I Saw the Sign

Back when we met with our reception venue to taste the (delicious) food and settle on a menu, we discussed the display for our cupcakes- scrumptious little morsels that will take the place of a wedding cake. 

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We're still working out the specifics of the display for these puppies, but I went ahead and made a little sign for them.

The event coordinator suggested we lay out some sort of sign near the display discouraging guests from taking one right away.  We won't have all of the cupcakes out at first- just a small arrangement to give people an idea of what they have to look forward to, just as a wedding cake is displayed throughout the entire reception before it's cut- but there will be other food, as well as the candy buffet, available for the taking right as guests walk in.  The coordinator pointed out that even though cupcakes are "trendy" at the moment in replacement of wedding cakes, people that don't follow the blogosphere (read: most people) might not realize that the cupcakes should be left until "cake-cutting" time.  I have a few other signs to make for the reception- something for the candy buffet, a list of drinks for the bar, etc, etc- so here's what I've done so far!

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 I knew I wanted our signs printed on map backgrounds- the adventure bit of "A Geeky Adventure"- so it was absolutely perfect when I found this calendar of vintage maps at Paper Source.  Then I headed to Goodwill and snapped up a few simple wooden frames.  Last but not least, I snagged some ink pads in our colors, as well as some cute letter stamps, from that other man in my life, Michaels.  Time for a super-simple craft project!

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First, I cut the maps to fit the frames, then lightly marked, in pencil, the border of what's actually seen inside the frame so none of my letters would be cut off.  I used the cardboard backing as practice and laid out my stamps to spell out the messages.  Obviously size was the limiting factor here, so I had to be creative in my wording so everything would fit and not look cramped. 

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The cupcake sign was done in red and says "Please wait before enjoying cupcakes."  The candy buffet sign was done in purple and says "How sweet it is to be loved by you / Take some candy with you!"  I'm no master stamper (a thing I just made up) so you can definitely tell the letters were stamped on- by the dots inside the d's and the corners on some of the letters.  I kind of like the imperfect look, though- I like that you can tell they're handmade.

Like I said, I still have a few more signs to do, but I'm really happy with how cute these turned out- and how fast and easy it was to create them!

Now here's my question for you, dear readers:

These frames are all different shades of "natural" wood, and I had initially planned to sand and paint them all the same color- either a bright green or orange.  However, I'm kind of liking the eclectic look of the mis-matched frames.  So what should I do?

-Paint them orange!
-Paint them green!
-Paint them grey/silver!
-Don't paint them at all!

Much love,
The Geeks