DIY Doubts

I'm sure you remember my bird's nest card box project. Generally, I'm pretty comfortable doing my own thing, but there's so many rules about wedding stuff. They call it etiquette. You get beat over the head with all the ettique when you doing any wedding research. I've started having a physical reaction to that word (think gag relax). That being said I think there's a reason or at least a reasonable root for most rules. So, when I posted pictures all over the wedding boards of my card box and got a lukewarm reaction I started to worry...

Maybe there was a reason everyone does the same stacked box design. Maybe they're supposed to be a certain shape and size. Maybe there's a reason they all have lids. Maybe there's a reason I couldn't find a single other bird's nest card box when I searched the internet. Maybe I was missing something. So, I started trying to find some rules or guidelines for card boxes. I had no luck. It was page after page of the same design in different colors...

After a while I decided to search for "card box without lid". Finally validation:

Cute stuff and certainly not the stacked box design. No lids. The more I thought about it I've been to wedding where guests just threw cards on the table. I think the lid is just for carrying convenience. Also, maybe I'm grossly underestimating the amount of cards we'll receive or people generally make them much bigger than they really need. I think even if every guest brought a card that's a 100 flat envelopes. They should fit in my nest.

I'm sad that I needed validation so much and that I let the lack of got to me so much. Speaking of I found this one and I love it:

Next time I get married we're going nerd wedding all the way!

Bird's Nest Card Box

Materials

• Plain large grapevine wreath
• Smaller grapevine wreathes (to unravel)
• Cardboard
• Spray Adhesive
• Brown paint
• Foam brush
• Assorted moss
• Cropadile/Hole punch
• Twist ties/barked wire

It took a break from the project, some fresh supplies and another viewing of Midsummer Night's Dream to get me started again. This time with a much bigger wreath. The nice thing about my enchanted woods decor is it's supposed to be imperfect and natural looking. It takes some pressure off. I kind of feel like I cheated this time because it was sooooo much easier than my failed first attempt. I will warn you though, working with moss gets very messy.

I turned the wreath on it's side. I cut a piece of cardboard (old Amazon box) the size of the opening (yay, recycling!). I painted the cardboard brown with acrylic paint and a foam brush. I coated it in spray adhesive I placed the wreath on top and started placing moss and twigs on the sticky surface. I poked holes in the corners of the cardboard and fed wire ties through to hold the cardboard to the wreath. The best part is I can untwist the wire and re-use the wreth after the wedding. There really wasn't much to it. I plan on letting it sit with books on it for a few more hours and then I may add some more decoration to the main wreath (nest) part. I will be making a cute little sign to the affect of thanks for feathering our nest/adding to our nest egg. It'll be cuter than it sounds. I assure you Mike will roll his eyes and sigh, but I will be pleased.

First DIY project for the actual wedding itself, done! Hurray. With cards in it!

Off And Limping...

Today was not the kind of crafting day where I did Martha proud. I'm attempting to make a bird's nest card box. I started by unraveling two grapevine wreaths. I can't take credit for the idea of unraveling grapevine wreaths, my florist mentioned it when we were discussing decor. I got two small wreathes one of thinner springy-er vine and one of thicker more rigid vine. The first of which was infinitely easier to work with, obviously. Aside from being thicker and more rigid the other wreath also had thorns.

After a lot (like 2hrs) of manipulation I got the springy-er wreath into the right size circle. I wrapped it with pale green raffia and was quite pleased with myself. I went back to the other wreath with renewed vigor. I started this project trying to wrap the vine around the base of a bowl and realized it takes two pairs of hands to make that work (which I didn't have). I also realized why people don't often make bird's nests big enough for card boxes.

I was unsuccessful in stretching the second wreath to the right size by hand. So, knowing the bowl wasn't working I starting looking for something else to use as a base. I didn't have any baskets the right size I could cannibalize. I did find the a few things to try, but in the end hot glue wouldn't hold it so it didn't matter. Sigh.

Thus, through all my experimentation I decided I should have started with much larger wreathes. I'd only have to hallow them out to make room for cards and decorate. Duh. I'll get supplies tonight to try what now seems to be the more logical method. Wish me luck!