First Crafty Wedding Purchase

On Friday night while my husband-to-be was going to town on his new XBOX 360, I was struck with the random urge to research ideas for my wedding table numbers. Throughout this entire wedding planning process, Google Images, has truly been my best friend.

I found so many great and creative ideas, but there seems to be a lot of hype about the Tolsby Frame from IKEA (pictured below).

Here are some examples of it in action:

source: ruffled
(p.s. - if you are in love with this format, you can download the template from ruffled!)

I really like the idea of the menu on the back as opposed to printing one out for each place setting. I hate wasting paper!

source: GatorBrideDesigns

In her etsy listing, GatorBrideDesigns also shows examples of using this frame at your guestbook table and for listing info about the signature drink. Love that idea!

So because I can't wait for ANYTHING, I spent my Saturday afternoon taking a little trip to my "local" IKEA in Stoughton, MA. The car ride isn't that far, but it was filled with a lot of "I think we should've turned back there..."

Into my blue IKEA shopper tote went twenty Tolsby frames. I can't wait to get started!

embroidery hoop art

My project of the day was to figure out what to do with a seriously blank and boring wall in my bedroom. A trip to IKEA over the weekend proved unsuccessful, as the wall art that I wanted was a little bit too expensive for my budget. Well maybe I could've afforded the one I really wanted if I committed to eating peanut butter sandwiches for the rest of the week...

As if by fate, I was perusing through an oldish issue of Country Living and I saw a viable option, embroidery hoops! What makes it even better, is that I have quite a bit of fabric scraps in colors that would compliment my bedroom.

I found this great tutorial from the purl bee, and I learned that these are also called "swatch portraits". I did a little more research and found that some people also use felt or muslin to back the fabric if it is too thin or translucent.


My inspiration rooms:
image: countryliving


image: micassid


image: DesignsbyNancyT


image: jupiter buttons


image:lara cameron


image: the workroom


image: contentedsparrow


image: fnur

I love the rooms where the hoops are in a variety of sizes. I did some scoping out on ebay and I purchased 6 embroidery hoops for just under five bucks. Oh I hope the mailman comes fast...