Wedding Budget Savers

In no time at all it would be June, the favorite month for weddings. Are you planning a wedding on a budget? It is suggested by some planners that to save money you stay away from expensive flowers such as roses, lilacs and orchids and choose the simpler flowers such as daisies, carnations, mums, baby's breath and gladiolus. Avoid a wedding date that is near a big flower-buying holiday.You can also ask your flower arranger to use less flowers and insert a lot of bows in between the foliage as "fillers" in "pocket" spaces, making the bouquets less expensive. If you want to save some more in the church decor, why not make the inexpensive heart CroMander and use it to decorate the pews? You can use satin ribbon or 2 strands of white and gold or white and silver number10 cotton crochet thread, add pearls and glass beads, gold or silver beads, and sew a pretty white satin or metallic bribbon to hang it from and you have saved money right there, use white ribbons to tie in between one pew and the other and decorate the center aisle where the bride will walk through and you're done! See link to FREE pattern below.
Use silk or dried flowers instead of fresh ones in table centerpieces and add ribbon bows and some heart CroManders also. If you are using little girls as your bridesmaids, you can use the original pattern for the round CroManders, using large, floristry balls as the core of the CroManders, and then fill them with Irish Crochet Roses with seed pearls or glass beads at their centers. These crocheted pomanders with a ribbon sewn to the top will be delightful and delicate and at the same time, way less expensive than a regular florist pomander! You can also give them away as keepsakes as reminders of your special day. If you are planning your wedding on a budget, you must cut cost somewhere, especially if you are thinking about having site flowers for the ceremony, a gorgeous bridal bouquet, wedding party flowers, flowers for your parents and his parents, and reception centerpieces and floral displays. If you run that up, it can take a big chunk out of a limited budget. If you are afraid that Irish Crochet hearts might look rather home-made, don't be! It all depends of how good a crocheter the person who makes them for you is. My mom and I made all the blue roses for my sister's wedding favors and they were gorgeous! Talk to the person, tell her what you want and you'd be surprised at what lovely things could be made for you. If you consider that there are people spending anywhere from $1275 to $2751 on flowers alone according to a site on the internet, these kinds of arrangements look better and better. Besides, as I said, you can make them as exquisite as you want to, going from simple little seed pearls all the way to Swarovski crystals at the center of the Irish Crochet roses, you could even do the leaves all beaded up!

According to an online wedding budget calculator, flower expenses could run like this in the USA on 2009, (these are the highs and the lows for a fabulous wedding):

