DIY Wedding Card Box

Weddings are expensive. It's one thing to say the average wedding costs $35k. It's another to live it. (Tho trust me, my budget is nowhere near that!)

Today we are going to explore an alternative.

Wedding card boxes are expensive. Whether you are looking at a traditional card box, wire bird cage, or something in-between... it's going to be $20 minimum for a 'nice' style. However, you can get something cheap- and cheap looking- for less than $10.

NO MORE I say! If you have a little time to spare and are crafty, you can get something way more unique and cheaper! Because I'm a DIY craft junkie, the only real out of pocket expense for me was the box itself. I could have stopped there, but why?!

Worst case scenario this is going to cost $20, for me it was just over $10 and took maybe an hour to do.

Materials:

-Large fake book storage box: at Michael's 40% off plus an additional 25% off coupon= less than $8!
-Hemp Twine- or string or whatever you have
-Scrapbook paper- if you don't have any laying around, look for alternatives (think of your theme-comic books maybe? or Michael's has specials all the time)
-Template
-Pencil
-Scissors
-Misc. embellishments- optional
-Di-cut Shiny Red Damask letters- previously purchased ~$3 (I've been holding onto these for the perfect wedding craft so I am including the cost here) or if you have a Kricut or something you could make your own

I don't want to spoil too much, so here is the incomplete card box!

The outside- fits our "Adventure theme" and colors.

Nice and roomy on the inside! Dare I say- BIGGER on the inside?

 The materials.

 The layout.- All I did was trace a template on the side of the scrapbook paper I didn't want to use (this way messy lines won't show) and cut 'em out. Then, hole punched two corners on each for my twine to string them up inside the book.

Not done, but you get the idea. The black/gold things in the corners are picture corners. I'm planning on hiding the end of the string with them. I also need to add the di-cut letters to spell out  C A R D S.

BONUS: the fiance loved the idea and picked out the book to use.Teamwork and collaboration.

So tell me- what crafty projects are you up to?! (Doesn't have to be wedding related!)

Post Wedding crafting

When the party is over, the bills are paid and everything is cleaned up... What do you do with all the remaining Stuff?! Well, the flower part is easy. Dry the flowers for display! I took my bouquet, chose the best of the wilted flowers and dried/pressed them.

To dry flowers, hand them upside down until they get that nice crisp/crunchy feel to them. I strung them up with some hemp rope. When they are nice and dry, generously spray with hairspray.

To press flowers, you will need lots of heavy books, preferably with shiny pages. The flowers tend to stick to paper pages. Layer the chosen ones in a few books, stack them under more heavy books (I even added a large ceramic vase to the top of the stack). And let sit for many days. This process worked well for the small yellow roses and a tall purple flower. The others got brownish and not very pretty.

I took my pressed flowers, a shadow box, scrapbook paper, glue dots and ribbon to make a display.

 

The dried flowers I put in a small vase.

 

They look quite nice with my Halloween décor, don't you think?

 

My apologize for the lack of progress pictures. As usual, I thought of it too late. Plus some of you demanded to see AFTER the fact. ;)

 

 

Anyone have any wedding crafts to share?!