Emily Jones of jones design company (a fantastic and creative blog I recently discovered) posted this great tutorial on how to “fake” calligraphy. My Aunt had bought me a calligraphy set when I was a kid and I remember how fun it was to dip the pen in the ink and try to replicate the lettering in my instruction booklet, but it takes a lot of practice and a lot of time. For those that don’t have the equipment, skill or patience to master the art of calligraphy, this tutorial is for you!

First, choose a good fine tip ink pen.

I usually like these pilot precise extra fine pens the best, but just bought the foray stylemark at the office store and it’s a good one too.

Now, write your letter. You can do it in pencil first if you prefer, or just freehand.

To give your letter the calligraphy look, you will need to make all of the down strokes thicker and filled in {as if you were writing with an angled calligraphy pen}.

Every time your pen stroke goes downward {as seen with the arrows above}, just draw a close line and fill it in.

See how easy it is?

Here’s another example.  I wrote the word love in cursive:

then filled in the down strokes:

Doesn’t it look fancy?  You can transform your handwriting to make it look like calligraphy very simply and easily with just a few extra pen strokes.

♥

Source: jones design company

Sophie Bifield of Sophie Bifield Cake Company posted this amazing tutorial a while back and I had to share. This chic, contemporary cake (along with the entire styled dessert table she created) was featured on Amy Atlas’ blog last year.  Sophie is one of the top cake designers in the city, and her creations always floor me. Here’s a tutorial she put together to show us how to create this beautiful and relatively simple cake embellishment that will make your mother jealous.

Many of you have asked how the pom poms on this cake were made. So, here is a step by step tutorial that I have put together for you.

You will need:

1.  Foam board
2. Gumpaste
3. Gum glue and paintbrush (or other edible glue)
4. Rolling pin
5. Ball tool
6. Xacto knife
7. Ruler

1. Break off a piece of gumpaste and roll it into a ball. This will be your base, so the size of your ball will determine the size of your pom pom and how many ruffles you will need to make.

Side note: These pom poms are quite heavy so be careful not to go to large. Most pom poms will need to be supported by wire, toothpicks or dowels.

2. Flatten the bottom of the ball so that the base sits flush against a surface. Set aside your base.

The flat edge will be the bottom of your pom pom, the part you attach to your cake.

3. Roll out the remainder of the gumpaste so that it’s nice and thin.

4. Cut the rolled out gumpaste into small strips. About 2 – 3 inches long.

5. Use the ball tool to ruffle the edges of each of the strips. You only need to ruffle one side.

6. Pinch and gather each of the strips to form a small ruffle flower. (See Ruffled Flower Tutorial for Instructions)

7. Make a bunch of little ruffles. The size of your base will determine how many ruffles you will need.

8. Take your base and cover it in gum glue (gumpaste & water) or whichever edible glue you prefer working with.

9. Stick the ruffles around the edge of the base.

10. Stick another layer of ruffles on top of the first set of ruffles.

11. Continue to layer the ruffles until all of the gaps are filled in.

12. Let your pom pom dry before attaching to your cake.

If you are making larger pom poms, you will need to attach toothpicks, a wire or dowel before your pom pom has fully dried.

Please feel free to ask questions or leave comments below. We love to read your feedback. Happy Pom Pom making :)

♥

Tutorial: Sophie Bifield / Photograph of Cake: Melanie Rebane Photography

Check this out – one of our stylish readers at Wedding Create saw the DIY post on how to make a vinyl record dessert stand and had to have it at her own wedding. And here’s how they turned out! Thank you for sharing Mrs. Wedding Create, and congratulations!

These incredible vinyl dessert stands were made for us as a wedding present, after I’d seen the idea on a great Canadian blog – Satin and Snowflakes (I believe the project was put together by Bubby and Bean).

They made our wedding buffet table look fantastic and added a personal touch as my husband loves music and the vinyl cake stands were made by the drummer from his band.

I can’t believe it but when the buffet was put out in the evening, nothing was put on the cake stands! I think they just looked too good so no-one wanted to put actual food on them!

Um, how adorable is this? What a beautiful way to remember your promises to one another. Found on BisforBrown on Etsy.

Don’t just say “I do”, display personalized vows that are unique to you. Whether he is promising to share his french fries, or you are swearing to get your shoe-buying habit under control, guests will love to see exactly how much you mean to each other. And, after the wedding is over, display your vows at home as a constant reminder of your new and fun journey!

My husband and I were too nervous to say personalized vows- so instead we set these up by our guest book for our guests to read. It was definitely the best of both worlds!

