Brideface NARS Contest!

So perhaps I should be thanking the lovely Nancy at Brideface for posting this contest, because I haven't had a post here in for-ev-er. Maybe this will encourage me to get back to updating this blog. There are still lots of fun (or not so fun) feminist things to rant about.

Anyway, here's the link: http://tinyurl.com/mo2mjy

Definitely check it (and Brideface) out - I wouldn't trust anyone else to make me look all prettiful on my wedding day (or any other day, for that matter). :)

One step closer to equal pay...

I interrupt your regularly scheduled wedding blogging to bring you this breaking announcement. The very first bill President Obama signed (and he signed it today) was the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act.

::jumps up and down excitedly::

Go see for yourselves.

My new make-up inspiration

My MUA recently posted this pic from the red carpet, and I fell in love:


Uber pale skin, slightly smokey eye, and rockin' a berry lip? Absolutely fabulous. We did a trial run during my b-pic shoot, and came up with this:

Whatcha think? To much for walking down the aisle?

Boudoir Pictures

Photo courtesy of Tine Hoffman, www.tmphotography.net

Ah, the ever popular bpics. The latest craze in wedding gifting.

What is boudoir photography, you might ask? Boudoir pictures, also known as intimate photos or "for his eyes only" photos, are a new trend in wedding, bridal, and portrait photography. The word "boudoir" is taken from the french "bouder," meaning to pout, and is translated to mean "a woman's private sitting room, dressing room, or bedroom. The pictures are beautiful and tastefully done sexy portraits, usually taken by a professional photographer.

I finally took the plunge two weekends ago and had them taken, and thanks to my fabulous photographer, I already have the proofs back. Hurray! But this post isn't so much about me as it is about helping YOU - the would-be bpic photographee.

If you're ready to bare your...um...soul ( ;) ) in the search for beautiful, sexy photographs, here are a few tips and tricks to help on your way:


(1) Who should take my boudoir pictures? Can I take them myself?
First, while taking your own bpics might sound like a great way to save some cash, it's also a great way to highlight any and all of those areas of your body that you might be less than super comfortable with. It's also a great way to up the "sketchy" factor in your pics. And do you really want to emulate dirty feet bpic girl? ;)

So, now that you realize that you need a professional, where to look? A good place to start your search is with your wedding photographer. Many already shoot bpics as part of their photography. And even if they don't, they're likely to have great recommendations for you. One caveat - not all photographers, even wedding photographers, are good at shooting bpics. It takes a special eye and skill level to convey sensuality without trashiness, and to use lighting and angles to photograph semi-nude bodies in a classy way. Make sure you ask to see examples of boudoir shoots, not just any old portfolio they happen to have lying around.


(2) Okay, so I've booked my photographer. Where am I supposed to take these?
That really depends on you and your photographer. Some photographers have studios that you can use; if not, you can use your home, or a willing friend's home, or rent a hotel room. As an OOT bride with no family in my photographer's city, my options were to rent a hotel room (and spend even more money) or to use my photographer's awesome new loft studio. Being the money-conscious unemployed attorney that I am, I opted for the studio and am glad I did - and so was my photographer. Most homes and hotel rooms do not offer an adequate amount of natural light, and her studio had GINORMOUS windows (but was off the street, so I didn't have to worry about peeping Toms ;). The photos turned out great - they have a really nice urban edge to them.

(3) Ack! What do I wear???
You should anything and everything you feel sexy in, be that lingerie, your significant other's clothing (I secreted away one of his white button downs and a tie), swimwear, or a corset. You can also wear things like your favorite pair of great fitting jeans, or a sports jersey. The point is to pick things that make you feel sexy, and that your significant other thinks you look great it. Try to bring a variety of outfits (at least 4 or 5), and bring accessories, like stocking, shoes, and jewelry. Also, remember to be open-minded if your photographer suggests mixing and matching your outfits. Their the professionals here, and they know best how things are going to show up on film. One final note: make sure to bring a fabulous pair of heels. It's infinitely easier to "standy sexy" when you're wearing a pair of mile high heels. ;)

Oh, if your tastes wander more towards lingerie than sports jerseys, Elle MacPherson makes some great vintage-y lingerie, your standard Victoria's Secret get-ups wll work well, and Frederick's of Hollywood makes some great corsets (but be sure to check eBay - you can find their corsets for up to half-price there).


(4) How should I prepare for the shoot?
Mentally, repeat after me: I am a beautiful, sexy woman (or man ;)). We ALL have body hang up; that doesn't mean that you can't have great bpics that you and your significant other will love. Your significant other doesn't even notice the flaws you're obsessing over, let alone CARE about them. Learn to do the same. Oh, and a glass of bubbly can't hurt. The more relaxed and comfortable you are with yourself the day of the shoot, the better your pics will look. Physically, make sure everything that you care to show is freshly shaven or waxed. Pamper yourself - get a mani / pedi. Hire a professional MUA to do your makeup and a stylist to do your hair (if you're paying to look good on film, you might as well look REALLY good).

