At my cousin’s wedding, the whole day was punctuated by little touches and pieces of décor the bride herself had come up with. Since it was travel themed, she had a photo booth with hot air balloons and passports for each person that could be stamped. She also had these great place cards that featured a map pattern. Everyone noticed all the effort she put in and loved it!
That care and attention to detail is what inspired these place cards. They are simple enough and people will love the soft, natural touch. The flowers add a bit of beauty and the clay adds to a simple or rustic look. They can even be taken home as a favor too, so they’re doubly cool!
Please note that I did not include instructions on creating pressed flowers in this tutorial. Don’t be discouraged; pressing flowers is super easy and there are many methods floating around on the internet that will work just fine.
Materials
- Rolling pin
- Air dry clay
- Sharp tool
- Pressed flowers
- Small paint brush
- Fine glitter powder or paint
- Acrylic sealer
Step 1
Start by balling up a palm full of clay. Place it on a clean surface and proceed to flatten it by whatever means necessary. A rolling pin works great, but there are other ways if you don’t have one handy. Also, don’t worry about it being perfectly circular yet.
Step 2
Take your sharp tool and cut your flat shape into a more distinctive shapes. For this tutorial, we cut the clay into a circle, but you can certainly customize what you want these cards to look like.
Step 3
Using your finger, scallop the edge of your circle by pushing the clay up on the sides about every half inch.
Step 4
Now carve or stamp the name of the guest into the clay. Making letter impressions can leave your card looking a little more neat in the end and is a great option for DIYers without a steady hand.
Step 5
Then, take your sharp instrument and scratch the clay in the places where you want to place the dried flowers. If you’re not sure what you want the final product to look like, do a dry run by laying your flowers very delicately on the clay surface.
Step 6
Take your dried flowers and gently press them into the clay where you’ve made your scratches.
Step 7
Add glitter powder or paint in the crevices of the lettering for a pretty accent.
Step 8
Let dry! I used PLUS air-drying variety, but you should be able to use any kind. Read the instructions on the packaging of your specific product for direction regarding dry time, but it should be pretty well dry if you let it sit over night. You can make a batch one evening and have them ready in the morning (depending on your type of clay, of course).
Step 9
Since you want to avoid damage to the paint and the flowers on your place card, make sure to follow up with a couple coats of clear acrylic sealer (or Mod Podge as you might know it).
Simple right? This is something almost anyone can accomplish. Dried flowers are really beautiful and add a certain feel to the décor in whatever aspect they’re used. During spring and summer, it should be very easy to find a lot of gorgeous flowers to press, but if you want to make these for a wedding out of season or if you’re not in an area where flowers are plentiful, you can always buy some pressed flowers wholesale. Another option is to use silk flowers as they can also look very nice. I hope you liked these place cards, and I’m sure your guests will, too!
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