Let's get this Ball Rolling... {Wedding Craft and Family Updates}

Oh!  Hi there... I'm so glad you stuck around through my 3 week absence!  Life... well.. it's been a-living and as such I've fallen tremendously behind in all things personal.  More on that in a bit, but I thought before I jumped into waxing poetic about the intricacies of my day to day going ons that you may appreciate seeing the one creative venture that I took part in over the last month and a half (if you don't count teaching and raising kids as a creative venture that is!)   The answer to my create needs was met in early June by the request to create a card box for a beach themed wedding reception.

Mike (of the above tag)'s Mom contacted me in early May to see if I'd be willing to turn a small box into a something appropriate for gathering cards at wedding reception for her son and future daughter-in-law.  The reception was to be held in early June.  This coincided conveniently with the final weeks of teaching - prepping for finals and grade reports, me applying for and interviewing for new positions at my school, and planning activities for the summer camp I run.  There was most certainly a part of my brain that said "do not take on one more project right now" but if you could imagine the hole that is left in your soul when you're teaching art virtually and not in person you would know why I eagerly said yes.  I miss the smell of crayons - oil paints - glue.  I miss the chalk dusted air, the plotting and envisioning of a project not yet realized.  This was a chance to pull out the paints and glue, an opportunity to dust the cobwebs off of my creativity and hopefully to provide the newly weds with something they can use on their special day and treasure for years to come.  

The original box was a cute little diddy purchased from Michaels - nice in it's own right, but not very beachy.  I was able to remove the faux leather straps to cover the box with the brides requested tahitian blues and golds.  I then modge-podged some scraps of sea themed papers randomly over the surface of the box.  I softened the edges with a  bit of parchment, gold, and aqua colored paints.  When the paint was dry I was able to reattach the faux strips using craft glue.

I wanted the inside of the box to be a little bit like discovering a treasure - and so I lined the bottom of the box with a water batik print fabric patch (also from Michaels).  I attached it with craft glue and trimmed it with a teal satin ribbon.  For a little treat, I added the shells to accent the corner of the box.  I think this was my favorite part and it seriously took about 30 seconds.  (Isn't it always the way?!?)

To create the little card bunting I drafted a simple tag shape in Pages, then added the letters in Freeze - A fun, free, scrapbooking font that I grabbed from Kevin and Amanda.  I printed the cards on a cream tag paper, then aged them with Distress Ink.  I mounted the tags on different papers and attached them to cording with the most darling little clothespins you ever did see.  The string was fixed to the inside of the box using craft glue and covered with a mini shell stamp.   Wouldn't it be cute to swap the card tags with Memory Tags and use the box to store all of those little odds and ends from your wedding?  Something Old, Something New, Borrowed and Blue?  

I was pleased with this little side project for so many reasons... Not only did I feel crafty for the first time since the curtain closed on the spring musical... but this provided me with a much needed mental break from the typical end of year intensity at school, and, best of all,  I made someone smile.   Not too shabby for my dusty rusty effort, eh?  

And now that school has officially closed, and I am on my second official day of summer vacation I can promise you many more accounts of life here on Rosebud Street - I've got pics of the end of year preschool picnic burning a hole in my iPhoto library and the boys big kid beds and ensuing drama on the docket... actually - the list on my phone (where I'd been recording blog ideas as they occurred to me) has now reached 21 posts - ideal, since I'm about 21 days behind.

Until tomorrow...