(5) Should I bring someone with me?
That is entirely up to you. If you would feel more comfortable having a close friend with you, then bring a close friend. If you think you would feel more embarassed to have an extra person in the room, skip it. The key is to do whatever will make you feel the most comfortable.

(6) Woohoo! I did it. And the pics are great. But, ummm...how do I give them to my fiance / significant other?
That's entirely up to you. Many individuals put their favorite photographs together into a book and share it with their partner the night before the wedding. Just be careful to include a note or tell him that it's for his/her eyes only, unless you want friends and family to get an eyeful looking over shoulders when your gift is open.

Happy posing! :)

Any tips or tricks you'd like to share?

Musical Madness

ACK!

Picking ceremony music is apparently more difficult that it sounds. FI and I actually just spent FOUR HOURS listening to classical pieces to use, though I suppose that was mostly my fault. I refuse to use Canon in D (it's kind of like that "love is patient" quote - if I hear it at one more wedding....) or Wagner's Wedding March (would really rather not having a Nazi-supporter's music playing at my wedding), so out went two of the most popular (if not THE most popular) pieces for ceremonies.

The best resource we found was actually a website for a string quartet called After Five String Quartet. Their website is FABULOUS. It lists their repetoire (which is HUGE) and includes mp3 files to each of the songs, all set up in a nifty little online spreadsheet that lets you know what part of your ceremony each song would be appropriate for, and how many times each song has been requested by brides and grooms for each part of the ceremony. It really is great.

So between the After Five page and iTunes, FI and I were finally able to decide on an order of music for the ceremony:


Prelude
Corelli - Pastorale

Seating Family
Handel - Air (from Water Music Suite in F)

Party Processional
Bach - Air (from Suite No. 3)

Bride Chorus
Bach - Ave Maria

Recessional
Vivaldi - Spring (3d Movement)

Now to just make sure our ceremony musicians are comfortable with all of these pieces. ::fingers crossed::

Designing Your Ceremony

My fellow knotties reminded me that I have been way to lax in blogging, so here's the first in a slew of posts that will update everyone on what's been going on.


I'm not particularly religious. At all. And FI is what I would call semi-religious. He's an agnostic, but was an altar boy growing up and his parents are still very active members of their church. I am willing to use his/their Reverend for the ceremony (because it means a lot to him/them - though I have to admit I find it cool that our officiant is a woman), but there are some aspects of the ceremonies I found in the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer that I simply was very uncomfortable with.

FI and I had our first pre-marital counseling meeting with our officiant (we got the results of our compatibility test - apparently we passed ;)), and she suggested that we start working on our ceremony. Sensing our discomfort with the BoCP, our officiant suggested that we look into the New Zealand Prayer Book as an alternative to he typical Episcopal marriage ceremony, and I'm happy to report that we were able to find a ceremony that we could both agree on.

We had to do a little rearranging of terms, however. For instance I was uncomfortable with a line that stated, "In marriage, MAN and WOMAN belong together," - didn't want to exclude any of any of our LGBTQ friends so we deleted it, and we changed "you have taken so and so" to "you have CHOSEN so and so."

We were also very happy to find that the Third Form of Marriage (the form that we picked) didn't require us to pick a reading from the OT (I can't stand most of the readings people pick from there, e.g. the whole woman from man's rib, etc.), so we were able to pick a reading that I felt. It's actually quite pretty and meaningful:

9Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. 10Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. 11Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. 12Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. 13Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality.

14Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. 16Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position.^[c] Do not be conceited.

17Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. 18If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. (Romans 12:9-18).

See? Pretty.

Anyway, I had a REALLY hard time finding the service online, so I posted it in my bio. If you'd like to take a look, click here.

Happy ceremony planning....

~ H.

And this is what happens when you don't have a job....

Photo courtesy of marthastewart.com

Sorry, loyal readers, that I haven't been terribly up on posting as of late. I've been suffering through this bout of shingles, and have been super doped up on pain meds and pretty sleepy. But, luckily, the shingles seem to be almost disappeared and I've decided it's time to rejoin the productive members of society. So yesterday I decided to buckle down and work on one of our DIY projects - envelope liners for our Save-the-Date cards.

It's not that we NEED envelope liners, but if you don't have a job yet because of the crappy economic climate, and you're spending your days rearranging furniture, making calls on behalf of a presidential campaign (go Obama!), and doing wedding planning (i.e. playing on The Knot), envelope liners start to almost look like fun.

So....if you find yourself as bored as I have been lately, here are some instructions for some handy dandy envelope liners to spruce up your boring envelopes.

