Ombre Watercolor Wedding Signs

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These wedding signs may be my favorite thing I’ve made in September for my two brides, and funnily enough they were the thing that was made “in a hurry.” I had finished the other crafts, gotten all my candle holders and decorations together, and my friend/bride asked if I had any ideas for a “Pick a Seat, not a Side” signs.

I considered staining wood and using vinyl for lettering since it was an outdoor wedding, but I only had 3 days before the wedding and wasn’t about to get that done in time. Then I saw my pile of blank canvases (come now we all have one, those darn Michaels sales!) and saw a great opportunity to use them!

I used removable vinyl for the lettering and would highly recommend you doing so if you don’t plan to keep these forever. They held up just fine outside and even when it rained, but the vinyl being removable made it much easier to move the lettering if you don’t position it just right the first time.

When we had first started thinking about her wedding, there were so many ombre details we saw on Pinterest that we loved so I figured, why not ombre these signs? I absolutely love how they came out and, other than making sure my letters were all looking nice, easy to make and only took a couple hours! And by a couple hours, that was half an hour of doing things and a couple hours of letting paint dry.

Supplies:
Craft Cutter and Tool Set
Adhesive Mat
Transfer Paper
White Adhesive Vinyl
Purple, Lavender, and White Paint
16” x 20” Canvases
Paint Brush
Bowls for Paint
Pick a Seat Cut File
Not a Side Cut File
You’re Loved by both Cut File
The Groom and Bride Cut File

1.     First, mix your different colors of paint. I used a mix of white, lavender, and violet to make 4 different shades. Add a couple tablespoons of water to each bowl to thin the paint, making it only slightly thicker than water so that it acts more like a watercolor.

2.     Starting from light to dark, paint ¼ of the canvas light purple. Take the next darkest shade and paint the second quarter of the canvas. Wash the brush and using the lighter shade, brush across the canvas between the two color stripes to blend the colors. Continue in this fashion until the canvases are both painted. Let dry.

3.     Do a second coat on each canvas the same way as you painted the first one, making sure to wash your brush between colors. Once completed, wash out brush and from dark to light, brush horizontally across the canvas to smooth any paint lines. Let Dry.

4.     Using the Provided cut files, cut the "you're loved.." file to 5 inches tall and the other files to 11.5 inches tall (I made mine 16 inches wide and that made it a lot harder to keep them on the canvas and cut them). I’d recommend the 12” x 24” mat on these to fit them to the larger canvases.

5.     Weed the designs and cover with transfer paper. I prefer grid line transfer paper to help keep all your letters level.

6.     Transfer the designs onto your dry canvases. Press out any air bubbles and remove transfer paper, leaving the design behind.

These could easily be made in different colors to fit most wedding themes and were a fun twist on the traditional signs. Better yet, I already had everything to make them so they were free! :) Would you make these signs for your wedding?

Paper Wine Glass Escort Cards

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For the second wedding I helped with the bride wanted an escort card that could be placed in a small wine glass, which also happened to be the favor. With purple and silver as the colors and hearts as the escort card theme, I was off! I made these escort cards so that they could be hand written with the name and table number, but they would work best for a buffet meal so that you don’t have to find room to put people’s meal choices on there!

These escort cards also gave me the chance to try one of the features of my Cricut that I had never worked up the courage to use: the print to cut feature. And now that I have used it, I’m never going back! It made it so much easier to cut out the odd shape of these cards that I’m going to start designing wedding and party invitations for it to cut out too!

The wine glasses used were a little smaller than normal, so make sure to check the wine glasses you are using and size your cards appropriately.

Supplies:
White Cardstock
Craft Cutter and Tool Set
Adhesive Mat
Escort Card Cut File

1.     Import the cut file into the Cricut Desing Software. In this case, make sure to click outside the design to remove the white background from around the card, leaving the inside white.

2.     Save the file as a “Print to Cut” File and then import it into your project. I made my cards 3.25” wide which fit 3 to a sheet. These fit wine glasses that were 3.75” tall with a 2.25” opening. While I don’t know where they got their wine glasses, here are some cute ones from Beacoup that are the same size!

