Handmade Wedding Invitations from my wedding

More than a year has passed since my wedding. I felt like I have to share my handmade wedding invitations with you in case there are some of you out there looking for some inspirational ideas. My mommy handmade each and every envelope for my wedding. She is an awesome mom and a creative, talented crafter.

My mom cut each of the envelopes by hand and made to an envelope. She used her sewing machine for most of the parts. The shiny fabrics are accented with swarovski crystals and a ribbon printed with my and my husband's name. A tag is attached to the Swarovski crystal button of the envelope. Tags are used to put the names of the guests which were handwritten by an artist from Turkey .  (Sorry I don't have any examples of the writing). The tags were cut from the paper used for the invitation; again in matching colors of the fabric.

Probably you are wondering how we mailed these invitations to people. In Turkey, most of all the invitations are hand distributed. It is a cultural tradition to show respect. If we cannot give an invitation by hand, we will call the guests to invite them by phone. The distances are not as far as it is like in USA that makes traveling easier, too.

 I should also note that there were 400 guests in my wedding. I should thank my mom once agin for making everything more special for me. Thank you mom. I missed you tons...

If you are married, did you do anything special for your invitations? If you are planning a wedding, what is your plans? I would love to know...

Blue and Green Summer Jewelry

I am craving so much of the Mediterranean this summer that I cannot stop picking the blue and green beads from my gemstone trays. Today,  I wanted to share one of my favorite pieces from my Etsy shop.

This blue and green silver necklace is called "Ocean Breeze". The sun will shine through the beads sparkling like the sea touched by the sun. It glows every shade of blue and green. I have never seen any gemstones that has the colors of the sea as these agate beads. What do you think? Don't you think the colors are so much like the sea waters?

Cheers to you from the rainy city Seattle!

A Golden Nest

Golden bird nest brooch pin jewelry from A Cup of Sparkle

A golden bird nest brooch pin is flying to its new home tomorrow. I worked on this custom order over the weekend in my back yard listening the birds signing in the background. It was really fun! Summer projects are even more fun.

Hope you are all enjoying the summer!

Water Lily Napkin Folding Tutorial for a Sunday brunch

Regardless of the simplicity of the meal, napkins folded in variety of ways will complement the food, the layout and the occasion in a major way.

Today, I am having some of my girl friends over for a  Sunday brunch. I saw some beautiful lily pads on my walk around the Green Lake yesterday which is the inspiration to today's tutorial. 

I will be demonstrating to create a water lily using a bright colored napkin.  If you decide to give it try, please let me know how your water lily turned out...

Step 1: Fold the corners of the napkin into the centre and press flat.

Step 2: Repeat the 'step 1' a second time.

Step 3: Holding the center points together, carefully turn the napkin over.

Step 4: Fold the four corners into the center again, but do not press.

Step 5: It is time to make the petals of your flowers now! Holding the center firmly, partly pull out the previous fold from under each corner and gently pull them upwards to make the first layer of petals.

Step 6: To create the base leaves of your water lily, pull out the corners from underneath between the petals.

Step 7: Va laaa...  A fresh water lily ready to put a smile on all of guests face when they come. 


TIP: Lily pad napkins can hold a bread roll, a small gift or a small jam cup (like the one in the 1st picture) or seasonal decorations such as cones for winter time.

Everyone needs a little sparkle in their lives.

Sparkle Love! The title of this post is the new quote that I started using for my jewelry line and on the back my new A Cup of Sparkle business cards (Tutorial).

I made something special for my new business cards, too. A large bird nest card holder with lavendar Swarovski pearls. How do you like it? I am thinking about making more and put it on my website. I am not sure when though. I think a spring themed wedding with those card holders on each table will be a neat idea... just thinking loud :)

As always, please contact me for any custom orders.

Modern Jewelry in Gold and Silver

Mood Swing Silver and Gold Necklace from A Cup of Sparkle

My passion is colors and lots and lots of colorful beads... You may have already noticed that from A Cup of Sparkle jewelry designs.  There always has been these days of my life that I feel a bit rainy inside, not motivated and just a bit less colorful.
Gold and silver modern jewelry design inspirations usually comes in those days to me. It is the jewelry that fits well for those days in our lives; simple, classic and modern.

Do you wear jewelry when you don't feel like wearing colors? Or, do you end up not wearing accessories on those days you see the world more in black and white?

Summer Shorts Making Tutorial: Round #1

Like all of us, I had a pair of jeans that needed to be retired. To repurpose my jeans, I made them to shorts and customize them with some jewels. Here is the easy 6 step tutorial on how to make shorts from jeans. I am thinking I need a Round-2 on these shorts so; stay tuned!

Materials: Scissors, old jeans you are tired of wearing, sew-on jewels or buttons, matching thread, needle

Step 1: Lay down the jeans on a flat surface and  cut your jeans to a desirable length - make sure to cut it 2" or so longer, if you are going to cuff them.

