Today, in the third and final installment of the Our Week Out West series, I’m sharing a pretty unique “diy” that I got to take part in during our trip!
Let me start off by saying that my cousin is one of the coolest cousins ever. No, really. She is. Unless your cousin is also a glass and sculpture artist…
I think I’ve mentioned the City Flea before. But I also think I failed to mention exactly what it is, and how awesome it is.
Back in April, Tom’s best friend Kevin got married. His bride Katie has made a few appearances around here, for craft nights, painting sessions, and sunflower-field frolicking.
They are our best friends. And I wanted to make a gift for them. Something that would be special and meaningful.
I landed on painting a canvas with lyrics from their first-dance song.
I sketched it out a bunch of times, debated over canvas sizes (I went with a 20″x24″), horizontal versus vertical, and what sorts of colors to use (purple was their wedding color; and can be found in several rooms in their home).
The how: I painted the purple background first, and let it dry for several days (ahem) weeks. Then I got up the courage to add the letters. I measured four evenly-spaced lines horizontally across the canvas, lightly wrote out some of the words in pencil, and then busted out a super small paintbrush and some white acrylic paint. So really, I free-handed the whole thing. I actually find this easier than trying to trace out letters or stencils. I don’t have that kind of patience 😉
Once all of the words were up, I selected some special words to “highlight” and added the extra lines and accents. I also added the date of their wedding at the bottom.
I’m really happy with how it turned out. I want to do one for our bedroom some day.
And Kevin and Katie loved it 🙂 Yay! (cue huge sigh of relief!)
Have you hand-made wedding gifts before? How did they turn out?
I often find myself in a bind when it comes to occasions that require (maybe not require, but look more favorably upon) greeting cards: I frequently forget to buy one. So recently I took inspiration from this pin to create my own card using washi tape. (Side note: washi tape is probably one of the greatest inventions of our time. Right up there with mobile phones and home espresso machines).
It’s simple. Just grab a piece of cardstock and cut it to your preferred size/shape. Then grab some rolls of tape and go nuts! Layer different tapes on top of each other to create unique patterns and color combos. Or just keep it simple, if that’s more your style. I added a paper flower and brad to my little handwritten birthday banner for some extra pizzaz.
As I was digging through my wrapper paper and gift bag options, nothing was really jumping out at me. So… back to the tape! A bit of craft paper, a few pieces of tape, and there you go = A nice little coordinating set 🙂
Then I’ve got a round-up for you!
I’ve gotten several questions from friends who are wondering what’s up with washi tape (y’know, what do you *do* with it). So I’ve pulled some of my recent pins to help give you some ideas, in case you’ve been wondering the same thing.
DIY Masking Tape Monogram // Creature Comforts
Washi Tape Candle Votives // I Spy DIY
Gift Bags // Craft and Creativity via Washi Tape Crafts
Stop back on Wednesday to see how I put my washi tape to work to create a birthday card and gift wrap!