So I recently started following 100 Layer Cake and totally fell in love with their DIY posts. This one took the “cake” though, and I will absolutely be trying this soon. We’re trying to build our own DIY section here at Satin & Snowflakes, but for now I get to share all these pretties! Here’s the post and instructions on how to make these cute little corsages & boutonnieres:

Hello there, Cakelets! I’m Elsie from A Beautiful Mess. I recently planned my own DIY wedding and wanted to share a few things with you. When my fiancè and I were planning our big day we chose not to hire a florist. Not only did it save us hundreds (if not thousands) of dollars, but making my own corsages, boutonnieres and bouquets is one of my happiest wedding memories! We ended up with pieces that were really special to us and better reflected our personality than something we could have ordered at a flower shop!

Materials (approx. costs: $30):

1. Feathers, flowers, berry garland, & millenary leaves

2. Vintage brooches

3. Glue dots

4. Floral, twill or deco tape

Boutonnieres instructions/how-to:

1. Choose feathers and accent pieces in your colors. I used some berry garland too. I ordered most of my supplies from Etsy.com.

2. Gather the pieces and arrange them exactly how you want them to look on your boutonniere.

3. Using floral tape (or deco or twill tape) bind your feathers together at the base. Be sure they are all secure in the adhesive and will not slip out!

4. You’re done. Just use a floral pin to pin your boutonniere to a piece of paper (this way you can also label who the different boutonnieres are for). Go get yourself a treat or have a fancy dinner with your fiancè because you just saved yourself a bundle!

Vintage brooch corsage instructions/how-to:

I own a vintage boutique and we have these pretty enamel floral brooches from the 1960s sitting around everywhere. I thought it would be fun to dress them up as a special corsage for our grandmothers to wear!

1. Collect flowers, berry garland and millenary leaves in your colors. I ordered most of mine from Etsy.com.

2. Choose pieces to accent your brooch. Trim the pieces to about 4 inches.

3. Glue the feathers and findings to the back of your brooch. I used glue dots.

4. Cover the back of your feathers with some twill tape or deco tape. They are already firmly attached with the glue dots, but this just makes the back look a little bit more polished.

Photography: Arrow & Apple / Wedding Reception Design: Sharon Taylor / Styling by Kendra Skinner of Lonie Mae / For more of the lovely vendors involved see Style Me Pretty

Found this amazing DIY project on Wedding Chicks today and had to share:

We have some super sweet treats for all you Do It Yourself fans made with love by  Erica O’Brien Cake Design and Brooke Allison Photography. These ultra stylish DIY Ombre Sugar Hearts could easily be used at a fabulous bridal shower, for wedding favors, as a special surprise for your sweetie on Valentine’s Day or even decor for the cutest wedding cake in the world.

What you’ll need
Two cups sugar (or more, depending on the number of colors you want), divided
4 teaspoons (or more) egg white or liquid meringue (1 teaspoon of meringue powder mixed with 1 tablespoon warm water)
Paste food coloring (found at local craft store)
Large cutting board, baking sheet or other flat surface, lined with Silpat or parchment paper

and

Baking sheet lined with Silpat or parchment paper
Ateco aspic cutters or small cookie cutters

Additional:
Small and medium bowls | spatulas | rolling pin | measuring spoons | measuring cups | ziplock bags | butter | knife

Optional:
3 x 4-inch treat bags | colored ribbon | cake to decorate

Step 1.
Place ½ cup sugar in medium bowl. Add a small amount of paste food coloring (we used a combination of Wilton’s Rose and Violet), and mix thoroughly. This will be your darkest color. (Hint: A little goes a long way and will darken once liquid is added in next step.) Add more if needed until desired color is achieved. Add 1 teaspoon egg white or meringue liquid and mix thoroughly until the mixture resembles wet sand. Be careful not to add too much liquid or you will dissolve the sugar.

Step 2.
Empty contents onto Silpat or parchment lined cutting board or baking sheet. Spread with hand or spatula and pat down, then roll over mixture with rolling pin to compress. Ideally, the flattened mixture should be as compact as possible and level, about ¼”. Press heart cutter into mixture and lift up. Place hearts on lined baking sheet. If cutter will not release heart, gently tap with the back of a butter knife. Repeat 10-20 times or as many as desired. If hearts will not hold their shape, add more egg white or meringue liquid in small increments and mix thoroughly. If sugar builds up in cutter, rinse with warm water and pat dry before continuing. Pour remaining colored sugar back into bowl and proceed to Step 3.