What you"ll need:


Paper
I went with wrapping paper from a neighborhood store in a black and white almost-but-not-quite damask print. Each role was 5' x 30" and only cost me $3.99 (yeah, even wrapping paper is expensive in NYC ;)). I ended up using a little over two rolls to make 85 liners.

A cutting surface
I pulled out my handy dandy rotary cutting mat from the DIY pocketfold project

A cutting tool
Again, I pulled out the rotary trimmer from the pocketfold project, but a paper cutter or even a pair of scissors would also work - though I believe the process would be much slower)

Metal ruler
Pretty self explanatory

Adhesive
I used Elmer's washable glue stick (it's what FI came back from the store with ;)). You could also use glue dots or double-sided tape, but this actually seemed to be the easiest and most cost-effective way to do it.

A bone folder
Indespensible. If you don't have one, go buy one. You'll use it in sooooo many projects.

Oh...and don't forget your envelopes. ;)

Step 1

The first thing you'll need to do is measure your envelope. The width of your liner will need to be the width of your envelope MINUS 1/4 inch - ours ended up being 8 3/4" (for a vista print envelope that matched the oversized postcards).

The height of the liner can be a bit more tricky. Our envelopes were flatter (not pointy) flaps (hurray for easy!) so I just measured from the bottom of the envelope to right beneath the gum on the flap to get the height of our liners - 6 7/8".


Step 2

Cut your paper. I realized that I could fit three liners in the width of the paper, so I simply cut the roll into 6 7/8" strips. I then cut each of these strips into 8 3/4" chunks. I was able to get 3 liners per strip; 24 liners per roll.


Once each liner was cut, I needed to cut the corners for the flap. Getting the right angle was a bit tricky, but here's what I did. To get the angle, I measured the distance from the edge of the flap (where the flap meets the body) to where the glue strip ended. See picture.


And this is where having a cutting surface with a grid and edge rulers comes in INCREDIBLY useful. I was able to simply line the top edge of the liner up with the edge of the board (conveniently next to a ruler) and the side edge of the liner with a grid square. I was then able to place my metal ruler on the liner at the corner of the grid square at the appropriate height (in this case, 1"), and on the corresponding measure on the ruler at the enge of the mat (in this case 3/8" away from the edge of the liner). Then I was able to simply cut along the ruler to get instant perfect angle. I know it sounds incredibly complicated, but one's you do one or two, you'll fly through the rest of them. (Enlarge the pic and you'll be better able to see what I mean).


Step 3

Insert liner into envelope, print side up, trying to make sure the liner is centered in the envelope.

Step 4

Fold down the flap of the envelope, and use your bone folder to make a light crease. Don't press to hard at this step, or your likely to have a double line when you do the next folding after the glue.

Here's FI FINALLY helping. He wouldn't agree to do the glue, but he finally stopped grumbling enough about me asking him to stop playing Final Fantasy to do Step 4 for me.

Step 5

Life the flap of your envelope, but leave the liner folded down.


Step 6

Insert a scrap piece of paper between the liner and the bottom of the envelope, then use your adhesive to lightly coat the back of the liner.

Step 7

(Doing it this way definitely helped to make sure that the liner laid flat with no wrinkles). Push the liner onto the flap, and lightly tap it down. THEN fold over the flap and liner, and use your bone folder to smooth it out and make sure the liner adheres to the flap. This time you can press harder, because you want a smooth, sharp crease.

Step 8

Open the flap and admire your handiwork. :)

Step 9

Admire handiwork when combined with DIY STD's. Pat yourself on the back for being awesome. ;)

Questions? Leave 'em in the comments section, and I'll get to them as soon as I can. Happy lining! :)

STDs!!!!

No, not STI's, silly. Get your mind out of the gutter! ;)

S - T- D s (Save-the-Dates).

FI and I had a little quality bonding time this weekend (translation: I let him watch yet another Simpson's episode in exchange for some Photoshop help) so we were able to buckle down and get our STDs designed and submitted to Vista Print for printing. We ordered 100 glossy oversized postcards with envelopes for $17. Not too shabby. :)

No idea why the colors are all weird (it's supposed to be grayscale with lime green wording on the front, and a black and white back), but whatcha think?

UPDATE: Why I will NEVER vote for Palin

Remember the controversy I pointed out at the end of this post regarding Sarah Palin and rape kits?

This is what I said then:

"Palin failed to address the fact that sexual assault victims in Wasilla were charged $300 to $1200 apiece for collection of evidence in their cases (i.e. rape kits). NOTE: Palin did not institute this policy; it was in place before her election. However, I am disheartened by the fact that during two terms as mayor she failed to address the policy. Thumbs down to Palin on this one."

