Re-Used Bride

 Any research into weddings will reveal that brides often have a theme. The theme can be color-driven or it can be a means of revealing the likes and interests of the bride and groom. I hadn't really given much thought to a particular theme other than color, but it strikes me as I work on a most recent batch of craft projects that the wedding DOES have a common strand running through it: DIY, shabby chic and a need to recycle, reduce, and reuse.  So far, that has meant:

*buying my dress on Craigslist from a woman who didn't wear the dress because she became pregnant
*trying to use the supplies I've amassed through my business, Re-Used Muse
* using old buttons from my grandmother's collection
*making banners and signs out of the refuse from someone's matting/framing project
*making pennants/prayer flags from old sample books that design companies regularly throw away
*snagging an old suitcase and making it new again

I'm slowly but surely making flower balls, which will sit atop vases. I'm hoping to put battery-operated lights inside the vases.

 Here's a batch of kusudama paper flowers. I find it really relaxing to make them. As I run out of paper in our wedding colors, I will turn to painting papers, so that I don't have to buy anything. Eventually, I'll group them in bunches and put them in cones, which will punctuate the aisle.

 I bought this suitcase at a cool little shop on Monroe Street. The lady recycles items and makes them new again by painting them with chalk paint. This suitcase was painted aqua, so it was perfect. I bought $4 worth of red fabric and set about reupholstering the time-ravaged insides. This was kind of time intensive. It resulted in multiple hot glue gun burns and some cursing, but it also resulted in a lovely project that I'll use to hold cards people bring to the wedding.

Here's the finished inside. I also glued some satin piping around the edges. That, too, had been hanging out in my craft stash for quite some time. It felt good to use what I had. This is the cardboard sign I made from the matting/framing cardboard stash I found at a thrift store. I simply painted them. Soon, I'll string them together, and they'll hang above the cargo space, letting wedding guests know where to put things.

Also, in keeping with the recycle, reduce, reuse idea, I'll likely turn around after the wedding and try to sell these items to some other bride who scouts out wedding items on Craigslist or other yard sale-type sites. After all, why should every bride be going out and trying to buy this stuff brand new? It strikes me as a sisterhood, and I like the idea of handing things down to the next girl who is taking this big and important life step.