Shoe Hats - A Conclusion

I'm not really sure whether I should be proud or ashamed - but I am no longer an Etsy virgin.

Remember those shoe hats I was experimenting with before? Well, you all voted for the feather, so I figured I should get to town.

But it didn't work out. I could not produce a matching pair. It's like every feather in the bunch was completely different. And being cheap feathers to start with, they had an annoying habit of falling apart. It didn't look good. It also didn't help that the shedding feather-fluff was flying all over the place, making a gigantic down mess all over the place.

So I thought maybe I'd just go with the single-wing-per-shoe idea. It was my own personal favorite, after all. But I was afraid that it would snag on my dress since it kind of hung off the shoe.

Frustrated, I decided I'd scour Etsy for additional ideas. Well, I didn't find any ideas, but I did find some shoe clips. Some three-dollar-and-fifty-cent shoe clips. With pearls on them.

Source: Etsy Seller Garmenture

And a couple of clicks later, they were mine.

So there you have it - my first DIY fail. But I did get some cute clips at a ridiculously low price, so I'm having a hard time being upset about it. I mean, they are some seriously cute little clips.

I just hope I haven't crossed some sort of psychological barrier that opens up a floodgate of more purchases. I mean, these are a little small, maybe I should switch shoes next?

Well, okay. Maybe it's more of Sak's hope than mine. When you give a mouse a cookie...

Have you given up on a DIY project yet? Did you feel like a failure or breathe the sweet air of relief? Is Etsy always so convenient?

Wedding Attachments

Maybe you're DIYing every last detail. Maybe you don't even know what they acronym means. Either way, I guarantee that you will need some adhesive. For something. Something will come up during the course of planning that needs to be attached together. Glue - it's just another one of those unspoken things that come along with weddings.

I admit, I had a glue-box before I was engaged:

But I find my stock of the sticky stuff has started increasing tremendously. Here's what's been accumulating:

-Glue Sticks

This is probably self-explanatory, but glue sticks work best on lightweight papers. It's cheap and easy to apply. Also, it won't warp your papers. However, it is not very strong. Plus, I'm currently biased and grossed out at the thought of glue sticks, after finding one of mine had mold growing all over it! Blech!

-Zip Dry

Zip Dry is slightly expensive for a glue, but a little goes a long way. It's as strong as nails and it won't warp your paper as long as you keep a thin coat of glue. However, you have to be pretty meticulous when applying it, as it is fairly aqueous. Remember to always clean out the tip when you're done too, since the small thing gets clogged easily. We ended up gluing all our pocket fold pockets with Zip Dry!

-Spray Tack

My favorite for achieving that perfect, even mount. It won't warp your paper, and also fairly strong as long as you evenly coat the surface. Spray, however, is not the cheapest option, though it may be the fastest in terms of application. It is very unwieldy, and can get all over the place if you're not careful. Also, it's got crazy fumes, so make sure you keep a window open! We used spray tack for The main panel for the invites, as well as the backs of the canvases!

-Double Stick Tape

I took Miss Hot Wing's advice and went to Target for double stick tape. It was a pretty good price! Tape is always a solid, versatile option, but you can't get an even covering very easily. Not to mention that it may not work with very thin papers, as you might see the outline of the tape underneath. We used double-sided tape to put in our envelope liners.

-Glue Dots & Tape Glue

Many of these brands come in cute little runners that make it easy to apply. They aren't the strongest though, nor are they the cheapest, but they are pretty convenient, and definitely non-messy. We used repositionable glue dots for our save-the-date magnets, and it worked out quite well.

-Xyron

Just a little machine that makes a little sticker out of everything, and is SO much fun! Unfortunately though, the refills are slightly on the pricey end in my opinion. If I bought more refills, I'd probably only use it for odd shapes that you can't easily print out on sticker paper, though we did use it to tape the flight info to the back of our save-the-dates.

-Hot Glue

When I'm not burning myself with it, the glue gun is another favorite of mine. Good for textiles as well as paper, it's fairly cheap and easy to use. However, it can be unwieldy if you're not careful, and it's not the strongest adhesive in the world. I should also note that there are different types of glue sticks depending on the temperature and strength you need.
My hair flower (yes, this is the new one!) was hot-glued together!


-Elmer's

Honestly, I'm not a big fan of white glue. I really don't like the smell for some reason. Plus it will easily warp your papers, and takes a fairly long time to dry. But it is cheap, and it does work for most paper applications.

But why, then, do we have one gallon jugs of the stuff? It works wonders for paper mache. Thin it down with some water, plop in some newspaper and you're good to go!

-Masking Tape & Duct Tape

Don't leave home without 'em. Masking tape or painter's tape works wonders for keeping surfaces (like the YUDU screen) paint-free, and duct tape, well that's just a cure-all for everything.

-Super Glue

Quick Fixes! That's all I have to say. Oh, and don't glue your fingers together. Not fun.