Unfortunately, new evidence (i.e. the Wasilla annual budgets) has come to life, proving me wrong. A new article from the Huffington Post explains everything very well, and is even nice enough to provide you with links to Wasilla's budgets so you can do the math for yourself if you happen to be a doubter. Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jacob-alperinsheriff/sarah-palin-instituted-ra_b_125833.html

The gist of the article? The former police chief of Wasilla (the one Palin fired) had included a line item in his budget requests to cover the cost of exams for sexual assault victims. The police chief Palin appointed after firing the previous chief HALVED this budget request in 97-98, and then halved it again in 98-99 (that year he only spent $205 of the $3000 he requested). Palin either (a) had to have known about the change in policy requiring sexual assault victims to pay for their testing kits, because, as mayor, she had to approve the budget, or (b) had to have fallen behind in her mayoral duties, by not thoroughly investigating requested budgets.

Either way, this is disgusting. Again: NO WAY, NO HOW, NO to McCain / Palin!

Congratulations Brooke and Erik!

Yesterday I attended the wedding of fellow knottie and friend, Brooke, at the Lighthouse at Chelsea Piers in Manhattan.


Beautiful bride, beautiful wedding, and a super fun reception. :)

Congratulations, you two! Best wishes for many, many years of happiness. :)

Why this Feminist Bride Wants NOTHING to do with the McCain / Palin ticket

Disclaimer: Sorry Transatlantic Bride - I found your post so interesting that I decided I'd do one, too. ;)

And what better place to post my complaints about this year's republican ticket's failure to promote the interests of women than here?

Leaving aside the fact that I find this pick INCREDIBLY insulting (I'm sorry, but I don't vote based on the sex of the candidate - my vagina does not have a voting booth hidden inside, thank you very much), neither candidate seems to really be doing much - correction ANYTHING - to help women. For McCain, it's pretty easy to find flaws - his voting record is out their for the world to see. For an inexperienced first terms governor, it's a bit harder. Largely because she hasn't yet told us much of what she stands for.

And now, what you've been waiting for. A (brief) list of things McCain and/or Palin have done, or as the case may be, NOT done, to assist women and girls in the realization of their rights:

• McCain skipped the vote on the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. He later said that had he attended the vote, he would have voted against it because women "need education and training" rather than a bill that guarantees pay equity. [Source: http://tinyurl.com/6gufa3]
  
• McCain has repeatedly opposed comprehensive sex education and supported abstinence-only education. [Source: http://tinyurl.com/6oc6a7] For more info on why this is specifically anti-woman and anti-girls, please see Legal Momentum's recent report "Sex, Lies and Stereotypes: How Abstinence-Only Programs Harm Women and Girls," available at http://tinyurl.com/5e8xjq
• McCain voted to keep the Global Gag Rule, preventing millions of women around the world from receiving access to reproductive health care by denying funding to any organization that even MENTIONS abortion (note: these organizations do not have to perform or refer clients to abortion providers in order to be denied funding).[Boxer Amendment to S.600, vote 83, 4/05/05]
• Voted to de‐fund the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), an organization that provides family‐planning services – not abortion – for the world’s poorest women [Boxer amendment to FY’06‐07 Foreign Relations authorization bill, S.600, 4/5/05]
  
• Declined to help reduce the need for abortion and improve maternal health by opposing effort to require insurance coverage for prescription birth control, improve access to emergency contraception, and provide more women with prenatal health care[Murray motion to waive Budget Act to allow vote on Murray/Reid prevention‐package amendment to “Partial‐Birth” Abortion Ban Act, S.3, 3/11/03.]
  
• McCain has publicly and repeatedly stated that it is his goal to overturn Roe v. Wade
  
• McCain voted to maintain restrictions on access to abortion for women in the military, even if they use their own money [Murray/Snowe amendment to FY’04 National Defense authorization bill, S.1050, 5/22/03]
  
• McCain supported the Federal Abortion Ban, even though the law contains no exceptions for the health of pregnant women [“Partial‐Birth” Abortion Ban Act, H.R.1833, 12/7/95]
  
• McCain voted to restrict funding to Title X's Family Planning Program. [Motion to Invoke Cloture; Family Planning Amendments of 1989, S.110, 9/26/90]
• McCain voted NOT to amend the federal bankruptcy code to prevent people who commit violence against family planning clinics to avoid financial responsibility for their actions by filing bankruptcy [Bankruptcy Reform Act, H.R.2415, 12/7/00; Schumer amendment to Bankruptcy Reform Act, S.256, 3/8/05]
  