3.     Once you are ready to cut, go to the cut menu and print the number of sheets you need. I kept the “bleed” option check so that it will print the color slightly past the cut line so that the color is seamless on the edge. You can only print 10 at a time, but luckily by saving your cards as a project you can print them all and cut them later if you choose by selecting the same project.

4.     Once they are printed, affix your cardstock, 1 sheet at a time, to your cutting mat (I used a light grip mat) and cut them out with your Cricut. The Cricut will scan for the bold black lines printed around and then cut based on that scan. In my mind I was sure this wouldn’t work for some reason but it worked like a charm!

5.     Once all your cards are cut, handwrite guest names and tables onto the cards. Place in wine glasses when ready to present.

Once you get a hang of the print to cut feature (which will happen in the first 10 minutes of trying it) it’s just a matter of getting all the cards cut out. The Cricut makes such short work of the cutting. Even with the extra time it takes to scan, it could cut 12 cards in the time it took me to cut 3 by hand (and the Cricut cards were far better).  These turned out super cute and can easily be used for other weddings as well, and the best part is that, since they have a “stem” inside the wine glass, they don’t blow away in the wind! :) What did you use as escort cards for your wedding?

Wine Bottle Table Numbers

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Both of the weddings I crafted for last month have something in common, wine bottles! An established wedding trend for the DIY Bride is to use painted wine bottles in centerpieces and for other wedding décor. With that in mind, what easier way to make table numbers than to display them on one of the wine bottles!

Supplies:
Painted Wine Bottles
Adhesive Vinyl 
Transfer Paper
Craft Cutter and Tool Set
Adhesive Mat
Table Numbers 1-6 Cut File
Table Numbers 7-12 Cut File
Table Numbers 13-18 Cut File

1.     Import the Table Number Cut Files into the Cricut Design Software. Size the cut files to 11.5” high and cut out on the vinyl of your choice.

2.     Weed any excess vinyl from design and cover with transfer paper, smoothing the transfer paper so that there are no air bubbles.

3.     Once transfer paper is placed, cut out numbers so each Table number is its own rectangle.

4.     Peel Transfer tape with design off of the vinyl backing and place onto the painted wine bottle. Press design onto bottle then remove the tape, leaving the vinyl table number on the bottle. Repeat for the rest of your bottles.

Making wine bottle table numbers is very easy with a craft cutter; in fact it’s basically cut it out and stick it on. I have designed a basic set of table numbers here but you could easily design your own and use the same steps to make customized table numbers!

No Sew Steamer Trunk Card Box

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For my wedding, one of my best friends hand painted an adorable card box for us that I still have and love. So when my Gold Rustic Bride needed a card box, I decided to make her a card box too!

For this one, I actually ended up covering an old card box I had with fabric and decorating it with dark brown banding and antique gold upholstery trim to try to make it look a bit like a steamer trunk. Why? Because I always see this couple travelling and what cuter way to receive cards than a little trunk? :)

Now I outlined in the tutorial how I did this but honestly a lot of it was cutting, eyeballing and gluing fabric until it looked how I wanted it to so sorry if it’s a bit confusing! Hopefully the pictures will help if you want to make a card box too! :)

Supplies:

Card Box (I got mine from Michaels)
Beige Canvas Fabric
Teal Lining Fabric
Dark Brown Banding
Antique Gold Upholstery Trim
Glue (I would recommend Fabritac for this because my craft glue was much harder to use!)

Cover the Outside of the Box in Beige Fabric:

1.     Cover bottom and sides with beige fabric:  Run a line of glue along the top edges of the box and tuck the fabric into the crease. Let dry. Stretch fabric under card box and trim to fit into the crease of the other side. Glue fabric into the edge similar to the other side.

2.     You will notice the excess fabric around front and back: trim apx. ½” from the corner, glue flush to the front and back.

3.     Cover top sides: cut piece of fabric slightly larger than edges, run lines of glue along sides and under top, gluing fabric pieces in place. Let dry.

