DIY Pinwheel Place cards

In the final moments of the game, I decided to make pinwheel seating cards for our wedding.  I thought about it, nixed the idea, and finally said, "Summer, time to pinwheel up...or go home."  So I channelled my inner Martha, and got to work.   

Luckily, they are very easy to make so they only drove me mildly insane during the week leading up to my wedding.  

I decided to attach them to clothespins because I thought this provided a lot of different options.  One could hang them from the ceiling or a branch.  They'd make cute napkin "rings."  Guests could wear them on their lapels.  

For our wedding, they were simply clipped onto long strands of ribbon stationed at the welcome table.  

(I actually didn't know how the tables at our reception were going to be set up until about an hour before the wedding, so these kept things flexible in case of emergency.  I also never actually saw them because obviously my guests had already taken their seats by the time we arrived in the dining room.  If they looked terrible, friends and family....lie.  I should be getting the photos back soon and I'll know the truth then.)  

Materials

• 12 x 12 double-sided card stock 
• clothespins
• pearl-headed pins
• Scissors
• Hot Glue Gun
• Pliers 
• Wire Cutters

Process

1. Make four-inch squares out of the card stock.  

I cut mine into four-inch squares.  They weren't teeny tiny, but they were small enough to be placed out of the way on the tables once my guests had taken their seats.  

However, any size square will work for this project.  I made some larger 12 X 12 inch pinwheels attached to wooden dowels to place on the lawn during the ceremony for example.   

2.  Find the center point of the square.  

You could use a ruler to do this, but I simply folded my paper into four equal boxes.  The fold marks crossed at the center point.  Don't worry, you couldn't see the creases once the pinwheels were assembled.  

 3. Cut straight lines from each corner toward the middle of the square, stopping about one half inch from the center point.  

Again, you could measure, but I just sorta eyeballed it.

When you are finished, it will look like this:

 Repeat for all your paper, and set aside.  Let's get started on the pins.

The pins will be used to fasten the paper into a pinwheel shape.  They will also be used to affix the pinwheels to the clothespins.  However, these pins need some cosmetic surgery first.

4. Bend a 90 degree angle into the pins using a pair of needle-nosed pliers.

Bending the pins will allow the pinwheels to spin even after they are affixed to the clothespins.

I placed the pliers directly at the base of the pearl head.

 And used my fingers to bend the lower half of the pin.

 Ta-Da!

The top half, the part closest to the pearl, will hold the paper.  The bottom half will be glued to the clothespins.

5.)  Clip the pins.  

Poor little pin heads need to be shortened a bit too.

I didn't like the way they looked when left long because the bottom of the pin could be seen sticking out from behind the pinwheel. Once I cut them short, the pins were hidden from view.

I placed my wire cutters about half an inch from the bend in the pin.  No, I did not measure.  I don't believe in rulers.  I believe in freedom.  And...

Snippity-doo-dah!  

*** Be careful during this step.  Sometimes the clipped ends of the pins go shooting off wildly across the room.  I did not want an angry pin in my eye.  I also did not want any run-away pins finding their way into Madeline's feetsies.  I actually placed my hands, pins, and clippers in a plastic shopping bag while I cut.  The bag caught all the loose pieces.  I also combed my carpet just in case....with a flashlight. ***

 6.)  Make pin holes in the center of the square, and in the left-hand corner of each triangle. (Or the right hand if you prefer, as long as it's the same side each time.)

 I used a leftover, uncut pin to do this.

 7.)  Choose a corner, any corner, and begin threading a short pin through each hole saving the center for last.    

It's beginning to look like a pinwheel now!

Once all the corners are looped together, insert the pin through the center hole. (There's really no better way to say that...I'm sorry.)

It is a pinwheel!

8.  Affix the pinwheels to the clothespins.  

The back of your pinwheels will look like this.

The bottom half of the pin needs to lie flat against the clothespin.

The tricky part is not getting any glue on the top half of the pin or on the pinwheel itself because then it won't spin.

I gathered the paper up in one hand so that it was out of the way.

Then, I made a thin line of glue away from the edge of the clothespin.

