DIY Bride™

Hey Bay Area DIYers!

Say hello to a fabulous handcrafted wedding! Join DIY Bride author and founder, Khris Cochran, for a day of crafty wedding goodness.

Who:  Brides, grooms, partners, or anyone interested in wedding crafts.

When: Saturday, October 17, 2009

Time: 10 am – 3 pm

Where: A Work of Heart Studio, San Jose, California

What You’ll Get: You’ll get a mix of information and hands-on time to create some terrific projects to take home with you.

We’ll be covering:

• Intro to DIY Bride: How to do it well, on a budget and with your sanity intact.

• Invitations 101: Invite basics and hands-on time creating rubber a stamped invite set.
• Favors Under $1: Showcase favor ideas that can be made for under $1 + hands on project time.
• Pimp My Wedding: Ideas for adding pizzazz to basic wedding products. Learn how to embellish items such as shoes, gowns, favors, etc., turning the ordinary into something fabulous.
• Couture Headband, perfect for brides or maids
• Creative Centerpieces: Showcase of inexpensive + creative centerpiece ideas

The workshop fee includes the hands on instruction by Khris Cochran, all class materials, hand-outs, takeaways and a brown bag lunch.

Register here. I hope to see you there!

Hey, Charlotte-area DIYers!

The ever-fabulous Shanika Butts of SJB Weddings & Events has invited me to come host an all-day DIY workshop for you in September. Here are the details:

The Ultimate DIY Bridal Workshop

A Day with the DIY Bride Khris Cochran

presented by: Shanika J. Butts of SJB Weddings & Events and SJB Weddings & Events: the blog

Who: If you are interested in having a hands on learning experience on creating fabulous accessories and centerpieces for your wedding this is the workshop for you.

When: Saturday September 26, 2009 and Sunday September 27, 2009

Time: 9:00 am – 5:00 pm

Where: Embassy Suites Charlotte, 4800 South Tryon Street, Charlotte, NC 28217

Khris Cochran is the creator and founder of the award winning DIYBride.com one of the most popular bridal crafting websites and is also the author of The DIY Bride: 40 Fun Projects for Your Ultimate One-of-a-kind Wedding. Khris is dedicated to helping brides personalize their weddings by assisting them with designing elements that will enable them to put their own personal stamp on their wedding.

Topics for the day include:

* Intro do DIY Bride: How to do it well, on a budget and with your sanity in tact.
* Invitations 101: Invite basics and hands-on time creating rubber stamped invite set
* Favors for under $1: Showcase favor ideas that can be made for under $1 + hands-on project time
* Pimp My Wedding: Ideas for adding pizazz to basic wedding products. Learn how to embellish items such as shoes, gowns, favors, etc.
* The $20 Veil: Learn to create a fabulous veil for $20
* Creative Centerpieces: Showcase of inexpensive + creative centerpiece ideas

This workshop is designed to be fun and an open environment for questions for Khris as she shows you how to make beautiful items for your wedding day. You will come away with actual projects that you have made during class and the know how to create additonal items.

The workshop fee includes the hands on instruction by Khris Cochran, all class materials, hand-outs, takeaways and lunch. Please choose one of the two workshop dates that fit your schedule.

Please register here. If you have any questions please send an email to info@sjbweddingsandevents.com

Hey DIYers,

DIY Bride is hittin’ the road later this year and early next. If you’d like to join me for some hands-on crafty wedding goodness in your city, please let me know! I’m making workshop & travel plans for October – April right now. Let’s get together in your city for some DIY fun!

It’s been 3 weeks since registration opened for the PS Invites workshop. What I thought would be a very straight-forward process of launching this feature has turned into an uber-frustrating, hair-pulling ordeal. There are technical issues waaaay beyond my expertise that I hadn’t anticipated that are slowing the progress considerably.

To alleviate some frustration on both sides I’m postponing the workshop for the time being. The good news is that I do have a very capable person helping resolve the issues and that I am fully dedicated to getting the workshops online as soon as possible. I just don’t want to leave you hanging by asking you to check back later or promising a specific date.

I have pulled all of your email registrations and have tucked them away until I can – with 100% certainty – allow access to the workshops. As always, DIY Bride will NEVER sell, share, or otherwise do anything seedy with your contact information.

Thank you so much for your understanding, patience, and continued awesomeness. I look forward to sharing the workshops with you soon!

It’s time to get those fingers inky! Join DIY Bride as we take you, step-by-step, through the basics of screen printing (also known as silk screening).

This printing technique is perfect for all sorts of surfaces such as paper, fabric, glass, wood, and even metal. With so many possibilities it’s a great skill to learn for making nifty wedding items. Think invitations, t-shirts, aisle runners, bridesmaid bags… or get ultra creative and come up with your own implementation.

What You’ll Learn:

• Introduction to art – Learn what images will work and what won’t.
• How to create screens
• All about ink
• Basic equipment 101
• How to make a print

Each video lesson is divided into short, doable tasks that will have you up and running with screen printing in no time. Because this is a self-paced workshop, you can stop, rewind, and restart the videos as many times as needed.

IMPORTANT: This workshop requires that users have some basic supplies to complete the course. A supply list will be posted when registration opens on April 16, 2009.

Registration Info: Registration will open on 04/16/09. Please check this post on that date for registration details and forms.

{Update April 10: Workshops are postponed due to technical difficulties. Many apologies for the inconvenience! Please check back May 01 for status.}

I’m delighted to present the first event of DIY Bride Workshop Series. Beginning March 15, 2009 Going Digital 101: Using Photoshop to Create Kick-Ass Invites will be available for registration. In this free three-lesson, self-paced video-based course, you’ll learn the basic tools and how to use them to create gorgeous wedding invitations and stationery.

What You’ll Learn:

• How to open files in Photoshop
• Learn the function of and how to use basic Photoshop tools
• Add text and photos to a layout
• Save your layout in printable format
• Select fonts and photographs
• Install and use brushes, patterns, and shapes
• Add digital patterned paper to an invite layout
• Learn about color theory
• Get a primer on layout and design basics
• Learn about printing options

Each video lesson is divided into short, doable tasks that will have you up and running with Photoshop in no time. Because this is a self-paced workshop, you can stop, rewind, and restart the videos as many times as needed.

With this workshop, you’ll get:

• A downloadable invite kit that contains an invitation template, patterned paper, fonts, brushes, and other embellishments so that you can follow along with our tutorials.

IMPORTANT: This workshop requires that users have Adobe Photoshop. You can download free 30-day trials of this program from the Adobe.com website.

Registration is open beginning on March 15, 2009. The course will be available on March 20 and will remain open to registered workshop attendees indefinitely.

Registration Form