I’m in the final push to finish up the projects for DIY Bride book #3 this week. You could say that it’s manic panic in the Casa de DIY and you wouldn’t be exaggerating!

About 6 weeks ago I ordered some big spools of ribbon and tulle from JKM Ribbon. According to their website and my receipt “It takes about 10 Business Days before we ship + approx. 5 day(s) to get to your area.” That should’ve been plenty of time to get the ribbon and put the projects into production before deadline. No problem.

5 weeks later after the order was placed: no ribbon! I shot them an email asking when the order would ship; a few hours later I got an email stating the order went out that morning. Calculating the transit time, I knew that it’d be unlikely that the order wouldn’t be here before my production deadline so I went in search of replacement ribbon and placed orders at other vendors with fingers crossed.

The JKM Ribbon order arrived – minus the white ribbon (a very critical component of my project) because it’s on backorder. At no point in the ordering process was this mentioned. I didn’t find out until I got the incomplete package yesterday. (My projects are due at the end of this week/early next.)

Luckily I had ordered from other vendors who were WONDERFUL to work with and had those orders in my hands before the incomplete JKM order even arrived. I wanted to give a huge shout out to PaperMart and C.O.D. Wholesale for their super-fast shipping and excellent service. I loved PaperMart’s ordering system that told me that certain ribbons were out of stock BEFORE I placed an order. The quality of ribbon (double-face satin) from both vendors is very good and the prices were quite competitive. These two companies saved my butt this week and deserve some praise for being so awesome to work with. If you’re in the market for bulk ribbon, please do give PaperMart and C.O.D. Wholesale some consideration. They have my highest recommendation.

My beloved 10 month old son, a curious soul, decided to rip the LCD display from my printer a couple of days ago. I’m in the market for a new printer and, from the emails I get from you guys, many of you are looking for good home printers, too.

I had a Canon Pixma MP500. It was one of the best all-in-one (printer, fax, scanner) I’ve had though it had a tendency to get streaky on hi-res images. I had been using an Epson Artisan 800 but it died after a year and it never really handled heavier cardstock well.

I’ve been asking around for recommendations for a new home inkjet that can handle most crafter-oriented cardstocks. Here’s what’s been recommended to me thus far:

• Canon Pixma MP620
• Canon Pixma ip3500
• Canon Pixma Pro9500
• Canon Pixma iP4500
• Canon iP90
• HP Photosmart 8000 (mixed reviews)
• HP psc 750
• HP 1200
• Epson R340
• Epson RX620
• epson R1900
• Kodak ESP 9 (mixed reviews)

The consensus is that a printer with a top-loading tray, rather than one that loads from the bottom and has to bend and spool through the printer, is best for heavy cardstocks.

What are you using? Do you like or dislike it?

For those of you planning a Fall wedding, get your behinds to your local magazine racks. September is prime Fall decorating time with the major shelter magazines: Martha, Country Living, Better Homes and Gardens, Southern Living, etc., who nearly always have fun, unique, and gorgeous ideas for centerpieces, favors/treats and decor.

Hey DIY Bride:

My fi and I are going to do the iPod reception thing. We did a test run at our reception hall (our church’s hall) after a group meeting a few weekends ago and it sounded like crap. What did we do wrong?

-K&S

Hey K&S,

Having an iPod reception can work – and work well – but it needs some serious prep work and the right equipment. Before I can really answer your question, I have a few of my own for you:

• What equipment did you use? (iPod, laptop, PA system, speakers…?)
• How big (square feet) is the venue?
• How many guests will you have in that amount of space?
• What, exactly, sounded like crap? The acoustics? Your choice of songs? The sound quality of your speakers?

Until I know more here’s what you need for kick-ass sound:

1. The appropriate speakers/PA system and set-up for your venue size. An iPod and your laptop speakers aren’t going to cut it in most situations.
2. The right music.
3. Quality music files. Are your files CD quality? What bit rate were they ripped at? Is your playlist all at the same volume output?
4. A properly working iPod and cables.

Hit me back with your replies and we’ll revisit this.

Have a burning DIY question? Lay it on us, baby.

When I started planning my wedding last year I *loved* the idea of having a candy buffet. Today I’m really sick of seeing them! I like the idea of a serve-yourself favor bar. Got any suggestions for an original alternative?

- Angelica

Hey Angelica,

Candy buffets exploded on the wedding scene around 2006 and have gained popularity among DIYers because they’re easy to assemble and usually budget-friendly.  But, yeah, I hear you, they’re getting played out.

Fear not, however, there are some yummy and clever alternatives that are sure to please your guests.

Popcorn Bar – This is quickly becoming a popular alternative and rightly so. Popcorn is cheap and irresistible. Display flavored popcorn in cute containers as you would a candy buffet. Include bags, scoops, and napkins. Or serve plain popcorn and offer gourmet toppings – both sweet and savory – so that guests may customize to their liking.

Cookie Buffet – Tempt your guests with yummy homemade cookies. Offer a selection of your favorite cookies or go with a theme, like different variations of chocolate chip cookies. To keep it interesting offer 5 – 8 different types (or variations) of cookie.

Snack Bar – Who said favors need to be sweet? Serve up bowls full of salty, savory snacky foods. Homemade potato chips, pretzels, mixed nuts, Chex-type mixes.

