DIY Wedding Invitation Ornament
My dear friend from high school, Fran, is getting married to the love of her life, Arturo…TODAY!
They have already been on many adventures together, traveling the world, but I trust this new adventure of marriage, will be the best one yet!
It was all I could do to hold off posting about my wedding gift to them until today. I’m über excited about it. Here it is: their wedding invitation ornament.
This project was inspired by Christy at From Glitter to Gumdrops; you can check out her original tutorial, which is pin-tastic. I’ve had it on my “Gifties” board for quite a while now. Since Fran and Arturo’s first Christmas as a married couple is just around the river-bend, I thought this would be the perfect gift to make for them.
With my parents in town this past week, my Mom and I tackled this project together – – cutting, twirling, and stuffing to our heart’s content.
Part I: Cutting
Part II: Twirling
Part III: Stuffing!
We topped the ornament off with green and cream ribbon to match her wedding colors. It really turned out just as I had hoped.
The next picture just cracks me up; a “behind-the-scenes” look at our photo shoot. We were worried about a gust of wind blowing our glass ornament to the ground, so here’s my Mom in protector-mode:
With one down, I thought it’d be easy enough to create a second ornament for their tree…this time, one inspired by a significant piece of music.
I have the honor of singing a duet with Fran’s sister in the ceremony during communion; we’re singing “I Can Only Imagine” by MercyMe. I’m really excited about it because we arranged it so it’s half in English, half in Spanish (I love any excuse to sing in Spanish).
For the ornament, I printed out the sheet music on cardstock, cut the lyrics and music into strips, curled them (gently), and my Mom did the stuffing magic on this one.
[TIP: We found that the tighter curls didn’t work as well on the cardstock, which wasn’t as thick as the invitation paper; it tended to ball up too much inside the glass. It worked better for the paper to only have a light curl to it, so it hugged the glass.]
Working on these ornaments, I thought of all of the other important events you could commemorate using this method – – baby showers, graduations, birthdays. Go wild!
* * * *
Frances and Arturo: my prayer for you is for best-friendship through life’s mountaintops and valleys, God’s peace in all circumstances, and for an ever-deepening love with every passing day, every new season. ¡Salud!
Here’s where I link up!
Absolutely beautiful, Lauren! I love this idea! Your mom looked like she was in “Vanna White mode” ha ha! Thanks so much for sharing! 🙂
Ha ha. Christy, she totally was! And it’s funny, I’ve always thought she had such beautiful hands, so I’m glad she got to be a hand model that day. Thanks for the comment love, Christy!
Love this! Very Cute! And such a great way to use invitations that would generally end up in the trash. I wonder if I still have my sister’s wedding invitation? She just got married this summer and that would be a great first Christmas together gift!
Oooo! Great idea. I know your sister would love it. I still have yet to find one of my wedding invitations…when I do, I’m set on making one for us.
Lauren, You made my wedding day and this gift will be cherrished for a lifetime together with Arturo! Thanks for being such a wonderful friend and sensational writer! love following your blog xoxo
Aw, Frannie. Thanks for saying that! It was truly such an honor to be able to sing with your sister during the ceremony and with my Dad on piano. Thank you for including us! It was such a beautiful day…mostly because you and Arturo are such incredible people. I’m so excited for you two!
Love this idea! I featured you today! Thanks for linking up!
Kim
Kim, thank you so much for the feature and follow. Made MY day.
This is such a great idea! My niece is getting married next summer and I’m hanging on to this idea for Christmas next year! Thanks for linking up at Think Tank Thursday!
This week’s party is up and running. Would love for you to share your latest creations if you haven’t already!!
http://www.saving4six.com/2012/11/welcome-to-think-tank-thursday-4.html
Your niece will surely love it! And thanks for hosting, Carrie. It’s an honor to have you stop by.
What a wonderful idea – love this. Pinned and loved. Thank you for sharing at MightyCrafty Mondays!
Thanks for the love, Lissa. And for hosting a fantastic shin-dig!
