A gathering of ideas, rants, reflections leading up to the big day

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Valentine's DIY

I frequent a wedding blog Weddingbee and as a reader I participated in the 1st ever Valentine's Day Card swap. The moderator Mrs. Bee collected our names and addresses through email and then divided up our names. All the participants swapped with 3 strangers, and will receive one card from a "bee", one of the bloggers on the site. I am very much looking forward to receiving my cards! All cards had to be DIY.


For me this was a great exercise. I haven't participated in any fiber arts since the Tohono Chul Postcard Exchange March 2006. Paper and fiber really are not my medium. I scoured the internet for inspiration and stumbled upon the best option, where else, from Martha. I followed her directions, wrote out my shopping list and spent too much money buying supplies and tools for the cards.


Here is the final product. I am pretty pleased!



I bought a pack of craft paper (MS at Michael's, of course) in the colors I wanted. I cut out a heart - free hand - and when I finally had a decent heart, I used that as my template for all the others. I folded each heart in half and with my new 1/16th of an inch hole punch I punched holes in to the hearts and the white paper that served as a backing. I strung different colors of twine through the hearts (red & white, pink & brown). I mixed and matched the colors of hearts and overlapped them a bit on the white backing. Then I simply used double sided tape to affix to the card.
I realized I needed a message on the inside. For fear of screwing up my card, I used craft paper from the same pack, cut out a piece and wrote a simple greeting (these are strangers!). I followed up with the twine theme and tied one piece through the top of the insert. I felt kind of bad about my cards, so I found these cute coasters at Target for $1.00 and wrapped them in tissue paper and included them inside the card.


As my cards come in, I'll post the pictures!

I really feel more confident in tackling DIY projects for the wedding. I have a few ideas for centerpieces and after my mom leaves, I think I'll try my hand at a few to see what turns out the best!

3 comments:

Unknown said...

I love DIY, and your card is great especially with the twine. Did you sign/date the back of the card?
The best part, to me, is that you found the time to do this even with work, mom, wedding, running, darrell, etc. (and not just in this order).
I know the person who gets this will appreciate your work, and I can't wait to see what others send you!

Jennifer said...

It's sooo cute, Jenn!! I totally love it! I'm looking forward to seeing the others, too.

Let me know if you want help or company with your other DIY crafts in the future. I can even bring my new lamp! ;)

limoncelloSTYLE said...

aw, this is super cute! i also found it hard to make a valentine card for strangers. i mean, i have lots of fun things to say in a traditional valentine card...but nothing seemed appropriate to send out to people i didn't know. finally i just focused on keeping it generic :)

great job!