-Penga's Favorite Glue

This is my favorite glue ever, not because of it's physical properties (it's got a bit of a paper-warping problem), but because it's super-duper cute. Doesn't it look like nail polish or something? But it's glue! And it smells like apples. How can you not love a glue that smells like apples? Not that anyone should be sniffing glue, of course!

As you can see, there are many, many other adhesives in the world. Two-part epoxy, edible paste, modge podge - even solder sort of counts. Take a minute next time you're in a craft store or Home Depot and just look at the possibilities. It's pretty interesting!

And speaking of Home Depot, often times it's cheaper to get your bulk glue or tape at a hardware store rather than a craft store, so definitely price shop!

What's your favorite adhesive? Have you noticed an increase in glue-usage since your planning began, or are you adhesive-free?

Program Power! Part 2

Several months back, I mentioned a little something about making a mini-manga to stick in our programs.

And since neither you nor I want to read about the ridiculously long process it took me to reach the end, I'm just going to reveal the finished pages!

We'll start with the cover, which will be a two-page spread. On it you can see all our anime convention costumes of the past!


Sorry for the small blog-picture sizes, hopefully some of it is still readable!





I fear the whole thing may be too confusing since it's only five pages to span several weeks, but I love, love, love that I now have documentation of how we met. It's much better than the one-page, no punctuation exclamation of our first kissing experience I journaled about way-back when. Trust me.

And if you need a little more context, this all happened at the end of our freshman year of college. Right after our declaration of like, Sak went home to Hawaii for the summer, and we spent every night (during free-calling-minute-time) talking and learning about one another. Meeting up again after the summer ended was exciting and scary for the both of us, but a little more for Sak, as evidenced by his month-long anxiety-vomit-spree.

New love is exciting, isn't it? I get chills just remembering it all.

Anyway, I'll be including a copy of our comic in each of our 8.5" x 5.5" programs, for guests to read if they choose. I need to figure out the best (and yet still economical) method of printing our approximately fourteen page long program.

As of late, I'm really drooling over tape binding:

(source)

But as it's fairly expensive, I may just go with the saddle-stitch binding, which is what many magazines and pamphlets use.

(source)

Any good ideas on how to bind a program together? How long did it take you and your SO to reach a declaration of "like"?

Lucky Entertainment

It may be the year of the tiger, but the king of the jungle still rules. With pride, we'll watch our guests roar with amazement as talent sharpens it's claws and permanently marks our wedding day.

Okay. Maybe the "marking" went a little far, but bad-puns aside, we'll be having a lion dance at our reception!

Me: Mom, mom! We're having a lion dance okay?
Penga-Mom: What? A line dance? That's awesome, it'll make for good pictures!
Me: ... LION dance.
Penga-Mom: Line dance?
Me: LION! LION! ROOAARRR!
Penga-Mom: Ohhh. Lion dance. Okay. But I like the line dance idea.
Me: ...

(source) Lion, I say!

The whole thing came about rather unexpectedly, actually. As a child, I spent every Chinese New Year and Moon Festival in the back of my grandfather's Chinese community center, waiting to serve food in my cheongsam while the old folks did tai chi. He would often bring in a lion dance troupe to perform as well, so naturally all thoughts of lion dances bring back memories of being bored out of my mind and not being allowed to snack on the food before the program was finished.

So when Sak's aunt brought up the idea several months ago (she has a friend in the troupe club), I dismissed the idea rather quickly.

But for some reason or another, I kept going back to the thought. I saw great pictures from performances done at Mrs. Green Tea's and Mrs. Toucan's receptions. I started thinking that it would probably mean a lot to my grandfather, who cannot come due to his bedridden state of health. Performances are only 15-20 minutes long, anyway, what could it hurt to at least check the prices?

(source) I'm digging the team's purple lion.

Well, turns out it's a donation, and a suggested amount of $150 per lion. A lot cheaper than a San Franciscan lion, that's for sure. But I have no idea what the group is like, since (like many a friendor), all I have is a first name and a phone number rather than an informative website with pictures and videos. The best I could find are a few flickr photos, so blind faith it has to be. We booked anyway, since there is no up-front payment required. Apparently, we are to "feed" the lions their donation in lai see (red envelopes), after the performance. If anyone wants to elaborate on this custom, please do. My grandfather always got his lions for free, so I've only seen them "eat" food like oranges and lettuce.

(source) Hungry, hungry lion!

While my excitement for the idea is slowly growing on me, Sak's has been there since day one. He's never really seen a lion dance in person, so he's definitely looking forward to it.

One Chinese lion dance at our Japanese Cultural Center reception? Check.

(source) Coming right at ya!

Are you bringing traditions from your past to your wedding? What do you think about lion dances - scary or cool?

Just a Little Vent..

The first piece of wisdom my mother imparted to me at the start of my engagement was this - "There is no such thing as a drama-less wedding".

But at the start, it's hard to take off the rose-colored glasses. We were so in love, our families were supportive, our friends were so excited for us.

