I know I already talked about Smitten Sticks before, but they’re DONE and I couldn’t help share photos of the finished products! My MOH’s super crafty mom helped me put these together last week. Really, all I did was cut out the designs and hot glue them to the dowels rods; she did the rest! “The rest” = hot gluing jute to the top of each canning jar and making and gluing the bows. She even had the idea to put elbow macaroni at the bottom of each jar. Not only is a fun thing to do, but practical because the pasta keeps the dowel rods standing up straight versus clanking around in the jar. Much better presentation this way – plus, if I don’t use all the noodles as filler, I can eat the leftovers!
Again, these will be at about a dozen tables with 2 – 5x7” chalkboards and a sepia-toned photo of Matt/myself/us using the props. I’ll lean the photos up against the jars or clothespin them to the chalkboard, haven't decided which. Either way, I’m hoping the photos of us will help people understand why in the world there might be colored mustaches and mouths on their table! We've taken a few photos here and there while we've been home together this week and they're pretty funny (but I'm going to keep them secret for now).
I may already have mentioned this but I am also making another dozen or so centerpieces myself as well, you know, in all my spare time. :) These ones will require much less effort than the smitten sticks, however. I bought traditional vases on Craig’s List (got 20 of them for $20 – a steal!) that I plan to fill with various sizes of pinecones and acorns from my own yard as well as taking generous donations from others’ yards. If you can’t tell, I’m all about high impact, low cost. Coupled with the votive candles that our venue, The Ridge, has for us to use, I think this will do the trick. Oh – I also plan to wrap the top of these vases with dark yellow yarn to tie in not only that color, but to match the smitten stick jars, too (another brilliant idea from my MOH’s mom). I haven’t gotten started on these yet, but will in fall when everything starts falling off my trees! Here’s the inspiration photo; the real things won't have the tall twigs, though.
