TUTORIAL: Be Married Burlap Wedding Banner

My littlest sister is getting married at the end of the month, hooray!  And over here we are getting so so so excited for them! She will be the last one in our family to tie the knot...and she couldn't be doing it with a nicer guy (hi Nathan!)  Since I can't really be over there (all the way in Seattle) to help them in person I asked if there was anything I could do here and mail out before the big date...you know I love wedding planning and decorating!! 

Little sister's wedding is going to be in the colors gray and yellow.  I can't wait to be out there at the end of the month to help her set things up, every time I speak to her it is sounding sweeter and more awesome than the last! Their plan is to make it a rustic wedding with cute signage, twinkle lights, and a donut wedding cake--be still my heart!  One of the things she asked that I make for them is a "Be Married" banner made out of burlap flags that will hang behind their table at the reception.  Hello!  I can totally do that!!

Here's the 411 in case you need one of these sweet signs for a wedding in your future!

"Be Married" Burlap Wedding Banner

1 yard of burlap

rotary cutter and mat

ruler

twine

sewing machine and thread

stenciled letters (I used my Cricut Mini but you could print of the computer too!)

acrylic paint

brush

marker for tracing letters

wax paper

First cut out a template for the burlap flags.  I made my flags to the dimensions above as I thought that allowed for nice sized letters you will be able to see from afar in a pretty large reception hall/banquet area.  The flag size will allow the words "Be Married" and a Heart shape inbetween to hang on about 9 feet of twine with room on each end for tying up.

Cut out 10 flags using your template and cut on the fold.  You should have enough burlap if you get one yard of it...you may want to get a wee bit more burlap if you think you might mess up!

Then using my Cricut Mini and their free basic font I cut out the letters "BE MARRIED" and a heart shape sizing everything to 5 inches wide by 6 inches long.  You could also use any font on your computer as well.  Just use an x-acto knife to cut out the letters for your flags if you do.

I traced each letter onto the flags with a marker like so...making sure to have ample room at the top of the flag so I could stitch a casing for the twine.

If you cut a piece of wax paper and place it behind the flag before you paint the letters in it will help protect whatever surface you are painting on.  The wax paper peels away nicely once the paint is dry too!

Then grab your paint and a brush and thoroughly paint in each letter (I used Martha Stewarts Satin Finish Craft Paint!) Once it is dry, fold your flags in half.  Using your sewing machine, make a casing for the twine by sewing a line about 1/2 inch from the fold.  I also stitched all around the side of the flags and the bottom as well to keep the flags as one unit.

And there you have it...

BE MARRIED!

Now I just have to get this and a few other things I made for them out into the mail today :-)

I hope they like it!

Thanks for stopping by today!!

XOXO,

3-D Heart Shadow Box Wedding Gift-TUTORIAL

A few years ago, back when they were all the rage, I made a 3-D butterfly shadow box out of scrapbook paper although I don't think I ever blogged about it (?) I think it's safe to say it was probably right when I started blogging...so it goes, right?  Not everything can make the blog!  So a few months ago, while surfing on Pinterest late one night, it struck me when I saw a similar 3-D butterfly collage but made all in white so definitely more suited for an anniversary or wedding but I never pinned it, whaaaat!?!  I loved the idea of it, so pretty and elegant, and thought something like that would be the perfect "heartfelt"(get it!?) gift to commemorate the wedding of my friend, Jenny, and her husband Eric.

I love the idea of personalized "special days" gifts that share dates that are important to a couple (like the date you met, first date, the day you married, had a child, etc) that I had to make them one for the wedding...it had to be done.  I made this shadow box using a heart punch, scrapbook paper in their wedding colors, orange and hot pink, and a sweet saying printed over and over again to look like a cut up poem.  

3-D Heart Shadow Box

Shadow box, any size will do (I used an 11"x14")

photo mat to fit inside

scrapbook paper

heart punch

hot glue gun and glue sticks

glue dot runner (optional)

I bought a white shadow box, you can find them at Joann's or Michaels in all sorts of sizes, and a white photo mat cut to fit an 8"x10" photograph.