4.     Cover the front to lid: Measure and cut a piece of fabric that can wrap from the top front of your box over the lid and tuck under the front lip. Fold over long edge of the fabric and glue to create a clean edge. Line up edge of box to finished edge, then trim and fold over fabric on the other side to create a rectangle with two folded and glued seams that are the width of your box.

5.     Starting at the front, glue along the vertical edges of the box and glue fabric rectangle from the front of the box, under the bottom and over the lid. Glue edges into the creases as before.

Add Banding and Upholstery nails around the bottom and to the lid:

1.     Run lines of glue along the bottom of the box and secure banding around the perimeter. Let Dry.

2.     Measure and Cut a Strip of the Upholstery Nail Trim that goes all the way around the box. Using the nails provided, nail the trim around the box at the designated holes.

3.     There will likely be a little extra space if the perimeter of your box doesn’t perfectly align with the trim. Make the trim as close as you can and using some of the extra nails finish the pattern by nailing in the last few brads.

4.     Once the bottom is done, glue banding along the top edge of the lid of your box. Let Dry.

Line the Inside of the Box:

1.     Similar to covering the outside, start by cutting out two small strips to glue into the sides of the lid of your box. Stretch to fit and glue in place.

2.     Make a rectangle that is slightly larger than the inside of your box lid, then glue and fold over the edges to make a clean-lined fabric rectangle (like step 4 of covering the outside. Glue into the lid of your box, leaving the rough edge towards the bottom.

3.     Glue and tuck in two pieces of lining fabric for the inside front and back of your box. Make another rectangle with glued edges that are long enough to go down the side of your box, across the bottom, and up the other side of the box. Glue into the box along the edges and let dry.

Finish Banding around the Top of the Box:

1.     Along the edges where the teal and beige fabric meet, run glue along both sides of the edges of the box. Unfold the banding once so that it can be slipped over the top of the edge with banding on both sides.

2.     Secure banding in place with the glue lines and let dry.

Optional: Prop your Card Box open against a wall and glue in a piece of banding connecting the lid to the bottom of the box and let dry (I also clipped my pieces to the box while they dried for extra stability). This will help your box look pretty and stay open to receive cards! :)

Vellum Paper Rose Escort Card Holders

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With all my leftover roses from the Beauty and the Beast Shower, I have been looking for a new home for them. Luckily, they worked out perfectly for my sorority sister’s Rustic Glam Gold Wedding! Her main flowers are white roses, so these beauties were the perfect accent to go with her existing floral arrangements. With that in mind, we decided these would be perfect as place card holders for her guests!

While the assembly of the flowers is the same as in the previous Vellum Roses post, there are a couple other steps to make them the perfect escort card holders. In particular, I used vinyl to color the leaves a pretty metallic gold to go with the wedding colors and then secured each place card with double sided tape to ensure that they all stayed with their flowers and were easy to set up the day of!

Supplies:
Cream Vellum
Paper Modgepodge
Hot Glue Gun and Glue Sticks
Escort Cards (I printed mine on cardstock and cut them into 2” x 3” rectangles)
Gold Vinyl (optional)

1.     Print, cut out, and assemble the roses like in the Vellum Roses tutorial. Take care to not fold or attach the leaf portions to your flowers yet.

2.     Design, print, and cut out your escort cards (I used the font Good Vibes and Bebas Neue). Using double sided tape, tape the back of the card to the front of one of the petals. I generally taped mine a few petals out from the center were the card was clearly readable. Once you have all your cards taped, set the flowers aside but try to keep them in whatever order you want them placed for the wedding.

3.     If you are using vinyl on your leaves, remove backing from your vinyl and lay it down on your work surface, adhesive side up. Arrange as many leaves as you can on the sheet and smooth them down, making sure there are no air bubbles. Using scissors, cut leaves out of the vinyl.

4.     Fold two of the three leaves as shown in the original tutorial. For the third leaf, fold in the opposite way as the other two leaves so that it will prop up the back of the flower.

