Wedding "Waste"?

Do you have a bunch of stuff left over from your wedding? 
I do! 
I have mason jars coming out of my...ears!
I have enough burlap to wallpaper the house!
But...fear not!  My little crafting mind has been on overdrive and I'm sure, in good time, everything will have a new purpose in life!  
Wedding crafts will make way for...well...NEW wedding crafts!

My first adventure wasn't so much of an adventure. 
It was very premeditated.
Our guest book. 

I knew what I didn't want:


And I knew what I've done:


I thought about the wine bottle idea:

But really?  A giant wine bottle?

I really liked the bench idea:

...but we really weren't having THAT big of a wedding, despite how it often felt that way - so would a bench really be cool with only a few signatures?

 

And then I found this on...wait for it...Pinterest.

Which really turned out to be something I could BUY on Etsy.

But why buy that which you can make?!

So the first step was easy. I got out my Cricut and made lots of little brown hearts. 

Then, at the reception, I set out the hearts, some pens and a cute little chalkboard with instructions - Sign a heart!  (Oh, I DO hope our photographer got a picture of my cute little set up!)

 

Then, magically, I found a frame for like 80% off at Kohl's.  It was perfect.  

I bought poster size heavy cardstock at Michael's.

And Viola!  My own guest book!

 

I'm very pleased with the final result!