DIY Bridal Wire Hangers

I have spent a lot of time checking out Etsy for Wire Hangers for my Wedding Dress and for all my Bridesmaids as a gift... they run about $20-30 each.  I checked out some tutorials online and I thought I would give it a try myself!  It is far cheaper to make your own if you have even the slightist bit of Martha Stewart in you.  So here is a quick tutorial on how to make your own.

You will need:

• 12 gauge Florist wire or Jewelry wire. (I purchased mine at Michaels)... 5 yards will make approx. 3 names depending on the # of letters in the names. Approx $3-5 per 5 yards.
• Wire Cutters
• Plyers (ones without teeth if possible because you will find it makes marks on your wire)
• Hangers with notches (I purchased mine for about $1.50 each)
• Drill to put a small hole in your hanger (I used 5/64 bit)
• Glue to secure the wire into the holes you make.  (I used Loctite Super Glue)

Instructions:

1. Make a template to practice your letters.  I did my Capital Letters about 2" and my Lower Case Letters 1" tall.  The easiest way is to google cursive writing and see what type of letters you would like to use.  I also went onto Etsy and Wedding Bee to see what other people had done. 
2. Check out the You Tube Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtQ3v-p2EuM  This video will give you a good idea on how to make the letters if you haven't already practiced yourself.

3. Make sure to leave about 3-4 inches at the beginning and the end of each name to ensure you have enough room to put them into your hangers.

    4. Once you have your wire name created you will need to measure it close to your hanger to see what the best spot to drill your hole.  We used a 5/64th bit. 

5.  Once you have made your wire "fit" the hanger add your glue.  I used Loctite Super Glue, it adhered well to wood.  Let it set for 10 minutes. 

6. The finished product is below.  You can add your wedding date with paint across the top to customize it.  Or any other type of embellishement like a bow, flower etc. 

So that is it! The more you practice the better you will get at it!  Overall it cost about $2-3 per hanger + your time.  It is really the time it takes over the cost of the items.  Good luck! 

These websites also has a good tutorial of how to do wire hangers:
http://shellchris.weebly.com/custom-hangers.html
http://jarringimpact.blogspot.com/2011/05/diy-wire-wedding-hanger-tutorial.html

DIY Save the Dates

So I have made my first attempt at Save the Date Magnets.  I realize the wedding isn't until September 2012 but I thought because Chris and I have a lot of family out of town it would be nice to recieve the Save the Date in a Christmas Card so they can pre plan :)

I found the design online and it helped me decide on what I wanted to do.  Our theme is vintage/antique and we plan on focusing on having a lot of antique keys and mason jars.  So hence the theme of the Save the Date.  I found a free template online for the Mason Jar drawing and using Word I just inputed the information in.  I bought the key puncher online and punched out tons and tons of keys and then attached the keys to the mason jar cardstock with a peice of twine.  I bought adhesive sticker magnets from the dollar store cut, stick, and volla our Save the Dates. 

***WARNING if you want to use the Avery brand magnets I found they were TERRIBLE quality.  I think because of the weight of the cardstock it didn't end up sticking to the fridge.