since we took care of the dresses so “quickly” (I know that the Maids probably don’t think that it happened all that quickly!) we had plenty of time to scour the mall for shoes. Except that isn’t really how we stumbled upon our shoes. Here’s what happened…

Like I mentioned before, Maid Britney was happy with her dress, but not sure that she fit in enough with the other girls. So, even though we went ahead and bought her dress along with the others at Penney’s, we continued down through the mall looking for a better dress. I mean, what girl hasn’t bought something and found EXACLTY what she had originally been searching for earlier immediately after buying the one that she settled on? Good thing that returns are so easy!

So we trotted over to Nordstrom’s. Struck out. Their LBD selection was very disappointing, and their shoe sale didn’t have anything that caught my eye. On over to Dillard’s we went. On our way to the escalator to get to the dress section, we saw the shoe event. They were also having a big shoe sale. Like any other normal woman, we headed on over just to check it out.

As we each split up and look through our sizes, Maid Britney comes across a few shoes that she likes. I didn’t really see anything in my size that catches my eye, and I go to take advantage of the chairs located right there (I guess maybe the dresses didn’t happen quite a quickly as I had thought!). Britney tries on a shoe that is a dark brown, but has some accent spots in turquoise peeking through. As Maid Momma is telling Britney how much she likes them, one of them sees another pair of shoes in the same style and picks it up to look closer.

You’re not going to believe this next part.

This shoe is the same style…except that the colors are eggplant with hot pink dots.

I’m not lying.

OMG! They are PERFECT for my wedding shoes. Maid Momma makes a comment about this could be the shoe that we all wear to match since our dresses don’t match, and I pop off a comment back to her. Something to the effect that those shoes are on clearance and what are the odds that we’ll find four pairs, let alone four pairs in the sizes that we need.

How do you like them? Aren't they funky?

What do you think that we found?

Yep, you guessed right. Four pairs. In our sizes.

The best part? The shoes are on the CLEARANCE rack for a whopping $26.70 a pair. That’s under $30 even including the tax!

Seriously. It’s like a sign from God that it was meant to be. And Maid Momma sure did enjoy making me eat my words!

Here's a close-up on the dots - sorry for the blurry picture!

I’m a little stubborn though, and I insist that I need to see the shoes on with the black dresses, because although I’m certain that these are MY wedding shoes (they meet all of my criteria – heel, pop of color, fun and funky), I’m not certain how they’ll look with the LBDs that the Maids have bought. We all go ahead and purchase our pair of shoes, and continue on to the dress section to make sure that we’ve got the best dress for Maid Britney.

We find only one contender for a better dress for Britney and we all file into the fitting room to wait while she tries it on. Lucky for us, this dressing room was empty (or so we thought!) with a large area for waiting. Britney tries on the dress, and although it’s nice on her and looks great, it’s just not the same to me as the other dress that she had. I ask her to pretty-please-with-a-cherry-on-top try on the dress that she’s already bought from Penney’s one last time. Just so that I can be sure about it and honestly tell her that I KNOW that she’s got the BEST dress for her that she can possibly have.

You see, I know that she’s already bought the right dress. But she still doesn’t feel it yet. See how crafty I am?

When she comes out, the difference is amazing. She is SMOKING hot, and finally it looks like she knows it. I bug her into slipping the shoes on with the dress and the effect is breath-taking. At least to me. Maybe not to anyone else, but it’s perfect. The whole outfit is perfect. As she turns around to go back and change into her regular clothes, we make some cat calls and convince her to “strut her stuff” a little bit. Here’s a picture so that you have the visual…

You can't even tell from back this far that the shoes are eggplant with hot pink dots...

Right then, while her back is turned to the other dressing rooms and she’s hamming it up for us, a little, older Oriental lady comes out of one of the back dressing rooms and gets an eyeful of Britney doing her “thing.” We all die laughing, and I honestly nearing peed my pants at the surprise that Britney got when she turned around that direction doing her walk. The lady left the dressing room, without making a single comment, and we all exploded in laughter again. It was a great ending to a great day. I was actually still chuckling about it right before I feel asleep that night. It was THAT funny!

So there you have it. We made a few more stops along the way home trying to see if we ran across jewelry or hair accessories for me, but didn’t have any luck. Even though we didn’t find anything for me, I did manage to pick up two hair options for little CC for her to choose from. I was disappointed that there wasn’t more for me to pick from, but all in all, I can’t complain about the outcome of the weekend.

We got dresses and shoes. For all the Maids and the bride. We came to a consensus on what to do with my hair (I’ll post those pics soon!), and we had a BLAST. More than anything, the day spent with my Maids solidified in my mind that I couldn’t have asked for better bridesmaids. They are a great group of gals…and I’m the girl lucky enough to call them friend. And having Mama CC there along with us meant so much to me as well! I was glad to have her meet my Maids and like them and share in this special time with me – it meant more thani can say. Just looking around at the support group of great women who love me and will be there for me no matter what just touched my heart.

Hopefully the fun times that we have together this past weekend will continue on during these last few months of wedding planning and the actual wedding day. I know that I feel blessed to have them there with me each step of the way!

Thanks, girls!