DIY Aisle Runner

I guess it's official! I'm a real DIY bride! I completed my second project yesterday with the help of my amazing sister. She is a perfectionist like me, so it was really nice to have her there...not only as someone to talk to, but as another set of eyes that could tell me her honest thoughts throughout the process. My sister is my Maid of Honor, and I could not have picked a better person for the job. She is honest when I need it, encouraging when I screw something up and there to laugh when I fall off the chair in the midst of trying to take the picture of the finished product! Don't know what I'd do without her...

This project was super fun and really easy. I think it is something really special that is just going to add a littler personal pop to our teeny, cute chapel. It photographs really well too and my little brain is already ticking off shots that we could do to incorporate it. Anyway, here you have it....my aisle runner!

The first thing we did to start this project was went to Joann Fabrics and bought the aisle runner. It is made by Wilton (basically everything wedding related in a craft store is Wilton). Originally, it cost $29.99, but I had a 40% off coupon so I only paid $19. Then I picked up two bottles of paint: one in Tiffany blue, the other in a bronze and a pack of paint brushes. All that cost me about $6 because I chose stuff that was 50% off at Hobby Lobby. My mom designed our monogram in Microsoft Publisher and we got it printed at Kinko's for $3. So altogether, this little project cost $28.00! Not bad!!!

Once I had all my materials assembled, I knew I needed to cut my aisle runner down quite a bit. It comes on a roll with a string that you pull to roll it out, and it is 100 feet long. My aisle is a measly 35 feet long! I cut about 40 feet off, leaving some extra on purpose in case I messed anything up. I folded up the material that I cut off, and I am thinking I will be able to use it later for something else (maybe a table runner or something).

First, I cut my monogram paper so that it would fit on my table. Then, I taped it down nice and tight. Next I laid my aisle runner over the top of the paper monogram, keeping in mind that I wanted the monogram about 5 feet from the end of the aisle. I taped the aisle runner to the table as well, making really sure it was straight and tight, so there were no weird creases or anything.

 

Then we set to work tracing over the monogram with a soft lead mechanical pencil. We were using dark colors so we weren't afraid of tracing too dark.

Here's Meg tracing away. 

Once the monogram was traced, we undid all the tape, took the paper monogram off the table and threw it away, we were done with it at this point. I then covered the entire table in wax paper, taped it down and retaped the aisle runner over the top of the wax paper. Once we had the wax paper in place, we were ready to start painting.

The monogram all traced and on top of wax paper.

We decided to paint the "P" first since it was the lighter color and would probably need more coats. We were right. It took almost 3 coats to make it bright and filled in completely. We found what really helped was having a cup of water ready so that every few minutes, we could rinse our brush and then dab it on a paper towel. Otherwise our paint was getting too gloppy on the paint brush.

   

If I could give any advice, it is to be PATIENT and take your time. It took us about 20 minutes to get our "technique" perfected. It seemed to work best to use the edge of the brush to make a smooth line on the border of the "P" and then fill it in. We did about 2 inches at a time. After the P was all filled in, we let it sit for about a half hour to dry. Surprisingly, the paint dried really fast. Because of the fabric, we definitely needed a couple coats to get it nice and even.

After the blue paint was dry, I set to work on the smaller words. Meg was afraid to do those because we didn't really have a teeny paintbrush, so I used my medium sized one and just went super slow and super carefully. 

  

Here I am painting our names. 

It was a good idea to start in an upper corner and work diagonally down, that way I did not smear anything. I only did one coat on my smaller words and I left it so that I could sort of see the pencil outline. It added a nice drop shadow effect to the words. $28 bucks and about 2 hours later, our masterpiece was finished!!!

  

I am so happy with how it turned out. I LOVE the colors. I left it out overnight and this morning I am going to cover the painted part with wax paper and roll it up. Then I will put it in a garbage bag to keep it nice and clean and I will have something to set aside that is COMPLETED for the wedding!!!