DIY // PARENTS GIFTS

While I wait for the professional pictures to get back, I do have some other things to share with you!

I finished these projects up the week of the wedding and since I promptly fell off the face of the planet, I never got around to sharing them. I couldn't think of anything to get our parents that had meaning, and I hadn't quite resigned myself to a monogrammed watch or hand stitched hankie. I understand these are "traditional" type gifts, but, not my jam. 

Then I got the idea to do something using the first dance songs for both our parents- my dad, and his mom. I bought 2 frames and used my calligraphy pen that I addressed envelopes with, and wrote out sections of the lyrics from the first dances. The frames are blank because we're going to give them a print from the first dance or wedding in general, once we get them.

"A Mother's Song" was M's mom's choice: 

"The Way You Look Tonight" by Frank Sinatra was my dad's: 

Once again, I struggled with M's dad, but after seeing it hundreds of time on Pinterest, I decided to try out the glass etching glue-paste-stuff.  It's highly toxic, so make sure you have gloves. It's also highly expensive, and cost more than the damn vase, but I didn't use much so I still have it for future projects. I will say, it didn't seem to "stick" as well as I thought it would, but it could've been the curve of the glass, or that I didn't glop enough on. It still worked! Just took a bit longer than I expected.

I used some vinyl stickers to put the words "live, laugh, love" on the jar, with our wedding date.

So those were some affordable parent gifts we came up with! And by we, I mean I. Lets get serious. haha.

I thought I was going to have to brace for another intermission in blogging, since I was supposed to fly out Saturday morning for a trial I was second chairing in Peoria, Illinois all of next week. We got called into an impromptu phone conference today with the judge and knew where it was headed: the case is venued in federal district court, which is still up and running. However, take a wild guess what one "non-essential" function that will not be funded is? Juries. So, since they couldn't fund a jury, and even if the shutdown ends tomorrow, our case is not a super high priority in the court's eyes, the case is being continued- likely until early next year. SO I'm off the hook (for now), and can attend our FIRST WEDDING as a married couple, with M this weekend! I'm jazzed.