Our Wedding, A DIY Project - Make Your Own Garter

I've always liked the tradition associated with weddings of "something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue" and knew that I would try and stick to it. 

Old was easy, I've always wanted a silver sixpence included in my wedding so I could tick that off the list

New was equally easy;my dress, shoes and accessories.

Borrowed and blue was proving a bit more tricky.

My grandad passed away in September 2000 and had always been someone I looked up to so it made sense to have him with me somehow. My mum has one of his rings so I'm 'borrowing' that for the day and having it attached to my bouquet.

That just left something blue. As our colour scheme is sage green, cream and gold I just couldn't see where blue would fit in, until I stumbled across some garters in a bridal shop.

Hidden under my dress and a bit of fun I immediately knew what my something blue would be.

As complicated as these look they are surprising easy to make.

Mine took about 10 minutes from start to finish.

So whether for your big day or for your hen why not give it a try?!

You will need 

Net or lace

Ribbon

Elastic

Sewing needle

Thread


1. Measure the part of your thigh that you want to wear your garter and cut the elastic 1cm shorter than your leg measurement and the ribbon and net/lace twice the length of your leg measurement (this will give you a nice gather)

2.Pin the ribbon to the net or lace in the desired position and sew a running stitch along the top and bottom of the ribbon making sure there is enough space for the elastic to pass through (don't worry about it being perfect as you won't really see it)

3. Thread the elastic through the garter under the ribbon but on top of the net/lace.  As the material is twice as long as the elastic, once the elastic is halfway through pin the end in place so it doesn't spring back through. Continue threading the elastic through until it's out at the other end.

4. Once the elastic is threaded through, slightly overlap the ends and stitch firmly together.

5. Adjust the material around the elastic until you are happy with the look then stitch the two end of the material together.

If you like you can finish your garter off with an embellishment.
It really is that simple

If you do have a go at making your own garter I'd love to see the finished product.

M xx

A Trio of Monsterous Treats

With tween occupying herself with friends, first son at his grandparents for the weekend and my other half at work, I was tasked with keeping little monster busy and happy. When asked what he wanted to do 'bake!' was his rather excited response.

After looking through the kitchen cupboards for what baking goodies we had we opted for some straight forward marshmallow treats.

Here are little monsters bloody eyeballs, Monsters Inc Sully and a witches broomstick.

What you will need 

Marshmallows(not the mini ones)

Straws

Milk chocolate

Red candy melts 

Blue candy melts (or you can use white chocolate and food colouring instead of red and blue melts)

Mint essence

Purple rainbow drops

Raisins

Method 

1) On a sheet of greaseproof paper lay out the marshmallows and put the straws into the middle making sure the go right through to the bottom.

2) Melt the red candy melts (if using chocolate, melt the chocolate and add the red colouring) then coat some of the marshmallows in the red. Add a raisin for the eyeball.

3) Melt the blue candy melts (if ising white chocolate, melt the chocolate and add blue colouring) and mix in 2 drops of mint essence.

4) Coat some of the marshmallows in the blue mix then randomly put some of the purple rainbow drops all over.

5) Melt the chocolate and coat the remaining marshmallows in the melted chocolate.

As you can see, not all of the chocolate made it on to the marshmallows!

6) Leave all of the marshmallows on the greaseproof paper to dry.

Once dry, treat your friends to these ghoulish treats!

For this and other recipe ideas don't forget to follow me on Pinterest.

M xx