July 10, 2014

Affordable Wedding Gift DIY

Carved Heart Photo Holder DIY

My husband and I were recently invited to our friends’ wedding. Our friends have lived together for several years, and have a large blended family…we knew a traditional wedding gift would not be an appropriate or terribly useful gift. We also knew that we wanted to give them something meaningful that wasn’t a bank breaker. So, I went to Pinterest to look for some ideas…I cannot recall where I saw my inspiration, but I know it would have cost a small fortune, and it was going to take weeks to get. I didn’t have time or money for that, so I went to our firewood pile and set out to make my own version! Now, I am sharing the simple and affordable wedding gift DIY…but, it doesn’t have to be just a wedding gift, this would be a fantastic anniversary gift too!

I was able to snap a few pictures of the happy couple at their wedding ceremony, and we stopped to have the photos printed on the way to the reception!

Supplies:

Log

Drill (We use this one) with a small bit

Dremel (We have this one)

Chisel

Hammer

Wood Burner (We bought this one with a coupon from JoAnn’s)

Photo Holder Picks (We bought an inexpensive photo holder and pulled the photo picks out of the holder.)

Strong Glue (We used Gorilla Glue)

Once your log is cut to your desired length, draw a heart shape with a marker where you want your carved heart to be. Carefully follow your line with the sanding wheel of your Dremel, you only need to score the line with the Dremel.

Next, with your hammer and chisel, carefully edge around the heart you just scored with your Dremel. It should only take a few minutes to do, but you need to get the groove just a little deeper than the bark. My husband went around the heart two or three times with the chisel. When you are done scoring the heart completely, you should be able to pop the bark off…ours actually popped off as a perfect heart!

Write the initials and date with a pencil inside the heart, and carefully trace them with your wood burner.

Drill a small hole in the top of your log, and dry fit your photo pick. If the pick is too long, use a pair of wire cutters to snip a small section off, and glue in place. Add your favorite photo and you’re done!