My latest crafty wedding success... moss letters! They took about two hours, cost around $30, and they are EXACTLY what I pictured in my mind. I took some pictures while making them, so here's a quickie tutorial if you'd like to make some yourself.
First, gather your supplies. I used a large sheet of floral foam that I got at Michael's, letters blown up and printed from Paint, tape, pins (not shown), hot glue (also not shown), and sheets of moss (more on that later).
Here are the letters laid out. Most people go for fancy script, I know, but I'm not most people. I <3 Verdana! Tape the letters together carefully and then cut them out.
Next, pin the cut out letter on to your foam.
A serrated bread knife works perfectly for cutting the type of foam. Straight lines are really easy, and the curves aren't all that bad. Just go slowly, and be sure to check every now and then that you're holding the knife straight up and down.
Behold: cut out letters! Don't worry, they will not be perfect. The moss covers up a ton of imperfections. And if you happen to break off a piece of your letter while cutting (like I did), use hot glue and toothpicks to reattach and reinforce the broken piece.
Now, start wrapping your letters with moss. I started out with the easy part: the tall stem of the 'b'. There's no technique to speak of, aside from covering as many large areas as you can first, then filling in the gaps with little pieces of moss. The more hot glue, the better!
Incidentally, this is the type of moss that I used. It's a 16x18 thin sheet of moss, and it worked perfectly. I got it at JoAnn Fabrics, and was about $9 per package. Two packages was almost enough to cover both letters.
In progress shot.
Almost finished...
I still need a bit more moss to finish the back of the 'a', but you get the idea. Add some chocolate brown ribbon to match our color scheme, and ta-da! They turned out exactly how I pictured them.
They'll be hung on either side of the doors on the front of the house. One more project down, and a zillion to go! :)
First, gather your supplies. I used a large sheet of floral foam that I got at Michael's, letters blown up and printed from Paint, tape, pins (not shown), hot glue (also not shown), and sheets of moss (more on that later).
Here are the letters laid out. Most people go for fancy script, I know, but I'm not most people. I <3 Verdana! Tape the letters together carefully and then cut them out.
Next, pin the cut out letter on to your foam.
A serrated bread knife works perfectly for cutting the type of foam. Straight lines are really easy, and the curves aren't all that bad. Just go slowly, and be sure to check every now and then that you're holding the knife straight up and down.
Behold: cut out letters! Don't worry, they will not be perfect. The moss covers up a ton of imperfections. And if you happen to break off a piece of your letter while cutting (like I did), use hot glue and toothpicks to reattach and reinforce the broken piece.
Now, start wrapping your letters with moss. I started out with the easy part: the tall stem of the 'b'. There's no technique to speak of, aside from covering as many large areas as you can first, then filling in the gaps with little pieces of moss. The more hot glue, the better!
Incidentally, this is the type of moss that I used. It's a 16x18 thin sheet of moss, and it worked perfectly. I got it at JoAnn Fabrics, and was about $9 per package. Two packages was almost enough to cover both letters.
In progress shot.
Almost finished...
I still need a bit more moss to finish the back of the 'a', but you get the idea. Add some chocolate brown ribbon to match our color scheme, and ta-da! They turned out exactly how I pictured them.
They'll be hung on either side of the doors on the front of the house. One more project down, and a zillion to go! :)
Ok, you've seen this part, yes, yes, I know... but see that little eyelet at the top corner? It's for...
SHAZAM! Awesome.
The 'map' page, designed in Adobe Illustrator using Miss Peony's tutorial (part 1, part 2) from Weddingbee. It was an easy-to-follow introduction to Illustrator. I'd highly recommend it. And once I figured out how to print borderlessly on my HP home printer, these were a snap.
And the directions info page... designed in Word and proofread about a thousand times by three different people. I'm not too good with the whole 'directions' thing.
The finished suite. They turned out exactly as I pictured them, which doesn't happen too often. I couldn't be happier! Once again, many thanks to Lara Cameron of Lara Cameron Design for graciously allowing me to use her bird and branch graphic.
Here's a reminder of what the back of the RSVP card looks like... I've gotten back 4 already, and so far, no one has used it. I thought it was a neat idea, but such is life.
