fartsy art for the artsy fart's wedding

July 10, 2007 1:31 PM

I'm going to a wedding on Saturday and I'm looking for a cheap homemade gift project.

OK, i know it's last minute, but i have about 20-40 hours i can invest in a project and a little less than no money. The couple is pretty hippyish, so I don't mind the idea of giving a homemade gift.

Here are some parameters:

I grew up with the bride but have yet to meet the groom face to face.

I have access to scrapwood and tools, cardstock, paint, and various art materials, clay, sewing materials.

Any ideas for something I could make that wouldn't be tacky and cheap?

posted by es_de_bah to society & culture (16 comments total)

or, conversely, just tell me what a bad idea this is.
posted by es_de_bah at 1:39 PM on July 10, 2007

you say sewing materials: what kind and what is your level of skill?
i was in the same pickle earlier this summer. i scanned in their wedding invitation and quilted a pillow for them. it looks absolutely NOTHING like the one in the link but i didn't want to self link to mine! i'm new! i don't want to be a bad mefite!

anyway, i actually made two (their invitation was 2 sided) and it took me about 3 hours altogether. i printed the invitation on fabric (easy to do if you have freezer paper/plain quilting cotton/inkjet printer) and did some "log cabin"-ish piecing around it. the 3 hours even include the two massively stupid mistakes i made and had to correct.

the day after the wedding the bride and groom called twice to tell me how much they loved them and how they were the best presents by far that they had gotten. they said they both cried when they opened the gift. in a good way!
posted by hecho de la basura at 1:44 PM on July 10, 2007

At the last wedding I went to, a friend of the bride took a bunch of digital photos, and then had them developed in time for brunch the next morning. Gave the happy couple something to look at on their honeymoon, before the rest of the photos came in. The bride practically cried, she loved it so much.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 1:49 PM on July 10, 2007 [1 favorite]

Oh! Oh! Make a couch remote holder/organizer--the pocket you hang over the arm of the couch so that the TV remote doesn't get lost. Really easy to sew--just a rectangle with some pockets, basically. If the wife (or hubby) is crafty, you can always add extras to it, like a pincushion or knitting needle/crochet hook slots and an attached pair of little sewing scissors.

Include a note--"with hope for extended marital bliss" or something.
posted by rhoticity at 2:12 PM on July 10, 2007 [1 favorite]

How much clay do you have? Are you handy with clay and can you fire it? If you can make a nice looking clay vase, that would be a fine present. If they're starting out their house, they're bound to get lots of flatware, glassware, and dinnerware but might not be getting other things like vases, etc. so if you can make working version of on (i.e. one that they can actually put flowers and water in) that would be great.

I can't imagine making anything out of the cardstock would be a good idea. It just screams cheap and temporary.

I know you say you have no money, but if you can scrape together $10 you can make loads of cools things. For instance, buy a bunch of used lampshades (don't know how much these are, but in a junk store I imagine they're cheap), hotglue or cement them together somehow (you want the same sizes together, so rightside up, then upside down, the rightside up, then upside down, etc) and then you string white christmas lights inside of them. This makes a very cool looking lamp.
posted by Deathalicious at 2:14 PM on July 10, 2007 [1 favorite]

Do they like to cook? You could put a handmade recipe box together using your scrap wood, and make some blank recipe cards with your cardstock. Maybe include your favorite recipe to share with them as well.

Alternately, you could build a photo/memory box and paint it in their wedding colors, or just a nice random color you think suits them. If you have a photo of both of them, or take one at the wedding that you can develop/print quickly, you could frame it onto the top of the box.
posted by tastybrains at 2:45 PM on July 10, 2007 [1 favorite]

You could customize a photo album or scrapbook for the many photographic memories to come. For example, you could pick up a plain album/book and wrap it with some gorgeous raw silk and decorate it with rosettes and ribbons that are fastened into place with a glue gun.

I did this several years ago and the scrapbook took maybe 3 hours to put together, excluding the time to pick out the fabric, the end papers, etc.
posted by phoenixc at 3:15 PM on July 10, 2007

but i didn't want to self link to mine! i'm new! i don't want to be a bad mefite!

Self-linking on-topic is perfectly fine in the comments, just not on the main page of the blue.

As to the question:
You say you grew up with the bride. Do you have photos? You could put together an album, which would be a great memory-jog for the bride and peek into her youth for the groom. You could make a customized cover for the album with whatever other crafty skills you have.
posted by The Deej at 4:19 PM on July 10, 2007

oh. :smacks forehead:
then here are pics of the pillows i made.
posted by hecho de la basura at 5:53 PM on July 10, 2007 [1 favorite]

Perhaps a mosaic stepping stone or two for their garden. You'll need a concrete paving stone (a few bucks at the hardware store or scavenge one up), scrap wood to build a form/use as tools, and concrete mix, which is very cheap. Scavenge for glass, tile, shells and ceramic dishes which you break down to size with a hammer (wear safety goggles, please). I made a couple of these for about $5-8 each and they turn out looking a lot nicer than the material cost.
posted by jamaro at 6:49 PM on July 10, 2007

hecho de la basura, those are beautiful but sadly beyond me right now. thanks for sharing tho.
posted by es_de_bah at 6:50 PM on July 10, 2007

If it looks like you won't be able to pull it off, I think 'etiquette' dictates that you have up to a year after the ceremony to give a gift.
posted by JamesMessick at 9:17 PM on July 10, 2007

Hecho- that is really beautiful.
posted by beccaj at 6:15 AM on July 11, 2007

I think 'etiquette' dictates that you have up to a year after the ceremony to give a gift.

No one really does this and it's kind of tacky. Just do what you can now...I am sure they will love and appreciate your effort.
posted by tastybrains at 12:25 PM on July 11, 2007

I think 'etiquette' dictates that you have up to a year after the ceremony to give a gift.

No one really does this and it's kind of tacky. Just do what you can now...I am sure they will love and appreciate your effort.

Actually, a few friends of ours gave us wedding gifts up to 10 months after we actually got married. We hadn't registered, as we didn't need 'housey' things, but we were moving into a new place, so a few people gave us cute cards on the day, with words to the effect of:
"when you move into your new place and sort yourselves out, we'll get you something that makes sense for you then". We've had some lovely gifts since, including a hand made base for a very lovely brass tray/tabletop we found.

I dont thin it's tacky at all - depends on how well you know the couple and their tastes: I much prefer the thoughtful gifts we got after, to potential 'standard' gifts given because people felt rushed.

On to actual ideas - one friend made me a scrap book covered with pretty fabric, and brought it to dinner, for our guests to write thoughts/wishes into. After the wedding, she pasted all of our wedding cards and paper momentos into it, added some photos, and presented us with one of the most original keepsakes I've ever seen, and something I will always keep.
posted by darsh at 8:15 AM on October 25, 2007

Sigh. I don't think it's tacky...
posted by darsh at 8:15 AM on October 25, 2007