Bridal Shower Decor!

Hey there!

This past weekend we celebrated my dear friend Amanda's bridal shower! I'm so excited to celebrate the upcoming wedding of 2 of my best friends! :) The four of us bridesmaids all worked together to pull off a beautiful yellow and grey themed shower on Sunday.

I didn't get as great of photos as I had hoped, but here's what I was able to somewhat capture of the crafty stuff -- the banner, food labels, and a keepsake box with notecards.

For the banner, I spelled out "bride to be" using my Cricut and Cindy Loo Cartridge with deep grey cardstock. I used the George + Basic Shapes cartridge to cut out 2 hearts. (Good old George - it seems so plain but always manages to come in handy!) I adhered the accented letters and shapes to yellow and grey cardstock cut to 6x6" square pennants using liquid glue. I used a ribbon punch to punch two holes in each square-shaped pennant, and finally, began weaving grey grosgrain ribbon through each slit. I love love love the finished product! The colors were perfect and it hung beautifully on the mantle! (Do you spy the gorgeous lemon centerpieces??)

For the Vegan-Friendly food labels, I cut some nice thick yellow cardstock to 3x3". I scored it at 1.5" and folded it in half. Using Lawn Fawn's Smitty's ABC's, I spelled out "Vegan Friendly" and stamped it on all the of the mini cards in pretty grey London Fog ink. Next, I punched some hydrangeas in the dark grey cardstock. I rolled them petals, layed the flowers using liquid glue, and adhered one to each card. Once they were dry, I used Platinum Liquid Pearls to add a subtle and pretty center to each bloom. I loved these! The bride did too, and wants to repeat using them at the wedding. :)

Finally, as a keepsake for the bride, I make a "Shower Memories" box and lots of notecards for all the guests to record a memory or advice on. To begin, I painted a kraft box and lid with yellow acrylic paint - I did 2-3 coats to get a good even color. I created a flower using grey cardstock and Tim Holtz' Tattered florals die. (This brought back QUITE the memory of my own wedding, just 6 months ago, for which I die cut and embellished hundreds of the Tattered Florals by hand for my reception centerpieces. A labor of love and totally worth it!) I added a bit of Tea Dye distress ink for dimension, and finished the center with a pretty yellow October Afternoon button and grey baker's twine from Doodlebug. I stamped a vintage lady in London Fog on ivory cardstock and added Mustard Seed Distress Stickles to her dress. After cutting her out, I adhered her and the flower next to one another on the lid of the box. I adhered a strip of dainty grey lace along the bottom, and wrote "Shower Memories" in silver metallic Sharpie. This was a lot of fun and I was pleased with the finished product!

Finally, I had lots of fun creating a variety of cards for guests to write on. I cut them to various sizes, and decorated them with a variety of stamps, punches, border punches and washi tapes. I hope the almost Mrs. had fun reading over them! <3 p="">
Thanks so much for stopping by today! If you have and questions, comments or requests just let me know. Happy crafting!
xoxo,
Emily

P.S....

A cricut, a cuttlebug, and tim holtz walk into a bar...

So, couple of things...

Made this card for Grandma, for her birthday which was yesterday. I was really excited to use lots of new things. I challenged myself to explore with my Cricut, because I haven't used it much since I purchased it (over 1 1/2 yrs. ago)...to be honest, the machine sort of intimidates me. At least it has up until now. I'm getting more comfortable. :) I cut out some balloons from the Stretch Your Imagination cartridge, before inking and stickling them. (Yes, I just made stickling a verb...)

I also was stoked to use the cuttlebug for some texture and my very first cuttlebug die cut. The die cut I did, is one by Tim Holtz. They're called Alterations, and I absolutely love them - however, they are intended for Sizzix machines. Through my repetitive watching of THIS Youtube video, I was convinced to spring for one, as she very efficiently proves that they are in fact compatible with the cuttlebug. So the other night I got the Baroque die cut. I cut one to add to this card, after inking it and embossing it with Swiss Dots.

Distress Inked + stickles

Swiss Dots

So when I first cut a balloon, I had it on the wrong size dial, which resulted in this teeny tiny balloon. Always trying to use it all up, I was excited when I realized I had the perfect use for the little mistake. A touch of red sharpie and voila! :)

So I'm finally getting to explore a little bit with the T.H. Compendium of Curiosities. First up, the Shabby Chic technique:

I was thrilled with how this technique turned out. This is just a plain grunge heart (mixed minis set). The paint dabbers I used were sunset orange and espresso. *TIP: rather than using the actual dabber foam top, i dabbed it on and then used my finger to spread it all around. a much smoother look.*

Next up, 2 techniques layered in one. The background coloring is the Wrinkle Free Distress, and I am actually blanking on the name of the other technique. I do know that it didn't work the best for me. It had to do with Perfect Pearls over a distress stamped image, and then misting water so that the ink would wick out from beneath the powder. Well, my ink ran. But I'm ok with the finished product:

^ prisma glitter over stamped image

Finally, I did some experimenting with my mini misters. I have only made one concoction so far, but as I was warned, I am addicted. I just mixed some bronze p.p. with a full tube of water. I spritzed it over this ornament tag, and also over this imitation grunge flower I made.

^ close-up showing mini mister detail! :)

As a P.S., that imitation flower was made using the cricut (george & basic shapes) on 'shadow blackout' at 2 1/2 inches. I used Scattered Straw distress ink, Golden Rod stickles, and a spritz of my DIY mixture. Gave it to my mom as a Get Well flower - she and I are both peuny!

xoxo