DIY Delights: So how did this all start?

I come from an artistically inclined family. My Dad loved to draw pen and ink landscapes and built intricate models from teeny tiny matchsticks. My brother went to art school and ended up in the fashion industry. My Uncle was a film cameraman and a portrait artist. I later found some fashion designs my paternal grandmother had drawn. Simple but really really good. I was miffed because I couldn't draw - not landscapes, not portraits, not anything. I was even put in the lower level art classes at school, and my sewing teacher was dismayed that I insisted on putting the colors green and red together on an apron.

But artistry isn't just about the ability to draw. Artistry is anything that requires creativity and a whole lot of aching fingers. It wasn't until my 4 year old daughter took up ice skating and I decided that I wasn't going to spend copious amounts of money for someone else to make her dresses. So I made them. And before too long I was hunched over a sewing machine, and hand-sewing sparkly sequins and diamonds on dresses in an ice-cold rink, not just for her, but for other little skaters and for an entire precision skating team.

Fast forward a few years, and the figure skating ended, as did the sewing. And then my daughter - bless her, she inspires me to do everything - insisted on getting married and searched every entire wedding blog on the internet to get inspiration for her own wedding. And boy, was she ever inspired. Every day brought a new idea until it was time to put the leash on and narrow it down to a few select ideas.

Strangely enough, my daughter had more faith in my ability to pull off all she asked me to do than I did myself. And I'm going to toot our own horn here and say, yes, I think the two of us did a darn fine job of creating the simple, almost vintage, do-it-yourself charm we wanted for her destination wedding. Take a look at some of our photos and see what you think. Did we do okay?