In Which the Astronomer Gives a DIY Tutorial

Whoa. Look out internet! As I have already alluded to many times before, the Architect is the creative one in this relationship. While I often offer some design input (ok who am I kidding -- A LOT of design input -- what else would you expect of a super type-A bride), it is the Architect that has turned all of my design ideas into reality. He designed our wedding website and our STDs... and before this whole story is through, he will also be designing invitations, programs, and menus, amongst other things.

However, if I do say so myself, a younger version of the Astronomer was once pretty freaking good at arts and crafts. And really, what else is a wedding other than a big old excuse to drag out all of those rusty arts and crafts skills to work on some of those wonderfully inspired DIY details? (Well... maybe there is also that whole aspect of pledging your eternal love to the man of your dreams...)

But anyways, what I am really trying to tell you here, is that this weekend I finally bit the bullet, and decided to work on my very own DIY project. See... we've been on the road for the last week. First the Architect and I spent Christmas in North Carolina seeing my grandma and the rest of my dad's family. Now we're back in Boston for a few days catching up with family and friends before we fly back to Cali next weekend. Quite the travelers we are! As part of our visit back to Boston, we met up with the Architect's mom and his step-family yesterday to celebrate a belated Christmas and exchange gifts. This presented the perfect opportunity for the Architect and I to ask our potential flower girls (the Architect's 2 step-nieces) to be in our wedding. I wanted to ask the girls in a way that they couldn't possibly say no... and what little girl could say no when presented with gift certificates the the American Girls' Doll store? So gift certificates were purchased, and the next thing to do was to make some cute cards asking the girls to be in our wedding.

...and here they are:

I started with some sparkly pink paper and little pearl stickers:



I then cut the paper into two pieces -- one card for each girl:






Now the hard part -- I wanted each girl's name to appear in pearls on the front of the card, but I needed a way to trace the names onto the card. (B/c you really don't want to see my handwriting.) This is where I cheated on my DIY project, and I asked the Architect for help. He suggested that I print out each girl's name in an appropriately sized font and then transfer the name by penciling the back of the printout. I would then write over the name while pressing down into the card, therefore transferring the graphite onto the card. A little confusing? Here's how it worked:

Printouts of the girls' names

Pencil on the back of the printouts. I then flipped them over, and wrote over the names in pen, while pressing into the card. Et viola! The names appeared in very light pencil on the front of the cards.

I then stuck down the little pearl stickers over each girl's name:

Pearl stickers (and gratuitous ring porn).

And here is the final product:

Not too shabby, eh? The text inside says "Will you be our flower girl?"

Did you do anything special to ask your flower girl(s) to be in your wedding? Any other not-so-crafty people trying their hand at a DIY project or two?