You will also need a heart punch, hot glue gun, and a glue dot tape runner.

I bought a few sheets of 8 1/2 x 11" scrapbook paper in their wedding colors, orange and hot pink, that I printed their names on as well as their wedding date and punched out with the heart punch.  I also bought a few sheets of cream colored paper to print off the repeated sweet saying I chose for them, "He asked, and she said Yes." so that it looked like a poem from an old book.  I bought one sheet of white scrapbook paper to go behind the mat as a background since the shadow box had a black velvet material for the background and then just used the glue dot tape to keep it in place although hot glue would probably work just as well.  

Once everything was punched out, I laid the hearts out inside the mat to see how I wanted them to be oriented.  

Then I just bent the cream colored heart in half, lightly, and hot glued them down to the white scrapbook paper that I glued down as the background.  I left the orange and pink hearts flat just to show a bit of varying dimension.  

Hot glue the mat down to the backboard of the shadow box and put it back together.  Such an elegant and personalized gift, don't ya think!

With the leftover hearts I even made a coordinating wedding card for the couple...a sneak peek at the gift if you will!  

Thanks for stopping by today!

XOXO,

Wedding Cake Card Box-TUTORIAL

This past weekend, a sweet friend of ours, Jenny, and her fiancé, Eric, tied the knot!  Clif and I were over the moon excited for them ever since we heard the big news as we've been able to witness their relationship grow and change over the past year or so.  It was such a pleasure to watch them become man and wife on one of the most beautiful days we've had in Chicago this Spring.  They threw a really great wedding, their colors were orange, hot pink, and red and they were infused everywhere from the flowers, the cake, the bride's hot pink heels under her dress and then her hot pink converse at the reception... I loved it all!  Earlier this year she asked me to create a really fun and color-popping card box for their reception and I was more than happy to oblige, anything for such a sweet bride and friend :-)

Since gift tables tend be be overlooked at most weddings, and Jenny is all about the details, she really wanted me to make something to hold the cards that would make the table 'pop!'  I immediately thought how cool a tall cake-like card box would be as not only would it give height to the table but also I could implement her three colors in a bold way, you know I love a good theme baby!

Here's how I did it:

Wedding Cake Card Box

Three sizes of paper mache/cardboard hat boxed

x-acto knife

painter's tape

spray paint in the colors of your choice

ribbon in the colors and styles of your choice

hot glue gun

I headed to Joann's and found a nestling 5 pack of paper mache/cardboard hat boxes.  With a coupon were only about $10, what a deal!  I used the biggest 3 hat boxes to create the wedding cake...the biggest three were pretty darn big too as the wedding cake card box was close to 3 feet tall!

Next, I grabbed my ex-acto knife and cut out a thin rectangular shape as an opening for the cards to be deposited into, I covered it with painter's tape from the inside so that when I spray painted the edges would get covered but not the inside.

Once it looked like this I headed outside to spray them with paint.  I chose to do two boxes in hot pink and one in orange.

Once everything was nice and dry I grabbed my hot glue gun...

And a stack of pretty ribbons in various prints of hot pink, orange, and red and went to town glueing them down so that they looked like a wedding cake.  I loved the orange ruffle ribbon as I thought it looked perfect on the sides and top of the lids kinda like fluffy frosting.  

On the top of the 'cake' I added more ribbon accents and even a little ruffled orange rose...just like the the flower toppers of some wedding cakes.

Oh, what a lovely wedding it was!  I only wish I could show you more pictures but I feel kinda weird doing that since I didn't really ask the bride and groom for permission to have the wedding day pictures plastered all over my blog and wouldn't you know, now they are off on their honeymoon :-)  Eric and Jenny we are so, so, so happy for you!!!!  We wish you many years of wedded bliss!

XOXO,