Amanda says I need to sell my stuff.
I decided if I ever Did open an Etsy shop, this is what I would sell. Must go back to my teaching days but it was such fun putting these placemats together for Amanda.
All of the terms are from her wedding, we have scrambled flower names from the flowers in her bouquet, a word search with wedding terms plus farm animals since her wedding is at a farm, a dot to dot of the barn where the reception is, and a cupcake to color just like the ones we will be serving. All in all, great fun.
The grownups get boring placemats from super sparkly paper that I bought from PaperandMore and cut into placemats by cutting off 1 1/2 inches from one end and cutting corners. It is the paper we used for her invitation and probably way more than I should have spent on placemats.
The kids ones ... well, I just got copies made at Office Max. Then I cut them down to match the size of the adults' placemats.
I think this is my favorite thing of all I made for her wedding. When I mailed them to her for approval, I got a photo back. She said they did the word search right after they opened the box! Hope the kids at the wedding enjoy them as much!
I've attached a generic word search below if you want to make your own placemats.
Edited in ... I DID open a shop after the wedding ... I can design one for you if you wish. Here is my etsy shop address, Cathys Art Cart
I can print them and cut them, or send you a file to make your own.
To use the image below, click on it and copy it to a document.
1. cutting burlap ... if you pull a thread and cut along the line that is created, you will be able to fray the edges evenly.
2. I stitched the edges of the lace to the burlap to get some stability since burlap likes to fray.
The butterflies were cut on a sizzix machine and sticky magnets adhered to the back.
Markers for sign in have flowers made of the Stampin Up butterfly punch.
I used a wooden pick to roll the edges up on the top layer and under on the next 2. I layered 4 together and used my Tim Holtz stapler to attach them
Tie on a pretty ribbon and the markers are ready to display ... in a peanut butter jar with shiny pebbles in the bottom and a bow on top !
Making the signs was quite a learning process. We went through a variety of wood ideas, from shingles to barn wood to 1 x 3's and ended up buying a 2 x 4 foot piece of oak at Lowes for under 10 dollars which was adequate for the 16 signs we planned. I printed off the signs in a variety of fonts and chose "cinnamon cake" as my favorite. These were printed in 125 size. That too took a lot of testing! Then I spaced them out on a piece of brown paper to see how they would look.
Next Mike cut the board into 12 inch sections and then cut pieces to fit each sign. Meanwhile I scribbled on the back of each print out with a graphite stick .. a #2 pencil would do, but we were going into major production and the graphite stick was faster. I was able to position them on the wood and draw over the letters with the graphite on the back transferring to the wood.
Next I carefully painted the letters using black acrylic paint. But the signs seemed so ... normal. I used a punch to cut 3/4 and 1 inch circles and put them randomly on a signs for the smoking area. (don't you love the name ... my brilliant husband thought of it.)
