Weddings and Crazy

Today's Royal Wedding led to a discussion of how weddings can bring out the crazy in people.  Since I'm not a Princess, a lavish, no holds barred, fairy tale affair just wasn't going to happen for me, but I did have an idea of what I wanted. To avoid hurting feelings, I'll limit myself to saying that I was shocked that so many people felt entitled to complain to me about anything and everything I asked for.

Mind you, I was determined not to be a Bridezilla, but many people acted as though I was one if I asked for anything at all.  And I do mean ANYTHING!  "I don't have to wear a suit, do I?"  "Do I really have to wear a dress?"  "What do you want me to do with these, again?"  "Don't tell me I have to pick your colors for you."  And don't even get me started on the guest list... It was clear to me that this wasn't MY day in ANYONE'S mind.

Since I had just gone back to work (and had no accrued leave) I put in 12-14 hour days to earn enough comp time to make the trip to Las Vegas.  There was no time to work out, even out tan lines, order a dress (I bought two off of eBay and picked the one that could be altered to fit me), or follow along with those crazy checklists found in wedding planners.  I certainly didn't have time for other peoples' drama.  Rather than deal with the craziness people were showing, we went without attendants, dancing, a slide show, and other things I really wanted.  When we got to Vegas, everyone disappeared to do what they wanted and more or less forgot about the things they agreed to help me with.  People scheduled things without asking us and were upset because we weren't where they wanted us to be.  Others made "assumptions" about what "we wanted' which were totally about them.  And then there were the constant phone calls from other people at all hours - not inviting us out, but asking for directions, advice, or opinions.

Finally, on the night before the wedding, we grabbed both kids, told everyone to leave us alone, ordered room service, and we all spent the night watching TV.  It was the most stress free night of the entire trip.  By the time I finally made it down the aisle the next morning, and miraculously fully dressed (the hair/makeup ladies were an hour late and as it turned out, I'd lost so much weight I had to have a good friend literally pin me into the dress and in the meanwhile, everyone and their brother was calling me for directions instead of reading the damned signs and figuring things out for themselves), I was so relieved that I burst into tears.  Yep, I cried throughout the entire thing.  Not because I was mad or exhausted or disappointed or scared, but because I really just wanted to be married to my husband and not have to deal with everyone else's CRAP.  I did pitch a fit and insist on one thing "frivolous" thing that I wanted, though:

Maybe we really enjoyed our hour on the lazy river because we were away from the crazies, but this was a LOT of fun.  Just the two of us having a good time with a bunch of people cheering us along, buying us beers, and my brother's gracious willingness to take some great pictures free of charge and no strings attached.

I hope that when my kids get married, I am better at not being crazy.  :)  Haha, probably too late for that.  Oh well.

Less is more....

Believe it or not, I actually have been crafting this summer, just not a whole lot of beading. In fact, although I did intend to make up a super glizty set or earrings for my wedding, I ended up with very simple briolettes on coil and ball ear wires. (Shown here, in progress.) In retrospect, I'm glad that I went with an understated look. What do you think?

Hello, it's been a while!

It's been pretty crazy around here, with the new job and the destination wedding in Vegas. Not a whole lot of time for beading and blogging, unfortunately. The good news is that there's a lot of good family stuff going on, and the new job is also pretty rewarding (even if kind of stressful).

So, what have YOU been up to this summer?

Leftovers?

Ok, so I started out the year saying I was going to blog daily and post lots of pictures. You know, I'm usually pretty good at sticking to New Year's resolutions. But, life is what happens while you're making other plans, right?

Here are some keshi pearl hair pins I made last night. I bought this particular strand to make my own bridal hair piece, and it's really beautiful. Since you pretty much have to buy pearls by the strand, I have tons of beautiful creamy keshi pearls. It seems a shame to call them leftovers, because they really aren't. Well, maybe they are. Here's a blurb on keshi pearls which I paraphrased from a couple different websites:

Unlike regular pearls, which are formed when something (called a nucleus) is embedded in a mollusk and coated with a substance (called nacre), keshi pearls are formed in one of two different ways. Sometimes, the mollusk rejects and spits out the nucleus before the development of the pearl is finished. The second way is happens when the nucleus fractures and forms two separate circles of nacre that do not have nuclei.

What this means is that keshi pearls are especially bright and lustrous. Their highly unique and irregular shapes ensure that no two are ever alike. Due to advances in pearl culturing techniques, keshi pearls are increasingly rare and now very difficult to find.

Well, I love them! The luster on this strand is just incredible. When it comes to pearls, you just can't cheap out and get the low end ones. They just don't compare.

Something different

Maybe it's a mom thing, but I have no idea where April went!!! It's almost Mothers' Day, and Bead It is having a sale on pearls... all their freshwater pearls are 50% off until this weekend. So of course, I stopped by and scored a few really nice strands of colored/dyed pearls I've been eyeballing for a bit, and another strand of irregular chunky ones with an incredible luster. I also picked up a small sterling silver hoop with 1+1 loops to make a Mothers' Pendant for myself. (Swarovski crystal in birthstone colors.) And a pair of faceted semi-precious briolettes... the precise stone escapes me at the moment. I guess today's project is to take some photos, huh?

So what on Earth is this picture of a card doing on a beading blog? Well, those are the wedding invitations!!! (Thanks to Myra at Kassidy's Kreations for the help with the red sakura seal/focal piece. Sorry, I have no idea what you would call that in paper crafting terms!) Anyway, by doing some comparison shopping, I found Taylor's Paperie on Etsy, who did a spectacular job printing the flat invites (see the Cherry Blossom branch?), matching RSVP cards, and mailing envelopes with return addresses. Her service was absolutely incredible, shipping was the fastest I've ever experienced, and proofing the invites was the LEAST STRESSFUL part of the wedding planning by FAR!!! (Naturally, she also has some wonderful samples of invites for a multitude of occasions...) The price was very VERY good for such a small quantity. Perfect for the DIY destination bride!

I also got some pre-made pocketfolds and pre-cut mats/inserts at Cards & Pockets, an online store run by a mother-daughter team. The best part about Cards & Pockets is that once you hit the minimum quantity (usually 10 units), you can order odd numbers of items. We made 40 invitations and ordered a few extra pieces just in case. Could you buy the paper for less money? Sure, but I've got other things to do with my time... like bead! HAHAHAHAHA.

Bracelet kit

Here are some photos of a bracelet kit I purchased from Artbeads. The kit itself was a bit on the pricey side, considering that it also came with an extender chain instead of using more Swarovski crystals. Basically, my guess is that the markup is probably around 60-70% on the kit. But, it's a stunning pattern. There were enough beads in the kit so that I could omit the extender chain and still get a bracelet long enough to go around my 6" wrist. I think I would be upset if I bought this kit and had an 8" wrist, which is pretty standard. So anyway, I took the basic loop-through technique and played a little bit with different size/color combs. Those will be listed on the storefront once I decide on the clasp type. :)

This one is going in the personal stash.