Hot Ticket Tuesdays Presents Adrienne Breslin and the Lovely Rustic Charm of Love

This week's Hot Ticket post features my good friend, Adrienne, who has been busily working on decorations for her wedding in June. Adrienne and I have been friends since middle school, which was about a million years ago. I've always been struck by how different we are: Adrienne is kind of like the Yin to my Yang. She's outgoing, and I'm fairly introverted. The main thing I think we both have in common is silliness. When we get together, we are extremely silly; it's like we're back in high school at play practice.

I've lost touch with a lot of close friends over the  years, but Adrienne and I have always managed to stay in touch. I love that. We got together this weekend, and spent a day crafting like only brides-to-be and former brides can craft. (Someday I will write a post about the horrors of paper flower creation for my wedding.) Adrienne talks about her inspiration for her wedding decorations below. Enjoy!

Tell me about a craft and/or art project you made.
Several things: Burlap picture frames with writing on glass; Our musical “this is where our song begins” sign; Our escort cards; And our rustic crafty mason jars for candles!

What inspired you to make it?
I wanted to find a way to add my own crafty touch to the wedding – our venue is kind of rustic but with a touch of glam. It is all exposed wooden beams, big stone fireplace, but also has these huge copper and crystal chandeliers that give it a glamorous touch. I also wanted to make sure that our interests and personalities came out in our own artistic touches – the wedding has a music theme due to our joint love of music, and I wanted to bring that into our wedding in a classy, but not overbearing way.

Did you come up with the idea yourself, or did you find a pattern and/or template that you used?
A little of column a, a little of column b.

I came up with the picture frame idea on my own. Burlap is the epitome of rustic charm in my mind, and I love the texture it brings, something different than flat paper. I decided to write on the glass, thinking it would add some depth and volume to the look. To be honest, I am rethinking this because I actually find the writing hard to read – I may end up going for a more layered look, using the burlap as a mat instead of a background, bring in an additional layer of matting using my music note paper, and print on cream paper instead.

Adrienne asked our friend, Jojo, to write little poems that tell people where to go for
programs, seats, etc.  She used a chalk pen to write on the glass. I coveted the chalk
pen, but did not tell her. Hint hint.

I got the idea for the sign from Etsy, but wasn’t in the mood to pay money for a wooden lettered sign. The original sign said, “This is where our story begins.” I saw the sign about a year ago and fell in love with the saying and the whimsy of the hand lettering. As our musical theme came about, I started toying with the idea of getting the sign made with the words “This is where our song begins” instead.

The sign was a labor of love that I worked on for several hours this weekend.
Adrienne worked in my wedding flower sweat shop, so I figured that I owed
her big time. 

Mason jars were a total Pinterest find. You can’t log in without finding them. The hardest part of this project for me was actually finding mason jars to begin with!

Escort cards were my idea – we used craft paper envelope thingys for our invitations, and I love that rustic look again, so ran with it.

What type of medium did you use?
The picture frames were $3.99 from Christmas Tree Shop, and I bought sheets of burlap (found in the section where they keep all the pretty paper) from Michaels. I googled the best marker for writing on glass and ended up buying mine from Amazon for about $5. I found this nifty spreadsheet that helped me decide which pen to go with.

For our sign, I spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to stencil on wood and how to make wood look aged and pretty. It turned out that I found a $5 clearance canvas painting at Christmas Tree Shop, which I ended up mod podging our music note paper onto (bought the paper at Michaels – I think it was like 59 cents a page…and I bought 1 million pages). Then together with the craft mistress of SoulGlue notoriety, we stenciled the saying with our names and date of wedding.

My vote goes for the burlap, lace, ribbon ensemble, but I think
they're great overall and will look fabulous with candles inside.

For the mason jars I used….mason jars. Then I am using a bunch of different things to pretty them up – I bought a yard of lace at Joann Fabrics for $5. I also got a mini roll of burlap from Michaels, some pretty ribbons (some was used with my invitations that bring my color sage green into the mix, the other is just a papery white).  I am doing a mix of mod podging lace to them, and also hot gluing the ribbon and burlap to them as well. I think my favorites are the mix of burlap and ribbon, and the one with burlap and lace as well.

Please note necessary crafting supplies of coffee and glue
stick in background.

Escort cards are probably the easiest and most annoying of all of this stuff. They are just craft paper and the music note paper from Michaels, and I am cutting them into the right size – craft paper big enough to fold in half, and then gluing a smaller rectangle of the music paper  to it. For the actual info part (name, table, etc), I am using a textured sticker from Staples that actually has a nice crafty feel to it. I like that they are oval, because it will allow more of the music paper to come through on the edges.

What did you enjoy about making this project? 
I love that I am adding my own time and effort to the wedding decor – the place itself is gorgeous, and I also have a florist making centerpieces and accent floral pieces. But I'm excited that I get to include my own glue, sweat, and tears to our big day.

What did you think about while you were making it?
June 2nd, when I can look back on and enjoy all this planning and crafting.

Were you doing anything else while you worked on this project? If so, what? (For example, sometimes I watch tv while crocheting.) 
Most of the time I listen to music or bug my dog for her thoughts on life.

Were you pleased with the finished product? What pleased and/or displeased you about it? 
Most of the stuff I love…again, the only thing I am not sure about is the frames – I am going to try one “the other way” and decide from there!

Will you make it again?
I can see me using the mason jars around the house for a variety of things! I’d love to plant some herbs in them and keep them on the sill in my kitchen.

Lastly, what is your favorite color and glue?
Favorite color is sage green – my favorite glue is superStik permanent glue stick!