Finding the right gift for someone can be infuriating. More often than not I’ve been resorting to giving cash instead of spending my own on something the person might not actually want or need. The only problem with this is it’s boring and super unoriginal…
That’s why when I was asked this past month to create an unusual cash gift for a wedding I was more than willing to take on the challenge!
My first question was what was allowed. I’ve always heard cutting up and or disfiguring money was illegal making it challenging to use in art. There are some artists that use cash as material anyway, like the artist Mark Wagner who “paints with money”
This is so neat, but on his website he does admit it is technically illegal, so I wouldn’t advise trying this!
After some research I found the Etsy seller that makes simple wine bottle covers made to look like a suit and wedding dress:
but being the artist I am, I went a step further….
Not being able to cut, glue, or sew the bills together was definitely a challenge…plus they needed it to be usable as a gift! Because of this I eventually resorted to regular clear tape for folded bills that just wouldn’t stay in place.
Many of them were folded over or weaved together, but they did need to be attached to the sleeve. I found that bills have a special coating that doesn’t entirely adhere to the tape. As long as you’re careful a regular piece of tape peels right off.
To do this I created almost a sleeve that fit around the middle of the bottles and used the shape of each bottle similar to a mannequin (pretending the shoulders were the curve at the top and the neck the thin part at the top.) Washi tape made great accents for the groom’s tie/jacket and the dresses beading design. This also peels right off and even has difficulty staying if you don’t attach it to a smooth flat bill surface.
After much trial and error Ta Da! This was the finished first draft:
When I showed them this result however, they asked if I could make them so that the bills went up to the label and have the dress waist go up to the label as well, like covers I had seen on Etsy…I told them I could revise them as long as I cashed in the smaller bills to turn them into larger ones so there would be less material to work with.
Side note: can I just say that even though it wasn’t my gift is was SO MUCH FUN to take apart!! The cash kept coming and coming lol…but here is the final result with less, but higher valued bills:
In the end I do agree, it you ever try something like this on your own, simple is BETTER! The waist line being smaller made it harder to do detail, but made the dress look way slimmer.
To present them I got a white basket from Michael’s Crafts and my husband helped me create a wood base with some of his scrap wood and circular saw. This way the bottles would stay standing straight and not bump into each other/fall over before the wedding!
NOTE: I get asked if I sell these and the answer is no…it was a one time request. It’s not a project that I have step by step instructions for either, but If you do attempt it I suggest to learn by trial and error to create your own version!
What do you think? Have you ever given cash in a creative way? What are some other clever cash gifts you can give for a wedding?