Wood-burned Cutting Board Gift

At some point this year, you may have heard me talk about all the weddings my husband and I were going to this year. A few weekends ago we attended our ninth wedding for 2014, for a sweet couple who have been fabulous friends to my parents and have the most wonderful love story. But nine?! Can you believe it? It's like the year of love or something! Good thing I love weddings! I could just soak in all the wedding decor all day :) And we feel pretty blessed to have been able to watch so many people commit themselves to a lifetime together. It's a pretty special thing to watch (and made me shed a lot of tears this year!).

Wedding gifts are always a little tough... do you get something off of the registry? Do you give money? What's acceptable? Since getting married ourselves, my husband and I have mostly given monetary gifts because that's what most people gave us and it was tremendously helpful in recovering from wedding costs! We also throw in a small something personal if we stumble across the perfect thing that reminds us of a couple.
But what do you give to a couple who already has a home and everything they need? What if there is no registry? What if money isn't appropriate? What if it's a non-traditional wedding? Well, you give something unique, personal, and perhaps a little creative (because you know I love creative!)
I came up with a cute little idea that's perfect for a wedding gift, housewarming gift, or any occasion! In fact, I might design one for myself too!

DIY Wood-burned Cutting Board

I found a bamboo cutting board at Target.

I decided to try my hand at wood burning! I was pretty nervous, so I did some test runs on some scrap wood. It wasn't perfect, but it worked!
This project ended up being similar to my favorite text transfer method.
Print your desired text. In this case, I used the couple's names and the date their new family was established.

Shade the back of the text with a pencil. Flip it over, arrange it on the cutting board, and then trace over the text.

You should be left with an outline on the wood.
Read the directions for your wood burning tool! Use the tool to follow the outlines you created. Keep in mind that different woods burn at different speeds, so if you practiced on something other than bamboo, take it slow at first until you get the feel for how fast it burns. 

That's it! On the way to the wedding (because it was a few hours away where I grew up), we made a pit stop at the Pepperidge Farm store and picked up some cheese and meat (the kind that comes in gift sets that doesn't need to be refrigerated until you open it). When we arrived in town, I tied everything together with some leather cord.

Hopefully they liked it! I love coming up with unique gift ideas for friends and family! It's one of my favorite parts of crafting!

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