DECOUPAGING TREASURE: Using my Old Wedding Magazines to Make a Keepsake/Memory Box

            Like most brides-to-be, I've accumulated a great deal of bridal magazines and felt so guilty when I went to throw them away.  So, I decided to use them somehow.  I came up with the idea to make a bridal keepsake box because I've already started gathering little memories like my bridal shower invitations.  Regular bridal keepsake boxes run about $50.00 and up. This one from Pottery Barn is priced at $60.00:

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         Instead of spending that much, I came up with my version which will cost you around $20.00 or so, depending on what you have available and what you want.  Here's how I did it:

1.)  I started by purchasing an oval kraft box at Michael's for $12.99 and decoupage medium for about $6.00.  You can also use modpodge, and that might run you a little more.

2.) Then I collected all those bridal magazines and began to carefully cut out pictures for my box.  I'm lucky my bridal magazines were not ferociously attacked by a roving beast in my house:

3.)  When you cut the pictures out, try to do your best to be as detailed as possible and pick pictures/shapes that can stand alone without the background.  I tried to pick words, phrases, colors, flowers and more that reminded me of my wedding. I also cut out some raised flowers from some scrapbook paper I had.

4.) Next, I took the top of my box and laid the pictures on it (don't use any glue or medium just yet), get a good idea of how you want it to look first.  You can paint the box before you decoupage, but I chose not to do that.

5.)  After I'd placed the pictures, I started by using a sponge brush and glued down each picture on the box top with the medium.  After the medium dried, I did about 10 coats of decoupage material on top of the glued pictures.  Each time I waited until the medium had dried completely before doing my next coat.  Here's a close-up of the top of the box, you can see that I layered pictures on it which is completely your preference.

 6.) On the last coat, I moistened my brush with water and made sure everything was completely dry before spraying the top down with mod podge sealer (do this outside).  I have heard that you don't need mod podge sealer because the medium seals itself, but I had it in my house so I just did it.

7.) Next, I turned to the bottom of the box.  I could have also decoupaged this part, but thought it would be cool to make it different.  I started by painting the bottom a light blue with some acrylic paint I already had.

8.) Then, I decided to stencil a design on the bottom of the box.  To do this, I made sure the light blue paint was completely dry.  I then taped my stencil to the box.  Be sure you are using stencil tape and that it's exactly where you wanted.

9.) Next, I had some extra deep blue paint from the table numbers I painted.  So, I carefully blotted the paint on the stencil in an up/down motion with a sponge brush.

10.)  After it dried, I peeled the stencil off and had a pretty tree which I also sprayed with Mod Podge sealer.

11.) Here's a few pictures of the final product! I plan to store all sorts of wedding things in here from the bouquet charm I ordered to my invitations.  

Ravishing DIY "Reserved" Signs for the Ceremony!

This is a smaller project and significantly easier.  But, it's actually something you need for the wedding.  During the ceremony, most weddings require that the first few rows of chairs be reserved for family and/or those participating in the processional.  For instance, my grandmother is going to walk down the aisle, but she's not standing for the whole ceremony.  So, i need a place for her to sit when she's completed her processional.   If you don't reserve seats, you'll get guests sitting everywhere! So, I came up with a way to make a very low-cost sign to reserve chairs during the ceremony. 

1.)  First, I started with my handy dandy embossing kit (I told you I wanted to find more ways to incorporate it into the wedding).   You'll also need a stamp and/or letter stamps.  I found a stamp with the word "reserved" on it online for about $6.00 and these sort of medium size gift tags from Michael's (see below) for about $2.00.  I'm sure you could also just spell out a word with the letter stamps from Michael's.   

2.) So, I started by heat embossing each tag with the word "reserved".  To do that, you use your stamp in embossing ink and stamp on the tags. 

3.) Then cover the wet ink with the embossing powder.

4.)  Next, tap the excess powder off and you'll have the word nicely remaining on the tag.

5.) Then use your embossing tool to heat the powder so it melts and creates a gorgeous raised effect.

6.)  I wanted to do something different for the back, but you could easily just emboss the back of the tags as well.  I think I might have over-complicated this because I later learned there is actually glitter spray (which I didn't use). Anyways,  here's what I did, but feel free to make this easier.  
7.)   I had spray adhesive and glitter available to me.

8.)  I sprayed the back of each card with the adhesive and kept the bottle far enough away from the card so that it wasn't wet and looked more misted. 

9.) Then I spread glitter all over the card.

10.)  After that I laid the cards, sprayed a little shellac on them and let them dry.  However, one of them fell on the ground and that's when a terror hit the project.

The carnage after the attack.

11.)  Then I had only 9 cards :(. I strung navy blue ribbon through the tags to hang from the chairs.  They look like this when done (the ribbons were a $1.00 per spool and I only needed 2 spools):

12.)  Here's how I plan to use them on the chivari chairs I have for the ceremony.  It's so cheap and easy! You'd be spending a lot more on etsy and this is something even the most craft-challenged indivdual can do!

Painting by the Numbers (Navy Blue Painted Table Numbers for my Wedding)

I need wedding reception table names or numbers, everyone knows that.  But, finding the right ones in the right colors (my wedding colors are navy blue and pale pink) proved more difficult than expected.  I thought about tables named after golf courses, or doing places my fiance and I had been, but I just couldn't get it figured out.  So, I settled on doing table numbers, boring right? Not really because I plan to call them "pins" or "holes" on the seating chart to make reference to our subtle golf theme, and I found some gorgeous options.  I finally settled on the following numbers I found on etsy.com in Frank's Crafts Store.  The price was $60.00, plus shipping:  http://www.etsy.com/listing/90459663/table-numbers-10-34-tall-with-base-set-1

The table numbers!

I think the shop's owner is willing to paint the numbers, but I thought I'd give it a try (since it looks like painted numbers run about $120.00).   So, here's how I painted the table numbers navy to match my wedding color theme.

1.) First, the numbers and stands are separate pieces, come wrapped up and are made of a sort of particle board. So, I got them all out and began to prepare them separately.

2.) I started by sanding the numbers down.

3.) I then cleaned the numbers with soap and water. From there, I used a sealer ($4.00) I bought at Michael's to seal the numbers first which will allow the paint to go smoother and closes up the pores of the wood.  Here's a picture of the sealer and the sponge brush ($0.49) I used (I tried a regular painting brush but it didn't work as well to get a smooth finish).   

 4.)  After the sealer dried, I sanded the numbers again lightly and washed them off again.  Then I started with the paint I got on sale at Michael's for about $3.00.  Here's what I used:

American Satin in Evening Blue

5.) I painted the numbers standing in their stands making sure to get in the little crevices of the numbers.  I'm sure you could use spray paint too, but I think this worked well because of the way the numbers are shaped. 

6.)  After the numbers dried, I decided I wanted to make sure that the paint had a deeper colored look to them and so I wanted to add a second coat.  I sanded the numbers down one last time, you can see how they look after I sanded them below:

7.)  Then I painted them one more time and let them dry. 

8.)  I finished the numbers off with a coat of shellac spray (be sure to spray outside and on cardboard backer). 

9.)  I did the same technique for the stands and I now have my final product! Hope you like: