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Hi friends!
I'm here today to share a few pictures of my wedding FOR THE FIRST TIME!
It has been a solid two and a half months since we married and, admittedly, I received my pictures back from our photographer quite some time ago. I've had EVERY intention to share the beauty for awhile now but things have been dang crazy lately.
No more excuses... I've got a great DIY idea for you today!
(See her down there?! A lot of our guests told us they missed the dog because she's a bit hidden {but oh so cute}.)
Isn't this just beautiful?! I know, I know, I'm a little biased but seriously! My little sister made this for us & I was just blown away with how great it turned out.
Remember those little perler beads from when you were a kid? Yep, our cake topper was made out of those! I came up with this idea after searching for what seemed like hours on Pinterest for cake toppers. I found many that I really liked but I just didn't want to spend the money on some of the fancy ones I found myself gravitating towards.
I stumbled upon a children's birthday party image on Pinterest and saw that a lot of the decor was made from these perler beads. Once I saw the pirate ship cake topper, I knew there had to be a way to make one for our wedding! I drew up some ideas, texted them to my little sister (who is an avid crafter just like me) and asked if she'd be willing to help.
I searched online for "perler people" and found lots of great images to use as inspiration. There are SO many things you can do with perler beads - just check here and here.
My sister, a smart lil gal, printed out some graph paper and began sketching ideas for my husband and myself. After I saw a dog made out of perler beads I knew I also wanted our pup to be in our cake topper!
Jen at Something Turquoise has a great step-by-step tutorial about making your own perler-bead people cake topper.
If you've used these beads before (90s kids.... hello! this is all you!) and you're an OK "artist" (meaning you are able to fill in squares with colored pencils), it will be smooth sailing for you. Just follow my simple steps:
sketch out your idea on graph paper with colored pencils
place your perler tray on top of the graph paper (use a clear tray to see your design)
place colored beads in the correct areas of the tray, "tracing" your design
use perler paper to fuse your beads with an iron
once the beads are cool, hot glue lollipop sticks to the back for inserting into the cake
voila! (Here's a short video from Perler explaining the steps visually.)
Let me know what you think in the comments and be sure to come back next Wednesday for more DIY wedding ideas!