Thank you so much for sharing your project on A Crafty Soiree! I’ve featured yours this week and it will be in the post up this Thursday at midnight EST. Please come by and check it out and thank you again for joining us.
Katie, thank you so much for the feature! That’s fantastic. Will be sure to stop by on Thursday.
Those ornaments turned out great! I made two of them a few months ago, one for my brother-in-laws wedding and one for our best friends from college. It’s such a great idea, we didn’t have any ornaments for our first Christmas after getting married, and it’s a fabulous way to make a great memory as well as an ornament. 🙂 Thanks for sharing at The Fun In Functional!
Neat to hear you made some, too. I’m hoping to make one for our tree this year, as well…if I can just find one of our invitations from 3 years ago!
I have mine, maybe I can make a color copy. It’s the only one I have so I wouldn’t want to cut if up. Thoughts?
Aw…thanks, Mom. I have the original file on my computer, so we could always print it again…and on the RIGHT kind of paper this time!
Oh what a special and practical gift to treasure! I love thought-filled gifts more than anything. A very special tribute to your dear friends…and a special honor to get to sing at their wedding. WOW! So glad you shared.
I love thought-filled gifts, too! My Mama always taught us that those were the best kind. Thanks for your sweet remarks, Marsha.
This is such a sweet idea! I love the sheet music too! Thanks for sharing at Gettin’ Krafty this week1
Thanks, Krafty Kat!
OMG those are super cute. What a great idea. Thanx for coming to THT.http://www.frommyfrontporchtoyours.com/2012/10/treasure-hunt-thursday-80-highlights.html
Why, thank you! You throw a great par-tay, what can I say?
I recognize those hands and that shirt in the “twirling” picture! This is such a sweet project you and Marms did together. Such a meaningful gift and beautiful as well! And the pictures of Fran and Arturo are gorgeous! Amen to your prayer at the end.
It was so fun to create together…in fact, we’re hoping to do some craftiness along with you, JoAlyce, and Sarah this Christmastime (like old times!). So, prepare ye!
And yes, the photographer did an awesome job. Can’t wait to see the wedding photos!
Found your blog via Sew Many Ways. Love the ornament. I really like the music one.
Thanks, Carla! Yes, the music one was also really fun to create – – and it seems everyone has a song that’s really meaningful to them, so it could be a fun and easy gift to make for family and friends this Christmas.
Love it, and thanks so much for the link back!
Of course! And thanks so much for sharing the initial inspiration on your blog. It’s amazing!
REALLY pretty and so unique! 🙂 Stopping by from VWB!
-Kayla from Love Sparkle Pretty
I appreciate that, Kayla. Thanks for taking the time to stop by and leave such a lovely comment!
Just stopping by to invite you to My Wednesday Linky party. http://diycraftyprojects.com/2012/10/whatcha-work-up-wednesday-linky-party-6.html
I appreciate that! Thank you, Peggy. Will stop on by.
These beautiful ornaments are being featured today! Thanks so much for sharing at Mix it up Monday 🙂
Yippee! That’s fantastic. Thank you so much!
stopping by from the create & inspire blog hop – what a beautiful project – and so thoughtful, i just love it! (i’m pinning it right now!)
I appreciate the pin! Hope you create your own someday…. 🙂
I love personalized ornaments! I love this! We usually buy ornaments from places we travel as a family. It would be fun to cut up a program or city map from our travels. Awesome “happy anniversary” gift idea too!
Those are great ideas! My husband LOVES maps…that would definitely meaningful after a special trip. Thanks for the Pinterest follow; following back!
Hi Lauren, Thanks so much for leaving a sweet comment on my blog so that I could stop by & see yours! I’m enjoying my visit to your beautiful site. And I have to say this engagement photo of your friends is the best I have ever seen. Instead of a posed shot, it is a real moment between them – wow – you can see the love in their eyes. And I think your ornaments are so great – they will treasure them every Christmas for many years to come.
Great to “meet” you!