• McCain voted against an amendment that protected Medicaid funding (funding that is used to provide thousands of low-income women and girls with reproductive and other health services) from being cut [H.J.R. 2, Vote #21, 1/23/03]]
• McCain voted against requiring health insurance carriers to cover the cost of contraception. [Murray Amendment, S.Amdt 258 to S. 3, vote 45, 3/11/03]
• McCain opposed legislation that required that abstinence only education curricula be medically-accurate and scientifically-based. [Lautenberg/Menendez Teen Pregnancy Prevention Amendment, S.Amdt. 4689 to S. 403, vote 214, 7/25/06]
• McCain voted against the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act (FACE), which established criminal and civil penalties for those who use force, threat of force, or physical obstruction to interfere with access to reproductive‐health facilities [Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, S.636, 5/12/94].
• Sarah Palin opposes abortion in all circumstances, save where the woman's life is in danger. She opposes abortion even in cases of danger to a woman's health, and in cases of rape or incest. [Source: http://tinyurl.com/5uptw8]
• Palin failed to address the fact that sexual assault victims in Wasilla were charged $300 to $1200 apiece for collection of evidence in their cases (i.e. rape kits). NOTE: Palin did not institute this policy; it was in place before her election. However, I am disheartened by the fact that during two terms as mayor she failed to address the policy. Thumbs down to Palin on this one.

If you'd like more information on McCain's anti-woman policies, you can read this fact sheet. It covers his vote on all things reproductive rights related (NOT just abortion-related) http://www.prochoiceamerica.org/assets/files/mccain_fact_sheet.pdf

Got something you think I should add to the wall o' shame? Leave a note and I'll do my best to fit it in. And stay tuned for the next episode of Confessions, where I reveal precisely how I think the Democratic ticket IS addressing women's issues.

A Feminist Bridal Shower?

So my mother has been helping to coordinate my shower (yes, I know *gasp*), but mainly it's the travel arrangements. We've been trying to come up with a date that works for my cousin (who's supposedly throwing the shower), my sister (my MOH who works an ungodly number of hours each week), my FMIL (who's pretty active with her church and community), and me (who happens to live a thousand miles away from all of these people).

Anyway....

I thought with all the talk about showers going on, I'd post this little tidbit I found on feministing.com (if you don't already go there as your morning wake-me-up along with your coffee, you should). The author talks about her attempts to find shower games that aren't quite as blatantly sexist as this one:

Everyone is asked to share the chores around the house that they hate the most and the reason why they hate the chore.

The chore is then replaced with the word "sex" and reread aloud. They then end up with . . . "I hate sex because (the reason they hate their chore)"

(You know - because all women simply must hate sex ::eyeroll::)

She's right, of course. Think of all of the bridal showers you've been to. Now think of the games. Games like "What's in the Bag?" where guests are supposed to write down all of the items they think might be in the bride's purse and get points for guessing correctly - because, of course, we all know that women simply live out of their cavernous purses (note: I didn't even OWN a purse, let alone carry one until I broke down and bought a Coach bag to carry my laptop); or the Apron Game, where guests are supposed to pin cooking utensils all over the bride and then recite them from memory, because, of course, women are the cooks in the family (nevermind the fact that I can burn water, while FI is generally a decent chef when he finds the time).

You know what I'd really love? A shower game that deals with MY interests - not the interests of some stereotypical (I might even say mythical) bride-to-be. Like instead of bridal bingo, let's play women's rights bingo.

Anyway...so now I'm ever so slightly terrified that I'll be subjected to some horribly sexist game at the shower, and then I'll just have to say something (because that's just who I am), which will put a damper on the whole "fun" part of the shower.... And, yeah, yeah, I know I should be grateful that someone is throwing us a shower. And I am, really, I am. But is it too much to ask that the sexism be toned down as much as possible?

Thoughts? Suggestions?

Wow...Apparently Going to the Gym Actually Works

I ran out of my personal training sessions at Equinox about a month ago, and haven't purchased anymore, largely because personal training is sooooo expensive and I'm currently still unemployed. Unfortunately, to be quite honest, without my personal trainer to force me to go to the gym I've been REALLY lax on face-time there. As in, I think I may have gone twice in the last month. :(

And then today I was looking through photos in Picassa, and came across these two: one taken when I first purchased my dress back in early April (before I started training) and one taken at the end of May (after about 12 sessions).

Who knew that spending 15 hours at the gym could cause such a radical difference in appearance? Just looking at these I can see a lot more toning in my arms and shoulders - the two big problem areas for this dress - and that was after only fifteen of the thirty sessions. Guess who's going to be forcing herself out the door to the gym three times a week as soon as she's healthy enough again...

I've Got Spots on the Brain

Given my current shingled condition, I suppose it's only natural that I'd start thinking about spots in general. And that thinking leads me to a more northernly part of my body - my face.

As a teenager, my skin was pretty flawless. I think I can count on one hand the number of blemishes I had before I turned 24. But then came the ravages of adult acne! ::insert appropriate horror movie scream here::

Since I hit my mid-twenties, I've been plagued by cystic acne on my chin and along my jawline, clogged pores in my T-zone, and a TON of whiteheads on my forehead (not to mention the lovely lines popping up around my eyes and the deep furrows I'm noticing above them).

