Dragon eggs

I may have mentioned that my friend is getting married in October. We threw a shower for her in May. She wanted a Game of Thrones shower and her mom wanted something more traditional. So we came up with a compromise. Food and decorations mostly end up slanting toward the traditional. With black and white damask tablecloths, plates, and napkins and purple, white, and red flowers and balloons; Everywhere. But, I was insistent that the centerpiece for the dining room table be something special. Thus, the plan to make dragon eggs was born. We spent months trying to figure out how exactly we were going to accomplish this. Around Easter, we bought all sorts of eggs to try and find a mold. We considered paper mâché, ceramics, modeling clay, painting things, all were either no starters or fails. Honestly, we thought of everything. Then, my friend Pam cracked it. She found something on the Internet wherein someone had made tinfoil bases covered in Fimo. Considering that I had wanted to go with Fimo all along, this was the perfect solution. Particularly when she came over and showed me how easy it was and how good it looked!! We actually got to work that night. I wanted them all to be a little different so we each got started with our own ideas.

I chose to put down a base layer over the tinfoil and then I cut scales and individually laid them on top of the base layer. Next time, I will probably smooth the scales down a bit after placement because the final product, while exactly what I wanted look-wise, was a bit on the fragile side. 

Pam used a tool to draw cross hatch lines and the another tool to pull up the corners creating a really great scaly effect. Pam'was definitely the most commented upon. Everyone wanted to know how she did it. 

Amy used a tool to create an all over pattern which left the egg smooth but with a great scaly look. It had a really nice feel and everyone wanted to touch it. Hers was definitely the most picked up and played with at the shower.

After we had baked the eggs (perched atop tinfoil covered ramekins to avoid resting spots) Pam went one step further and added a layer of bronze buff and rub to her egg and Amy's. The buff and rub was the perfect finishing touch, adding a little extra fantasy spin to the eggs.
The chest was a simple thing purchased from Michaels and stained the appropriate color by our friend Kristen.
The most asked question at the shower was, "When are they going to hatch?" Needless to say our geek bride was thrilled. I think they were her favorite part of the party. She was so careful when she wrapped them to ship them home and she kept calling them her babies. They are now sitting in a spot of honor in her home and I believe will figure into the geeky wedding somehow.

Now I just have to make a set for myself. 

So I have this friend...

And she's getting married in October. I'm the Maid of Honor,  I'm married I know, it should be matron but... well... just no. Recently, I threw her a wedding shower. Now, her mom wanted it to be a more classic affair, girls only, cute dresses, very lady's luncheon. She also wanted to invite most of the bride's family living on this coast, the bride lives in LA and her parents and I live near Boston. I was happy to throw the shower, I love the bride like a sister and was planning on throwing one before her mother chimed in anyway. Only now the task was a bit more complicated. The bride isn't what you'd call... traditional, in fact I believe her wedding is going to be one awesome non-traditional shindig. But her mother was pushing hard on the traditions. So what's a Maid of Honor to do? Compromise.

Every year when the bride comes to visit in May, all of her friends living on this coast throw her a birthday party. These parties are always themed and involve costumes. We always end up on my front lawn taking pictures and freaking out our very normal neighborhood. What the bride had originally intended for this visit was a Game of Thrones Birthday party/ bridal shower. So... I did what I could. Starting with the invitations. I wanted something simple, not too intimidating but with a nice nod to Game of Thrones. I was also for some reason really interested in using rubber stamps. So... to the internet I went until I found this on a delightful little shop.  This woman does good work and she does it fast. The stamp is frankly a work of art in and of itself.

The bride is quite fond of house Targaryan (though truth be told she's also I huge Lannister fan). I went with the dragon stamp over the lion stamp because I found it to be just a striking stamp. I felt that it was pretty and interesting but lacking the slightly more masculine harsh feel of the lion stamp, and I also wanted to theme the shower in purple and red and the dragon stamp just sang purple and red to me.

Here are a few pics of the finished invitations and envelopes.

                               

        

I used a fast drying ink for these along with nice card stock from paper source. The ink really didn't bleed at all and it didn't take much ink to saturate the stamp enough to get a nice clear print. Just in case you're wondering, yes your home ink jet printer can print on a smaller piece of paper with nice paper stock with ease and grace. I used a regular non fast drying ink for the stamps on the envelopes, these took around 8 hours to dry, which slowed things down significantly.

These were really easy, though I was super stressed while I was making them out of fear that I would mess something up. Which in the end I did, I put the wrong date on the invite and there was a whole second send out that I ended up doing. It all ended up ok though, since I got to ask everyone for recipes for the bride with the second batch of invitations and ended up making her a nice cookbook with recipes from friends and family.

I'll have more crafty things to post about the wedding soon! This is going to be a very crafty wedding.