D-I-Y Didn't I Outsource... A Banner For Our Save-The-Date Mailings?

Hive, I have a confession. I'm crafty, but my intentions are not pure. When I first discovered Weddingbee, the blogger in me was dying to become a part. I wanted to be a Bee blogger so bad.

Knowing how they encourage DIY projects, I figured I'd have to do a couple and get them on my blog so when I applied, I would be a more appealing candidate. The benefit of these first couple of projects to my actual wedding were very very secondary. Whew! I feel good for getting that out.

I saw, on the lovely wide world web, lots o' DIY project of hand-made things for the bride and groom to hold while posing for pictures. Some say "thank you" and then are used for special order thank you cards for after the wedding.

I loved this idea and thought I could incorporate it into something fun as one of my first DIY projects. I wanted to make a banner for our STDs (hehe, still funny even though Bee after Bee has immaturity moments with this).

Bunting seemed like the easiest thing to do, so I went with it. A trip to Michael's secured all the supplies. And a large dining room table to use courtesy of Mima Kettle supplied the work area. I went to Michael's to pick up supplies for this and my other DIY project (a "thank you" wreath).

When I got back to the house, I set to work. It was a lot of steps and because I was working on both projects at once, it took all day. Plus I ran out of ribbon and had to take FNIL Tiny ('cause she's tiny) with me to Wal-Mart to find more. But FSIL Hon helped out tremendously. When I told her I was taking pictures in hopes of blogging about it in the future, she refused to let more than her hand be photographed, but I will get more shots the next time she's back stateside.

That's FNIL Tiny. She's waaaay high up in the tree in front of Mima Kettle and Kettle Dad's house. She's very helpful and she's going to make a great jr. bridesmaid!

To Make a Save-The-Date Bunting, You'll Need:

At Least 11 large pieces of felt. I got felt from Michael's in 8.5 by 11 sheets. I got two different colors from our wedding palette. Felt was better for us since our e-pics were being taken outside and I didn't want the wind to affect our photos.

Lots and lots of buttons. I think I bought a pack of 50 assorted white buttons, and that was just enough, no more no less. I picked that color so they'd stand out. I thought about painting them, but decided against it once I saw what the white looked like.

Glue sticks and a glue gun. This was my first time using one. It was pretty easy to figure out. You almost burn yourself once and you tend to avoid doing it again.

Ribbon. For the edges of the bunting triangles, the highlight of a sparkly ribbon make it stand out even more and camouflaged any uneven cuts. I ended up needing two spools of whatever the standard length is they sell on the spool at Michael's and Wal-Mart.

Scissors. If I have to explain why you need this, well never mind. You need scissors to cut the bunting triangles, the ribbon, etc.

String. You need something to string your triangles onto I chose a sparkly tan and gold string that FSIL Hon braided to make stronger. We didn't cut the length though on the chance we could re-use it for something.

Needle & Thread. Get a short yet strong needle and get thread that's also strong and closely matches the color felt you buy.



A paper template of the shape I wanted each triangle of fabric to have. I did this quickly on Microsoft Word. I stacked the felt and started cutting, not the smartest way to do it. If done over, I could cut out the shape, just pin it to each sheet individually and cut it out. It's felt, so it doesn't matter if you cut in the perfect center of each sheet.




FSIL Hon's hands gluing ribbon onto the edge of a cut-out triangle. We put the ribbon on first so we'd know how much space we had to measure out each letter in buttons.



This isn't the best quality photo, but it's trying to show you to put the glue on only a little at a time. And the glue goes along the edge, but completely on the front, not the side of the triangle. As you're pressing the ribbon in place, be aware that it's hot, get a cook (like me!) who's used to touching hot pots to help. Also, don't cut out ribbon lengths ahead of time, you'll just waste ribbon.





This is what you should have on your hand after gluing the ribbon to the edges of each triangle. This was important to do first so we'd know just how much space we had to place out each letter in buttons.




FSIL Hon and Mima Kettle put a lot of time into making these letters just right. I would have just laid them down randomly and gone to work. They look much better with the organization and symmetry I must admit. All the rest of the stuff on the table is from the Thank You wreath I also did that night.




If you look closely, you can see a ring of glue I put on the button. I glued each button into place one at a time so as to not mess up the lovely layout my new family worked so hard on.




We laid out each letter after it was glued to admire our work and figure out what to do next. At this point MOH Sis (Mr. Kettle's maid of honor and sister) came in and expressed her wish that she could be as crafty as us. I offered to teach her and got a nice non-committal "sure"





I'd planned on folding the top rectangle over to make a tube on which to string the bunting, but I hadn't yet figured out how. It was at this point I decided needle and thread would be the safest, most durable (pesky Windy City), but not quickest way to get this done.

 



I pinned the flap down and got to work sewing. Please ignore the crazy nails.

 


On the front side of the triangles, I made sure to put the needle back through as close as I could to where it came out. I wanted that invisible seam look you'd get on hemmed pants. That way, from the front, all you could see was lovely magically together bunting.

 

After I sewed the flaps down, we noticed it needed more definition. Though we were tired at this point, we kept going. The glass of wine Mr. Kettle poured us helped. I glued the ribbon down across the top and it looked sweet!





Did I mention Mr.Kettle also has a cat? She lives with his parents and will stay there since she doesn't have claws but my cat does. Since she's black, her name will be Kitty Pot (like the pot calling the kettle black when it's black? Get it? No? There go those crickets again.) At this point, FSIL Hon is trying to see about stringing her braided string through the triangles and Kitty Pot had to get in on all the string action. It's her way of helping.




She continued to help by sitting on top of the thread and holding up progress while we took a wine break. Kitty Pot doesn't think she's people like Kitty Kettle does. She knows she's a cat.



Kitty Pot then thought it wise to try and drag our entire bunting upstairs to play with. That's when the fun and games ended. She was not about mess up my first big hours-long project!

Our finished project looked lovely. We hung it on the curtain thingees so we could see what it looked like. Success!



Belle will now be called Kitty Kettle, named by Weddingbee! She's giving me her Family Guy disapproval eyes cause I was trying to snap her picture before heading to work when she wanted to eat. She really thinks she's people y'all.

I'd have to say this first big DIY project was a success even though I though it would take 2 hours top and it took closer to 9. But it turned out beautifully. You guys will love our e-photos with it. All that work for one freaking photo!!

I think I finally understand the term bride brain. I still think making that bunting was a good idea...

How did your first DIY go? Did it make you want to do more? Did you get help from family (human or not?)