Those OTC treatments haven't seemed to do anything (except maybe exacerbate the condition); I've heard great stories (and HORROR stories) about things like ProActiv so I'm really wary to try them; and the solutions offered by my general practitioner haven't really done anything to clear my visage. So what's a bride (or groom - 42.5% of men between 20 and 29 report experiencing acne) to do to make herself picture perfect on her wedding day, especially given the prevalence of unforgiving HD videography?

With only six months to go until the big day, I've decided that some professional help is in order. I have an appointment with a dermatologist set for Wednesday, and hopefully he'll be able to offer some solutions to get my skin in tip-top shape by March - although anytime before then would be great for me, too. ;)

But I thought these were just mosquito bites....

Hello loyal readers, and welcome to Day 2 of my medical misery.

*grumble*

So, as I'm sure you've read below, I was pretty productive during my bar trip, cutting out all of my pocketfolds, and gluing more than half of them. FI and I and the FILS (hurray for acronyms!) took a week and went down to Holden Beach in North Carolina. Overall the trip was great - sun, sand, ocean, jellyfish (okay, so the jellyfish weren't all that great), but it was nice to get away from the city for awhile. I spent the week building drip castles, frollicking in the ocean, working on the invites, and watching our soon-to-be awesome President and my fellow dems speak at the DNC.

But..... I've been feeling pretty under the weather since we got back on Saturday afternoon. Just generally pretty achy, stiff neck, headaches, etc. And the bug bites were driving me insane!

And then three days ago my side started to get really tender to the touch. I had a couple of "stabbing pain in my side episodes" while we were at the beach, so yesterday I finally gave in and went to the doc expecting her to tell me that "yay, once again you have pyelonephritis."

But nooooo. That's not it at all. After waiting for TWO HOURS in the waiting room (because the receptionist wasn't back from lunch and no one else could check me in ::eyeroll::), she ran some tests and told me that nothing was wrong with my kidneys. I mentioned the stupid side pain, and she asked to see. I show her the bug bites on my abdomen, and then she asks to see the ones on my back. I turn around, and she gasps. I roll my eyes and say:

Me: no, no that's just my birthmark (I have a HUGE birthmark that covers my entire back and docs always freak out the first time they see it)

Her: no, I know that's your birthmark. I'm talking about these ::points to what I thought were bug bites on my back::

Me: Yeah, those bug bites suck.

Her: Those aren't bug bites.

Me: Well then what are they?

Her: Let me get the doctor (she's was a CNP)

Me: (internal monologue: what could those be? Am I dying? Dude, she's wrong, those are totally just bug bites)

In walks the doctor.

Doctor: Yep, that's shingles all right.

WTH? Seriously? I have shingles? ::insert stream of curse words here::

So now the right side of my abdomen and back are covered in an itching, burning version of adult chickenpox. *sigh*

The bright side? Apparently once the chickenpox virus reactivates and you get shingles, it's really rare to get it again. So I guess I'm just getting it out of the way early (most people don't get it until their 50s or 60s). And at least I didn't get it the week of my wedding, like one unlucky groom I heard about on the Nest....

Now I'm off to apply some more Benadryl and down some more Advil. Till tomorrow,

~ Heather

And here's what I did with my bar trip...

And here they are. The long-awaited directions for making you're very own fabric covered pocketfold invitations.

As a disclosure, I found the original directions on how to make these here. However, I found the pocketfolders to be a tad small, and I found some easier and less wasteful ways to build the actual folders, so I thought I'd share my way, too.

Enjoy!

p.s. I still have aout 12 yards of black dupioni silk fabric if anyone's interested. *hint* *hint*

Note: I'm going to echo the original designer's (Tanya) warning to test your fabric before you go buying the entire stock you'll need for this project. You'll want something that will stick to your cardstock with adhesive, but that the adhesive won't bleed through. Like she mentions, stretchy fabrics won't work well, and neither will heavy fabrics (i.e. velvets, suedes, etc.). You'll also want to test the fabric with whatever cutting tool you're using to make sure it doesn't fray. To be honest, silk dupioni CAN fray - quite extensively - because of the nature of the interwoven threads. That being said, it looks so entirely awesome when it's finished that I highly recommend it anyway. ;)

Stage One

Determine what size you would like your actual invitation (the part with writing on it) to be; you can then extrapolate from these measurements. When I ordered a sample pocketfolder from www.cardsandpockets.com, I realized that the size of the pocketfolder was 5x7, making the inner invite quite a bit smaller; I wanted our actual invite to be 5"x7". I knew I wanted this larger invite, and I knew I also wanted one layer of backing betweeen the invite and the pocketfolder. So I took the size of the invite, added 1/4" all around for the backing, and 1/4" for space between the backing and the edge of the pocketfolder. To make a pocketfolder for this size invite, the cardstock needed to be 17.975" x 8" (the missing .025 is to make folding easier and make the folds lie flat). This will give you a pocketfolder with the following dimensions I doubled the width on these when I ordered the cardstock so that I could cut two pocketfolders from each piece, meaning fewer cuts and less wasted silk.

