Accepting Help

My little countdown calendar is a daily reminder that the days are just flying by until the wedding. Today marks a mere 86 days to go, and as I've mentioned previously, I have QUITE a bit left to do. Thankfully, I now have all of my to-do's arranged by category in a list, and the "DIY/projects" and "Design/print" sections are the smallest. The largest section is on confirmations and decisions to make, so while they require some thinking and planning, they (for the most part) do not require a ton of time... and for that I am grateful.

After our family flower making extravaganza, my gramma had me bring her supplies to continue making flowers since she no longer works and swears she is bored out of her mind all day. Since she has run out of tissue paper she has continued to ask me to bring her more projects to do... and I haven't... because I feel absolutely awful about giving her stuff to do that I feel like I should just be doing myself. Always somewhat independent, I've never been particularly good at asking for - or accepting - help, and now as a bride planning a VERY DIY-heavy wedding, I'm beginning to learn to let things go and allow others to express their love and support for me through help. I'll be spending my 4-day weekend coming up organizing and getting all of the necessary supplies together for projects... and then attempting to "delegate" some of said projects to the people who are just begging me to let them help. Wish me luck! I tend to walk a fine line between staying calm and collected and absolutely panicking lately, so I'm grateful for the offers to take some things off my plate.

Aaaaaaand speaking of plates, my mom and I grabbed a bunch of 99 cent pieces at Goodwill last weekend and laid them all out the other night on top of the candlesticks I have also been collecting from Goodwill. We also locked ourselves out on my front porch while we were doing this and I had to climb through the (thankfully unlocked) living room window to get back into the house, but that's besides the point :). The point is that once I saw how incredible this collection if DIY cake plates is going to look, I got REAL excited... and then bummed that it was already after 9pm and a little too late to rush out for spray paint and glue to get these babies started. If the weather is as gorgeous as it's promising to be this weekend, I will definitely be checking this project off my list right away as I am giddy to see the finished product.

There are a TON of inspiration images online for DIY cake stands -

I did some googling this morning to see what kind of paint and glue is best for this project, and every tutorial I found notes using epoxy from the hardware store, so I'll be doing just that. Every instance also noted just using spray paint for a smooth and even finished surface, but I read in several places that you should leave the top of the plates unpainted so they are safe to eat food off of. Unfortunately, my mom and I picked plates based on their pretty scalloped edges or textured faces, and definitely did not choose them based on color or pattern... so I'll need to paint the tops. It looks like I can easily use a food-safe glaze or sealant on top of the spray paint to curb any worry of chemicals, but I may go the even easier route and just put a doily or napkin on the surface for our treats to sit on. Either way, I think these plates are bound to be a fun project (what project with spray paint ISN'T fun?!?), and I'll be sure to take lots of pictures to post later!