Writing about the crafts

For my wedding reception, I had decided to do a lot of DIY stuff - partly because it helped with the budget, but mostly because I just enjoy doing things like that. I recently came across a writing challenge to write about a craft and the only requirement was that "scissors" had to be mentioned.

Ultimately, I ended up not submitting it for the challenge because of the requirements of things I had to sign up for to be able to submit it.

This is the first writing I've done in years and so I'm still putting it here along with the photos of the crafts :).

I could make that…

If you have a pair of scissors, some glue, paints, some money for craft stores, and a can-do attitude, what can’t you make?

The wedding reception is mere months away.

They really don’t warn you about the costs of small things like getting a seating chart made. I mean, why do people need a seating chart anyway?

Oh. Because otherwise everyone might stand around not knowing where to sit. Ok.

And seating place cards - they charge by the card. Are people really paying for 100 place cards which are needed for the first few minutes of the reception?

Yes, I know it’s a wedding and therefore a big deal.

Sigh.

I could spend hours on the internet and walking around various craft shops looking at different versions.

Do I want it to just be a card flat on the table?

Do I want it to stand up as a tent?

Do I want it attached to a bonbonniere? Yes, I had to learn what that was too. Maybe it could be attached to a simple bonbonniere like a Ferrero Rocher chocolate? Would that look nice because of the elegant gold wrapping? Or is it already done a lot?

Ok that’s enough. Let’s go simple. I just want a simple place card. I have a different take home gift already sorted so I don’t need a bonbonniere. I want the card to stand up and not be flat on the table so it’s easy to see when walking around the table looking for your seat. And I want colour. Not black or white only.

Great. That is nice and specific and simple. Should be easy.

I spend more hours on the internet and walking around craft stores. Simple is black or white. There’s nothing else.

Looking at various ideas on Pinterest. Ah there’s a beautiful one for table numbers (do I need to organise a table number sign too?! - No, the venue has those. Thank goodness.)

It’s a white card with a printed “Table No. xx” on it stuck on a purple folded card so it can stand up. With a gold ribbon and a peacock feather attached.

I mean just because it’s a wedding, does it all need to be factory made and perfect? I could make this… And honestly, I would have fun making this. And it’s my wedding reception. Isn’t that more important then? Who am I convincing anyway? This is the cheaper option too.

Or is this biting off too much? It’s only going to get busier as we get closer to the date.

Great. This is sorted. What about the seating chart then? I don’t even know where people get these from. Do they order it online? There’s nothing in stationery shops for this. Time to hit Pinterest again. This is a nice one. Like a clothes line on a wooden backdrop. I could probably make a version of something like this. Ok now I might be taking on too much for the reception. But I could paint a cork board! The venue is very lush green - I could paint it green and forest-y. That would be so much fun! And it would look so pretty!

Yep. Ok. I’m doing this. It’s too much fun to pay someone else for.

Yet another trip to the craft store. I want to get nice beachy colours. So let’s get aqua blue card paper, a thick gold ribbon. And I’ll get a pack of those plain white place cards with a fold. It’s cheaper than the flat and I can cut them in half to get a flat white card. Peacock feathers seem expensive. Ebay should be a cheaper option and I can wait for them to get here. Now for the seating chart. Ooo this cork board with jute looks nice and rustic and plain! There’re some wooden push pins, a thin brown ribbon, and some tiny clothes pegs in the wedding section of the craft store funnily enough. And some brown long cards to write on! This will do great.

Day 1:

It’s a nice morning when I don’t have to go to work - because it’s always nicer to craft when I don’t have anything to stop me. Otherwise I end up focussing on “ok, I have 4 hours to do this”. I take over the dining table and lay out my scissors, ruler, pencil, the blue card, and the spools of gold ribbon. I need to decide the size of the cards. So I outline one of the white cards that I would be writing people’s names on and tried to decide how much blue I wanted around the white. The point was colour right? So let’s get a nice thick blue border so it’s blue with a white card on it rather than a white card with a blue border. Great. This looks right. Now to measure the dimensions I chose and mark it on the rest of the cards with a pencil. Then use a straight edge cutter to get neat cuts. Next it’s time to cut the gold ribbon. I pick up my first mockup blue card and wrap a gold ribbon around. It seems clear I’m going to have to have it wrap around to the inside of the tent to secure it well. And once the length of gold ribbon is measured, I cut 80 pieces for the 80 place cards I needed to make using a pair of kitchen scissors. This took a surprisingly long amount of time but how calm and mindful! And isn’t everything about being mindful these days!

***

Day 2:

It’s a few days since I cut the cards and ribbon. I’m busy, alright! Now it’s time to figure out how I am going to do people’s names on the white card. Printing seems like a hassle; to figure out how to put small white cards into my printer and mess with margins to make sure they get printed right. And wouldn’t it detract from my handmade DIY look of the place cards to have computer-perfect calligraphy? How hard could it be to write in some kind of cursive like calligraphy?

