DIY Bride™

Our first Project Makeover comes from frustrated (and newly broke) DIYer Mindy.

Due to downsizing at both her and her fiance’s companies this summer Mindy is in a bit of a budget bind when it comes to her decor. Mindy adores bright green kermit mums and had hoped to make her own wreaths for pew and reception hall decoration. Her initial budget had been $30 per wreath. It is now $9.00 to 10.00 per wreath.

I wanted to give Mindy a kermit mum feel while using materials she could pick up at her local big box craft store. My solution? Kermit mums made out of yarn! Using modified yarn pom poms, pearl-headed pins, and a styrofoam wreath blank, I whipped up a super duper easy wreath that’s easy on the budget. Mindy happens to be an avid knitter so this was a fun surprise for her.

Supplies Needed

• Blank foam wreath, about 12″ in diameter
• 1 skein of green yarn, about 256 yards
• 1 package of pearl-headed pins
• Scissors – make sure they’re sharp!

Instructions:

1. On the middle three fingers of your non-dominant hand (if you’re right-handed, use your left), hold the end of your yarn down with your thumb and begin wrapping the yarn around and around your fingers,  about 32 – 35 times.
2. Cut the yarn when you’ve finished wrapping.
3. Cut a length of yarn about 3″ and tie it tightly around the middle of the yarn wrap you’ve created on your other hand. It sounds trickier than it is. I’m confident you’ll get the hang of it pretty quickly. You’re smart cookies.
4. Hold the pom-pom yarn bundle and use your scissors to cut through all of the loops on the pom pom – be careful not to cut through the piece of yard that’s holding all of the pieces together.
5. Fluff up your pom pom with your fingers.
6. Now, trim it up with your scissors, making it even and pretty.
7. The last step is to attach the “mums” to the foam wreath with the pins.

Cost Breakdown: $10.00 (note you’ll have leftover supplies to get started on more wreaths)

• Wreath: $5.00
• Yarn: $3.50
• Pins: $1.50

Notes:

• For a 12″ wreath, I used about 60 pom/mums of varying sizes. I did 2-finger and 3-finger mums to keep it interesting.
• The lighter the weight of the yarn, the more wraps you’ll need.
• The size of the mums will vary from person-to-person as our fingers are different sizes. I have chubby little fingers. Your digits may vary.
• Mum-making took about 1.5 hours for this project.
• I used about 3/4 of the skein of yarn.
• If you’d like to make yarn pom poms, increase the number of wraps from 30-ish to 70-ish.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I’m a sucker for great packaging. When the boxed invitation trend started emerging a few seasons ago, I was positively giddy at the possibilities that’d make their way to our little crafty hands. Just think of all the different ways a box could be decorated! So, knowing I had a little baby on the way (and a 2nd DIY Bride book to write), I ordered me up some boxes and began to experiment with ways to have fun with a boxed invite (and baby announcement) design.

What I came up with is this beauty of a project that combines my packaging obsession with my favorite crafting tool, the die cutting/embossing machine. It’s a boxed invitation with a window cut from the top with a great little die.

• White jewelry boxes, 7 3/8″ x 5  1/2″ x 1″, product #451175 from PaperMart.Com
• Paper cutter
• Spray adhesive
• Decorative paper, at least 8 1/2″ x 11″
• Cuttlebug or other die cutting machine
• Top Note die, product #113463 from Stampin’ Up!
• White and colored cardstock for invitation
• Double-sided tape
• Scissors
• Tape measure or ruler

1. Measure the outside dimensions of the jewelry box lid. (Or you can be like me and set your box lid, face down, on the back of a piece of decorative paper and make folds where you’ll need to trim the paper.)

2. Using your paper cutter, trim the paper down to fit the dimensions of your box lid.

3. Spray the back of the decorative paper with spay adhesive. I like 3M brand. (Don’t use re-positional adhesive.) Apply the paper to the box lid, being careful to line up the edges of the paper with the edges of the lid and smoothing out any wrinkles as you go along.

4. This is pretty as-is, isn’t it? Before you guys start asking: I don’t know who made this paper. It’s a few years old and part of the endless stash of scraps I’m trying to use up.

5. Next up: the die cutting machine. I have the Cuttlebug from ProvoCraft. Other manual die cutting machines like the BigShot by Sizzix will also work.

6. As luck would have it, the Top Note die is almost exactly as deep as the box lid and fits perfectly within the width. Place your die, cutting side down, in the center of the box lid.

7. Now, sandwich the die+lid between 2 of the die cutting machine’s plates. For the Cuttlebug, I used 2 “B” plates. Your machine may vary so do a little experimentation with plates or shims to get the best cut for your particular machine. It’s worth noting here that the box lid is a super tight fit with these plates and some come out a little smooshed on the edges. I can usually smooth them out with my fingers but some have looked damaged.

8. Run your die sandwich through the machine in either a forward or reverse motion, whichever you normally use for your die cuts. Do NOT go forward and then back thinking you’ll get a better cut. You’ll just end up dislodging your die and it’ll cut twice but not in the same spot.

9. Ooh, look! The window has been cut. Save that cut piece! It’ll be great for other projects like seating cards, favor tags, or …? You tell me.

10. For the interior of the box, the invitation, I cut a piece of solid-colored cardstock to the inside dimensions of the box. This is the mat around the invitation. I then created a template in MS Word for the invitation that was 1/4″ smaller (length and width) than the mat and printed the invite.

11. Using double-sided tape, I attached the invite to the mat. Beautiful.

12. Each jewelry box comes with a cotton batting liner. Don’t let that go to waste! I cut strips, about 1″ wide and 1″ long to use as padding in the 4 corners of the box. This props up the invitation. I stuck them down with double-sided tape.

13. Insert invite into box.

14. Place lid on box. Voila!

1. If you’re including maps, RSVP cards, envelopes, and other extras, they’re easily stored underneath the invitation. You may or may not need the cotton if you have bulky items in your invite set.
2. How to mail these? It’s best to put them in a bubble-mailer or inside another shipping box. You could wrap them in kraft paper and send them but you’ll get no protection, especially around that window area. I won’t kid you: these suckers will be expensive to mail. But look how cuuuuuute they are!
3. If you want to seal up the window on the lid, use overhead transparency film and apply sheets with double-sided tape on the inside of the lid. This is important if you’re sending candies or other small goodies that can escape.
4. Stampin’ Up!, if you’re not aware, is a direct sales company. They don’t sell directly to the public. Instead, they have representatives/demonstrators from whom you’ll need to buy this die from. My friendly neighborhood demo, Blythe (also my MIL), can be found here. If you want a demo of your very own, hit up the SU! website here.