Fluttering Hearts

I'm finally ready to share one of the projects that I've been working on for the wedding. I'm currently right in the thick of planning and working on project after project. This is one of my favourites, and I'm not too worried about sharing it, since it's totally okay if my guests are familiar with my idea prior to the big day. It's our wedding guest book.

I knew from the start I didn't want to go the traditional route. I wasn't looking for a book that would end up on the shelf and we may never look at again. Instead, I wanted art; something that we could hang up in our home and look at every day to remind us not only of our wedding day, but also of the family and friends that were there to make it special. After hours spent browsing Pinterest, Wedding Blogs and Etsy, I finally found my inspiration in this lovely Etsy shop - Celadon Home.

From the moment I laid on these lovely creations, I knew it was perfect for our wedding. It fit perfectly with the whole look and feel of our wedding, and I was positive I could recreate this look myself. So late last week, I headed to Michael's to find everything I needed and begin working away.

I knew I wouldn't be able to recreate the lovely acrylic frame like Celadon Home offers, so instead decided to use a Shadow Box. Originally, I grabbed one from Michael's at 40% off, but later realized I had one at home that my father made, and him and my mother gifted to me one Christmas (they put a bunch of items from my High School prom it). This was an even better option, and it would still hold the right amount of hearts.

The first important step was to open up the box and take out all of the items. My Mom then stepped in to help and we measured the inside of the box and cut a new piece of foam core for the back, using and blade.

To create a soft background, we pulled some cream coloured linen from my Mom's wonderful collection of fabrics. We cut it slightly larger than our foam core, and used a glue gun to attach it. We started by gluing each corner over and then did each of the edges. To ensure sides were pushed down tightly, we used a bottle of vitamins and I rolled it along the glued down fabric as soon as we had pushed it into the glue - this also kept us from burning our fingers.

Before we got to the fun part, we had to take care of some math. Looking at our guest list, we determined how many hearts we would need for every couple and every individual guest to be able to sign their names. I then allowed for a few extra hearts, and began punching using my new "Studded Heart"punch from Martha Stewart Crafts.

Once all of our hearts were punched, it was time to start laying them out. I started by just laying them in rows in a random pattern that looked good to me. Once everything was in place, we counted how many plain craft hearts were on the backing and then made adjustments were necessary to give us enough blank hearts. When I was sure it was all perfect, I started creasing my hearts and then sticking them onto the backing using my Elmer's Glue Spots. I opted for glue spots to keep the project neat and clean, and also be sure our hearts would be nice and flat and easy for guests to sign their names on. In the end,  our guest book is looking like this...

I still want to add our names and our wedding date to that blank piece in the middle, but I'm really pleased with how it all came together. It's exactly as I pictured, and I'm happy to know that after our big day has come and gone, we can hang this wherever we would like in our home and remember our special day and all of our loved one's that surrounded us.

I'm back in B.C. after a good trip back to Ontario, and I'm pleased to announce that I was able to cross A LOT off of my to do list for the wedding. I'm feeling really great about everything and should be able to enjoy a bit of down time before I jump into some more serious projects. 

Which route did you decide to go for a guest book? Did you go with a basic book for people to sign, or did you skip the whole tradition all together? I'd love to hear what others came up with to make their special day, special for them!