Bridal Shower DIY thank you cards

Of course no bridal shower would be complete without some DIY thank you cards. I originally grabbed some ready-made thank you cards from the Paper Source, but then I decided to just make some. I didn’t know what style of card I wanted to make, so I started sketching some very rough ideas. When I started to make some sketches of designs, I realized I could make the card accordion style. Plus, I recently took a paper rosette making class where I got a Scoring Board and I was looking for a project to use it for.

I downloaded some free Hawaiian Photoshop brushes, wrote a little message to my guests and printed the design onto off-white card stock. I originally wanted to make 4 sections of the accordion, but it made the area to write in too small. So, I just settled on 3 sections and writing over the middle image. It took a little bit of trial and error to get the spacing of the card right but with some trimming it finally worked.

I rounded out the edges of the card with my Fiskars corner-punch. It’s not the best rounder, but it does it’s job.

I didn’t think that I would find a use for this tool when I first got it (other than making rosettes), but I’m really happy I did. I even used an X-acto knife to trim the edge of the paper along the grooves of the board. I’m pretty sure this is not its intended purpose but it didn’t seem to cause any damage.

I used different colored envelopes I had and I called them finished!
Easy and free (since I already had all the supplies).

So that’s it for the bridal shower crafts! Thanks for following along.
We’re officially one month away from our wedding day and I cannot wait. And, there will be lots of crafts and fun DIYs to share!

Bridal Shower Favor: DIY Sunglasses Case

When I started planning my bridal shower, I knew that I wanted to make something to give to my guests and this DIY sunglasses case was the perfect idea! I was initially planning on making small pouches for my guests but then I saw my friend Carrie’s pattern for a sunglasses case and I knew that would be the perfect favor for a tropical bridal shower.

This is a free pattern and is super easy to use. As you can see from the print-out above, all you need is your main fabric, lining fabric, batting and some interfacing. Carrie’s directions made this pattern easy to follow. And once I had all my material cut and pressed, each sunglasses case was quick to sew up. Although I was inside sewing 20 cases on a 90 degree day, I must admit that it was great to get the creative energy flowing again.

I tried to use fabric that I had in my ever-growing stash, but I couldn’t resist buying some tropical/Hawaiian themed fabric. And I couldn’t resist a fabric with a school of fish on it! It was fun to mix different colored liners with fun prints!

I wrapped the sunglasses case with some raffia and wrote a thank you note to my guests on a green notecard and slipped it in a hot pink envelope. I even embossed the word “Aloha” onto the card (anything to use that embosser of mine).

Aside from the cost of some new fabric, this was a really easy and inexpensive bridal shower favor to give out. Plus, it’s alway great to give out something that is handmade, right? I was very happy that all my guests enjoyed their new sunglasses case! Now, go check out the tutorial and make one for yourself!

tropical wedding shower at zombie hut

On June 30th I celebrated with some of my best friends and family at my tropical-themed wedding shower at a local Brooklyn tiki bar. Since we don’t have a wedding party, I knew that I would most likely be planning the whole thing on my own (which is fine by me). I know I could have asked my closest friends to take on this task, but who doesn’t love to plan a party? After scouring different venues and countless emails, I finally found our venue, Zombie Hut, which ended up being the perfect low-key location. And since it’s a tiki bar, it was perfect for me to honor the time Karl and I spent in Hawaii. We catered the food from a local place, Cobblestone Catering and everything turned out delicious!

While I did plan all the design elements for the shower, like having flowers in a pineapple vase, making paper leis for each guest, etc., some of my girlfriends planned some fun bridal shower games for us to do! I didn’t remember to bring a real camera, so thankfully my friend Vicki snapped most of these pictures. Thanks, Vicki!

In between chatting and playing games, most of the guests sipped the Zombe Hut’s signature drink, a Frozen Zombie. This cartoon pretty much sums up the place.

The morning of the shower I was worried about the weather holding up, as there was rain on the forecast. Just a little bit of rain moved the party inside, but luckily it was towards the end of the shower. Karl came back to the party, along with some of the guys and we continued to enjoy the day! I was very thankful that my sister-in-law Megan and my brother were able to come in to town for the weekend. (You should check out her blog some time). Really, I was just so happy to spend the day with my favorite people.

Although I was a little apprehensive about opening up my presents at the shower, I admit it wasn’t so bad. I guess after a couple of Frozen drinks, nothing is that bad. But really, I was so thankful for the thoughtful gifts that my friends made and bought me. This day really highlighted how crafty my friends are. I can’t wait to share with you what’s inside that cute box! (Thanks Carrie!)

Of course I was snapping away with my Instax camera. I just love having some polaroids to help remember the day.

I can’t wait to marry this guy!

I will share in another post the favors and paper goods I made for this special day. Thanks to all, near and far, for helping me kick off the wedding festivities!

DIY ombre watercolor cake bunting

This DIY ombre watercolor cake bunting was a fun and easy craft to do! After breaking in my watercolors, I was on a mission to paint whatever I could find. Since I had planned on baking a couple of cakes to celebrate the grand re-opening of Urban Angler, I figured why not make a cute bunting to go with it? Fisherman could appreciate a good project, right?

Supplies Needed: 2 food-safe Wooden dowels, paper (this was watercolor paper, but any paper will do just fine), watercolors, bakers twine and a paper punch. Instructions: Using your watercolors, paint an ombre design on your paper. (The waves were perfect for guys who love the water!) Cut your paper to desired width/length. Then attach your cake flag by punching holes at the top corners of the paper and string the twine through as shown. Tie the end of the string to the dowels. You can adjust the drape of your bunting by spreading out the paper and adjusting the tightness of the twine. Then all you have to do is pop it in the cake! An easy and fun way to dress up any occasion!

This quick little bunting makes me look forward to creating our wedding cake toppers (since we will have a couple of small cakes) and finding some other watercolor projects to do this summer! I have already been scouring Pinterest looking for more watercolor inspiration! Enjoy!

diy wrapping paper

I had a lot of fun creating this DIY wrapping paper. This past weekend I bought a Kid Made Modern watercolor set at Target. I had been wanting new watercolors for a while now and when I saw this colorful set for $10, I figured why not treat myself.

After buying my (almost) niece Quinn some cute summer dresses, I knew making some wrapping paper would be the perfect way to break in my paints! I used the lyrics to Bob Dylan’s “Quinn the Eskimo” and painted them in script with black ink on kraft wrapping paper.

This was a really fun and easy project and I’m excited to make some more custom wrapping paper in the future. Enjoy!