{Wedding Project} Tea-dyed, hand-stamped rose petals

I love fresh flowers (after all, I am a living, human female with a soul). More specifically, I love fresh roses. I intend to have them at each table of our wedding reception. What I don't love about fresh rose petals is the cost. On the other hand, I wasn't wild about the idea of vaguely unnatural artificial rose petals at each table either. My solution: REALLY unnatural rose petals!

Now, bear with me a minute. What I decided was that rather than have fake rose petals that masqueraded as real, I would use fake rose petals that didn't even try to look real, and instead looked like a handmade craft project. Because they are! I took inexpensive artificial rose petals, used the old tradition of tea-dying to give them a vintage flair and stamped them with whimsical wedding stamps.

Here's how I did it:

First, I boiled a large stockpot of water and about two dozen (yes, 24) tea bags. Plain old Lipton or any sort of black tea works great. I simmered this until the tea was really dark. I then dumped about two thousand (yes, thousand) rose petals into this liquid and stirred. I let them soak for a few minutes before spreading them out on paper towels. It's not an exact science, but you may want to test out a few petals to see if they are the shade you like; if they're not dark enough, just leave them in a little longer. This part is a little messy, so be careful not to get tea stained countertops. I let them dry at overnight until they were papery in texture.

I then started stamping. I found some cute stamps that said "happy wedding day!" and "Mr. & Mrs." but I also used a damask stamp and an "M" to add some variety and personal flair to the petals. I used an inexpensive brown ink pad from Michaels and stamped about 100 of each stamp and divided the petals up into small bags for each table, along with the unstamped dyed petals. When the reception setup begins, just simply scatter about 50-100 petals for table. Very cute and it really doesn't take as much time as you might think!

Happy crafting!

Megan

Materials List:

-Rose petals in Ivory from Efavormart

-About 24 black tea bags

-Lots of paper towels

-Rubber stamps of your choice (I chose five different stamps for some variety)

-Ink pad of your choice (I used chocolate brown to offset the light tea color of the petals)

{Wedding Project} Clink! Clink! Clink!

There are many variations on the "glass clinking" tradition for a wedding reception. You know the routine: someone starts clinking their flatware against their glass, and this quickly spreads to the rest of the room, growing louder and louder until the newlyweds stand and kiss. At Midwestern weddings, it's inevitable. My twist is borrowed from my cousin's wedding in the mid-1990's; I liked the idea so much I remembered it for about 15 years!

When the clinking reaches a critical mass, Marc and I will stand, draw a name from those of the couples attending and announce the name. That couple must kiss before we will oblige. Tradition AND revenge, all rolled into one. Delightful!

It's simple enough, but there's no rule saying it can't be pretty too. Several months ago, I purchased an inexpensive birdcage set (check out the shopping list below), with then intention of using the larger of the two for cards received. I later got the idea to use the smaller one for names of the couples. It will be a lovely addition to our head "harvest" table.

First, I spray painted them both an antique gold to coordinate with my "theme". I then hot-glued matching, wide grograin ribbon around the top. Next, I printed off the text (I chose to label the smaller cage "Loves") and added a few layers of leftover paper from my invitations to dress it up a bit. Finally, I snipped the stems off of some ivory, cream and blush silk roses, glued them to the sides---along with a few oversized glass pearls---and viola! A lovely vessel from which to draw the names.

But here's my favorite part: in order to just have the names of those attending, I simply put their returned RSVP card in the cage as soon as I've received it. That way, no one is chosen who isn't planning on attending and, well, I just love the look of our wedding stationary so it's a nice way to reuse it.

It's an easy crafty way to put a spin on an old tradition!

Happy Crafting!

Megan

Materials List:

-Birdcages from Save-on-crafts.com

-Grograin ribbon in 1.5" width in Antique Mauve from JKM Ribbon and Trim

-Antique Gold spray paint

-Artificial rose heads from Michaels, JoAnn and MaryNotMartha

-Wedding RSVP cards (ours are from MyGatsby)

{Crafts} Rick-rack Rosettes

For my first trick . . . rick-rack rosettes! They are very easy, have a nice "homespun" feel to them, without being *too* cheesy (rolled satin rosettes, I'm looking at you).

What You'll Need:

*At least 24" medium (1/2" width) rick-rack

*Scissors

*Hot glue

*Needle and thread . . . or a sewing machine (don't panic! it's optional)

Here's How:

1) Cut two 12" strips of rick-rack. You can adjust the length for larger or smaller diameter rosettes.

2) Starting at one end, "weave" the two strips together, wrapping one around the other and interlocking the points.

3) Flatten out the woven strand; it might start to curl, so just pull the ends straight before proceeding to the next step.

4) Sew the strands together closer to one edge; matching thread is best, I used a light thread for contrast to better demonstrate.

****If you're afraid of sewing (I'll chide you for that later ;) you could run a line of super glue down edge instead of sewing. Just be sure to leave one edge of "petals" free for later.****

5) Starting at one end, simply roll the woven strand, securing intermittently with hot glue. Once you've reached the end, tuck the last 1/2" or so underneath the rosette and secure with glue.

6) Fold down the petals, and you're done! You can glue it to a piece of felt if you wish and use it with jewelry, or whatever you'd like. I used them to accent gift boxes for feather fascinators I made for my bridesmaids (I'll share my tricks for that project later).

Happy crafting!

Megan

Welcome to The Doctors Domestic.

I'm Megan, and I am a resident physician. I am also a crafter, a baker and the occasional seamstress (well, VERY occasional). I've started this blog because there are two things I've heard a lot lately when my friends, MDs and otherwise, encounter my domesticity:

1) "I'm not creative enough/don't have the talent to make something like that/don't have time to make something like that."

I'm here to show you that, yes, you are creative enough. Yes, you are talented enough. And YES, you DO have time! I am in my intern year of residency, arguably the busiest year of my professional life, and I am planning my wedding, yet I still find time to sew, cut, glue and bake to my heart's content. It's not every day, but a few minutes here and there can produce something lovely in the end. If you have the ambition, you have the ability.

Okay, end of cliches.

2) "You're like Martha Stewart, but a doctor."

Umm, sure. I've taken that to mean that I am a crafty, detail-oriented person with a distinctive personal style (and no, I'm not interested in hearing other interpretations). And that's what my craftiness and domesticity comes down to: expressing my personal style. I don't intend to impose my styleupon you, but perhaps I can give you an idea that you can make your own. Because the best style is one that is an amalgam of ideas made into something that pleases you, but always with a measured restraint. But more on my style tirade later.

If I gain steam, I would love to have "guest contributors" to this blog, because there are a lot of smart women with good ideas out there.

So. Welcome. And lest I finish my first post without an example of my recent projects, here is a gift box I decorated recently. I'll teach you how to make the rick-rack rosettes next time.

Cheers,

Megan