Stage Two Order your supplies - see my last post too see exactly what I ordered.

Stage Three Lay your fabric out, and place your cardstock on top of your fabric. I was able to get two sheets of cardstock - or four pocketfolders - per each "row" of fabric (I could have fit three pieces per each row had I turned the last piece on it's side, but then my neurotic brain would have had a fit, because one piece of cardstock would have had the threads from the dupioni going vertically instead of horizontally - use your own judgment as to whether this would annoy you). Cut out your cardstock and silk, leaving at least 1/2 inch between each piece of cardstock, and between the edge of the fabric, like so:


Stage Four

Tanya had it right. If you can do this step outside - do it outside. It WILL be messy. If you can't do it outside for some reason (like you're staying at a beach house and sand is flying everywhere, or you live in a major Metropolitan area (e.g. Manhattan) it can be done inside, but you'll need to do it in a non-carpeted area, and you'll probably still want to have a few old newspapers handy to lay down to soak up the overspray.

You'll want to lay out the fabric near (but not so near as to be contaminated by overspray) your spraying area, and smooth it out as best you can. Then, lay the cardstock on the ground (or newspaper if doing inside) and LIGHTLY mist the cardstock with your adhesive, following the directions on the can. Like Tanya said, "IF YOU CAN SEE THE CARDSTOCK GETTING WET AND DARKENED FROM THE ADHESIVE, YOU'VE USED TOO MUCH." Try to avoid streaking and wet spots - these will just soak through your fabric. The cardstock should just look slightly tacky - in my experience, it developed a *slight* sparkle sheen when it had the right amount of adhesive on it.

Stage Five

Turn your cardstock over, and carefully place it sticky-side down onto your fabric. LIGHTLY tap the cardstock to make sure it sticks, then immediately flip over the fabric and cardstock and smooth everything out. Note: DO NOT try to smooth it out until you flip it over - trial and error told us if you smoothed it out on the cardstock side instead of the side you can cause irremovable wrinkles. If you're doing two pieces of cardstock per piece of fabric, it helps if you smooth from the center of the two pieces to the edges of the fabric. Tanya recommended letting this dry for at least half an hour, and if you have the time to kill, it's probably best. We were trying to power through as many as we could in our short time at the beach, however, and found that fifteen minutes was plenty, especially if you were doing them in batches.

Stage 6

Using your cutting instrument (I used a Fiskars handheld rotary trimmer), cut your cardstock in half, and trim away the excess on the HORIZONTAL edges. While Tanya set things up to cut some of the cardstock away along with the excess fabric, I simply used the metal yardstick lined up against the very edge of the cardstock to cut away nothing but the fabric. This is definitely easier with two people (because of the need to hold the yardstick steady while applying pressure with the cutting instrument), it can be done by one person if you need to.



Youll end up with stacks of cardstock looking something like this (the ones at the bottom):


Notes on this step:

(1) Tanya recommends using an exacto knife because her rotary trimmer was dulling to quickly cutting through fabric and cardstock. I found that the exacto knife "ripped" at the fabric too much, so we switched to the handheld rotary trimmer. And because we were primarily cutting fabric (we only made one cut to each piece of cardstock - to cut the two folders apart), the blade lasted a reasonably long time. When you notice that your fabric isn't cutting cleanly, it's time to change the blade - otherwise the fabric will start to fray.

(2) Tanya also recommends that if you do happen to notice the blade not going all the way through the fabric, to use your scissors to cut them apart to prevent fraying. This is a tip worth saving /repeating. Repeated tries with a dull blade will definitely fray your fabric.

Stage 7

Using your fingertip, spread a *small* amount of your liquid adhesive onto the cut horizontal edges of your pocketfold. As Tanya noted, YOU MUST PERFORM THIS STEP TO KEEP YOUR EDGES FROM FRAYING! The brand of glue that I used really did take about 30 minutes to dry - sometimes longer.

Note: All of my pictures of finger smearing from this part are blurry. BUT I can say that Tanya's way definitely was the best. If you hold the bottle with your thumb and first two fingers, you can smear the glue with your ring finger from the same hand, and keep from covering yourself or your pocketfolds in unwanted glue. It took me a few tries to get to the point where I could comfortably hold the glue while smearing, but once I did, everything went much more quickly.

