Friday, May 29, 2015

Best 80's Songs For A Wedding

It's hard to find 80's songs that aren't so cheesy your hair curls or so emo that you want to cry and laugh at the same time.  Here's a collection of some songs that still make the cut when you take out the most offensive of the bunch.  Okay, there are still some super cheesy ones in here, but they are fun.  There are some 90's songs thrown in too.

Enjoy!


Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now – Starship https://youtu.be/bBQVrCflZ_E


Grease- You're the one that I want https://youtu.be/7oKPYe53h78?list=PL2E373ABBD360C09F


Michael Jackson - Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough https://youtu.be/yURRmWtbTbo?list=PL2E373ABBD360C09F


UB40 CAN'T HELP FALLING IN LOVE - https://youtu.be/Ajp0Uaw4rqo?list=PL2E373ABBD360C09F




Don't You Forget Me - Simple Minds https://youtu.be/CdqoNKCCt7A?list=PL2E373ABBD360C09F


Def Leppard - Pour Some Sugar On Me https://youtu.be/RaG8faaFUMM?list=PL2E373ABBD360C09F








Modern English - I Melt With You  https://youtu.be/LuN6gs0AJls?list=PL2E373ABBD360C09F




You're My Best Friend Lyrics - Queen https://youtu.be/tN_HVup9oOg?list=PL2E373ABBD360C09F


Tonight I Celebrate My Love - Peabo Bryson and Roberta Flack https://youtu.be/unHolTGi1uk


Celebration - Kool & The Gang https://youtu.be/3GwjfUFyY6M


I Love a Rainy Night - Eddie Rabbit https://youtu.be/VJ1GQFtHGxU


Livin on a Prayer - Bon Jovi https://youtu.be/lDK9QqIzhwk


AC/DC - You Shook Me All Night Long https://youtu.be/Lo2qQmj0_h4


The B-52's - "Love Shack" https://youtu.be/9SOryJvTAGs

If you can think of some other suitable 80's wedding hits, please send them my way!  Have a great day!

Red Bouquet Inspiration

I was originally going with a peach, pink, champagne, hint of gold wedding colour theme, but since choosing a wedding dress with claret/wine/apple red details, I have had to rethink the colour theme.  Now my main wedding theme colours are red (my dress, bridesmaid's dress, bouquet), brown (chair sashes, curly willow branches), white/cream (my dress and hydrangeas in centerpieces) and fall leaf colours (those paper leaves I made to scatter on the tables).

I'm actually kind of excited about going with red now.  It lets me make everything a lot more colourful and bright.  Which is good, because the illustration I made for my wedding cards is colourful and bright and I can use the image for signage and other decor now :)

This is probably my favourite bouquet of the bunch.  I like how textured it is.

This is very similar to the one above, but with some cascading flowers and more greenery.

Looks rather pretty on that fancy seat, huh?

A darker red/purple-almost bouquet

Pretty pinker shade of red, almost coral but not quite.  It's a vivid, cheerful look.

Poppies...

Which one is your favourite?  
Happy Wedding Planning!

Favorite Wedding Songs

Here's a collection of some of my favourite songs to play at the wedding so far!  Let me know if you think of any other great choices.


Uptown Funk - Mark Ronson ft. Bruno Mars https://youtu.be/OPf0YbXqDm0


Shut Up and Dance - Walk the Moon https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JCLY0Rlx6Q





I Choose You - Sara Bareilles https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjE5D9cHiOk



I Gotta Feeling - Black Eyed Peas https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSD4vsh1zDA&ob=av3n


I'm Yours - Jason Mraz https://youtu.be/EkHTsc9PU2A


The Way You Look Tonight https://youtu.be/yDh4GC7n0ig


Better Together - Jack Johnson https://youtu.be/seZMOTGCDag


Beautiful in White - Shane Filan https://youtu.be/XRuDQ6aYeD0


More Than Words - Extreme https://youtu.be/UrIiLvg58SY


Everything Has Changed - Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran https://youtu.be/w1oM3kQpXRo


Kiss Me - Sixpence None The Richer https://youtu.be/yFwkhn35Szk


You're Still The One - Shania Twain https://youtu.be/KNZH-emehxA


Ho Hey - The Lumineers https://youtu.be/zvCBSSwgtg4


Forever and for Always - Shania Twain https://youtu.be/IpT-FW_G8-A

The Moon Song by Karen O & Ezra Koenig  https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=107&v=Twg25xkACwo

Happy Wedding Planning!