New Mexico
Flowers: $1275 to $2108
Gifts and Favors: $640 to $1059

Washington State
Flowers: $1576 to $2602
Gifts and Favors: $791 to $1306

Montana
Flowers: $1316 to $2192
Gifts and Favors: $660 to $1102

North Dakota
Flowers: $1352 to $2253
Gifts and Favors: $678 to $1132


Minnesota
Flowers: $1643 to $2713
Gifts and Favors: $825 to $1363

Oregon
Flowers: $1424 to $2373
Gifts and Favors: $715 to $1190

Idaho
Flowers: $1317 to $2196
Gifts and Favors: $661 to $1102

Wyoming
Flowers: $1444 to $2405
Gifts and Favors: $724 to $1208

South Dakota
Flowers: $1383 to $2306
Gifts and Favors: $694 to $1158

Iowa
Flowers: $1470 to $2449
Gifts and Favors: $739 to $1230

Michigan
Flowers: $1626 to $2673
Gifts and Favors: $816 to $1342

New York
Flowers: $1730 to $2796
Gifts and Favors: $869 to $1404

Maine
Flowers: $1474 to $2456
Gifts and Favors: $739 to $1233

Ohio
Flowers: $1543 to $2556
Gifts and Favors: $775 to $1284

Pennsylvania
Flowers: $1565 to $2574
Gifts and Favors: $786 to $1292

Virginia
Flowers: $1726 to $2785
Gifts and Favors: $866 to $1398

West Virginia
Flowers: $1285 to $2142
Gifts and Favors: $646 to $1076

Indiana
Flowers: $1528 to $2543
Gifts and Favors: $767 to $1277

Illinois
Flowers: $1677 to $2751
Gifts and Favors: $842 to $1383

Missouri
Flowers: $1430 to $2359
Gifts and Favors: $719 to $1184

Kansas
Flowers: $1525 to $2511
Gifts and Favors: $766 to $1262

Colorado
Flowers: $1708 to $2785
Gifts and Favors: $858 to $1397

Utah
Flowers: $1463 to $2431
Gifts and Favors: $735 to $1221

Nevada
Flowers: $1569 to $2615
Gifts and Favors: $788 to $1313

California
Flowers: $1726 to $2771
Gifts and Favors: $866 to $1391

Arizona
Flowers: $1485 to $2449
Gifts and Favors: $745 to $1230

Texas
Flowers: $1421 to $2333
Gifts and Favors: $713 to $1171

Louisiana
Flowers: $1235 to $2057
Gifts and Favors: $620 to $1034

Mississippi
Flowers: $1213 to $2022
Gifts and Favors: $609 to $1016

Alabama
Flowers: $1342 to $2235
Gifts and Favors: $675 to $1123

Georgia
Flowers: $1398 to $2307
Gifts and Favors: $702 to $1158

South Carolina
Flowers: $1351 to $2251
Gifts and Favors: $678 to $1130

North Carolina
Flowers: $1459 to $2420
Gifts and Favors: $732 to $1217

As you can see, crocheting your pew decorations, your wedding favors and the decorations for your table settings will be a big help. That will free up money for the fresh flowers that you would like to add to the whole decor and for your bouquet, your parents' and your future parents-in-law corsages, etc.

Variations:You can buy silk flowers and take them apart and hot glue some of the silk flower petals all over the CroManders and then sew the Irish Crochet roses on top. You can use silk flower leaves as foilage also to make the foliage "fuller."

If you would like the free pattern for the pomander-style CroManders, which you could make a lot larger simply by using a florist circle as the core of the ball, here it is:
http://craftybegonia.blogspot.com/2009/03/cromanders-part-2.html

If you would like to use the heart CroManders to decorate the church pews and to scatter around as part of the decor, here is the free pattern:
http://craftybegonia.blogspot.com/2009/04/heart-cromander.html

Free instructions on how to make pew bows:

http://www.save-on-crafts.com/makeabow.html

Think about putting a spray of Irish crochet roses in the middle of the bow. Lovely!

Whether you are making your own flowers or taking the pattern to someone else to make them for you, can find a selection of books on Irish Crochet complete with many flowers and leaves, including roses, free to download as PDF files for you to print at this site:

http://www.antiquepatternlibrary.org/completelist.htm

In the midst of all the problems that are common nowadays, there is a place of refuge and solace, near to the heart of God. I invite you to find it. One great place to start is by reading about how much He loves you! The little book Steps to Christ, a favorite of millions, judging by its many printings is a great way: Read it for free online:
http://www.stepstochrist.us/

Need encouragement, comfort or cheer? Look in here! http://www.frontiernet.net/~rexfam/kingfam1_001.htm

CroManders Part 2

If there is a word I could use to describe Craftybegonia, it would be "Imaginative."All of us crafters who work with our hands are creative people. All of us enjoy making beautiful things that people will enjoy, and Craftybegonia is all about that too. But all of us look at things in our own personal way, our personality shines through our work. And perhaps, in many ways, it characterizes is, it brands it, until it just shows us a little bit too.

Craftybegonia is all about making beautiful, one-of-a-kind, imaginative things, and making them with as much quality as possible so that the person who later owns them will be able to enjoy them fully. From sculptured crochet, to handpainted items, and from fun toys to delicate, almost dainty "clothing" for your tables, to gorgeous things for your walls. The aim is to make it not only handmade, but fabulous, and not only fabulous but inventive, ingenious, if possible innovative while at the same time, maintaining a high quaility standard. Craftybegonia is constantly growing in different directions. And don't be surprised to find new items, new ways of doing things, new "inventions" on things handmade.

One of those "Inventions" is the CroMander.

What is a CroMander? A crocheted pomander. I give these as a thank you gifts to customers. They are very useful and easy to make.
Spritz your favorite fragrance under the petals of the flowers and place the little ball at the corners of your lingerie drawer and everything will smell of you, not of laundry detergent or fabric softener.
You can also place them in your linen closet or just sew a ribbon to the top of them and hang them on your side of the closet where your everyday clothes hang. It will be a welcome site and scent in the morning!
Do you know a bride-to-be? Make a couple of these and she can put them in her suitcase.
You can make them larger, and perhaps hang one over your cat's litter box. . .The pattern is simple. Here it is:

CroMander

Materials:
Scraps of yarn in flower petal colors of your choice
Scraps of green yarn (you can make them in cotton if you like, I prefer to give them a green background as it it was the greenery under a real pomander)
2 2-inch Styrofoam balls
F hook

With petal color of your choice: Ch 5, slip sti to close. Ch 3, slip st and then make 2 dc in round, ch 3, slip st, 2 dc, ch3, slip st, rep around until you have 4 petals. Fasten off. Make as many as these little blossoms as you would like to cover the ball. I sometimes make them really tight, overlapping each other slightly, or I leave small spaces of green to be seen, you can do whatever you like. You can make them all of the same color or of different colors. You can place little pearls at the center, or sew little ribbon bows between the blossoms if you want to pretty-it.up, especially, if you are giving it away to a bride or a special friend.

