Kissing Booth

This kissing booth I built gave me the idea to start a blog - - a place where I can document my silly whims and creative ideas.  An idea I've had for years was to build my own photo booth (I saw so many cute DIY booths on wedding blogs back in 2009 when I was planning my own wedding).  Since Valentine's Day was coming up, my photo booth idea evolved into a kissing booth.  

Building this booth was just "a silly whim".  I had no plan or purpose for it.  But after it was built, it seemed a little sad that no one would see it except for my husband so I decided to host a Valentine's Day dinner party.  I am not a chef or a carpenter, but somehow my attempts at cooking and woodworking turned out well.

A good craft blogger with more experience would have included step-by-step instructions on how this was built. However, since I built this months before I had the idea to start a blog, these photos are all I've got.  What I can tell you is that I bought the lumber and supplies from a local lumberyard.  The lumber was cheap (less than $20), but it was the paint and other supplies that got pricey.  I went to three different stores before I finally got over my intimidation and found a very helpful salesperson to assist me.  I was intimated because I wasn't exactly sure what to ask for (type of wood, exact dimensions . . . I had no clue), so I just explained to the salesman what I wanted to build and how I pictured it to look and he helped me figure out what I needed.  He even cut the wood to size which was very helpful since I didn't even own a saw (did I mention that I am not a carpenter?).  Plus, I needed him to cut the pieces small enough to fit into my car (a minor detail I didn't consider in advance). Although I didn't have a saw, my husband did have an old drill buried in our shed that I used to screw all the pieces together.  It may not have been perfectly level or straight, but it looked cute!

Painting it pink!  I then painstakingly added the stripes using painters tape and a ruler.

These wooden letters were purchased from Beverly's craft store and spray painted black.  I then attached them using double-sided mounting strips.

Ta da!

I asked for this portable printer on my Amazon Wish List thinking someday I would get around to making a photo booth. When I received it for my birthday, it prompted me to actually put my DIY photo booth idea into action.

Photo booth props like these can be purchased all over Etsy, but I created my own simply by Googling "free mouth template" or "free lip cutout" and saving the images to Word (hopefully I won't be sued or sent to prison for violating copyright laws!).  I then printed them on heavy cardstock, cut them out, and taped them to the sticks.

Creativity breeds creativity, so after the kissing booth was built I couldn't stop crafting and made a bunch of these tissue paper pom poms to adorn our house.  You can learn how here http://simplysavannahevents.blogspot.com/2011/06/pom-pom-pretty.html.

The cutouts on the tree are free printables from Magnolia Creative Co. that I found on the Catch My Party blog at http://catchmyparty.com/.

The kissing booth was my main project, but I also threw together a mini dessert buffet and cooked a family-style Italian dinner (spaghetti and meatballs a la the romantic scene in Lady & The Tramp).   I didn't need any of my husband's help building the kissing booth, but definitely needed his help with the cooking.  Thanks, David!  Both cooking and carpentry are new endeavors for me.  As is blogging.  We'll see where this goes . . .