Accessorizing a Grand Wedding Celebration - Grand Finale

Good Luck Little Sis!

What lengths we go to in the name of beauty!

This weekend was such a special weekend for our family.  We celebrated my sister Amy's wedding.  After years of dating, months of planning, dozens of tastings, appointments and fittings Amy & Don officially tied the knot. 

As part of their special day, I was able to add sparkles to so many lady loves in my life.  I started this blog series to document each piece I was able to create for the special day.  Saturday brought so much pride to my heart.  As a big sister, I was sooooo happy to see my little sis so beautiful and so in love.  She was simply glowing and it just touched my heart to no end.  As a jewelry artist, my creative heart beamed... people were complimenting the jewelry without even knowing I had created it.  Amy's photographer was commenting on her accessories and how beautiful they sparkled... it gave her great pride to point at me and say, "My sister made that!"

Copyright Matt Mason Photography

I think I've talked enough... I just want to show and tell now.  I'll let you see Amy in all her glory, shining like the elegant & sophisticated bride that she is!  For a peek at the entire wedding album created by Matt Mason Photography out of Lake Geneva, WI you can visit his Smug Mug profile at:  http://mattmason.smugmug.com/Weddings/Doucette-Reier-Wedding/23610388_JrH4NT#!i=1910263087&k=SHHzrV8

My Beautiful Mom Just Glowing

Copyright Matt Mason Photography

Copyright Matt Mason Photography

Copyright Matt Mason Photography

Copyright Matt Mason Photography

Here's the links to the specific posts featuring pieces of this beautiful wedding that I was able to contribute to:

Part 1 - Mom's Earrings

Part 2 - Bridal Bracelet
Part 3 - The Veil

Yes, there is no jewelry and this picture has no edits, touch-ups or enhancements, but there sure is a lot of love!  It was taken at the salon right after we all had our hair done.  It's the 3 sisters... Left to right, Brenda, Amy & Dawn.  I don't know when the last time was (if ever in our adult life) that we've had a sister picture taken.  This is a picture I'll treasure forever!

It just filled my heart and overflowed my love 'o meter sharing in this weekend.  Making bridal jewelry is really special in itself, but getting to see it walk down the aisle, dance the first dance, toss flower petals and cut the cake are really special moments!

Now it's your turn!  Spread love and joy this week! 
{Hugs!}
Dawn

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Dawn Doucette, Artisan

For information about affordable bridal jewelry or to discuss having custom wedding jewelry created for you and your wedding party, contact Designs By Dawn Marie at:  http://www.DesignsbyDawnMarie.com or on Facebook! 

Accessorizing a Grand Wedding Celebration - Part 3

This last week was a busy one around these parts!  I was putting the final stages together for my sister's bridal shower.  I wanted to make sure she felt like a complete princess.  So with the help of my Aunt Monica, we concocted the perfect party! 

In continuing with preparing Amy's accessories for her wedding, I had blogged about her bracelet a time ago and I had already finished my mom's earrings.  I have Amy's necklace and earrings still to do... and the bridesmaid jewelry too... but what I'm about to share with you is a first for Designs By Dawn Marie.

Amy in her beautiful veil - click to enlarge photo

I created Amy's wedding veil using beautiful, sparkling Swarovski Crystal.  Her ceremony is outdoors, so she didn't want a really long veil, but she did like the layered veil best.  Her dress is very elegant with tons of crystals, sequins, pearls and very beautiful lace appliques.  So I set to work and beaded up the perfect veil. 

The piping is hand-stitched using silver-lined crystal 1.8mm Toho cubes from Artbeads.com.  Then on the tulle itself, I created a random pattern of sparkle using Swarovski #3128 Lochrosen crystal sequins.  Not too many suppliers carry this style of Swarovski crystal.  I was referred to this style of crystal from Sherry Serafini from a class I took with her back in November and I picked them up from Fusion Beads.  I knew they would be perfect for the veil because they lay flat and provide a ton of sparkle.  SO I got 3mm, 4mm, and 6mm crystal in foil-back and AB finished and created a "snowfall" effect using the smaller crystals near the top and graduating to the larger crystals as I neared the bottom. 