Friday, May 22, 2015

Hand Painted Wedding Card Box from Frozen Treasure Chest - Tutorial

This is a Frozen cardboard treasure chest that I painted into a custom card box for my wedding.
I have a Fall-themed wedding so these colours will fit right in.  Also, this image matches my wedding card image perfectly.
If the back of the box faces the guests on the sign-in table (so that the receptionists can put the cards in), then you would see this lovely heart-shaped leaf branch with falling leaves.
I needed a cardbox for my wedding that could close securely, was big enough for cards (but not TOO big), was easy to lug around, and that looked great.  Ideally, I wanted it to match my wedding decor.  I looked at lots of different boxes for sale online, but nothing really matched.  
However, one day, I found this nifty cardboard treasure chest for sale at Michaels.  It's a Frozen-themed Anna box and it's the perfect size.  I think it was about $15 after a discount coupon.  However, I didn't want Anna being the star of the wedding.  The solution was to cover the box Modge-Podge style or to re-paint it.  I chose to repaint mine over only some of the box images.
If you want to know how to do something similar for your wedding.  Here's how I repainted my box.
Materials needed
- acrylic paint
- watercolour paint
- clear, glossy outdoor sealant
- paint brushes
- water and container
- painting palette
- black sharpie markers
Before you begin, protect the cord straps.  Open the box, and pull them into the box.

Use small strips of paper to wrap around the cords.  Tape the paper closed.  Pull/stuff the paper into the holes so that the exposed cord is completely covered. 
Grab a reference image and have it handy beside you.  I printed out an enlarged image of my wedding card image and had an extra copy of my wedding cards beside me.  
Use a black sharpie marker to start drawing your image onto the box.  You may find that your sharpie marker doesn't like the coating of the box and may die out quickly.  So have a few extra markers handy.
Make sure to cover up all the images on the box that you don't want - sorry, Anna! 
Make sure to extend your image all over the box so that your guests will have something to look at from all angles.  Or you may want to do this for your own enjoyment since you can use the box for something else later on.  Maybe to keep your wedding trinkets! 
When you are finished drawing, you are ready to start painting! 
I did not have a lot of acrylic paint available, but I did happen to have all of my old watercolour paints from elementary school!  Because of this, I was able to mix acrylic paint with watercolour paint (and water) in order to get all the colours that I wanted.  The most important acrylic colours for me were white, red, and gold.  I mixed red paint with red watercolour paints to get different shades of red, and I mixed white with orange and yellow to get the different shades of yellow and orange.  It is important to mix acrylic paint with the watercolour because watercolour by itself is too transparent to cover the images on the box well.  Also, acrylic paint sticks onto surfaces better. 
I filled in all the darkest red areas first. 
Then I painted in my orange and yellow areas. 
As the first areas dried, I added on additional layers of paint to make it more opaque. 
I started to create a gradient on some of leaves so the bottom tips were yellow and blended up into orange and red at the tops. 
More blending 
Smoothing out the blending.  At this point, I let the whole thing dry through dinner.  Before I went to bed, I painted over the images with glossy sealant.  Be very careful when you paint the sealant.  The paint may rip off if you paint over areas repetitively or with too hard pressure.  Use a soft flat brush and paint a generous coat of sealant in smooth, gentle single strokes.  Get rid of bubbles by blowing on them so they pop.
The next day, I painted over the entire image again.  You can see that the colours are now much brighter because it is layered over the original paint layer.  The sealant you painted on the night before will hold the original layer in place so that it doesn't rip off when you paint onto it. 
I added highlight spots onto each leaf, and used a sharpie marker to darken up all the lines that were either too light before, or accidentally got painted over. 
I let it dry again over dinner and painted a glossy sealant over the paint before I went to bed. 
Next morning, I'm ready to paint the tree details. 
I used pure gold acrylic paint for the heart with M+V and mixed acrylic gold paint with brown watercolour paint to create more subtle gold highlights on the bark.  As you can see, the end result is quite pleasing. Finally, I mixed red acrylic paint with purple to get a very similar colour to the box and painted over any bits of Anna still remaining on the box around the tree and elsewhere on the box.  I chose to leave "Radiant Heart" on my box.  It seemed to fit in okay with a wedding theme.
Touch up any other paint areas on your image, darken the sharpie lines as needed, and then coat the box with sealant again.  Dry and then re-coat as needed to get a nice, glossy surface all over the box.

My box is done now, and I like it very much.  I hope you will be happy with your card box too if you are making one!

Good luck, and Happy Wedding Planning!

Update: Some of the paint started to flake off when the temperature changed when we took it outside to the wedding venue.  In hindsight, I should have primed the surface of the box using fine sandpaper to make the surface rough so that paint would adhere more securely to it.  Most of the paint stayed on so it I was able to cover any bad areas with a glued on paper leaf just before the wedding - phewf!