As you may, or may not know (you probably will if you follow me on Twitter) I was bridesmaid at my good friends wedding on Sunday, and beforehand she taught me a quick craft (and I made two for her wedding) and that is making string balloons.

Now this is one of the more messier and stressful crafts I have ever tried, and while I didn't dislike it, I don't know if its something I will do often, although I am considering making a few for my bedroom...so we'll see!

To start, blow up a balloon to the size you desire.

Get a lot of a string (and I mean a lot - you can always use less than you've cut, but would be difficult to add more - but not impossible!) and find a pot that you can use to fill with glue.

Pour a decent amount of PVA glue into the pot, add the string, and make sure all the string is well covered in glue (you're going to need to get your hands messy from here on in!) but be careful not to create knots in the string.

Grab the end of the string (ideally leave it hanging over the edge of the pot when you cover the string in glue) and take hold of your balloon. Hold the balloon by the knot, and hold onto the end of the string, and then haphazardly wind the string around the balloon, until you've got the desired effect.

Peg up by the knot to dry for 24 hours.

When dry the string will have hardened, burst the balloon and you will be left with a wonderful decoration. You can make small ones for balls to put in a bowl, add string to make hanging decorations, you can spray paint them...anything you can think of.

This is how they were used in the wedding...

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Hello & Welcome!

If you've haven't read Vintage Bunting: Part One then I thoroughly suggest you do, so you know exactly what I am going on about!

Also I urge to you read this: A handmade Wedding by Alison Bomber

In August was the wonderful wedding of two very dear friends, Laura & Adam.

As you will know from the previous Vintage Bunting post, Me, Carol & Laura, spent a great deal of time making the individual flags for the bunting. We cut the flags, sewed them up to make double sided bunting, and then spent hours organising them and fixing them on to the binding, but all our hard work paid off, and on the day they looked wonderful, something I was so proud to be a part of.

The individual flags...

The sewn, double sided flags.

And here are a few pictures of the wonderful wedding, starring some Blanket Stitch bunting!

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A few weekends ago I had the great honour of not only attending a beautiful wedding but doing so as a bridesmaid. It was the most wonderful of days, the weather played nice for once and the wedding was beautiful and a true representation of the happy couple, their beautiful children and their wonderful life together.

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Ever heard of a Bridal bib? No, neither had we, but apparently they are right up there in requests that are coming from blushing brides.

So, what do they do?

The idea of a bridal bib is to cover up the brides dress while she eats, it stops any spillages dropping on to the dress and therefore no stains!

So when our good friend asked if we would design her something to that effect it was a first for us. We had a look around at possible ideas and got to work on making something beautiful and unique, just like the stunning bride-to-be.

We decided to make it in an apron format, to give the greatest coverage for the dress. We wanted it to be practical yet beautiful, so while the beautiful dress is covered the bride still looked and felt amazing.

We widened the top edge to fit in with the style of the dress, which was an off the shoulder design, meaning that a large portion of the top of the dress was covered.

We didn't want the bib/apron to detract too much from the dress underneath, and we also didn't want it to appear to 'busy'. We chose simple detailing using colours from the theme of the wedding - Lilac & Sage.

Here is some further detailing on the bottom of the bib/apron.

In the bottom corner we stitched a small cross stitch to personalise it. It says the names of the bride and groom and then the date of the wedding.

This is how it is to be tied at the back.

Our 'Handmade by Blanket Stitch' ribbon inside.



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A little over a month ago I went on a very good friends Hen do, arranged by myself (Bridesmaid) and the Maid of Honour.

The theme of the Hen party was 'American/Grease' with the two themes tying together quite well.

We started the day at 11am, with an American themed brunch. We made our own American pancakes on my pancake maker and had them with bacon and maple syrup. We also had Bucks Fizz to drink.

Next it was on to dressing up for the day. Before brunch we had revealed to the bride-to-be that the Hen do had an American theme, at this stage everything else was a surprise.

Next we had planned we would reveal just one part of the day to her. First I did her make up to make her into Sandy from Grease, before we all secretly dressed in our pink lady jackets. We faced her away from us and gave her a scroll, revealing that one part of her Hen do would be a sing-a-long Grease show that evening, but that there would be many other surprises throughout the day.

Before leaving each hen got a Hen do gift back. In there, keeping to the American theme were American chocolates, Hershey's Cookies & Cream and Butterfingers (The bride-to-be's faves)! In each bag we also included a Dare card, which each hen would need to complete before the end of the day.

We also included a Hen do emergency kit, which included Lipgloss, Asprin, Rehydration fluids (for the next morning), a nail file, plaster and a safety pin.

Sandy and her Pink Ladies set off for London. Our first stop was LVPO bar, where we took part in a cocktail making workshop. We each got to make a cocktail of our choice off of the menu before splitting into two teams and having a mojito contest.

While still at LVPO we had nibbles and then played a game of a Mr & Mrs which we had pre-planned, with some answers from the Groom!

Next it was on to Covent Garden for drinks.

Next, and continuing the American theme, it was onto Roadhouse in Covent Garden for some American Style dining and cocktails.

Then it was onto Leicester Square for the Grease sing-a-long show.

Brilliant day was had by everyone, lots of fun, lots of laughs, lots of drinks and most importantly of all, the Bride-to-be loved every minute. Success!

Love, Amybecca x

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When I started this project I was going to be making a corsage to wear in my hair for my good friends wedding. As it turns out she then made me bridesmaid so I won't be wearing it for this event, but I am sure I will be wearing it in the future!

I wanted something elegant, fancy, wedding-esque and to match the gorgeous dress (which by the way, Carol made for me).

I picked three different materials, a soft silky (but not actual silk) cream material, the polka dot material that the dress is made from, and some cream lace.

The making of the corsage was easy, for each of the materials I cut out 3 squares. I then folded each square into quarters and cut it as if I was making a flower shape.

I then layered them over each other, at different angles, so as when gathered it would show off all the materials.

I gathered it underneath and then stitched it to make sure it was tight,

Next I attached a kirby grip to it so it would fit easily in my hair.

Lastly, I added some little accessories, some clear, cute buttons, pearls and diamante sparkle.

I loved the end result so much, I decided to make a smaller version and wear it as a corsage on the cream jacket that would go with the dress.

I did everything the same, except added a badge pin instead of a kirby grip.

What do you think? Do you like the corsage?

Let me know in the comments!


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When we were asked by a great friend of ours if it would be possible for us to help her make some vintage bunting for her forthcoming wedding, we were so excited to help!

First things first, we discussed with the bride just what kind of bunting she was looking for, looked through various patterns and ideas and eventually settled on something she was comfortable with and what she envisioned for her big day.

This wasn't an ordinary commission however, with the bride knowing exactly what she wanted and being one of us artsy types, she was going to join in with the making with us. So we set aside a day, and the bunting making began.

We set up our sewing machines, in the presence of a true sewing machine great, and 1960s Singer. Thats right folks, not only were we making vintage bunting, we were making it on a vintage machine, it could not have been more appropriate if we had tried.

So, we got to work!

First we agreed on the size of the flag, and each got working on cutting out the material. We had a huge amount of vintage style material to work from.

After cutting out the triangles it was on to stitching them together. The bride had opted for double sided bunting, so we would need to stitch two triangles together (inside out) and then fold them in the right way, they would then need to be ironed flat and sewn onto the binding to make a gorgeous string of vintage bunting.

So all that needed doing now was ironing and sewing onto the binding.

Stay tuned for part 2. Coming soon.

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