It's a big week.

There are a lot of things happening this week. One big work-related professional thing which I'm not going to talk about because this is a job-free blog (mostly)! But, needless to say, it's on my mind.

There also are invitations. They are turning out super-cute and I love them! But... it's been a challenge. Sort of a trial and error. We haven't screwed up on any, but it's amusing that with each one you learn something new. When to do what and that sort of thing. Our goal is to have them done by next weekend (ha!)... We'll see. But if we were to mail them on the 20th, that would be 2 months and 1 week before the wedding. That's a good time frame. So, goal identified, but let's see if it's reached.

The goal isn't going to be made any easier by the fact that we're busy Friday night and a good chunk of next Saturday with a marriage course. Ahh, hoop to jump through for a Catholic wedding. I was thinking about it, and I think we've talked EVERYTHING to death, so I can't really imagine having my world rocked or being on rocky ground about my thoughts about B (or vice versa). But, it's a requirement. It's not that I think it's bad... it's just a requirement.

This past weekend we: worked on invitations and did some roses. I made 10 more paper mache balloons. Then my paste ran out and I used that as an excuse to stop (even though I could have easily made more).

TONIGHT:
I'm going to clean out the back room. Right now we have office supplies and tools and wedding stuff and goodwill stuff in the same room, and that needs to stop. I'm going to clear out everything non-wedding. Ambitious, but I will be so much happier. And I will do 10 invites.

Centerpiece Construction

First of all, the cats have been no help. They just laze and get into things (thus why all my laundry on the bed has been pushed onto the floor). Those nutbrains.

So, the centerpiece construction begins with balloons. They're all about the same size (thus the centerpieces will be about the same size. I tape them onto cups so they're easier to dry after they're paper mached.

Note: Drying place must be away from cats. On top of the fridge= good because much more air circulation than say, the bathroom. Plus, if they fall, it's not onto carpet. I use phone book pages! VERY easy to work with, and you don't get that newspaper gray all over your fingers.

More on the construction in a later post, but I also wanted to show off my roses today. I have been working on them for so long! I cannot wait to actually put them on the structures and see how many centerpieces I have. Here are a few loose roses (each about 1"-1.5" in diameter).

And here is my pride and joy box!! It's a 2' high box and 2' wide, and a little over 1' deep. There are HUNDREDS in here, definitely well over a thousand. Believe you me, this box is staying far away from the furball terrible threesome.

Next steps:

* Paper mache more balloons.

* Then flip them over and paper mache the bottom part (where they are in the cups).

* Let all that dry.

* Then paint the paper mache red.

* Let that dry.

* Stick done paper mache balloon into ceramic pot,draw line around balloon where pot hits balloon (that's your stop line-- don't put any roses past that point because they'd be hidden in the pot).

* THEN, I can glue on the roses. HOPEFULLY SOON!!!!!

I'd like to get all the paper mache done at once, because it's really a PAIN to have to do again and again. Get the mess done and over with, you know? I'm finding that most things with this wedding are better done in mass quantity. It lets me judge better how much is done and how long it took me to do a bigger chunk. Plus, it is more time efficient (no time lost between lots of small tasks).

Roses and paper mache and stupid cat

Last night, I finished up the rest of the roses I had cutouts for, and I paper mache'd 2 balloons. I kept the paste sealed in the fridge, so if the consistency was good for them, then I'll use that again tonight. I suspect I may need to add more flour though...

I just realized I left the balloons taped on cups on the coffee table. they're not paper mache'd yet. I think there are 5 balloons on cups out there (they're on cups for stability reasons while I paper mache). The cats could have fun with them.... though I suspect they'd FREAK the heck out if a balloon popped. If Frankie is stuck in the ceiling, I'll know what happened.

Speaking of that furball, I woke up this morning to him ON TOP of a 7-box tall stack of boxes. What!? How'd he get up there and WHY did he want up? Probably chasing a piece of dust or something. Regardless, the once-stable box stack (FULL OF BOOKS, may I add) was leaning precariously. The vacuum was the only thing keeping it up. I yelled at that dustbag of a cat, he scampered off happily, and I amended the box situation. TROUBLEMAKER!

Roses...

Dang these roses take a long time. I guess I actually only had the box a little less than half full, and then with my work last night, it's about 2/3 to 3/4 full. Yikes. I really did chug away on them. I'm almost done with the TON of cut-outs I did last weekend. I'm really hoping that when I put these all together they end up being like 7+ centerpieces. If it's only 4 or so, I will be a bit depressed.

So, I didn't even get to the balloons. I may do them tonight, I may work on roses. One or the other or both, definitely!

Oh, and just as a reminder--- here is what I am working on. Each rose is individually made. I think there are close to 200 on this one, but I will count when I make the next one.

Daily goals...

I'm going to see how this goes... Starting today, I'd like to start posting daily goals. Sometimes my list of things to do gets very overwhelming, and I think posting a goal early in the day for what to accomplish in the evening is a good thing. Baby steps-- one goal at a time!

Tonight, 4/7:
* Finish entire box of roses (I'm about 2/3 of the way there!)
* Paper mache balloons.

I have to allow the balloons time to dry, and then I have to paper mache the bottom part, and then I have to paint them when they are all dry, so I hope to get part 1 (the most time) done tonight.

Last night I was tired... went to the grocery store, came home, ate dinner, and wasn't very productive. I have to get better!!!

Work

This week, B's taking on the tasks of:
1) hotel reservations (he needs to find more rooms)
2) wedding assistant interview(s)
3) ordering groomsmen shirts & ties.

I don't envy him the interview things... but I think he'll handle it with ease. I think 4 interviews and we'll know whom we're hiring. And these aren't formal interviews; just quick coffeehouse type meet-ups.

I am working on roses. I HAVE to finish the centerpieces this week, or I feel I will go mad. HAVE to. Last week had some break-down moments and lack of productivity as I had to deal with some people situations, and I was not nearly as productive as I needed to be.

I've found that if I cut out a TON of patterns and then glue them (rather than doing, say 20 at a time), I'm a lot more productive. Here's hoping.

We bought cups yesterday so I can do the paper mache. I wanted them all to be uniform, but I didn't want to go to a ton of expense buying balls or something for each one. So, I bought a bag of balloons, I'm blowing each one to the same approximate size, and I'm paper mache-ing each one. I could glue directly onto the balloon, but I"m too scared it will pop and roses will go EVERYWHERE. The paper mache, once it hardens, is solid and the balloon is no longer needed.

I'm not sure how many roses I have right now. A good centerpiece requires around 200. I have more than that right now. But, I'd rather fill up the box I have right now and then start gluing, that way I'm not demoralized when I find out I only have roses for only x number of centerpieces.

Next weekend: invites.

Centerpieces

So at long last I'm posting a picture of the centerpiece. Well, of one of them (there will be 15). This didn't take the shortest time to make (there are something like 200 paper roses on there!), but I love how it turned out.

I wanted them to be all pretty much uniform, and so the question became: HOW? I bought a package of balloons, and then I flour/water paper mached the balloons. I figure, that way the shape will be approximately the same for all of them. That dried, then I painted the mache red so that any of it that showed through would be red (thus not noticeable) and not newspaper-y. Then I glued on the roses. I made a stencil for the roses, so that way they're all about the same size. What's great is that they all LOOK different because they're individually made and rolled. I like that they're tightly clustered.

B learned how to make these too. He was helping me. SO CUTE! Gosh I love him.