This is a story about how a girl with inspiration and a hard-working fiancé met the fate of downed trees.
One day, as I was building my ever-loved wedding Pinterest board, I ran across this:
Yep–from an Etsy shop. It was already sold, so I have no idea how much she sold it for, but I do know that shipping alone was $40. I showed Cowboy while mentioning it in passing and then left it to be, thinking it would be so incredibly hard to find one downed tree to cut in to, let alone four trees of differing diameters.
But, little did I know that a storm in Overland Park a couple of months later would down massive trees, and then a local park would open its doors to let people bring their branches and tree trunks for the city to dispose of it. Our friends (Krissy & Alex) live just a couple of blocks away from this park, so when we heard what was going on, we all walked over there.
[Ah, when I had a tan and thought that was white.]
While looking for tree trunks, we found these awesome branches to use as the center pieces. And they were covered in moss. WHAT LUCK!
After scoping out the goods, we hid our finds amidst the piles (like other people were going to come steal our branches and trunks…haha! Do you see that pile behind us girls? That wasn’t even half of it!) and ran a quick errand to Lauren & Tyler’s house, where they just happened to have Tyler’s dad’s borrowed chain saw. Seriously…fate.
So, my hunk of a guy went to work chain-sawing…because he loves me, after all.
And slowly, but surely, we started to collect our pieces…
The next steps were my job…these guys had to be sanded completely smooth (and hopefully level) and then I gave them a coat of polycrylic.
Cowboy even carved our initials and the date into the bottom. 🙂
We cut our center pieces, and then those also got a coat of polycrylic. (Check out that moss! I died!)
We used a 3/8-inch dowel rod to connect all of the pieces, drilling pilot holes into each piece and then connecting them. We didn’t glue anything, so it can be taken apart for easier storage.
Here’s how it turned out on wedding day (photos here on out courtesy of Jackie Cooper Photo)
Here’s a great picture showing the size and scale of the stand put together (and me laughing at my new brother-in-law’s best man speech).
It turned out perfectly and even better than I expected. Not only did it look incredible amidst everything else, but it had such fun and special memories attached to it.
Have you guys ever been inspired by something and pushed it off, thinking it impossible–or at least unlikely, only to have things fall into place for you?
What an awesome story! And what a beautiful cupcake stand. I was admiring it at your wedding, but I didn't know you had made it! You know Daniel and I ended up in St. Louis together purely by the Hand of God… I'll tell you about it sometime. It was rather fortuitous, as your borrowed chainsaw and free trees were (o;
Awesome!
I saw that cake stand at your wedding and fell in love with it. I'm a cupcake baking fiend, and that stand just made me happy.
I love this cupcake stand ~ it turned out beautifully! You have wonderful make-it-yourself ideas and I think this stand was just meant to be a part of your special day. Thanks for sharing!
Wow love the cupcake stand, cute.
http://shana-style.blogspot.com
Wow love the cupcake stand, cute.
http://shana-style.blogspot.com
Wow love the cupcake stand, cute.
http://shana-style.blogspot.com
I saw this and thought “I won’t be so lucky to find the wood…” The same day we found out a neighbor got a new shipment of wood, not split or anything, with nice big round pieces! So lucky!
I saw this and thought “I won’t be so lucky to find the wood…” The same day we found out a neighbor got a new shipment of wood, not split or anything, with nice big round pieces! So lucky!
I saw this and thought “I won’t be so lucky to find the wood…” The same day we found out a neighbor got a new shipment of wood, not split or anything, with nice big round pieces! So lucky!
How far in advance of the wedding did you make this? Did you have any issues with the wood splitting / cracking as it dries?
Question for you. Have the tree rounds split? Ive heard if you dont treat them completely etc they will crack. Id like to make these but dont want to put in all the effort if I cant use them over and over. 😉
What were the sizes of tree pieces you used?
Can you tell me if you encountered problems with the wood splitting? Or did the polycrylic do the trick? I’ve been reading that when the discs are initial cut that drying can cause splits to occur. Just curious if you had that issue.
Thanks
Oh wow – looks amazing!
Ok I’m new so nobody throw daggers at me lol but you did what with the dowel rods? You had me until you got to there. How do I connect the pieces without the fear of a collapse?! Please help I’m getting married soon and I would be mortified if I didn’t do it right! Thank you you so much!