Ball: With green, ch 2, 4 sc on 2nd ch from hk. Round 2: 2 sc on each sc of round.
Round 3: Ch 1, 1 sc in same space. 1 sc in next 2 sc, 2 sc, 1 sc in next 2 sc, 2 sc, around. Round 4: Ch 1, 1 sc in next 2 sc, 2 sc, 1 sc in next 3 sc, 2 sc, around. Continue this way, measuring your shape with the little styrofoam ball and adapting your crocheting to the contour of the ball. Once you are reaching the bottom of the ball, begin to decrease the amount of sts as follows:
ch 1, 1 sc in next 4 sts, insert hook into next sc and pull a loop, hold on hook, insert hook on next sc and pull a loop, finish sc by slipping yarn through both loops on hook (1 sc dec). Repeat this until you have only 2 sc left at the very bottom of the ball and then just pull the loop through them to colose them and fasten off. Sew all your flowers to the green covering in whatever design you like or randomly.

In this second installement of the pattern I wanted to include leaves not only so that you could see them incorporated to the pomander, but also to give you a complete pattern with them. Leaf: Ch 9, sc in 3rd ch from hook. 1 hdc in next ch, 1 dc in next ch, 1 treble in next ch, 1 dc in next ch, 1 hdc in next ch and 1 sc in last ch.
In opposite side loops, repeat the same, ending with a slip st at the tip of the leaf and fasten off. Sew the leaf on any spot of the CroMander that you like.
You can make as many as you like, I decided only to make two for this ball. But you can make as little as 1 or as many as you want. You can also make all the blossoms of one single color or use various colors as I have. You can also use variegated and single colors as I decided touse inthis one. Enjoy!

This pattern is mine, do not sell it or distribute it as if it were yours. The term CroMander is mine, do not use for commercial purposes or attribute it to yourself or to your site. Thank you!
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To see the first installment of this pattern, go here:

http://craftybegonia.blogspot.com/2009/03/cute-frangrant-cromander-pattern.html

An Inspirationtal True Story
Back in 1932, I was 32 years old and a fairly new husband. My wife, Nettie and I were living in a little
apartment on Chicago 's south side. One hot August afternoon I had to go to St. Louis , where I was to
be the featured soloist at a large revival meeting. I didn't want to go.

Nettie was in the last month of pregnancy with our first child. But a lot of people were expecting me in St. Louis . I kissed Nettie good-bye, clattered downstairs to our Model A and, in a fresh Lake Michigan breeze, chugged out of Chicago on Route 66. However, outside the city, I discovered that in my anxiety at leaving, I had forgotten my music case. I wheeled around and headed back. I found Nettie
sleeping peace-fully.. I hesitated by her bed; something was strongly telling me to stay. But eager to get on my way, and not wanting to disturb Nettie, I shrugged off the feeling and quietly slipped out of the room with my music. The next night, in the steaming St. Louis heat, the crowd called on me to sing again and again. When I finally sat down, a messenger boy ran up with a Western Union telegram. I ripped open the envelope. Pasted on the yellow sheet were the words: YOUR WIFE JUST DIED.

People were happily singing and clapping around me, but I could hardly keep from crying out. I
rushed to a phone and called home. All I could hear on the other end was 'Nettie is dead. Nettie is dead.'

When I got back, I learned that Nettie had given birth to a boy. I swung between grief and
joy. Yet that same night, the baby died. I buried Nettie and our little boy together, in the same casket. Then I fell apart.

For days I closeted myself. I felt that God had done me an injustice. I didn't want to serve Him anymore or write
gospel songs. I just wanted to go back to that jazz world I once knew so well. But then, as I hunched alone in that dark apartment those first sad days, I thought back to the afternoon I went to St. Louis . Something
kept telling me to stay with Nettie. Was that something God? Oh, if I had paid more attention to Him that day, I would have stayed and been with Nettie when she died. From that moment on I vowed to listen more closely to Him. But still I was lost in grief. Everyone was kind to me, especially a friend, Professor Fry, who seemed to know what I needed. On the following Saturday evening he took me up to Malone's Poro College , a
neighborhood music school. It was quiet; the late evening sun crept through the curtained windows. I sat down at the piano, and my hands began to browse over the keys. Something happened to me then. I felt at peace. I felt as though I could reach out and touch God. I found myself playing a melody, once into my head
they just seemed to fall into place:
'Precious Lord, take my
hand, lead me on, let me stand! I am tired, I am weak, I
am worn, through the storm, through the night lead me on to the light,
take my hand, precious Lord, lead me home.'
The Lord gave me these words and melody, He also healed my spirit. I learned that when we are in our deepest grief, when we feel farthest from God, this is when He is closest, and when we are most open to His restoring power. And so I go on living for God willingly and joyfully, until that day comes when
He will take me and gently lead me home.

-Tommy Dorsey-

Are you down of discouraged? God loves you, that is why he opened his arms and died for you. Real love is one Person: Jesus! If you want to get to know Him better, there's no other book like Steps to Christ. A sweet, short, beauttiful book. Read it online for FREE, here: http://www.stepstochrist.us/
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