Paper Lanterns

Posted by Khris in Decor, DIY Projects & Tutorials

Here’s a fun project that would make beautiful centerpieces: Paper Lanterns.

These, courtesy of Better Homes & Gardens, can be made with any sturdy paper (scrapbook papers, cardstocks, and even a heavy vellum) to match your decor.

Source Better Homes & Gardens (beware of pop-up ads)

Welcome Basket Ideas

Posted by Khris in DIY Projects & Tutorials

Welcome baskets really are a great treat for your out-of-towners and they don’t have to be extravagant or expensive. Some things that are useful and universally appreciated by your guests:

• Local maps
• Entertainment section of the local paper
• List of phone numbers/addresses/email of anyone they may need to contact during their stay.
• Schedule of events and directions to the meeting places if you’re coordinating any activities for them.
• Recommendations for local pubs, restaurants, and sights.
• Bottle of water for each person
• Snack for each person (cookies, chocolates, local specialties, banana bread)

Instead of a basket, you could put these into a simple gift bag, tie it with ribbon, and enclose a personal note of welcome.

Simple. Easy. Useful. Gotta love that!

How To Make Your Favors A Hit

Posted by Khris in Wedding Planning

Favors are meant to be little tokens of appreciation from you to your guests. Whether they are elaborate or simple, what you give your guests should reflect your gratitude and be something most of your guests can appreciate.

Before you spend countless hours and lots of money on favors that will be ignored or thrown away, we’d like to offer you some hints to make your favors a hit.

1. If it’s not edible or useful in everyday life, you’re likely wasting your time and money. The idea of a favor is to give your guests a little “thank you” for sharing your day. Most guests are appreciative of the gesture, no matter what it is. However, not everyone wants to cart home little trinkets to clog their junk drawers, memory boxes or garbage cans.

2. Find favors that will appeal to MOST OF YOUR GUESTS. You may find lacey, highly scented potpourri sachets to be the veritible cat’s meow, but the 50% of your male guests, 2% of your highly allergic pals, and 30% of your friends who have very different decorating ideas will not be as charmed by them as you. You’ll likely end up with lots of left-overs.

3. Forget monogrammed items. Frames, glassware, trinkets with your initials are likely candidates to get left behind. Why? Who wants someone else’s initials on their glassware? It’s kind of creepy. Want to put your monogram on something? Attach a little card or ribbon with your names/initials to the favor or put your monogram on the packaging, not the item itself.

4. You’re an adult. The majority of your guests are adults. Please distribute favors that (a) look like something an adult would appreciate OR (b) appeal to the kid in all of us. Nostalgia toys (Legos, Pez dispensers, Pla-Doh) are big hits for kids and adults alike because most of us can relate to them. Frilly, girly things are better saved for 7 year old girl guests or for your bridal showers, if you’re into that sort of thing.

5. Inexpensive doesn’t have to look cheap. Chances are if the favor looks cheap, it’ll get left behind or will get tossed.

6. Make certain guests know they exist. We’ve attended many receptions where the favors were hidden in a basket next to the door. Putting favors next to each guest’s place setting is ideal or personally handing them out to each guest during the reception is a nice way to greet each person and thank them individually.

So, what are the favor “shoulds”?

- They should appeal to most adult guests, male and female.
- They should not be highly scented.
- They should be useful or edible.
- They should given with love and gratitude.

Custom Eyelet/Brad Colors

Posted by Khris in Crafting Advice

This query came in from one of our readers. We’re delighted to have an easy solution for her!

Q: I”m hoping you can help! I’m using eyelets and brads to attach my invitation pieces together. The problem is that I need colors that match my invitations and I can’t find any. I tried painting one with acrylic paints and that didn”t work. The paint just fell off when I was attaching the pieces. Any ideas?

A: Kudos to you for being so crafty! The paint idea is still a good one. You may want to try a spray paint or an enamel paint. Some companies make an enamel medium (Plaid comes to mind) that you can mix with acrylics to make an enamel-like paint. This may adhere better to the metal eyelets and brads.My other suggestion is to use rubber stamping embossing powders. This is simple and works great! I’ve tried this with brads, but not eyelets, though I suppose it will work just as well. You’ll need embossing powder of your color choice, a heat gun, and a pair of long-nosed tweazers to hold the brad while you’re heating it.

Step 1: Open your jar of embossing powder.
Step 2: Clamp the stem of your brad/eyelet in your tweazers.
Step 3: Heat the top of your brad/eyelet under your embossing gun for 5 – 10 seconds.
Step 4: Dip the brad/eyelet into the embossing powder while it’s screamin’ hot. Pull out immediately.

Voila! The embossing powder should immediately melt on the brad. If not, give it a quick blast from your heat gun.

For eyelets, you may want to use a shallow container or just a piece of paper to put your embossing powder on. This will help keep the color just on the rim of the eyelet and not coat the whole thing.

Good Luck!

Vellum Adhesives

Posted by Khris in Crafting Advice

From one of our readers:

Q: How do I glue vellum to my invitation without big puddles of glue showing through?

A: You have a few options for attaching vellum to cardstock.1. Spray photo mount adhesive (we love the 3M brand) – Spray a thin layer (you can use a piece of scrap paper to mask off the areas you don’t want to adhere) and simply press to your cardstock. Dries clear and very quickly. Small cans of adhesive around usually around $5.00.

2. Vellum tape – Relatively new to the market, vellum tape is a super-translucent tape that blends into most vellums. Scotch brand is widely available at craft stores and is usually around $5.00 for a roll.

3. The other option is to not use glue or tape at all. How about trying any of the multitudes of eyelets and brads that are so popular? Or, try punching two small holes in your project and weave a small ribbon through and tie a bow?