If the tiara fits...

    Huge apologies to everyone - I am afraid I have been very terrible about visiting blogs at the moment. I am a bit caught up with commission work until July and am finding it difficult to keep up with everyone right now - I am only managing to post things because I set up all of my June and most of my July posts back in May - Keeping my fingers crossed that I could find challenges at the time of posting! I am hoping to return to normal blogging activity by the end of July and I am so looking forward to getting back to everything. Thank you so much for hanging on here and posting your wonderful comments - It means so much to me.


     Here is a totally different creation for you to see.......As I have mentioned in previous posts I got married last year.....finally! After two children and 13 years together we decided to take the plunge and make it legal!

    ...actually it was a lot more romantic than that. I finally got to have the wedding of my dreams....the beautiful dress, the flowers, lace, satin and all the gorgeous elements rolled into one perfect day....oh, and the gorgeous husband too (he eventually got used to the fact that I couldn't get out of the habit of calling it MY wedding day instead of OURS!)

    I knew when we began planning the wedding that we were on a very very tight budget....and I mean a 'barely there' budget.....bridesmaid dresses were bargains from eBay, my wedding dress was a gift from my maid of honour, shoes bought in a sale, I made the bunting with some help from crafty friends and got some second hand material for it, flowers gathered from hedgerows, decorations from charity shops...you get the idea - we also borrowed and begged (we would never steal!) and hunted for the best bargains we could get and it turned out to be the most amazing wedding. I know I have put the link on here before but if you are new to my blog and are interested by the sound of this bargain wedding then please take a look at this link - It is written by my wonderfully talented sister-in-law Alison (Butterfly) who took care of creating the wedding decor for me us.......

      I decided early on I wanted a tiara....and I wanted a handmade one. I went to several wedding fairs and was horrified when looking at the prices. I wouldn't be able to get one for less than about £100 and sometimes the prices were a LOT higher - I was NOT going to pay that much for something that I would wear for one day (and with hindsight I am glad I didn't buy one because I changed my mind about the tiara a few weeks before the wedding anyway and didn't wear one)

    Anyway....at this point I did want one....a double band Grecian style vintage tiara....and what do I do when I can't find what I want? I make it myself! And if I don't know how to make it?.....I learn very quickly! ;o)

               

 
I bought a basic silver tone double hairband from eBay for £1.00, I had some silver wire already in my craft supplies and my bridesmaid had given me a tub of pearl and crystal beads when I began planning the wedding - just in case they came in handy!

      I wanted a side decoration and had considered using a brooch, but after hunting around for one and dismissing them all as too costly I found a vintage style side hairband in a pound store....so for £1 I had the side decoration. It was cheap soft metal so was easily detached and applied to the band with wire

Online I found some instructions about attaching beads to hairbands and following it was quite simple....it took just a few hours to complete the tiara, adding in extra pearls to the side decoration.

I had very painful blisters on my fingers afterwards, but that is a small price to pay for saving so much money.....so instead of paying about over £100 at a wedding fair I paid about £3 for this tiara and also had the joy of making it and learning something new. Sadly this tiara didn't 'fit'....as with all brides I changed my mind all the time and I eventually found a gorgeous crystal comb...but I did have a wonderful time making this.

                   Hope you like it! I'd love to know what you think of my first attempt at Tiara making!

           This is a bit of an unusual crafty blog creation - so I don't think I will find many challenges that it could be entered into - if anyone spots any please let me know ;o) However for now I think I might be able to enter it at -


    Inspiration Emporium - Brides, Weddings and Anniversaries