DIY Wedding: A Homemade Veil

Right after I got married, my sister Lindsay got engaged. Since weddings were fresh on my mind, I took the opportunity to put all of my DIY skills to use. I did a lot for her wedding (programs, menu's place cards, aisle runner, her veil, a video slideshow, the invitation suite etc...).  She wanted a really long cathedral veil. Have you priced cathedral veils lately?  Ridiculously expensive. 

Since Lindsay has an obsession with Princess Di, the veil had to be really really long. I think it was five yards of glimmer tulle. It cost me all of $20 to make. 

Here I am cutting the end. We wanted it to be rounded. What this picture does not show is that I used a huge salad bowl as a template to round the corners.

I sewed on a big comb...This is the extent of my sewing skills. If I could have glued it, I would have. I hate sewing.

Before it was steamed, but the comb is on, it's cut and rounded, so we're almost set. 

I thought it was a little boring, so I bought these scrapbooking sticker crystal things at Hobby Lobby.  When I stuck them to the tulle, they kept coming off, so I put them where I wanted them and then I used Gem-Tac glue and a paint brush and painted the glue onto each of the swirls.  It took forever, but that stuff worked, let me tell you! On the day of the wedding, the veil kept catching on everything and those babies stayed on, but the tulle around some of them ripped that glue was so good. 

See how long that thing was?????

You can see the rhinestones here...

Hearts, Crystals & Vaseline...

I'm not really sure how this occurred, but one day a few years ago I ended up crystallizing  my tiny bottle of Vaseline.

Some people carry around glue sticks, others can't live without their hand cream, but for me it's Vaseline. So I crystallized it. It makes me happy, it makes others happy-yes, there have been haters over the years, but I don't care. I like my Vaseline.

That being said, a few months ago (ok, ten and a half) my sister gave birth to my very first neice (#2 is on the way, so this one was my very very first).  Now, let me just say that Lindsay (said sister) was a HUGE Vaseline hater. So imagine my surprise when she requests a crystallized version of her very own (well, not for her, for the niece)...Hmmm...Smuggly, I replied that OF COURSE (duh) I would make her one and I finally got around to it today.

I don't know if you kids have ever crystallized anything, but I have (big shock).  I order my crystals from MJ Trim and have for years. If you're ever wandering around NYC, they have a store front somewhere in Midtown (on 6th or 7th, maybe 6th...). They're great and over the last few years, their blog and their website have become even more fabulous.

This is a must.

When crystallizing, it is MAS IMPORTANTE (that's very important for you non-spanglish speakers) to choose the correct adhesive.  When I was growing up, my dad's favorite quote was, "The right tool for the right job." He was talking about fixing things and now I'm talking about crafting. Gem-Tac is THE BEST adhesive for adhering crystals. It is almost foolproof, trust me, one time I crystallized the back of my cell phone that I would sometimes use as a hand grenade and those little buggers never budged once. True story. Use the Gem-Tac, it works.

Anyway, I smoothed it over a small portion of the Vaseline container (I like it to get somewhat tacky before I put the crystals in it, that way they don't slide around and get all messy). Then I used a tweezer and one by one I placed them. I used a template to draw the heart on the package and then I outlined it with chocolate colored rhinestones (the rest of them are lavender).

How it looked when I started...
When did they change the packaging???
I was VERY upset...

About 1/4 of the way through

This actually took quite a bit of time, I would say almost two hours, but I finally finished and Voila!  A Crystallized Vaseline worthy of my niecey-poo!

I especially love the heart (of course) and the Vaseline logo (which is a must-we have to give credit where credit is due).