Let me tell you, capturing the picture was a challenge because the crystals sparkle just so darn much.  I stitched over 100 crystals on her veil and it turned out beautifully.  Everybody at the party was just blown away at how perfect it is for Amy!  I know Amy loved it and I cannot wait to see her wearing it on her wedding day... heck I'm already a blubbing big sister crying all over the place here.  Oy...

Can't wait to share more with you, but I have to get back to work! Hope your week is fantastic!
{Hugs!}
~Dawn

Amy, Grandma and Mom

Corsage made by Frontier Flowers in Fontana, WI

Flower Centerpiece by Frontier Flowers in Fontana, WI

 

P.S.  The cake that you see there... well what's left of it anyhow, it was delicious.  I made it using a recipe I saw on the Barefoot Contessa Ina Garten on the Food Network of a layered coconut cake.  It was to.die.for (or from if you have an aversion to real butter.)  But let me tell you, it was delicious and so special for her special day!  I toasted my coconut for the top to give it a little nuttier flavor (because my family consists of a lot of nuts) and it was delicious.  Note, we refuse to check the caloric content because it really doesn't matter... LOL

Accessorizing a Grand Wedding Celebration - Part 1

This summer, my sister is getting married!  We've been shopping for THE dress (and have secured it.)  In case her fiance is reading this, it's pink w/ green polka dots and tube top style! ;)  And that's all we're saying! tee hee ☺

We're all so very excited to help Amy celebrate her nuptials.  Being that I'm the artisan in the family, Amy has asked that I help accessorize her (and the rest of us) for her big day!  SO this is the first blog post in a series of projects I'm working on for Amy's wedding.  I'll be doing the bride's jewelry, her wedding veil (which I'm so excited about), my mom's jewelry and a few other surprise pieces thrown in there too!

I'm so excited to share these bead embroidered earrings with you.  I made these for my mom who's wearing a gorgeous pink chiffon dress.  It has some beadwork on the asymmetrical handkerchief hem.  She has a necklace I made for her already, but these earrings are the perfect finishing touch to her outfit.

My mom used to have pierced ears, but after years of not wearing earrings (two wonderful grandbabies that would see earrings as fun toys) her earring holes have closed up.  So I wanted to make her a pair of clip earrings that didn't look like traditional clip on earrings. 

Because the necklace has multiple shades of pink, I wanted to mirror that in the earrings.  This makes them more versatile that she can wear with multiple pink outfits. And who wouldn't want to wear these... like all the time!  :o)  If you've been reading my blog, you know I'm all about big bling!  I LOVE CRYSTAL (and soon, I'm sure I'll have to find a support group for that).

I used a Swarovski flat-backed crystal as the focal then bead embroidered around it.  The fringe off the bottom also features Swarovski crystals and a Swarovski tear drop.  They look stunning in person and my mom is thrilled with them not looking like "old lady" earrings.  PLUS they are super lightweight, so her ears won't get a headache from carrying around anything too heavy!

Stay tuned for more in my series of Accessorizing a Grand Wedding Celebration!
{Hugs!}
Dawn

Yuppers, this made me cry!

Over the last several weeks, I embarked on a bead embroidery piece for a very dear friend.  Kathy has had me custom design several sets for her in the past, but this set of jewelry was to be over the top - supremely special - the belle of the ball... get my drift! 

Kathy is attending a very special charity dinner where the attendees are all very well known people.  I had blogged about it here if you're new to "Dawn's World."  No worries I'll give you a moment to learn about what the charity is.

Having so many ideas racing through my mind, and wanting to deliver on Kathy's desire to have an awesome necklace that features that "IT pink" that has been named most popular for this spring, I played with a few different color pallets. 

