Recently I was reading an article about peak wedding season and May was mentioned as one of the peak wedding months! I smiled because I already have such a bias love for the month of May {hee-hee}. I do think May is a lovely month to get married. I love the cooler temps, so I got married in November — but if spring is you’re preference, May is perfection. Last year I some of thee cutest wooden doll wedding cake toppers on Etsy and I just had to give them a try. I originally shared this project over on Crafts Unleashed; however, I thought there was no better time than the present to share them here with you: DIY Wooden Cake Toppers.
There’s something about these wooden cake toppers that is perfectly simple, yet adorably elegant. If I could do my wedding all over again it would be with a rustic/vintage theme. I love some of the piece within this vintage wedding tablescape. I would also add shabby florals, muted pinks and blues, lace, kraft paper, mason jars and burlap. I’m fairly certain these cake toppers would certainly be in the mix as well! Let’s do a little creating, shall we?
Supplies for Wooden Cake Toppers:
Wooden Male Doll
Wooden Female Doll
Pencil
Eraser
Paint Brushes
Acrylic Paints (in colors of choice)
Satin Sealer (optional)
A steady hand {wink}
Step 1.
Let’s start with the female doll. Sketch the neckline of the dress onto the doll using your pencil. On this one, I went with a v-neck. There are several ways you could do her neckline: up to the neck (see below), with a rounded color, squared, etc.
Step 2.
Now to fill in the remainder of the dolls body around the neckline sketch to give the appearance that she is clothed. I intentionally started with the clothing so I wouldn’t mess up their hair {hee-hee}.
Step 3.
Sketch on the hair. Keep the eraser handy if you need to make any changes, this is inevitable. Take your time and breath {smile}.
Step 4.
Start with a finer paint brush to outline the hair lines, then fill in with a thicker paint brush. You’ll do the same for your male wooden doll.
After a great deal of trial and error and using my eraser time and time again…. they turned out pretty darn cute! The key is being patient with yourself and having fun in the process! You can have a lot of fun with color combinations and getting as creative as you want with the hairstyles and apparel.
Before you know it, you’ll have the happy couple ready to go! As you can see, on one couple I dotted on their eyes, on the other I left them off. It’s truly a matter of preference. I like them both.
make the vintage inspired scrap fabric garland too — click for tutorial.
Final Step (optional)
I finished up with a quick coat of a clear satin varnish, giving it that finished look and a little shine.
What do you think? I adore these wooden cake toppers.
They’re perfect for an engagement party, wedding or anniversary!
Care to stay in the loop? I’d love to have you!
Catch me snapping + sharing pictures over on Instagram.
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A Little Claireification says
I remember this post! These are adorbs. Pinning now, of course.
(PS: we got married in Nov. too. 🙂 )
Kelly Rowe says
Much appreciated, as always. See…we have more in common then just blogging. 🙂 HUGS!
paperworx4seniors2 says
They remind me of weebles people. They were so cute. Maybe way before your time. My kids are older, youngest is 44, 50, 51 and almost 54. Sheesh where did the years go? I’m not old, I’m just creaky, lol. Really cute project, have fun with it.
Happy week
Kelly Rowe says
Thanks. I remember weeble people and I can see how these remind you of them. 🙂 Enjoy the rest of your week. xo.
Jelli says
These are so cute, Kelly! I’d totally forgotten about painting peg dolls even though I’d planned to do it for my little girl when I saw it on Pinterest a couple years ago. What a great idea to use these as wedding cake toppers. Clever!
Julie Espy says
Love this tutorial Kelly! I was going to buy a similar cake topper for our wedding next year, but this is way better! So pinned.
Kelly Rowe says
Awww. Thanks so much, Julie 🙂 Let me know if I can be of help to you in making a set. Hugs.
Jen Goode says
so super cute, love your lil’ cake people!
Carmody says
I love these little peg dolls. Great Idea.
Kelly Rowe says
Thanks Carmody! Appreciate you stopping by. xo.
bumblebreeblog says
These are so cute, I can’t even handle it!! I spend hours trying to find the perfect cake topper for my wedding (we ended up doing a desert bar so there was no need for a cake topper). We did display my grandparents cake topper from there wedding that added some vintage charm to our table. I wish I would have created something like this!
Kim @ The Cookie Puzzle says
These are so cute! I love how you kept them so simple, yet they look so elegant. Thank you for sharing.
Julie says
Very cute, and nice that you can actually make the people look a bit like the bride and groom in terms of colouring etc (with everso slightly rounder heads than real life of course!)
Cindy Eikenberg says
Kelly, I just love these!!! So adorable – pinning! Hope you have a happy and wonderful Memorial Day weekend!
Shareba @ In Search Of Yummy-ness says
These cake toppers are so cute, I love them!
Jodi says
So cute, I could see so many other uses for these!
Kelly Rowe says
Thanks so much, Jodi! I couldn’t agree more — so many fun uses. Cheers.