A "Jarring" Experience

I've been on a roll lately with my DIY projects. And with the passing of our 3-month-out mark, I don't see any sign of it letting up in the near future.

I finished my internships and moved back home this weekend. I have one week left of free time before the new semester begins and my life gets way too busy to focus on tasks like these anymore. I decided to spend my first night back working on our aisle decor: hanging mason jars with magnolia flowers!


If you want to try out this project, you'll need the following supplies:

• mason jars (any size)
• your choice of any flower, real or fake (I chose magnolias for their southern reputation and the way they'll blend in with our ceremony site's gazebo)
  
• acrylic water kit (optional for fake flowers)
• twine or raffia
• wire cutters

I just had to share how my lovely home office looks like a florist's shop at the moment!

I followed Mrs. Cherry Pie's detailed instructions on how to rig up my hanging jars. I won't repeat the main process, but here's some helpful tips to supplement her post!

Make measuring out your twine easier on yourself by doing one jar first, then using that jar's twine as a guide to how long all your other pieces need to be. Go ahead and cut off all your pieces before you start.

Before tying off the other side of the twine, judge your handle knot height against a completed jar. If you tie off both sides before making your middle knot, you could end up with varying heights.


You can adjust the knot you just tied by "sliding" it along the the rim of the jar until both knots are directly across from each other. Then tighten the knot once you've done that.


Watch out for nosy dogs!

My black Labrador, Madie, is more curious than a cat! We consider her the "thinker" of our 3 Labs!

My finished lot! I only needed 8 jars because I'm doing 1 for every other row, 4 on each side.

From here on, it's all optional stuff. If you're using real flowers, just add water to the jars and fill them with your flower choice. Since I'm doing fake flowers, I wanted to add a special touch to make them more "deceiving". So I bought some acrylic water kits from Wally World!

Acrylic water is used in a lot of fake floral centerpieces like this one:

Source

Mixing the acrylic water is super easy! First, pour both bottles of the solution into the provided disposable pan.

Then stir the mixture until....


...it's completely clear.


Now you're ready to pour the mixture into your jars!


I love the look of the fake water, but I severely underestimated how much it would take to fill the 8 mason jars to a decent level.


1 water kit barely fills 1 jar. I originally bought only 2 kits, but I will have to go back for more. Bare minimum, you'd need 1 kit for every 2 jars. This raises the price of this project quickly (it's the most expensive supply). But it's worth it if you want "real"-looking fake flowers. It's also good to have the fake water to set your arrangement in. You won't have to worry about your perfectly arranged flowers being "jarred" in transportation or set up!


The water needs to set over a 24-48 hour period to harden. Then you're all ready to hang your jars!

My magnolia mason jars will be doing double duty as rehearsal dinner centerpieces! The Savannah Riverboat event manager gave me permission to bring in my own arrangements. So I'll just tuck in the twine handles between the flowers' leaves and set them on the tables!


Cost Breakdown:

1 case of mason jars (12 total-I only used 8): $6.74
Magnolia stems (4 bushes-about 3 stems a jar): $3.99 each (on sale from $9.99 at Michael's!)
Twine: FREE (leftover from previous project)
Acrylic water kits (5): $5.97 each

Total including tax: $56.23
Total without water kits: $24.29

I have also purchased my shepherd's hooks from this online store and am awaiting their arrival!

8 - 36" shepherd's hooks (includes shipping): $41.75

Grand Total of Entire Project: $97.98

[EDIT:] The cost is lower now (from $104.37) because I only needed 5 instead of 6 water kits!

Stayed tuned to hear about how I'll dress up our gazebo "altar"!

"To Have & To Hold": For The Ring Bearer

I never really gave much thought as to what my ring bearer would carry down the aisle when I began planning this wedding. FSIL Lab got married in December of 2007 and said I could use any of her ceremony accessories. I figured I could borrow her ring bearer pillow and that was that.

Until I found these little jewels from Paloma's Nest:



As gorgeous as these creations are, I just couldn't justify the price tags with my budget. So my brain began thinking of ways I could get one on the cheap. Of course, I entered the current contest right here on Weddingbee for a free ring bowl, but I know my chances of winning are VERY slim.* That's when I decided to just make one for myself! How hard could it be?

Actually, it wasn't that hard at all! I hit the neighborhood craft store (they're probably sick of me by now) and purchased the following items:

3 packs of oven bake clay (in pearl), a spool of twine, metallic gold paint, needle tool, and a paint brush (leftover from previous project).

I ended up only using two of the clay packs. I started off my kneading the clay to make it softer and easier to work with. You can't tell it in this picture, but the pearl clay has a pretty shimmer to it. Just one way of making it more custom for me!

To make the bowl shape, I just put the clay in a bowl! Ha ha, imagine that! ;)


Then I had to get really creative with a way to smooth it out. I ended up finding a bulb that had blown out, and gently smoothed the clay using it. I know there's plenty of clay supplies at the craft store to do this for me, but if I spent a small fortune of the supplies, what's the point of a DIY project to save money?


After I was happy with the smoothing (it wasn't perfect, but good enough), I began etching a quote of my liking. I ended up using the ball tip of a bobby pin instead of the needle tool I bought. I returned the tool along with my extra pack of clay. Remember, the point is to save money!

If you don't think you could trust your hand writing, you could always use letter stamps to write out your message.


Any guesses to what quote this is and what made it famous?


It's Beethoven's except from "Letters to the Immortal Beloved" made famous by the Sex and the City Movie! I've been in love with that quote ever since the movie and knew I had to incorporate it into our wedding somehow. I think it's very fitting for his ring, my ring, our rings. :) I also included our wedding date to make it extra special.

(You'll have to forgive me for the following photos. My camera died and I had to take the rest with FSIL Lab's Crackberry.)


I made the holes for the twine using another creative method: an eyeliner cap! Aren't I resourceful?

Because the bowl I was using had a very shallow bottom, I used tin foil to shape a deeper dish for the clay to bake in and give the bowl higher sides.



When I was sure I was happy with my bowl, I popped it into the oven for about 20 minutes at 275 degrees to harden. Make sure to check your clay packaging for specific baking instructions!


After it finished baking, I let it cool for about 10 minutes. Then I painted the outside trim and the entire backside gold (I wanted it to be a little different from the Paloma signature bowls).

And here's the final product with my e-ring taking a test run in place of my wedding band!

Argh! I wish my camera were working so you could see more of the detail!

It's not nearly as drool-worthy as Paloma's creations, but I kinda like the "homemade"-ness of it. I can't wait to see my nephew hand us our rings on this pretty platter! :D

Cost Breakdown:

2 packs of oven bake clay: $3.58
Metallic gold paint: $1.59
Spool of twine: $2.19 (smallest spool they had which was still way too much)

Grand Total Including Tax: $7.88

That's a savings of $46 over the custom gold leaf edge ring bowl! I say if you can afford Paloma, go for it! But if not, it's super easy to make a ring bowl yourself!

*If I should happen to win (again, very unlikely), I will graciously hand over the prize to a random commenter on this post!