an anniversary gift

I wanted to share with you a gift that I made for my husband for our annivesary.  Tomorrow will officially be our 15 year anniversary, but I have finished the gift, and displayed it already because I want him to wake up to it in the morning.  You could do this with anything, but I was inspired by an idea on pinterest.  Our bed does not have a headboard, and  I do not wish to save the money to buy one.  So I went to pinterest and googled faux headboards and selected this one because it seemed like the easiest and least expensive but a creative option to me.

http://colesinthekitchen.blogspot.com/2013/02/diy-faux-headboard.html

 My creation was a little more time consuming but a little more personal for us then just the washi or duct tape which was a very cool idea.....but here is my what I had in mind:

I will try to be quick about details, but I do want to share it on a couple of link ups.  I am a novice crafter, but I am satisfied with how it turned out.  And honestly cost wise I think I spent 15.00 on materials.  I also used several things that I already had on hand.  And for what I spent 5.00 of it was a gift card i earned from www.swagbucks.com....I got a 5.00 walmart gift card and payed for the Modge Podge I used with that, and I have had plenty of Modge Podge to use for other projects too.

I made these using 12 by 16 flat art canvas pieces from Walmart. I got a pack of three for less than 6.00.  That was my base, I took sheets of scrap paper and cut them into strips, and i also incorporated cards and love notes that my husband and I exchanged and had kept for the past 16 to 17 years.  They have just been sitting in a tote all these years, so why not bring them out, use the ones I love, and get rid of the others that aren't necessary.

This is me tracing the scrap paper with the ruler and cutting strips.....i used all kind of colors to try and tie in all the colors of my room .  The scrapbook paper was something I already had, I got a ton in a case over the summer in a tote bag for like 7.00 from a thrift store.  When looking for craft supplies, it does not hurt to check a thrift store they usually don't have high prices on such things. At least they don't in my area.

I used the Modge Podge on the back of the strips to glue them to the canvas, I just painted it on with a paint brush and spaced them out and mismatched them like this. 

then I layed out my favorite cards, and lines from our love notes, and modge podged them to the board.  The modge podge looks white but dries clear, and I got the glossy kind.  The third board is made much like the first but I put pics of us from over the years on it.

I also put some ribbon over each edge to give them a finished appearance.  I (you guessed it) modge podged them on too.  After everything was applied to each board I applied Modge Podge in two or three coats over each board to offer a little protection from wear and tear and it also gave them a glossy look.

The middle (or second) board is different....it is like this.

I modge podge plain gray paper to the canvas and cut out a large T for our last name out of patterened scrap book paper and stuck a hand drawn picture my husband had given me a long time ago in the middle.

I then added some cut out designs of a bride and groom and  this saying EST  1998 across it in black cut out letters.  I did the edges with silver ribbon and on the top and bottom used beads from a necklace that I paid to much money for at a thrift store.  (I previously tried to sell it and could not) so I dissected it a little for this project and used some really stinky adhesive called Goop that you can find in the craft section at walmart to glue it on.  Here is how it turned out.

I hung them with 3M fasteners from Scotch.  I paid like maybe 5.00 for all the command strips i used because i bought them slowly at Michael's craft store with 40 percent off coupons so I paid like 2.60 a pack for them.  I also bought the 3M hooks to hang the material on.  The material at the top is actually two scarves  I had in my closet that I do not wear.  One i wore when we renewed our vows about 10 years ago and the other was a hand me down from a friend I never wore.  I really think it turned out well.  Now to see what the hubs thinks....we are going out tonight with him and my Uncle (they share the same birthday, not age though)  So we are celebrating birthdays and  having dinner on our day off.  We are sending the kids to the grandparents this weekend and celebrating our anniversary..just the two of us.

I have been keeping up as best as I can with the challenges and will share my progress soon, but I was put behind a little with illness last week, and I have been struggling with lingering nausea much of the week.  I put on my make up anyway and have my clothes laid out for dinner.

What are you up to this week?