Back to My Paint Obsession

When envisioning a wedding, you probably imagine the ceremony, the bride's dress, the handsome groom, and dancing the night away with loved ones.  You might think about a few of the details, but only when you jump over to engaged territory do certain details come to mind.  Case in point: the wedding card box.

Before I was engaged, if you asked for my thoughts on wedding card boxes, I'd probably ask if people could just leave cards on a tray.  Oh no!  That just won't do. One must have a cute depository for cards.

From Elizabeth Anne Designs / Photo by Susan Stripling Photography

Collecting cards in a bird cage has become pretty popular.   I've seen some lanterns used for this function and goodness knows I have a few to spare. I love the idea of repurposing something for a card box!

From Style Me Pretty / Photo by Les Bouquets

I've seen a few people make a box out of picture frames in the last year or so.  It's a really sweet idea, but I think the pictures frames have to be pretty large to allow the box to hold greeting cards.  

From The Broke Ass Bride

The best card "box" I came across while looking for inspiration was a modified pinata.  I literally laughed out loud when I saw this one.  It doesn't fit with our aesthetic, but I think it's funny and clever.

Pinata from Target / From Style Me Pretty / Photo by Soda Fountain Photography

I have a thing for birds (all animals, really), so the bird cage card box might have been a natural choice for me. When I thought about it, though, I like to see birds at my feeders outside or on the patio, taking a nibble from some suet.  A bird house seemed like a much better choice for my card box.

In my browsing for bird-house-turned-card-box inspiration, I came across the Etsy store for Clegg Farm Creations.  Michael at Clegg Farm makes beautiful bird houses and is willing to customize them with any paint color available at the big box hardware stores.  My brother and/or sister-in-law saw that I pinned a bird house from Clegg Farm Creations to my "want" board on Pinterest and offered to give me a custom house as a Christmas gift. 

I love picking out paint colors, so I assembled a few items that had our wedding colors on them and spread out paint chips in hopes of settling on a color to use on a bird house.  I knew I'd use the same light blue that I had used as the background on my corn hole boards, but I had to find the perfect, deep, blue-green in a Valspar paint color.  A few struck me as good options and Mr. Mink helped make the final decision.

After the order was placed for our bird house, we just had to wait for it to be made and shipped.  My mail carrier, who has been coming to the door with packages so often lately that Baxter runs to greet him, brought the finished product yesterday afternoon. 

Isn't it so cute?  The little plaque above the door has our family name and wedding date on it.  The roof is held in place by small, wooden pins. 

My favorite features are the ones that let us use the house after our wedding.  It came with an extra roof that isn't slotted and there's a hole behind the little wreath.  Once we're settled in a home, we can put the house outside so a bird could get inside and make a cozy, protected nest.

I am so impressed by the paint job.  Michael's attention to detail is wonderful. There is no way I could have made something with similar quality myself.

This is the second day in a row that I've talked about a wedding related purchase.  I fear that I'm letting the DIYers down!  I promise I'll have something fun to share on DIY Friday tomorrow.

Thanks to my brother and sister-in-law, I have the cutest card box I've ever seen.