Lay the bottom end of the pin flat against the glue, apply slight pressure while at the same time keeping the pinwheel out of the way.  Wait a few moments for the glue to dry.  

Ta-DA!!!!

9.)  Label Pinwheels with names and table numbers!

10.)  Enjoy!  

P.S.  These photos could also be labeled, "The Devolution of a Manicure."

Wedding Ribbon Wand DIY

 

Contrary to what this craft project may suggest, we did not have a Harry Potter themed wedding.  (Eric wasn't sold. ) Nor, was it a princess-unicorn themed wedding. (I'm keeping it on the back burner for future Maddie parties.) 

So, what was the point of making ribbon wands, you didn't ask? 

Ribbon wands are an alternative to throwing rice or blowing bubbles as the bride and groom exit the wedding ceremony.  They are cute, relativly inexpensive to make, and they add a sweet pop of color to the festivities.  Plus, ribbons just make me warm and happy on the inside.  

I origionaly saw the idea on Pinterest...obviously...and I found a good tutorial here on Intimate Weddings.  I changed a few things, added a few things, nixed a few things, so I thought I'd detail how I made my ribbon wands.  

Supplies 

• Ribbons (a lot) 
• Jingle Bells
• Eye Screws
• Jump Rings
• Wooden Dowels
• Spray Paint
• Hot Glue Gun
• 
  
• and possibly...
• 
  
• An electric drill
• Needle-nosed pliers  

**I bought all my supplies at Michael's except for the eye screws, which I bought at Lowe's.    

Process  

1. Spray paint your wooden dowels to the color of your choice....

 But don't use Styrofoam to protect your lawn because spray paint eats it, which I once knew and clearly forgot.

 Also, don't spray paint your dowels ivory because it is the same exact color as the natural wood, and therefore, a waste of time.

On second thought, only follow step one if you want pure white or silver, or even fushia dowels.  Otherwise, accept the wood color as God intended and proceed to step two.

2. Cut your ribbons

I used three ribbons per wand.  You could use more or less.  The pink ribbons were fatter than the yellow and peach ribbons.

Each ribbon was approximatley three feet long.

You could make them longer, but I was afraid they'd whack people in the faces as they waved them.

3.  When your dowels are dry, use a very small drill bit to make very small holes in the center of one end of each dowel.

Usually, I avoid power tools at all costs, but although you can force the eye screws in by hand, after just three of them, our dainty fingers were sore.

We didn't make the holes very deep, but it gave us a nice, easy head start on adding the eye screws.  It only took about five minutes to drill all the holes.

Also?  Be careful using power tools.  My Maid of Honor almost seriously maimed herself.

 4. Add eye screws to the end of each dowel.

I found a pair of pliers helped get the screws in nice and tight without me having to scream, "I've got blisters on my fingers!"

 5. Hot glue your ribbons to your wands.

I placed my ribbons right below the top edge of the wooden dowels.

Then, I made a ribbon sandwich.  I used one line of glue to place a skinny ribbon on the bottom with the fatter ribbon on top.    Then I added a second dab of glue on top of that to secure the final skinny ribbon.

I wanted the ends of my wands to look neat, so I wrapped the ribbons around the wand a few times, adding dabs of hot glue as needed, until everything looked nice and tidy.

6.  Wind up your ribbons and secure with a piece of scotch tape.  

You can see from the photo below that the  reason I sandwiched the ribbons is because when they are all rolled up, you can see the fat pink ribbon with the skinny peach ribbon as an accent.  The yellow ribbon is hidden until the guests unroll the wands.

(Ignore the jingle bell in this photo.  That's a spoiler of steps seven and eight.)

7.  Add the jingle bells to the jump rings.  

I used my pliers to pry the jump rings apart slightly so I could slip the jingle bells on.    

8. Secure the jump rings/jingle bells to the ribbon wands.  

While the jump rings are still parted, loop them around the eye screws.  Use the pliers to press the ends of the jump rings back together so that the jingle bells don't go flying off at your wedding.       

