What a difference eight years make

I still have the dress I wore as Maid of Honor for Jenny's wedding (Hi, Jenny!) and I got it out the other day thinking I could maybe use some of the fabrics from it for flower fodder. Not only is it red, but I thought it would be sweet to incorporate something from her wedding into my wedding. (Awww...)

Of course, I've gained weight over the last eight years, so I thought, "Haha. Let's see how far I've come..." and I put that dress on my dressform (which is my current size).

From the front, lookin' all right:


Now let's turn that bad boy around...


Whoops.

I actually tried the dress on my body and when Bill saw that it wasn't zipped up in back, he said, "Oh, do you want me to zip it up?" What a sweetheart. He didn't realize that it actually could not be zipped up. It's way too small for me now -- the photos don't show it, but I couldn't sit down without busting a seam.

Even if I cut up parts of the dress, I think I'll keep the main body intact so that I can try it on as our wedding grows closer and the pounds come off (I'm already down 14 lbs. from my maximum weight, so there has been progress). That way, I can see some visible results as the gap between the zipper narrows.

As I recall, I lost weight to fit into this dress in 2000. I'm not sure if I can return to that particular weight (I was under 30 then, after all) but it's good to have goals. :)
-kelly

Bouquet inspirations

I don't know why, but the idea of using an alternative to real flowers for my bouquet popped into my head a few weeks ago. Maybe it's because I'm not a huge fan of plants. Or maybe it's because I am too crafty for my own good. (Ya think?) Whatever the reason, I am excited by what I've found and I just have to share.

At first I thought of knitted flowers, but they're usually kind of heavy looking and I don't want anything too straight-outta-the-70s-macrame-style.

So I went poking around Flickr and the first amazing bouquet I found was this all-button bouquet by lilfishstudios:

(Flickr link to that photo right here.)

I was stunned -- this is gorgeous! My only problem is that I think it would be a little small. I have not picked out my specific dress yet, but I do have one in mind and... let's just say that it's not a small dress. I think it needs a slightly bigger bouquet.

So, armed with the idea of button bouquets, I poked around Flickr some more and found this treat from Little Chrince:

(Flickr link to that photo right here.)

Two things I especially love about that are the swirly bits (I have no idea what that is -- I asked Little Chrince and she said, "I bought that at a home decorating store. I'm not exactly sure what they are. It's like a plastic strip and then it's dipped into a gluey substance. Then when it's dried, it's bendable. The lady who owns the store makes the materials herself." Anyone have any idea what that is?)

And I also love her awesome felt flower, which adds more volume to the bouquet:

(Flickr link to that photo right here.)

Once the idea of felt flowers had been planted (har har), I kept poking around Flickr. And wow did I find the jackpot of loveliness with the amazing creations of Miss_Violonjello. Just look at this bouquet:

(Flickr link to that photo right here.)

I am so impressed by her gorgeous work! Behold the stitching on this lovely flower:

(Flickr link to that photo right here.)

(That bouquet is for sale here and the lovely flower pin is right here in her Etsy shop. Go on over there and drool over her amazing craftsmanship. Beautiful!)

So after I had the idea of button flowers and felt flowers, I thought of perhaps making a generally crafty bouquet and poked around for other kinds of flowers I could make. And I found some!

There are these lovelies made from organza by latarnia_morska -- she has a tutorial on her lovely blog House of Art right here:

(Flickr link here.)

And look at these fantastic little fabric flowers by the crafty goddess wisecraft, who also offers this great tutorial here:

(Flickr link here.)

While poking around for handmade flowers, I found some beautiful work by Pavoreal. I think I could make some "stems" using a technique like she uses for her hairvines -- sort of like a faux baby's breath to add a little bit o' something:

(Flickr link here).

(She also has an Etsy shop where she sells her beautiful wares. She's on vacation right now, but she's definitely one to watch -- her creations are really breathtaking.)

Of course, now that my brain is teeming with ideas, I will definitely have to edit. Again, I don't want this thing looking too heavy -- no need to be carrying a knitting basket down the aisle.

Or why don't I just buy real flowers, right? Nah... this is too much fun!
-kelly

Mmm... cupcakes!

Despite having several people send us links to the Stanley Cup Cake on Ace of Cakes (video here -- it's quite a thing!), we're planning on going with cupcakes. Right now we're thinking half of them red velvet with white frosting and half white cake with red frosting. Mmm... cupcakes!

There are several cupcake shops in Toronto and we are gearing up to try a few when we are there in a few weeks. Since cupcakes are so popular right now, it's not too surprising that there are tons of cupcakery reviews available online, which is helping us to decide where to go.

Here is a three part series of really detailed reviews. Amazingly detailed. Like, wow.

Based on that series of reviews and other google-poking around, we've found a few places that are making red velvet cupcakes:

Yummy Stuff -- red velvet seems to be a specialty of theirs, they get good reviews, they deliver, and their cupcakes are gorgeous. This one seems to be first on our list right now.

Swirls -- Great reviews, they've got red velvet on the menu, but they're outside of Toronto, so we'll have to find out if they would deliver for us.

Sweet Bliss Baking Company -- This one does not list red velvet on the menu, but google indicates that they do it (and well). But we're not sure if they deliver.

Flour Studio -- This one gets amazing reviews, so we may just have to go there to eat a cupcake. Unfortunately, it's another one outside of Toronto (questionable delivery) and also they don't specifically list red velvet (they'll do "custom flavours").

So it looks like we'll have to do some calling around and make ourselves a little cupcake map of places that a) carry red velvet and b) deliver.

Meanwhile, if anyone else is looking for cupcakes in Toronto, here's a general cupcake map that someone else has made. Wow. That's a lot of cupcakes!