five friday favourites: wedding edition

satomi kawakita jewelry

just married banner by celebratewithfun

inter-species cake topper by melabowed 

invitations by shira leuchter

via design editor

Today's five Friday favourites are wedding themed. Now that the big day has come and gone I can reveal some of our secrets. I wanted especially to thank some of the great Etsy shop owners who helped us make our wedding day special in every way. Our just married banner was a custom piece by Celebrate With Fun (this isn't exactly ours, but one like ours). It arrived so quickly and the seller was great about customizing it. Our MelaboWed cake topper was also a custom request. We wanted it to add a bit of weirdness to our cake and keep everyone from thinking we were taking things to seriously. I can't recommend this shop enough. Great communication, everything was very well packaged and arrived quickly and the piece itself is even more awesome than the pictures imply. LOVE it. Wolf and squirrel forever.

I think the Etsy seller who maybe deserves the biggest thank you from us is Shira Leuchter. Her beautiful and affordable wedding invites fit our theme of vintage garden party perfectly and she was such a pleasure to work with. She quickly adjusted proofs and made very helpful suggestions when we were working on the design. She also went so far as to courier our invites to us during the Canada Post lockout and packaged everything absolutely beautifully. Seriously, if you're getting married or having a big event that you need some invitations for, work with Shira. She is wonderful and her work is, too.

The ring at the top of this post is not my current wedding band, but it is the one that I'd love to have to wear on days when a lower profile ring is more appropriate. I love the delicate band and the asymmetric layout of the tiny diamonds. The Satomi Kawakita engagement rings are also ridiculously awesome. Perhaps a few of you need to send the link to your boyfriends?

Finally, what wedding is complete without some Martha Stewart tissue paper pom poms? We made some for my friend Roberta's wedding reception a few years ago, and made many, many more for our wedding. We adjusted the way we made them a little to keep the back flat to make big wall pieces, inspired by Elsie's huge backdrop at her truly beautiful wedding. Check out the super easy DIY instructions over on the Martha site. She always knows what's up.

Which Etsy shops are your favourites for wedding-related awesomeness?

d.i.y. gift guide

So, after saying I'd just be too busy to keep up with posts here, I had an idea that I thought was best suited to getting out there now, rather than later. So, here it is, fresh finds (I hope some of them are new to you) for d.i.y. holiday gift ideas. I know some people like to shop till they drop this time of year, but for others it's a chance to make things by hand (and on a budget). Here are some homemade gift ideas that I think will make you look really thoughtful AND talented. And they're relatively easy, depending on what you have a talent for, so just making something already!

photo from Lune Vintage

Let's start with this tutorial to make a tassel necklace with Lune Vintage. So easy and awesome. I was at Dressew earlier this week and found a beautiful piece of navy leather in their giant leather scrap bin and made one for myself. It's going to be my new keychain, but I think the necklace idea is pretty swell too. The rest of the leather that I have leftover is for a project I'm hoping to get my mom's help with when I go home for Christmas (look out!). Follow the link above for a complete and very easy how-to guide on Lune.

Next up, make your own terrarium with instructions from Make Something. These look like really well laid out, easy to follow instructions, and we all know that terrariums are super hot right now. Perfect for those balcony-less apartments (just like the one I'm about to move into).

photo from make something

I feel like a bit of a 70s theme is emerging, so I won't encourage you to make a macrame plant hanger, but rather suggest the Delores Park cowl from Six One Seven. Super easy if you're not an advanced knitter. Circular needles are an easy way to start knitting in the round, and this pattern just uses really simple stitches and chunky yarn, which means you shouldn't still be working on this one come next Christmas.

Finally, if it's deliciousness you're after, need you go any further than Martha? (And I do like to believe we're on a first name basis.) If you can somehow still find peaches, this rosemary peach jam (which has been renamed "dignified fun" in our house) is amazing. It goes with every kind of cheese that you can think of and is pretty easy to make. For something a bit more seasonal, I've made these hazelnut-espresso cookies before and they are disgusting! Just kidding! They're amazing and they're a great pick-me-up during finals studying. Oh yeah, school...back to that.

Enjoy this extra-long, extra-amazing song by Sufjan Stevens while you get to work on your Christmas projects. When you've listened to both parts you're half an hour in...and you won't even notice the time going by! I think I might have to make those espresso cookies this afternoon.