Etsy

Etsy is a place synonymous with artsy.  It's a virtual marketplace, of practically anything you can dream up.  Handmade.  Customizable.  I love it.

Only one problem.

The items on the website cost money.  Erm.  For someone with lots of school debt and trying to afford a wedding, this is not desirable...

The solution?  Buy wedding related goodies!  Have a sneak peek at my Save the Dates... an affordable digital file from Ink and Fiddle that allows me to print as many or as few I would like... and they're unique and beautiful.  I received exactly what I wanted.  Plus, Nikki was awesome to work with.

On the other hand, my wedding palette is a bit on the strong side... being dark blue, bright green, and accents of purple... Can you guess the theme (presuming you're not one of the people I've told already)?

No?

Hint:  It's something I wouldn't typically do...say, like, a year ago.  But I stumbled across a few feathers (yeah, me, the one who thinks feathers are gaudy) and they inspired me.

Feathers for my fowl theme

How about now?

Still no?

Hint:  Those feathers are not dyed... they're naturally that color.

Alright, alright, here, I give in:

Part of a gift I made

Now, if I bought everything peacock related that I would like from Etsy, I would be flat broke... and in more debt.  From headbands to dresses to invitation suites to wall decals...I would own it all.  So, I just lust after the beautiful items and do what any rational person would do...

Make it myself.

So far, I have a guestbook, gifts, pens, and centerpieces made.  Soon, I will have my invitations partially or wholly handmade, as well as bouquets and boutonnieres, favors, and a million other things I'm dying to create...like signs.  In Russian.*

Granted, not everything takes it's roots in the website...okay, most of it doesn't.  But they do have a lot of interesting items.  Not being able to afford the hand painted peacock wedding shoes or the $12 each invitation suites doesn't mean I can't create something just as beautiful, though.

(I guess being a bit artsy comes in handy every once in a while...)

*I just started taking Russian classes.  Hopefully I can write more elegantly than a russian 5-year-old.