Wedding Crafting!

My little sister just got married and I made the card box for the gift table. She saw an idea in a store, but didn't want to spend $40+ on something she was going to use once for a couple of hours, so I was asked to make something similar. 

I found a box, took off the shipping labels I could remove, taped it shut, and cut the hole out to put the cards into. I painted it all white with acrylic paint. Then I bought a roll of burlap and stewed about how to get it on the box and make it stay and laid it out and talked to friends... one suggested staples might hold it on without making a mess? It totally worked and it worked great except for the top where the hole was- it wasn't sturdy enough to take the staples, but it worked well enough everywhere else that it ended up okay. There is no burlap or paint on the bottom, that way my sister could just cut that end open to get to the cards inside. 

The better looking side of burlap got to be the front, haha. I decorated it using a lot of retired stash! 

First the strip of White Jute ribbon, then a strip of Old Olive Mini Chevron Ribbon. And finally I made the "medallion" part. That is a Pearlized Doily, backed with a little more jute ribbon, and topped with a twist of the Olive Chevron, then a bow made from Silver 1/8" Ribbon, and finally a wooden "love" which came from a Paper Pumpkin kit! They're all held together with glue dots and sticky strip and it held up! 

...until the crazy wind started throwing everything around and the rain was pounding, haha..... But it looked pretty anyway! 

~~~

I also put together a bunch of activities to keep the kiddos occupied. Just in nieces and nephews alone, we're at 8 kids between 2-11, and we didn't know how many others were coming. I needed quiet activities that were also clean...hmmm..... I happened to remember my long-retired Bingo Board background stamp, so I put my daughter to work searching current and retired stamps for small images that worked for an autumn wedding...and maybe honeymoon, even tho the happy couple isn't going on a trip any time soon.

~~~

And finally, my husband was in charge of the wedding cake! He actually completely volunteered and was given free reign, so here's his "first, and likely only" wedding cake-

That is a rice krispies base, and two layers of pumpkin cheesecake. The leaves are a marzipan shortbread cookie and after they were baked they were painted with a cranberry/powdered sugar glaze. Finally it is frosted with a white chocolate buttercream for a "naked" cake look, and then dollops of maple cinnamon white chocolate buttercream to hold the tiny pumpkins and cookies on! 

Weddings are a TON of work, even if you live two hours away and aren't the couple or their parents! Sheesh! hahaha!