Wedding and Pinwheels

We had a great time at the lake over the long 4th of July weekend.  I'll have to share pictures soon of the biggest trout I ever caught!  We caught a lot of other trout, too, enough to freeze for meals later.  That's a treat.  The big plus was we had sun all 5 days! 

The wedding I helped out with on Saturday turned out beautiful.  It was park-like setting and a gorgeous day.  The details I helped with were the pinwheels.  We had pinwheels up and down the main isle the wedding party used.  (There was an isle runner added after this photo.)    

Then we placed various heights of pinwheels around the reception tables.  We tried to set them up in groups of three, with the three main colors:  pink, purple and orange.

The center pieces for the 20 tables were vases filled sand and then the pinwheels.

Just a few days before the wedding I said, "Let's make pinwheel straws for the kids to use!"  Funny thing was, the adults were using them too, and at the end several kids came up to me asking for more pinwheel straws.

 

The friend who made the cake for the couple used more pinwheels we made as the cake decoration.  It was really cute.  The cake was yummy, too.  I always taste wedding cakes!

I made a bunch of felt pinwheels for the flower girls and bridesmaids to wear in their hair.  After making the pinwheel I just used the end of the thread to tie them on the clips.  For extra security I added a dab or two of hot glue.

This was a colorful wedding and it was a treat to make the pinwheels.

I also made a few rustic signs which we staked out in front of the facility.  The  bride asked the date be painted on the back of "WEDDING", so that she could hang their names and the wedding date in their new apartment.

Blessings, Heidi

(linked to Between Naps on the Porch Met. Monday)

Pinwheels (Pin Wheels) for a wedding!

A sweet friend of ours is getting married in a couple weeks.  Her wedding will be in a beautiful park setting.  This sweet girl loves color and selected pinwheels as a way to bring color into her wedding.  The challenge was to figure out how to make these colorful pinwheel in all sizes, and how to get them pinned onto dowels (or sticks).

I played around the ideas for a days.  I tried pins, push-pins, tacks, nails and more, but just couldn't make them stick without the fear of them popping off in an outdoor setting.  Then one morning as I was running the light bulb in my head went off.  (It seems my best thoughts and ideas come when I'm on my run!)  Use my nail gun!

I used the smallest finish nail my nail-gun would shoot.  Then I stuck the dowel, or sticks (we're using both), on the crack of our deck boards, shooting the nail into the top, so that it goes through the other side, but doesn't actually get nailed to anything!  Perfect.  Now just make the paper pinwheels!

To make the paper pinwheels we used various sizes, 12" squares down to 4" squares.  I fold them corner to corner, and open them back up.  This gives me a line to use for my cutting.  I cut down to about an inch or two from the center. 

Then fold one of each tip into the center. Set this on top of the nail and push through.  Now on the nail I put a pearl or bead, then take a pair of pliers and bend the nail back down onto the bead.  This holds it all in place. 

Because we used so many kinds of papers we often doubled up the thinner papers, which also gave contrasting colors and patterns. To make sure the papers didn't separate I just dabbed some glue on the corners of the papers.  For the smaller ones we used straight pins, with white heads.  Using a pliers I cut off the ends and curled them so a skewer stick could be used.  Then a dab of hot glue to make sure they stay attached.

The bride will line the isle of the ceremony chairs with pinwheels.  She'll also use them all around the reception.  Then as centerpieces on the tables, we'll have vases filled with sand and 5 pinwheels in each vase.  The pinwheels will be used on the cake and food tables, too.  Should be colorful and fun!

   Have a great day!  Blessings, Heidi

(Linked to Between Nap's Metamorphosis Monday here,and Tip Junkie Homemade Projects Tuesday here.)