Step 3.
Add ½ cup sugar to colored sugar  from Step 2 to lighten. Mix thoroughly. Add 1 teaspoon egg white or liquid meringue. If desired color is not achieved, continue adding additional ½ cup sugar plus 1 teaspoon egg white or liquid meringue and mixing thoroughly until desired color is achieved. Repeat Step 2. Continue with Steps 2 and 3 until desired shades and number of sugar hearts are achieved. We recommend at least three to five shades. Leftover sugar can be stored in ziplock bags for future use.

Step 4.
Heat oven to 200 degrees. Heat hearts in oven for 10 minutes. Allow to harden overnight. Sugar hearts will be the consistency of sugar cubes.

Design Options:
Place 10-20 sugar hearts in treat bag. Staple ribbon to bags. Tie ribbon. Can be given as gifts or used as favors.

For cake: Attach sugar heats to cake using royal icing. Begin with darkest color on smallest tier. Continue with lighter colors.

These sweet and tasty Do It Yourself Ombré Sugar Hearts were shared with us by Erica O’Brien Cake Design and Brooke Allison Photography. We have a little  Ombré Wedding Tote in our WC Shop that would be fabulous with the sweets. Click here for more DIY Edible ideas.

Hello all! I am currently compiling a couple of amazing posts to publish from Ottawa photographers, but it’s taking a little longer than I expected! So for now, please enjoy this fabulous DIY post from the fabulous Wedding Chicks:

Did you loved the pinwheel wall from our last feature? Are you already envisioning it as the backdrop at your wedding ceremony? Well …. lucky you because Los Angeles event designer Yoleine Dumarsaistakes us through the easy process of making your own ombre pinwheels.

Perfect for any party or celebration, this doable diy wedding project will add a major touch of whimsey and some seriously cute eye candy. Read on for instruction on how to make your own ombre pinwheels.

A special thanks to Yoleine Dumarsais for this DIY Ombre Pinwheels tutorial.

Supplies
1. cardstock paper
2. glue gun
3. scissors
4. paint brush
5. watercolor paint in your favorite color
6. hole punch
7. watercolor paper
8. 36″ dowels (not shown)

Step One
To create a colored wheel for a gradient look or an ombre appearance, paint half (or a little more then half) of your paper. Make sure to paint the end darker and go lighter on the half. Take a piece of napkin or washcloth and wipe the paint to the other half of the paper. Repeat this on multiple sheets to create 1 pinwheel fan. Note: All of your pinwheels do not have to be watercolored you can make some using this technique and some without.  For the water-colored pinwheels, I like to use Van Gogh water color paint, and water color paper (water color paper has texture compared to regular cardstock paper). But you can use any kind of water color paint.

Step Two
Fold cardstock paper accordion-style into 1/2 inch folds. It’s good to have different size papers in order to form different sized pinwheels. So you can cut the paper in different sizes.

Step Three
Fold accordion in half and secure using a glue gun for extra hold. This creates a part of the pinwheel. Repeat this 3 times. 3 fans equal 1 pinwheel.

Step Four
Punch holes with a hole punch or cut holes about a quarter of an inch from the ends of the pinwheels.You can add as many or little to your pinwheel. This is to make them a bit different!

Step Five
Use the glue gun to glue your pinwheels to the dowel for extra hold since this will be fastened to your wall. There’s no systematic way to glue wheels. Glue wheels at different angles whether it’s to the dowel or to another wheel. Make sure to cover the whole dowel!  About 7 pinwheels will create a pinwheel dowel for your pinwheel wall. Repeat this whole process 4 times to create your pinwheel wall!

For the shoot an 8×4 lattice wall was used to pin the dowels. Place the pinwheels one under the other and fill in empty spaces with an individual pinwheel. It’s up to you if you want to cover your wall completely or leave some empty spots!

Chances are you’ve been to a wedding recently that offered a fun way for their guests to spend the cocktail hour. It’s a fun and growing trend to add wedding themed games to your event and we love it! Check out some of these ideas that were sure to be a hit.

Above photo by Ameris Photography via Jet Fete.

Parachute & tug of war photos by Jessica Peterson via Snippet and Ink.

Above three photos by Glen Allsop via Once Wed.

Source: Wedding Belle Inspirations / Photo by Our Labor of Love by David and Kendrick via Once Wed.

When I saw these beautiful hand-crafted Save-the-Dates, I instantly fell in love with how whimsical and dainty they are. The best part? They are “printables”, meaning that you purchase the template from the company and it is delivered as a digital file to your inbox. You can then print as many as you want, regardless of the size of your wedding, which means it is a more practical, convenient, green, and cost-efficient way to invite your guests to your special day. For more information on printables and on the beautiful “Love is a Flutter” invitations above, visit One Handspun Day.  This is a great idea for brides who want memorable, hand-crafted invitations but need to work within a budget.