***The picture above is actually misleading because that is a split ring, and not a jump ring.  Jump rings are just simple circles with a break in the middle that can be pried apart.  Split rings are the devil.   After spending a rough twenty minutes on just two split rings, I went back to the store and got jump rings instead.  So much easier!

And that, my friends, is how you make ribbon wands.  

You might also note that I made some silver ribbon wands as well.  They are a little more manly....if there could ever be such a thing as manly ribbon wands....for our male guests.    

At our wedding ceremony, we placed the bucket at the end of the aisle with a sign explaining what they were.   

DIY Wedding Invitations

Because I'm kind of a lunatic, I decided it would be a good idea to make our wedding invitations myself.

Our save-the-date postcards were pretty simple.  They looked like this on the front:  

And this on the back:  

I made them by scanning a vintage postcard of North Hero, VT (our wedding location) into our computer.  (Funny Story: My parents have the same postcard framed on the wall of their Vermont cabin and I didn't even know it until I visited in June.) I added the lines, "Meet us at the Lake" using a font called "Vacation Postcard"  through Adobe's Photoshop Elements, 

The back of the postcards were made by using a template from Wedding Chicks.  They have several free save-the-date and invitation bundles.  You just plug in your information and viola!  Easy, cute, and free.

Once the save the dates were mailed, I turned my attention to the invitations.  They were a bit of a project.  

Seeing these amazing inviations from Nothing but Bonfires is what started the madness.

"I can do that!" I thought.  Well....sorta.  Ours weren't nearly as professional looking, but I was happy with how they turned out!

The invitation itself is, again,  a freebie template courtesy of  Wedding Chicks.   It's a really great resource if you're thinking of your own DIY wedding.

The website allows you to choose from a variety of colors, but I ended up tweaking things further through Adobe's Photoshop Elements to match my GUAVA color palette.

Using the Wedding Chicks' template as a starting place, I made two RSVP cards.  One was for the wedding itself, and the other was for the welcome dinner the night before.  I changed the colors slightly once more.  I also created a polka dot background instead of the retro pattern the freebie provides because I had polka dots on my wedding dress.  Finally, I added some extra text to provide my guests with all the information they needed.

The last piece of the invitation package was a schedule of events for the weekend.    

Once everything was designed, I used my home printer and some white card stock to get everything printed.  This created some temporary frustration on my part because colors on a computer monitor look very different from the printed product.  The exact shade of guava I wanted on the monitor was coming out really dark through the printer.  

My solution was to build a color palette on PSE.  I made a grid of varying shades of pinks and peaches then printed it out.  That way, I could get a better idea of what the colors would actually look like on the invitations.

After adjusting the colors a final time, my printer got the workout of its inky life.

Meanwhile, I turned my attention to the pocket envelopes I ordered from Paper and More.  They looked a little too white, so I line the inside flap of each envelope with patterned paper.  I bought a pack of paper on sale at Michael's.

Then we set up an invitation-building headquarters in our living room for my Maid of Honor, Amy, and I to get to work.  Snacks were provided.  Obviously.

 We had to cut the different parts of the invitation to size.  Then we had to cut all the card stock to size.  I'm pretty sure I cleaned every Michael's within a twenty-mile radius out of guava-colored card stock.

Then we had to mount the invitations to the card stock.

What I'm really trying to say is that this was a long-ass process of measuring, cutting and gluing.

 Luckily, we had Dawson to keep us company.  Joey and Pacey for life!!!  Woot!  

 Finally, when all the parts were glued and cut, we organized an assembly line for envelope stuffing.  

When everything was properly stuffed, the invitations looked like this:

 We closed the pocket envelopes with a piece of guava ribbon and a sticker.  I designed the stickers on PSE and printed them on some Avery labels from Staples.  They feature a silhouette of the state of Vermont with a heart in the upper corner near where we got married, our initials, and our wedding date.

Finally, after about two and half days of nothing but blood, sweat and Dawson-flavored tears, the invitations were ready to go.  We slapped on some fancy Martha Stewart address labels and stuck them  in the mail.   

And yes, I did invite the president.  And no, he did not come.