Handmade Wednesday's: The Bathroom Decoupage

Sometimes in a girls life, she wants a bathroom filled with pretty things. But it can be rather hard to find bath accessories that completely suit your personality or fit your bathroom style and coloring. I know that I have had the hardest time because I want all of my bath pieces to be in the same style, but not be too matchy-matchy. That's where creating your own design comes in rather handy. I love using decoupage to turn every cup, bottle, canister or shaker box into something beautiful and unique. If you're not familiar with decoupage that's alright! It is the art of decorating something using cut-outs of paper, linoleum, plastic or any flat material.

Of course you can always use any of the above materials for our craft today, but I love the idea of using napkins. They come in all sorts of interesting designs to give you the style you desire. Heck you can choose anything from vintage roses to children's rubber ducks! So, let's get started.

Here's What You'll Need:

• Your container of choice
• Rubbing alcohol or vinegar
• Creamy colored acrylic craft paint
• Paint brush or foam brush
• Paper Napkin of choice
• weather proof clear coat
• Fine, sharp scissors

Here's How to Make it:

1. Clean the glass jar with the rubbing alcohol or vinegar to help the paint adhere.
2. Paint the jar with two coats of the craft paint and let it dry.
3. Use the scissors to cut out the designs you want to use, separating the napkin layers so that you are working with only one thin layer.
4. Then decide where you want them on your container by messing around with placement
5. Paint the clear coat on the area of the container where you will be placing the decoupage, then carefully place the napkin design over it.
6. Smooth gently to eliminate wrinkles.
7. Finish with one or two layers of the clear coat.

Wedding Trends: Bridesmaids Dresses

Moving back to the subject of wedding attire, we’re moving onto bridesmaids’ dresses. Sometimes being a bridesmaid is equated with being drafted. You have to do what you’re told from your commander (the bride) and are given tons of duties that don’t involve your agreement. Now as bridesmaid, you usually don’t mind this because it’s your friend. The situation gets sticky though when it’s time to walk down the aisle in a hideous garb that some people would call a dress. Luckily, the trend seems to be shying away from ugly dresses on the bridesmaid to make the bride look prettier. So that’s good news for those on bridesmaid duty. A major trend for bridesmaids in wedding ceremonies (and in all of the wedding itself) is making the bridesmaid comfortable. This means allowing them to wear what they like (usually within the brides’ taste). The major fad is small variations among the dresses or different dresses altogether among bridesmaids. So if you’re about to be a bridesmaid, don’t sweat just yet, you might get to choose what you wear.

Traditional bridesmaid dresses are very uniform. It’s one dress, meaning one style and one color on each woman. It’s as if it’s done so you can be spotted among the other guests at the wedding. In the most recent years, this very steady fixed fad has had some twists put on it. Some that aren’t wanting to stray from tradition completely are using the same dress buy varying small details of it on each bridesmaid. For instance, the dresses will be the same length and shape, differing only in the straps. One may be strapless, another halter, and another tank top. Another fad is to have the same dress but in a few different colors. Or lastly, a fun light-hearted trend that is still obeying tradition is to have two or three colors of a dress with two or three different types of straps. It’s definitely more comfortable for each woman than the traditional one-dress-for-all model, but still shows that thought and care for matching attire were taken into account.

For complete rejection of tradition, some brides are opting to allow their bridesmaids to wear a dress of their choosing. This is usually done at very casual weddings, though. There are usually still some restraints on the bridesmaids, because weddings are meant to be classy, no matter what the motif. Dress of course match the overall wedding design, but bridesmaid are left to themselves to find a dress. This is done because the dresses don’t need to be the same length, shape, color or design. They just can’t be completely conflicting with each other, but if bridesmaids stay within the wedding design, this shouldn’t be a problem. This is the newest trend for bridesmaid dresses, but that doesn’t mean it’s the most popular. It is truly only for very casual and often modern weddings. It’s not a returning old-fashion, but actually an emerging one. So in a way, it is one of the only aspects of the wedding which conflicts with the overall trend of returning to simple elegance and old-fashionedness. It’s more of a ‘get together and wear what you want’ feel, hence exceptionally casual.

No matter what trend of bridesmaid dresses you choose to have, be certain that you are happy with it. Your style and wedding design will greatly factor into what you choose to do along with the comfort and style of the bridesmaids. After all, they’re your closest friends and family, so put them at ease, so they can enjoy your big day as much as possible.