DIY Tutorial: Escort Card Board

This is a DIY guest post from our 2011 VOW show Wedding with Style winner, Lianne Turner. Did you catch our blog interview with Lianne? The 2012 VOW Bridal Event is taking place February 19th, 2012 at the Virginia Beach Convention Center. Get your tickets here and sign up for our VIB Breakfast Workshop!

Hello, Style Room readers! I’m Lianne and I was the lucky winner of the 2011 Vow Bridal Show’s grand prize, which included some sorely needed assistance from the lovely ladies here at Style Events. When they found out what a crafting fiend I am, they asked me to give you guys a little rundown of my DIY wedding projects, so here goes!

Today’s tutorial is a cutesy escort card board, which can easily be tailored to fit your wedding colors and style. An escort card board is a big display that tells your guests what their table number is for the reception, which is great if you have a seating chart. It’s super easy, and REALLY cheap, so you can spend your hard earned money elsewhere…shoes, anyone?

Here’s what you need:

1 foam board – You can get these at any craft store. I found mine at JoAnn’s Fabrics, but they have them in any store that sells office supplies too.
1 large craft punch (optional) – Mine was a heart-shaped Martha Stewart punch that I got at Michael’s for 50% off. You can buy them in pretty much any shape, or you can just leave your cards square and skip the craft punch entirely.
Pearl-tipped pins – Again, I got these at JoAnn’s Fabrics. I got pink ones because it fits my color scheme, but they come in classic white too!
Scrap fabric – Look in the remnants bin at a fabric store for scraps that they sell for cheap. I got a yard and a half of a solid navy cotton fabric for about $1.50. This can be striped, plaid, solid, or in whatever print matches your theme. You only need enough to cover your foam board, so measure that first to find out how much you need.
Glue – Whichever kind you like. Mod Podge, Elmer’s, Superglue, or whatever.
Card stock or thick scrapbooking paper – Any sort of thick paper will do, so go crazy with coordinating textures and colors. I used 6-7 different colors within the same color palette, but just make sure you choose a color light enough to show off the writing.
Pen and ink – If you happen to have a calligrapher fiancé (lucky me), you can task him with this for a few hours. If not, you can just write them up in your prettiest handwriting!
Easel (optional) – You can use an easel to display your board, you can nail it to a wall, or you can just prop it up on a table. Up to you!

So now you have everything you need! Let’s get down to business:

Step One – Make the Board Background

First, we have to make the background for your cards. All you have to do is find a flat surface, spread out your fabric scrap piece (you may have to iron it first to smooth out any folds), and stick your foam board right on top. Line it up so that the edges of the fabric overlap the side of the board. Once it’s all straight and pretty, pick up your board and cover it with glue! I advise doing this with a paintbrush or your fingers to spread it really evenly. Work quickly, and try to spread out any big globs of glue so that it doesn’t soak through your fabric. When the board is all coated, lay it right back down on top of your fabric and press down gently. Flip it over to make sure there are no wrinkles, and then fold over those excess edges and glue them to the back of the board. No one will be able to see this part, so feel free to be sloppy. Let it dry while you get to work on the other stuff!

Step Two – Create the Escort Cards

Next, we do the escort cards. Grab your paper and get to punching! I chose a heart shape, but you can do squares, circles, stars, or whatever shape you can find a punch for. Just make sure that they’re big enough to fit someone’s whole name in!

Step Three – Write the Names

After you have enough cards for your whole guest list (plus a few extras, because you might smear some up like we did), you can start writing in names. This can be done in a really fancy script, or you could go really casual and just write them in. Don’t forget to leave room at the bottom of the card so that you can write in the table number.

Step Four – Apply Cards to Board

Once all of your cards are written up, you can line them up on your covered foam board and pin them down with your pearl tipped pins! You may want to do some measurements to make sure they’re even, or you may want to just pin them at random, depending on your style. Be careful with those pins, because they’re almost always going to be long enough to stick through the back of your board. If you find that your cards are spinning around on the pins a lot, just dot a little glue behind them to make them stay flat.

Voila! That was easy, right? It’ll fit right in with your wedding décor, no one will be confused about their seating assignment, and you can brag to all your friends about how you made it yourself. Happy crafting!