Do It Yourself...cause its cheaper than Tai Pan

This weekend I really did a nice DIY sesh with materials that literally cost me $10- even.
This was my inspiration- however, i thought of this way before Tai Pan did...they just decided to sell it for $50- i appropriately title this picture  the Tai Pan Rip Off.

I thought of this as a creative way for one of the brides im working with, to set up as a guest sign in for her wedding. I designed some cute business cards for her, left them a matte finish and a sweet cowboy boot logo on the corner. The guests will sign these, with a well wish and pin them up on the twine with mini clothes pins- if its hard to imagine, the wedding is June 30th and at that time i will have plenty of pics on my wedding blog.

here is the frame i purchased at the D.I.

not a bad deal for $5 right? just so you know, it was originally $10. Yes- i haggled at the D.I. !!!! Wes sort of made me feel a bit guilty by spitting of some social concern about it being a charitable organization anyway. I am my mother's daughter- as he says. I asked an employee about it..i said something like the glass was in really bad shape ( i found out later something was really wrong with the glass...it ended up being plastic!) so he came back and restickered the frame..

 

And i discovered its a vintage..well not really. but it was born in 1998.

Of course, i have all these tools just in my reach...that circular saw is going towards another wedding project soon. This time,i just needed a staple gun

 

The Final Project!

I measured carefully on each side, so i wouldn't have an uneven row,  then staple gunned the twine (jute is what it really is- $5 for 400 feet of it) to the inner frame.

I wove the jute down the  middle just to prevent to much sagging in that area. The bride also wanted the frame as-is, i suggested painting it a nice ivory color, but she felt since the theme of her wedding is rustic and country, that i leave it as is...and i couldn't agree more! I will be hanging this thing off a very nice pine tree branch above the guest sign in  and gift table. This project is going to hold about 100 guest cards, hung by mini clothes pins. the entire wedding will be journaled photographically on my upcoming wedding blog  in July.

Obviously it doesn't have to be just for a wedding...i would use it as a fun calendar, same concept with the cards and clothes pins, but have the day of the week on one side of the card, and maybe a reminder or a chore list for kids on the other side...the ideas are endless.

 Yay for DIY projects!