But now, around the five month mark, I'm realizing maybe Mom was right.

Hello, drama.

Now to be fair, this is a one-sided monologue of a drama, as the angst and anger and disappointment lies solely with the bride.

A destination wedding. You never know who is going to be able to make it. So I invited pretty much all of California, hoping at least a few could come. There was no slashing of our list.

But I don't think it quite hit me then. That some of my loved ones won't be there.

As we build and prepare to send out our invitations, I'm scared. I'm scared of the "not attendings" we'll get in the mail. I'm scared that I'll take every "no" personally, and that the irrational part of my mind will convince me that it is because they don't like me, or don't approve of my marriage. I'm scared that I'll be planning a party for people I hardly know (Sak's side), and that I'll be the stranger at my own wedding.

Now Penga, don't be silly, right? It's Hawaii, people would come in a heartbeat if they could. It's not a cheap vacation. I'd be wrong to expect those that are not financially secure.

But what if the "no" has nothing to do with finances?

What if it's someone you've offered to pay for?
What if it's someone you know can make it, but they say they don't want to "deal with the airport" or they "don't want to leave their dog"?
What if it's someone how at first said yes, but now changes their mind because they "miscalculated their vacation time"?

How do you not take things like that personally?

I've lost a lot of faith in my friends and family. People I had assumed that would be there for me. But I shouldn't have assumed in the first place. I shouldn't have created that mental picture of our wedding day, with those key people smiling happily around me.

I need a new mantra - a pessimistic belief that I should expect no one is going to come. Like when you convince yourself you flunked a test, simply so you will be overjoyed when you get that C. I don't want any more disappointment. I don't want to think that we're putting our heart and soul into planning a party that no one cares about. I just can't handle that thought.

I apologize for the negative post. But sometimes you just need to lay your problems out there in the open so they can evaporate away. So you can come back to them later and realize how silly you were being. When the rational mind returns to tell you that maybe the sad excuses you've been given were just masks for some deeper, unknown problem.

I think I need a cheer-up-cream-puff today.

Just a Few Words

So I took a stab at writing my own little "letter" to read to Sak at our ceremony. My thoughts are to read our heartfelt sentiments to each other, then commence with the rings and traditional vows. I always love it when couples say something personal to each other. There's something that just seems so special about it.

(source)

Anyway, I think I came up with a fairly good little piece. It conveys what I feel about as much as words can express, and I tried to keep the inside jokes and anything else that might be prone to "dating" out entirely. It's honest, light on froof, with a touch of my own quirky spirit. I think Sak would like it.

And speaking of Sak, as far as I know, he hasn't written two words. I know he's not entirely comfortable having his writing compared to mine, as he has always been strictly a numbers guy. But I know whatever he ends up writing will still be from his heart, whether it's eloquent or not.

I imagine he'd say something like this:

(Manga image from Hot Gimmick, by Miki Aihara)

*Sigh* So here's the options -

Do I:

1) Share what I have wrote and look over his to make sure they are roughly the same length and seriousness? I mean, I've been to a wedding where the groom wrote completely beautiful things, and the bride's was one big light-hearted inside joke. It didn't mesh to us confused guests - but then again, the guests don't really matter when it comes to one's personal statement towards the other, do they?

2) Keep everything completely hush-hush and be in for a surprise.

3) Give them to a 3rd party to evaluate for us.

As much as I want to express how much my future husband means to me, I don't want him to have anxiety over this. Bad things happen when Sak has anxiety.

Did you or will you write your own sentiments? Is it a secret or are you well rehearsed?

You Don't Need to See My Identification...

These aren't the droids you're looking for...move along!

(source)

Well, it looks like I won't be needing ol' Obi-Wan's help this time around. I can get past security after all! My passport came in the mail! Woo hoo!
I applied for this little booklet about one month ago, and let me tell you, it was a hassle! The passport window was only open certain times of the day, and only at certain post offices. Being a first-time applicant, I had to go in person. I brought my identification and the form I had filled out on my computer. All set, I turned in my paperwork, only to be told I was missing information!

What?!

Turns out I had left my parent's dates and places of birth out of the original form, along with info about my employer. I didn't fill them out online since it said optional! But apparently it wasn't optional for first-timers. Luckily, a frantic phone call to Penga-Dad yielded the missing information.

Also, I did not bring a check with me, and they only allowed check or money order. It's a good thing the post office could make a money order for me, otherwise I would have been out of luck.

All the stress certainly didn't do me any good either - my mug shot turned out horrible. I have a sleepy eye and a super sour face. Definitely not flattering, but like Sak says, "If you ever get questioned by authorities, you're not going to be smiling anyway". True that.

So now, armed with a passport and a sparkly beautiful plane ticket to both Hawaii and the honeymoon destination, I'm ready to goooo!

(source) I'd love to ride in a Pokemon plane! Kawaii!

Have you applied for a passport? Or do you count on those Jedi mind tricks to get you where you need to go?