Step 2: Decide where you want to sew your buttons or gemstones and sew them on.

I hand-sew them on around the pockets.

Step 3: Sew the other side symmetrically with your preferred material.

Step 4 and 5: Fold the bottom of legs inwards in two layers.

Step 6: Put more sewable jewels on the back.

I had two remaining sew on jewels and I decided to use the couple only in one of the pockets.

Step 7: Try them on and enjoy the sunny days wearing your unique pair of shorts with a personalized touch of sparkle!

Lemonade Summer Jewelry

Handmade Yellow Necklace and Bracelet by ACupofSparkle

Yellow: the color of happiness, wisdom and imagination. It reminds of sunflowers, lemonade, spongebob, corn, cabs, higlighted pens ...

What else does it remind you? Is yellow one of your favorites? If so, I think you will like this new necklace and bracelet from A Cup of Sparkle. The yellow beads are very chunky and bright.It blends so well with black. You can see more pictures by simply clicking to my Etsy shop.

I hope you are all having a beautiful, sunny day! 

Best of the week: Etsy Finds by A Cup of Sparkle

The wedding season arrived. I absolutely love handmade weddings. Here is an original puzzle wedding guest book from CustomDogBandanas. Each puzzle piece is handcut individually which you can personalize with your pictures or names. You can check Katie's Etsy shop to see more of her creative work and designs.
Congratulations Katie! You are the best of the week Etsy finds by A Cup of Sparkle. Great work!

Wedding Guest Book Puzzle
by CustomDogBandanas, $240

New Mom Gifts Jewerly

Another personalized mom jewelry set by A Cup of Sparkle made for a customer who are welcoming a new arrival into their family. Congratulations Christina!!!

New Mom Gift Ideas, Handmade Bird Nest Jewelry

If you are looking for affordable, unique gifts for expected friends or family, A Cup of Sparkle mother bird nest jewelry features various designs of earrings, keychains, brooch pins and necklaces to select from.

Tie Dye a Shirt: Fun Summer Activity

Last week, my husband and I hosted another summer BBQ at our house. For the party, we had a fun outdoor activity: tie dying shirts. Some of us dyed laboratory coats; I chose a simple shirt. My summer shirt turned out really cute (at least I loved it). Isn't the colors beautiful? It was very enjoyable to make AND we managed not to make a big mess :)

How do you entain your house guests? Do you do any activities with them? I recommend tie dying shirts. It is easy and fun!

Here are some of tutorials with awesome patterns I found from other great bloggers:

Bleach Tie-Dying 

Modern Tie-Dying Patterns 

Sharpie Tie-Dying

Lots of different patterns

Extra Important Tips about tie-dying

Office Decoration Ideas: Modern Accents

I want to take you to my office today... Here is my latest office decor! A colorful picture frame I put together to add some fun to my workspace.

The story of this frame was I got this picture frame like 2 months ago but; never got a chance to have small photos printed that will fit to the frame. One day- I think it was a rainy Seattle day, I thought it is time to do something with this pretty frame. So; I cut this rainbow office paper I had in my office in various colors to use as the photos. .. What do you think?
I hope my small office project will give you a bit of inspiration and you are all having a colorful, sunny weekend!

Tip: You could also try decorated paper for this project. I bet some colorful scrap-booking papers will look great!

Twin Mom Personalized Gift Ideas

Gift ideas for Mom, Custom Mom Keychain

I have customized this twin mom keychains for a customer recently. I have a twin sister so; it was extra special for me to make these two mom keychains. The blue egg is for a boy and the pink egg is for a girl. A mama dove bird is attached on the nest representing the motherhood. This keychains will make great, unique gifts if you are wondering about what to buy for mom.You can find these keychains from my Etsy shop as well as all sorts of different colored nests.
As always, feel free to write to me for custom orders.

Party Ideas: Red and White

Last week, I mentioned that I was going to host a Turkish theme party in my backyard. Here are some of the red and white party food and decorations I prepared.

  
Turkish flag cupcake toppers are made of red velvet textured paper glued on toothpicks. I made the flags double-sided. Cutting the tiny moon and stars took a bit of time; but, I really liked how they came out.
The coconut covered carrot bon bons were a bit hit.
Aren't they cute?


I also printed turkish flags and made a banner that my husband hung on the plum tree in front of our house. The paty menu consisted of selection of traditional Turkish cuisine; lentil koftes, kebabs, Meditterean salads.. The main dessert was my strawberry-banana vanilla cake. The fresh, seasonal strawberries really helped the theme. Most of all, Seattle had a great sunny day for our BBQ party.  I really enjoy eating outdoors.

I hope my red and white party ideas will give you some inspiration in your upcoming parties or gatherings.
Happy Tuesday to all of you!!!