This was a slightly longer project than I had originally thought. But one that, I think, turned out quite perfect.
I wanted to do something slightly more unique for our escort cards, than the traditional “lay on the table”. So I had an idea, and was on a mission to make it happen. Though I will admit ideas came more into my head each time I purchased something for the project.
My first mission was to find an old frame. Something cool, and rustic. Originally it was going to be a dark “roughed up” wood, type frame. But then I found this great frame at Salvation Army for about $3. It had this perfect depth and the feel I wanted…. and a really creepy picture of two children.
Once I had the very weird, and hard-to-get-off backing and ugly image, I decided instead of just staining it and roughing it up again, I was going to paint it grey. Since grey is playing a small role in our wedding.
I sanded it down, and got it ready to paint!
I decided to go with a spray paint, since I figured that would cover much better than brushing. It was also a lot faster. Dad said I should use a primer first, and he happened to have some!
I then got my grey! Now funny story about this. I had THOUGHT I just picked up a grey spray paint. Once I had put on my final two coats of paint, I realized….. it was in fact GREY PRIMER.
But I LOVED the color so much, I was on a mission to keep my silly mistake.
(note: the grey is actually darker in person.)
So I went to Hobby Lobby, again, and they happened to have their spray paint on sale(Whoo-hoo!!!!) And I just got a basic matte finish. So I was able to keep the lovely grey color.
When I first thought of this idea, I was just going to leave the frame backless. But throughout my wedding craftiness, I’ve decided that I really want to be able to re-use a lot of the stuff. So I chose to pick out a photo from our engagement session with Kevin Ryan at Second Glance Photos, to put into the frame.
And, of course, since its a weird and old frame, I couldn’t print a NORMAL size photo to just slide right in….. Back to Hobby Lobby I went.
With stellar customer service, and awesome prices, the framer lady helped me pick out a good matte to surround my image. We also chose a acid-free foam board to lay behind it AND since the backing was all messed up originally, they put a back on it as well as a wire so I can hang it after our wedding!
And all of that only cost me $25. So with the frame and photo, the entire thing was roughly $35.
Since I will not be able to hang this at the wedding, I got a nice stand from Hobby Lobby. Which happened to be 50% off.
The came the fun part of my idea. I wanted to wrap jute rope around the frame, making sort of a “clothes line” effect. Figuring out how to attach the rope to the frame(to make it strong enough and not completely ruin my frame). I chose to try and “pin” the rope to the back.
It worked fairly well. I think. I hope. It was hard nailing in the pins since the glass was still in the frame and I had no way of removing it. So I used the rubber mallet and hit gently….. The last thing I needed was to break the glass.
I then secured the rope just a little bit more with some electrical tape.
And now I pray it holds! And it shouldn’t be to hard to remove after the wedding.
And wahla! Here is my escort card “holder”!
Now my only hope is that it will hold all 86(roughly) cards on the big day…. if not… well. Some are going on the table.
Stay Fabulous,
-A
Adventure & Harmony 