Blue Flowers in the Bouquet?

I've been looking around but the only way to incorporate blue flowers into your bouquet is to either use blue hydrangeas or blue grape hyacinths. Yes, irises have also been used for blues but I find them kind of on the purple-ish side. There are four options that I've come up with:

1) Incorporate blue feathers into the bouquet.
I searched the web for cheap feathers for this and became informed on ostrich plumes, drabs and all sorts of things in between that made my head spin because of all the information and the pricing on some of them for just one freaking feather.
http://www.allcostumes.com has them on sale for $0.63 per each 6-10" mini plume
http://www.wholesaleflowersandsupplies.com for $2.70 for five 9-11" drabs ($0.54 each)
http://www.ecrater.com for $2.30 for a 1/4 oz of 2-6" fluff
http://www.michaels.com has picks for sale but I'm not sure how much they are
Also, there's no Hobby Lobby or other alternative craft store within a day's drive so if I want feathers it's either going to be acquired on-line or at Michaels.

2) Figure out how to dye some flowers blue.















I know this can be done because I've seen blue roses out there on the market. Either they were genetically engineered to grow with the blue color or they were put in water with blue food coloring after they were cut so they'd "suck" up the blue dye and turn blue just like a carnation would. I haven't tested dying them blue yet but as soon as I get some fridge space or the apartment is cold enough (heck I've even though about doing this at work because it's so cold in there) then I'll be doing some testing. What I'll also need to look out for is how long the roses last in certain conditions and how much blue I'll need to either get a full on blue or just a tinge.

3) Dye/paint something blue.
This might be done if I decide to go with silk flowers because I think it would completely destroy a real flower if I dye/paint it blue... although it might be worth it to try and dye a real flower just for fun.

4) Deal without.
I've been searching and there haven't been a lot of brides that have blue flowers in their bouquet but also I figure I should have a plan B just in case none of this works. The backup plan is to try and find an all white bouquet but I'm not liking a lot of what I see. Maybe I'm not much of a bouquet person but to me a lot of bouquets look chaotic and thrown together without a lot of thought.

Make Your Own Stamp

For a while I've been hunting the internet for the perfect stamp for me to use that is either the same or very similar to the design I have on the invites. Unfortunately there has been no such luck but I did come across http://www.theartfulcrafter.com/stamps.html where I got the idea to just make my own damn stamp. I've been sitting on this process for a while and testing it out but here's what I've come up with.

Materials you will need:

















*cheap erasers (look for the multi-packs from Walmart for the back to school sales)
*x-acto knife
*toothpick, dental tools, or some small picking/prodding object
*fine grit sand paper
*printout/hand drawing of your design (works best with less detailed and thicker designs)
*pencil
*LOTS of patience

Step 1:
take printout/drawing of your design (make sure this is not your master copy) and trace over it in pencil so the design has a lot of pencil lead.

Step 2:









flip the design over and put it on the eraser, then rub on the back of the paper so the pencil lead transfers your design on to the eraser. If your design is bigger than the eraser then you might need to glue some of the erasers together. I recommend using super glue to stick them together but try not to get the glue on the surface of the eraser or you might have problems later getting the ink on to the eraser for stamping. After transferring the pencil lead on to the eraser, darken the lines with your pencil or a pen so you can see your design better.

Step 3:
with all the cutting skills and patience you have slowly and carefully cut out your design; this is why the bigger, simpler design works best. If your design is complicated like mine, be prepared to make small cuts and start over when or if you cut it wrong. While cutting, try to keep a little more of the eraser than you need because you can always cut away the eraser parts but you can't add it back on (well you can but it's a very messy process and you might as well just start over). Also remember to try not to cut underneath the design for the outline or else you might end up accidentally cutting off your design like I did at one point. Use the toothpick/dental tools to help you clear out the cut pieces from the smaller areas. The web site recommends cutting the inside of the design out first, but I found either way works.

Step 4:










test out your stamp, correct where needed and cut away the background parts for a cleaner image. Use the fine grit sandpaper to smooth the edges BUT if you have one of the crappier erasers they might just fall apart from sanding, so TEST it out on the eraser before you try it on the design.

Step 5:
TA DA! Enjoy