My DIY Pomander

I've mentioned before that I am fascinated by pomanders. They are just such lovely little balls of happy that I can't resist. When envisioning my ceremony, I saw myself gliding down an aisle lined with them. I couldn't resist the urge to try to make one. How hard can it be, right? It's just clipping silk flowers and jamming them in a styrofoam ball, isn't it?

My first vision was an orb of snow white carnations, perhaps with a few pearls tucked in for some sparkle. Well, trips to JoAnn's, Michael's, A. C. Moore, and Hobby Lobby yielded exactly zero white carnations.

Hmmm... now what? Roses? Perhaps, but when they are too large, the ball looks a bit comical. Comical is NOT what I'm going for in my ethereal vision of pomanders. Do they have to be white? I guess not, let me see what I can find in the red department. So I did. I decided on mixing red and white flowers, with small pearls tucked in for a little gleam.

So I got to work, clipping the flowers off the stalks. I got a little help from my buddy:


In the end, I really like the mix of colors and I lurrrvvve the pearls. I even like the organic quality achieved by tucking in leaves here and there.

We also have seven silver lanterns that we plan to alternate: pomander, lantern, pomander, lantern... you get the idea. Pretty and festive- what more could you ask for?

Our Photog!

We've chosen our photographer and I couldn't be happier. I knew his portfolio was a good match for the photojournalistic approach I was looking for, but when we spoke on the phone, it sealed the deal and I hired him on the spot. His friendly demeanor and professionalism left me confident that he would do a wonderful job capturing our day. Oh, and his name is Jeff Morgan.

As a scrapbooker, photography is extremely important to me and I know that Jeff is going to be a great addition to Team Roder.

Take a look at some of his amazing pictures:



(All images copyright Jeff Morgan Photography)

He's pretty genius, doncha think?

Shout-out to Nashville Wraps

If you haven't heard of them already, they are the phenomenal online resource for all things packaging! So far, I have ordered pillow boxes (for hot cocoa packets in OOT bags), organza bags (for toiletry items in OOT bags), cello bags (for OOT bag snacks), tin tie bags (for candy buffet packaging), and truffle boxes (for OOT bag goodies). Their prices are ridiculously reasonable and order processing/shipping are fast!

If you need any type of packaging for your wedding (or any other event for that matter), check them out. They rule!

DIY Tears of Joy

I have a fascination with Tears of Joy tissues:

So I've decided to make my own. The first step is to order glassine bags. They are the type of bags that stamp collectors keep valuable stamps in. I'm going a different direction- I'm opting instead to keep valuable Kleenex in mine.

They are relatively inexpensive and can be ordered from paper and philately supply stores (like how I worked in a S.A.T word?). I purchased my glassine envelopes from the NOLA Stamp Shop on eBay. The #3 size, which measures 4¼” x 2½”, is perfect for 2 tissues. If you purchase the travel-sized packs of tissues, they are already perfectly folded!

While Wayne was packaging up cocoa, I got to work on the tissue packets:

I ran out of tissues before I could get them all finished, but I'm well on my way to completing this DIY project.

A lot of folks have ordered custom labels from online label vendors, but that gets expensive when you factor in shipping. Instead, I purchased a rectangle paper punch and designed my own labels (which I clearly love to do):

Once I finish stuffing the remaining glassine envelopes, I'll do a ribbon wrap and affix the label on each packet. I intend to include them with the program on each chair.

Packing Cocoa

As I mentioned earlier, we purchased a variety of cocoa packets for inclusion in our OOT bags. Since I'm really into creating custom packaging (if you don't believe me, read this post, this post, or this post), I decided to create cute little pillow packs for the cocoa. I ordered pillow boxes from Nashville Wraps, and when they arrived I enlisted some help to get started.

These cute little boxes are the perfect size for 2 gourmet cocoa packets from Land O'Lakes.

I created cute custom labels:

that I will print on glossy paper, trim to size and affix to the pillow box with a ribbon wrap. So ridiculously cute!