The Wedding Chest

The Wedding Chest

One of our long-time friends came to me quite a few weeks ago and asked me if I could decorate her wedding chest for their reception.  I must have looked a little blank on what that would be  ( I have not been to a wedding in years ) so she explained to me that is was a box to put the wedding cards in which would hold their gifts of money.  Annette had already bought a chest but it was looking quite plain and had no opening to post the cards.

It has taken me a few weeks to start this project, firstly because the wedding is not until October, but the main reason was because I was petrified that I would ruin the box when I attempted to cut the card slot!

This weekend I decided to be brave and start on the chest, and since it ended up being alot easier than I first thought to transform a plain box into something suitable for a wedding, I decided I would blog about the event step by step.  So I guess this would make this my first tutorial!

This is the chest I started with, it's more than just an ordinary chest but it is a little plain for a wedding, so I started by using a binding around all of the edges just to give it a little class, the binding is just glued on with some all-purpose glue.  As you can see by the picture below, it has made a world of difference to the chest already.

The next step was the scariest part for me, but I revved myself up and took to the box with a stanley knife and my trusty scissors.  Annette had given me the largest envelope she could find so that I could measure the size needed for any card situation!  The slot I finished with measures 8 x 1 inch, and although the edges are a little rough they are not visible as I lined them with some more binding.

The next step was to pretty the chest up to match the colour design of the wedding.  I found some gorgeous silk flowers at my local scrap shop and had picked up some satin ribbon when I purchased the binding at Lincraft.  I made a bow with the ribbon and attached that to the top of the box with the all-purpose glue, I then added one of the silk flowers to the bow and another to the side of the slot.  I finished the main decoration by adding a gorgeous pearl and diamonte ribbon slide to look like a little knob handle for the front of the chest with some more of the same glue.  It was at this point that I thought the chest needed binding along the sides as well and luckily I bought enough to do what I needed.

Next came the part I was looking forward to the most because I had already decided what stamp I was going to use and I knew it would be the perfect choice.  I inked up my Cake Topper Anya & Ian from TGF with my black memento and coloured them to match the bride and grooms suit and wedding dress.  The DP I used is just a wedding print from a generic pack I bought along time ago, but it works beautifully.  I printed the Bride and Grooms name along with the wedding date on some clear vellum and used some latte card stock as the backing, then I added the four gold brads and attached it to the front of the chest.

Now we have a beautiful wedding chest, one that I think Annette and Jeff with be very happy with and one that they will be able to display long after the wedding ceremony is over!

Materials Used; Basic Cardboard Chest, 4 Meters of Braided Binding, 24mm Satin Ribbon, All-Purpose Glue, Copic Ciao R00, E00, E02, RV02,W3, W5, W7, E51, E53, YG67, TGF Cake-Topper Stamp, DP from Stash, Clear Vellum, Latte Card Stock, Gold Brads and Large Pearl Ribbon Buckle.

Challenges Entered:

Simon Says Stamp: Make A Gift