Also note that if you're doing this step on more than one pocketfolder at a time, you will need to have a place to lay them all out to dry. And you CANNOT stack them on top of each other. You will inevitably get *some* of the glue on either the cardstock side or the silk side, and when you lay one on top of the other, they stick together. We learned this the hard way and had to throw out to otherwise beautiful pocketfolders. :(

Stage 8

Now it's time to cut out the "folder" and "flap" portions of your pocketfold and glue your edges. For our pocketfolders, I used the following measurements:


I had originally planned on using the rotary cutter to cut out the necessary portions, but soon discovered that a round blade doth not cut corners well. ;) Scissors really are your best friend here. Then you'll need to do the same gluing you did on the long (horizontal sides) to your flap and folder:

Note: Your life will be MUCH easier if you make a template first so that you'll have the template pieces for the pocket and flap to trace for each one, instead of measuring each and every single pocketfolder.

Stage 9

Almost there! Now (after letting this new round of glue dry, of course) it's time to fold your pocketfolder. Using the chart above, I drew lines on the cardstock side using a pencil, then scored each of those lines using a ruler and the back side of a common household butter knife, then used the bone folder on the fabric side (gently!) to make the folds as crisp as I could:



Stage 10

I have no idea how I didn't get pictures of this, put the final step in creating your pocketfolder is to create the actual pocket. This is where your adhesive tape comes in useful. I placed strips of tape as shown in the diagram above (the red lines were the adhesive), folded the pocket over and pressed again with the bone folder, and......TA DA!

A "finished" pocketfolder. Of course, I don't have my invites or inserts yet, I haven't glued down the invite backing, and I haven't attached the ribbon or the name card to the ribbon, but here's what they look like in their primal state:

Nifty, eh?

Hope this helped someone else. If so, send me pics. I'll create a lovely DIY gallery of all of our wonderful fabric-covered pocketfolders. :)

Invites - the supplies arrived!

About four or five months ago (I think...time flies when you're planning a wedding) I found "my" invitations. A set of dupioni silk-covered pocketfolds. I was in love. They were magnificent. See?
I found them on Wedding Bee. Me, being the ambitious, slightly neurotic person that I am decided that I simply HAD to have them. But, being frugally conscious, I also decided that I couldn't buy them ($20+ per invite? Hells no!). Which left DIY. Luckily, the Wedding Bee member who posted these fab invites in a contest there was also a knottie, and had put together a bio of directions for making them. What follows in this post (and a soon to be directions post) is an update of her directions (set for making 100 pocketfolders), tweaked with some tips and tricks I discovered.

I put off making these forever (we'll say it was because I was interning, finishing up law school, and studying for the bar ;)), but then finally decided that my bar trip would be the absolute perfect time to get started on this ambitious project. Last Thursday, I took the plunge and ordered the supplies I needed to make 100 pocketfolders. What supplies, you ask? These supplies:


Cardstock
I ordered 55 sheets of black cardstock and 110 sheets of gold cardstock from Anchor Paper's Express Store, for an astonishingly low price of only $76, including shipping. I had them cut the black cardstock into 17.975 x 16 inch squares (to get two pocketfolds per piece), and the gold cardstock into 7.75" x 5.75".

Fabric
I ordered 25 yards (calculation mistake - apparently I'm bad at math when I'm tired *sheepish grin*) of midnight black dupioni from Fabric Freak on eBay for $11.50 per yard + shipping. I actually only needed 12 yards, so I'm in the market for either (a) someone to buy the leftover yardage, or (b) someone to suggest something nifty to do with 13 yards of black dupioni silk. Note: I highly recommend this seller. They had the best price I could find for the quality and quantity of silk I wanted, shipping was super fast (I won on Thursday evening, it arrived Tuesday), and their staff was incredibly friendly.


Spray Adhesive
I used Krylon spray adhesive. For 100 pocketfolds, I needed approximately 1.5 cans.





Clear Liquid Adhesive
I used Tombow MonaAqua, and it worked great. Whatever you use, MAKE SURE IT DRIES CLEAR. Some liquid adhesives dry a milky color.





Rotary Trimmer I used a Fiskars handheld rotary trimmer and it worked wonderfully. Just make sure to buy replacement blades (I purchased a pack of five) and change them when necessary. Cutting through the cardstock wears out the blades, and a worn out blade = frayed fabric.




Adhesive (Tape) Dispenser
I used an EK Success Dotto Dots Dispenser (make sure to get the permanent dots, not the removable ones).







Necessary, but not pictured (I'm pretty sure you know what these look like. ;)):

Scissors
Make sure to get a freshly sharpened pair, again, to prevent fraying.

Metal Yardstick
A short ruler really won't do if you're using cardstock this size. Trust me, you'll thank me later for making you buy the yardstick. Also, make sure to get a metal one. Blades cut through the wooden and plastic one, and the metal makes a sturdier base against which to press your blade to get a straight cut.

Rotary cutting mat The trimmer I bought came with a smaller one (pictured above). That worked...sorta. We left midway to purchase a larger one that permitted us to make one cut instead of many smaller cuts.

Coming soon: Step by step instructions. :)