I go to the craft store again and look at calligraphy pens and kits. Did you know a calligraphy pen has the nib come off it to the side? Like you’re not holding it like a regular pen. This looks too weird and too hard to quickly get the hang of. Surely just a swishy pen would do. Not like I’m going to be able to do proper calligraphy, right? There is a brush pen! It’s like a marker with a soft tip so it bends around. This could work I bet. Forget getting a calligraphy kit. I’m sure google can help. I search for “calligraphy alphabet” on google images and actually find several options! Here’s one that looks nice, simple, and most importantly - doable! I start to practice writing people’s names on a large piece of drawing block. Then I cut the folded white place cards in half and draw a black border on them - it just looks too plain otherwise. I write everyone’s names onto the card trying to do it slowly and neatly but not so slowly because the stupid brush pen shows up dark splotches where I’ve paused for too long! There’s a small pile building up of rejected name cards.

Finally they’re all done. Great. All the pieces are ready. Except for the peacock feathers. They’re not here yet. But there’s time.

***

Day 3:

Meanwhile I may as well start working on the seating chart. So I get out my jute cork board and my little collection of acrylic paints. I squeeze out every shade of green there is and then make a few mixes of different greens, some green and yellow, and yellow on its own. I paint splotches of the various colours in a horseshoe shape on the board and over time it gets denser. It’s actually looking like a lush forest green leafy thing now! Maybe I’m now being a little overconfident with calligraphy-like writing since it seemed to go well. I should probably just call it cursive writing rather than calligraphy? Anyway, let me try to write “find your seat” in cursive at the top and maybe I can go over it with black permanent marker - no point in even trying to paint that! I’m sure it’ll splotch and I won’t be able to fix that!

That looks good! That’s enough for today.

***

Still no peacock feathers.

Day 4:

This part should be easy. I just need to write the table lists with names. I’ve already practiced this for the place cards. I get out the folded brown cards and cut them in half. Then being low-key OCD, I get out my ruler and pencil and draw faint lines measuring out how much space I need for the “Table xx” at the top and how much space each line needs. Should I draw the dotted lines too? So that letters that hang like a “g” or “y” hang to the same level? I might be taking this too far.

Anyway, I draw out the lines and then start writing the cards. As usual, a few have to be redone because I mess something up.

But now the fun part! I cut the thin brown ribbon with my trusty kitchen scissors, after measuring it with slack along the width of the jute cork board. Then I use the wooden push pins to hang up the ribbons and peg up my brown cards with the writing on it with the little wooden pegs. This is so cute to do with the tiny wooden pegs!

It looks great! This is done and ready now!

***

Ok it’s getting crazy. There’s 3 days to the reception now and still no feathers. I need to pick up my partner’s uncle from the airport. He’s going to have to come with me on a last minute peacock feather hunt.

And it’s all the dollar shops, craft shops. They’re individually packaged and there aren’t that many. Might have to head home and work out plan B.

What will plan B be? Would it look terrible without peacock feathers? There were other random feathers in some of the shops… Or I could get a feather boa of a particular colour and cut off feathers? That would probably be cheaper than buying 80 individually packaged peacock feathers. If I buy the individually packaged peacock feathers, Murphy’s law says the ebay ones will be there when I get home. Maybe I should just go home and look at the card and ribbon and think about this.

Oh thank goodness. They’re here! Thank goodness I didn’t buy anything else! Feather boa?! Really?!

Ok now it’s time for everyone to hustle. I’m getting my partner and his uncle to help. It’s close to wedding time. You can’t be here at this time and not expect to work, right? Glue guns out. Ok. Peacock feather stuck to back of white card. Ribbon to blue card. Fold the card. White card to blue card. Crystal stickers to code dietary requirements. Music playing, laughing and chatting while working on the place cards. A few hours later, they’re all done.

Time to peel glue from the fingers.

And they look great. Handmade, and pretty! It really feels like MY event now!

At the reception, I hand over everything to the venue manager and get hustled into a little room to get my makeup done. A few hours later I emerge with make up and hair done and my dress on. I’ve done my mirror scrutiny. Now I want to check the venue and how everything looks.

It’s gorgeous!!! I can’t get over the colours! The peacock feathers are so beautiful and colourful. The seating chart is on a nice stand and looks really nice and suits the venue which is super leafy! I could not be happier! It’s extra special because it’s my work and not just store bought! All the supplies for both the place cards and the seating chart came to under $40. Most importantly, I had a great time making all of it (ignoring the peacock feather stress haha) and it would all be so unique!

At the end of a spectacular night, I notice people taking their place cards home! There aren’t many left for the venue manager to pack up. This is unreal! Who has ever heard of taking home the place cards! Is it bad that this is becoming a highlight of the night?

That was so much fun to do. I started telling all my friends - let me know if you have an event coming up and want help to cut costs by making things! I know many of them don’t want to put the time and effort into making these things. But I loved making them! Maybe I could even consider a side hustle business where I make handmade rustic things for people like my friends who don’t want to spend the time making it themselves! Who knows!

Really. All I need is an idea, a pair of scissors, access to a craft store, and some guts. And I could make that.