Baked Goods Bar – Brownies, cookies, pastries.

Build-An-Apple Station – One of personal favorites, but one that takes a huge amount of work and coordination, is the candy apple bar. Guests are allowed to customize apples with melted chocolate, caramel, and assorted toppings.

Rice Crispy Treats – Offer an assortment of crispy cereal treats.

Ice Cream or Sundae Bar – Again, this takes a huge amount of work – and is probably best not done as DIY – but I had to throw it in there.

S’mores Bar – Another high maintenance station idea but oh-so-cool.

If you have not yet heard of her, please get your browser over to Amy Atlas’ site right this second. She creates extraordinary dessert-type displays that are sure to inspire.

DIYer Ashley is in search of a Print Gocco machine.

As many of you know, Riso discontinued selling the Gocco in the US. Machines are hard to find and the accessories are now starting to become scarce.

Here’s part of my reply to Ashley:

Oddly enough eBay seems to be the most reliable source in the US for all models of Gocco. Some other places that carry machines that I know of:

Paper Source used to sell the larger unit online. I’ve recently seen them in store and they do have some supplies online. http://paper-source.com

http://www.printaddict.net/ has a few of the larger units.

http://lettersandprint.com/ might still have some left.

The Australian distributor has stuff for sale: http://www.nehoc.com.au/

Do you have any other sources with machines in stock?

A couple of reader questions have come in that I can’t fully answer and I thought it’d be best to turn this over to you, the ever-resourceful DIY Bride community.

• Mary is looking for custom embossers and custom stamps. I know Wilshire Graphic Press comes highly recommended for embossers. Any others you can suggest? For custom stamps I go to Impress but I know there are many others. Have you had a great experience with other custom stamp services? Let us know!

• ryansbaby is looking for fresh clover for her Irish-themed wedding. Besides her local nurseries or garden centers, do you know of any resources to order from?

Thanks so much!

Today, I’m sharing a list of surfaces and objects you can rubber stamp on. They’re not just for cardstock!

• Cardstock
• Chipboard/cardboard
• Label sheets
• Wood and veneer
• Metal
• Fabric (natural fibers work best)
• Polymer Clay
• Glass
• Mirrors
• Leather
• Walls
• Painted surfaces
• Tile (ceramic and stone)
• Concrete
• Ceramics
• Rocks (smooth ones)
• Leaves
• Ribbon
• Overhead transparencies
• Vellum
• Tissue paper
• Paper and cloth napkins
• Balloons
• Fondant and royal icing
• Shrink plastic
• Plastic and acrylic
• Photographs

While that’s not a complete list, I hope it give you an idea of how cool rubber stamps are. For me, rubber stamps are one of the most versatile craft tools because they allow you to apply your graphics to thousands of items in any placement you’d like.

From Dani “I bought 8 yards of a white cotton fabric. I took the monogram image that I had made on my cocktail napkins and had it enlarged at Kinkos. I took that image and traced it onto the fabric. I then took fabric paint and painted in the letters. If you were to do this I would suggest using fabric paint pens rather then paint and a brush, it was hard to use. I then lined the edges of the “runner” with black satin ribbon for the finishing touch. Since I used paint and a brush I have a few drips. I took some fabric rose petals and hot glued them over my mistakes, once the fresh rose petals are down I doubt you will be able to tell the difference, and that way my mistakes will never be known. Good luck.”

From Zoe: Same as Dani, but instead of tracing, we’re cutting out the monogram like a stencil, placing over the runner, and spray-painting. FI has advised that acrylic paint will work best on a vinyl runner, so it can be rolled back up. Acrylic is more flexible. Another suggestion: use spray-glue over stencil, then sprinkle with glitter or rose petals. That part of the runner may not roll back up, but it would be a neat look.”

Q: I”m hoping you can help! I’m using eyelets and brads to attach my invitation pieces together. The problem is that I need colors that match my invitations and I can’t find any. I tried painting one with acrylic paints and that didn”t work. The paint just fell off when I was attaching the pieces. Any ideas?

A: Kudos to you for being so crafty! The paint idea is still a good one. You may want to try a spray paint or an enamel paint. Some companies make an enamel medium (Plaid comes to mind) that you can mix with acrylics to make an enamel-like paint. This may adhere better to the metal eyelets and brads.My other suggestion is to use rubber stamping embossing powders. This is simple and works great! I’ve tried this with brads, but not eyelets, though I suppose it will work just as well. You’ll need embossing powder of your color choice, a heat gun, and a pair of long-nosed tweazers to hold the brad while you’re heating it.

Step 1: Open your jar of embossing powder.
Step 2: Clamp the stem of your brad/eyelet in your tweazers.
Step 3: Heat the top of your brad/eyelet under your embossing gun for 5 – 10 seconds.
Step 4: Dip the brad/eyelet into the embossing powder while it’s screamin’ hot. Pull out immediately.

Voila! The embossing powder should immediately melt on the brad. If not, give it a quick blast from your heat gun.

For eyelets, you may want to use a shallow container or just a piece of paper to put your embossing powder on. This will help keep the color just on the rim of the eyelet and not coat the whole thing.

Good Luck!