Paper Flower DIY with Little Junebugs

We are in the midst of wedding season and I just love catching up on friends', family, and other bloggers experiences and photos!  One of my favorites comes from my friend Courtney.  She's amazingly talented, you guys, and as soon as I saw what she did for her sister's wedding, I nearly passed out. Not only does she run the most incredible children's boutique...

...and crafting studio in Pasadena, CA called Little Junebugs...

...she handcrafts these:

Yep, she's a paper flower artist.

Talk about sustainable!  You're going to flip when you see what she did for me and you're going to be doing back handsprings when you see what she crafted for her sis' wedding!!!

Courtney used her sister's wedding color palette of turquoise and orange and created paper flowers for all of the bouquets, boutonnieres, and centerpieces.  It's one thing to take real flowers and arrange them, but it's another whole barrel of monkeys to DIY those flowers, assemble them, and ship them across the country!

Bouquets:

Boutonnieres:

Centerpieces:

Oh, and the invitations...she did those too!

I can't wait to see the photos from the wedding!  I'll make sure to post a few updates showing everything in action!

Now, check out what she handcrafted for me.  My birthday is October 15th, so my coinciding birthday flower is the Cobra Lily.

Courtney made me my own version...

I couldn't even get over how incredible these turned out.

I have these on my coffee table all the time now and they always make me smile.  I'm not an awesome botanist and I can't keep orchids alive for my life, but I can definitely take care of these guys.

I'm just waiting for Courtney to start offering classes at her studio...

Have any of you guys worked with paper before, crafting flowers or other cool items?  I'd love to see any shots of your creations because I'm simply blown away by this.  Talk about a whole new world of craftiness that I haven't even dipped my toes into yet!

For more on Courtney's DIY process for the wedding, head over HERE to her blog, www.PrimroseBlooms.com!

All the shots were taken by photog extraordinaire, Tanya Alexis.  I was obsessed with the "candid" shot she got of me when I went to pick up my flowers.  Head over HERE - www.originalkidsbyTA.com - to see more of her portrait work!

Wedding Weekend Recap

Thank you for all your dress assistance here on the blog, on Facebook, on Twitter, and on Instagram this weekend!  Quick refresher - the below were my two choices for a beachy wedding...

...and I went with the red!!

Red won by a landslide, so that's the one I went with!

I loaded up the car with my dress...

...and accessories...

...and made it down to Dana Point - special thanks to the 73/toll road for the no-traffic assistance - with enough time to get the hair 'did, the mascara on, and the slip DIY'ed.

There was a shuttle to bring us from the hotel to the wedding and we were obviously taking lots of photos while we waited for our chauffeur!

We got to the venue, Casa Romantica in San Clemente...

...walked to the back where the ceremony was taking place, and this was our view:

I got a quick accessory shot in before the wedding began.

The ceremony was stunning.

Nothing like exchanging vows on the water.  I mean check it out...

We were escorted to the courtyard next where the dinner was being set up, but not before snagging a cocktail.

I was completely obsessed with the oranges on everyone's plates!

We sat down and had a lovely family style meal...

...watched the bride and groom hit the dance floor...

...and then joined them inside!

We even got the groom involved!

The photo booth was hit not once...

...but twice.

I couldn't resist all the fabulous props!  It was like Halloween!

We got another girls pic...

...before the wedding ended and we got back on the shuttle.  The night was definitely not over yet...

We hit up Harpoon Henry's where we happened upon "The Lounge King" - Phil Shane.

We got a mix of Elvis, Johnny Cash, and one of his originals..."Love on the Internet" - yep, you heard me correctly.  And as soon as that started playing, I got my Gilly dance on.

We ran into an awesome dude in a tank top who was somethin serious...

I finally got my photo with the beautiful bride...

...and another non-dancy shot with the groom.

OK, we needed one more dancy shot...

And then the night concluded.  We went back to the hotel and passed out from all the fun and dancing.

We had a brunch the next morning, caught up with each other, and shared photos before hitting the road.  I hung in San Diego for the rest of the weekend which was a total treat.

Hope everyone had a most fantastic weekend as well!!

Brooke's NDAD Creation

I've been in wedding mode all weekend and when I saw what Brooke did to a dress for her cousin's wedding, I had to do a double take!  Check it out...

This is my very first dress remake.  I found your site and was inspired.  I found this dandy at the Red, White, and Blue Thrift Store down the road from my house for an appropriate $1 and thought that it would make an easy first try for me.

I was wrong.

Ruh, roh...

After removing those magnificent pockets, I realized the true hideousness of the color (and discolored spots) but kept at it.  I cut out the neck and used some of the extra fabric to make a ruffled neckline to cover my novice sewing skills...

...and dyed it this lovely purple color.  I made a quick white belt for some contrast and voila!

I wore this to a cousin's wedding over the weekend and had at least 4 women that I didn't know (including the bride) tell me how much they loved it.

The only thing I'd change would be adding a zipper, this thing is a bugger to get in and out of.  Thanks for the inspiration Marisa!

Brooke, thank YOU for sharing your piece with us!!  It's an amazing transformation and you knocked this one out of the park - everyone at the wedding agreed too!!  The new color is perfect and I love that you added the white belt.  As hard as it was to start, it looks fabulous now!!