Warmly, Michelle
You’re too kind, Michelle! Great to “meet” you, too. 😉 And I think you’re right about the photographer capturing some real moments between them; the pics were great! I can’t wait to see the ones from their wedding day…. Cheers!
I love the ornament – it is such a fun and unique wedding gift. I will definitely be making one of these with my own wedding invite for my tree this year.
That’s awesome! That inspires me to do the same with ours; it will be a great memento of one of the most important days ever! And you’ll find it’s really quite quick and easy.
I absolutely love this idea! How very creative! I am your newest Pinterest and RSS follower. I hope you’ll stop by Posed Perfection for a visit soon and maybe even a follow back. Have a great week!
Blessings,
Nici
Thanks so much, Nici. I appreciate the follows. Will be sure to return the favor.
What a beautiful idea! I love it!
Thanks, Natalia! I would definitely do this project again.
I love it! What a great idea. I have like a hundred extra wedding invitations sitting in a box in my closet and I’ve never thought of doing anything with them. Thanks for the inspiration!
Thanks for the visit, Rachel. You inspire me so much!
I know – – the same is true for me. I have a file folder of all those invites; they’re so beautiful – – it’s a shame not to be able to do something with them!
Such a thoughtful and subtle gift!
Why, thank you! I, too, was drawn to its subtle elegant when I first pinned this project.
Now THAT is an adorable idea – makes me want to maybe do that for a holiday greeting!! I love it! Thanks so much for stopping by my blog. Glad to have found yours too. 🙂
– Claire
You’re so sweet to stop by. Thanks, Claire!
It was so much fun to be part of this process as your assistant!! And very special to see Fran and Arturo get married yesterday! Your gift will make their first Christmas together extra special!
Thanks, Mom! You were such a wonderful co-creator; we’ll have to make it a tradition to make things together during our visits. Reminds me of when we’d make Christmas ornaments each year with JoAlyce and Sarah!
Let’s come up with a crafty idea to do with Lisbeth (and maybe JoAlyce and Sarah) at Christmas-time!
Alright! Let’s do it! Time to search my Pinterest boards….
Yes, it would be wonderful if you could come up with the idea and I’ll pick up the supplies!!
I just love this idea!!! A must share on my facebook page…thank you for the inspiration!
Of course! I appreciate you passing it on!
Such a great idea!!! I am following you now from the SUnday Hop. Love your crafty style and would love to have you as a guest judge on my blog sometime. Also, you can do tutorials. If you are interested, email me. dee@thecsiproject.com
Come on by!
http://www.thecsiproject.com
Wow! I’m honored! I’ll definitely be in touch, Dee (perhaps after the cray-cray holidays).
I love this idea – I’m going to borrow it for a gift for my brother and his new wife this Christmas!
Borrow away! I borrowed it from Christy at From Glitter to Gumdrops in the first place and I believe she borrowed it from someone else. Gotta love blogland for sharing great ideas. Sharing is caring!
So lovely! Seen you at WTF Bloghop 🙂
following!
kisses from Poland!
voguerka.blogspot.com
I appreciate the follow, Daria! It’s such an honor to have readers across the globe.
super cute!
Thanks, Heather. Love your quiet time journal!
LOVE this!!Found you though the Sunday Funday hop and love your blog! Can’t wait for more!
Helene in Between
Yay! Thanks, chica. I’m you’re newest follower through blog lovin’.
What a wonderful gift! I will put this on my list for future gifts as well. You and your mom make a great team – enjoy your time together!
Thanks, Nancy. We sure have enjoyed our time together, especially crafting!
What a wonderful and memorable gift. They will treasure it…
It will be a memory that keeps on giving every year! What a thoughtful gift ….
hugs ~ Crystelle
I sure hope so! Thanks, Crystelle. (Awesome name, b.t.w.)
Absolutely amazing!
Thanks, girlie! Had so much fun with you at the wedding yesterday – – our friends need to keep getting married so we can see each other on a regular basis!