After much deliberation (you should have heard the voices in my head.) and on more than one occasion at 3:15 a.m.,  brilliant ideas shot me straight out of bed.  Finally, I opted to go with a WOW pink and multiple shades of pewter!  In my opinion black was going to be too big of a contrast, and would try to over power the pink.  So I chose different colors, finishes and textures of pewter & grey and prepared the piece of Kathy's dreams.

What struck me as I was working on this necklace was my inner peace.  I started with a blank slate (I drew nothing out on paper) and just beaded as my heart desired.  The colors just flowed into each other like the blending of frosting and food coloring.  When it was finished, I stepped back and looked at the piece through new eyes.  This was the most striking necklace I have ever made.  I love big bling, so designing with Swarovski montees and crystals were something out of a dream.  Kathy had given me instructions to do whatever my heart and the beads want to do... so I did.

For me, this necklace symbolized a milestone.  It was a much bigger stretch than I've ever allowed myself to reach for.  But the reward in seeing my very own heart & soul laid out in beads for Kathy to wear was amazing.  I feel like this was my caterpillar moment!  I've come out of my little chrysalis and become a bright, colorful, graceful butterfly! 

I'm working on a few more pieces as we speak, and have a great open house planned for this Sunday with another very dear friend, Elaine.  Also, I've had an offer to debut my bead embroidery jewelry at an evening gala at a local boutique.  So that's in the works for the end of April.  In the meantime, I will continue to learn, grow and discover a creative ME that I never knew was in there just 10 years ago!  Seriously, I thought I'd major in accounting... what was I thinking?

Let your dreams take flight... the scenery will be beautiful and you just don't know where you'll land! 
{Hugs!}
Dawn

Wedding Jewelry Makes Me Happy!

If I haven't told you lately, I just LOVE being able to design wedding jewelry.  Brides are a very special class of ladies... and their glow is unmistakable.  I've been commissioned to design a special set of jewelry for a local bride that was referred to me from a good personal friend.  In meeting with this bride, it turns out we have other mutual friends that we didn't even realize we knew. It's a very small world out there.

So today, I scheduled an appointment to meet with this special bride to show her the custom designed wedding set I created just for her.  Because each piece is born of pure love from my heart, getting the brides reaction is so, so special.  Today's reaction was worth it's weight in gold - and then some!  She just adored the jewelry and even more than that, she couldn't wait to show her bridesmaids and her mom.  I love, LOVE knowing she's going to take "me" home to meet her mama.  tee hee ;)

I've seen her dress in a photo from when she was trying it on, so I know she's going to be a beautiful bride.  I just feel so grateful that I got to add a little extra sparkle to her special day!

From my heart to yours... big, BIG hugs!

Jewelry For Bridesmaids

After making the first set of Swarovski Crystal jewelry for my dear friend for a wedding in Paris, I've been asked to design more with the beautiful crystals.  It just delights me to get requests, because as an artists, that means you see the same beauty in my designs that I did when I created them from my heart. 

I'm currently working on a set of Jewelry for Bridesmaids in an August Wedding.  The wedding colors are pink & black, and the bride requested simple jewelry.  I chose to do a simple dangle earring and memory wire necklace.  This way the pieces are light weight, simple, yet they will show up well in all of the wedding photos.

I also have been asked if I can created a special set for a winter bride.  The lucky gal is getting married in Mexico... the perfect time to escape Wisconsin winters! :)  She's an extraordinary, yet non-traditional bride, so she wants to be wearing garnet jewelry.  She liked the design I had made and posted on Facebook for the Paris Wedding, so she asked if I'd do a custom order for her as well.

I feel so blessed and humbled with the positive response to my crystal bridesmaid jewelry.  I truly love putting smiles on ladies faces and helping them to look even more stunning in all of their photos!  The jewelry for bridesmaids is often something that the bride spends hours pondering or shopping for.  If I can make her special day even more beautiful, and simplify her planning, I love doing so!

Stay tuned for my website release!  I'm so excited to be finishing my jewelry website.  If you haven't signed up for my newsletter, you can do so on the right.  Sneak Peek:  June's Issue will have a special promo code for my new website!

Have a wonderful day!
{Hugs!}

Dawn