5.     Using hot glue, attach the leaves to the flowers, making sure the “proper” leaf is in the back, perpendicular to the escort card.  (Sorry these are a little blurry!)

I wasn’t sure how I’d feel about the leaves being gold but as it turned out I adored it! With the roses being a little translucent themselves the gold leaves gave a magical quality to the roses, which of course I loved! I ended up being able to pack them up in a box with glass dividers so that they would move around and would stay in order for their trip up to their mountain wedding. What would you use for your escort cards?

Frosted Glass Guestbook Sign

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So many weddings these days come with the cutest guest books, gone are the days of just a book and pen! My husband and I had people sign the mat of a picture frame, but I’ve seen puzzle pieces, messages in a bottle, and photobooks used as other great guest book alternatives! One thing you should think about with these guest books is to make sure your guests know they are supposed to sign it. With that in mind, I designed this lovely little Guestbook sign for the gold rustic wedding I have been DIYing for.

This is similar to the DIY Wedding Frames I did previously, but with just a little extra detail of the tree with the frosted glass to give a special touch to this sign. Originally I was going to do this with a mirror, but the silvery finish of the mirror and the gold made it look too Christmassy as opposed to wedding. However, if silver is one of your metallics, doing this project with a mirror instead of a frame would look beautiful!

Supplies:
Picture Frame (I used an 8” x 10” picture frame)
Removable Vinyl
White Vinyl
Scrapbook Paper
Frosted Glass Paint
Craft Cutter and Tool Set
Adhesive Mat
Sign our Guestbook Cut File

1.    Like the DIY Wedding Frames, trace and cutout the correct size of paper based on your frame and mount in your frame.

2.     Cut out your Tree or other design with the Cricut. I found a free piece of clipart for mine. Use removable vinyl and measure your glass to ensure that you make it the right size. Using transfer paper, affix your design onto your frame.

3.     Remove the glass from your frame or, if like mine your frame and glass are one piece, cover the frame with painter’s tape. Using your frosted glass paint, cover your picture frame or glass with 2 to 3 coats of paint, waiting between coats for the paint to dry. 

4.     Once the paint is dry, remove your vinyl tree design. Depending on how think your paint layer is, it is helpful to use the hook tool that comes with the Cricut or a toothpick to lift some of the skinnier branches while not pulling up the paint as well.

5.     Now, cut out the “Sign our Guestbook” Lettering with your craft cutter similar to the DIY Wedding Frames, but size the file based on the height and width of the frame you chose.

6.     Cut out the design, weed the excess vinyl and transfer it to the front of your frame with transfer paper and you are done!

I love that the frosted glass still shows the tree slab design on the paper and the actual tree design gives a little extra dimension to the whole sign. At the end of mine, I actually painted the frame a more champagne gold to go with the others I had made and it turned out perfect! What other wedding signs would you make for your wedding? :)

Easy DIY Wedding Signs

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While Wedding Season really starts in late Spring I seem to have gotten all my wedding DIY fun in this September! Two of my sorority sisters are getting married this month and I have had so much fun making things for their big days!

One of the often overlooked details in wedding decorations are signs, so I have designed two simple ones for the Gift Table and Favor Table in 5 x 7 frames, so that they are easy to pack, look cute, and were super easy to make! This bride is having an upscale rustic wedding in golds, cream and teal, so I incorporated the rustic tree slices in the gold background paper with white lettering to make it easy to read and also give the signs an upscale feel. After all, white writing is far harder to come by than almost any other color with printers; luckily that’s where a craft cutter comes in handy!

The best part of this project is that is it totally customizable to your colors and theme, you simply have to pick the paper, frames, and colors that you want to personalize them for your big day!

Note: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning that if you click a link and make a purchase, I will receive a small commission. This costs nothing additional for you and I only promote items I use and love!

Supplies:
Picture Frames of Choice (I got mine from a Walmart a while back)
Scrapbook Paper
White Adhesive Vinyl
Transfer Paper
Craft Cutter and Tool Set
Adhesive Mat
Gifts and Cards Cut File
Thank you Sign Cut File

1.     Upload the Cut files into the Cricut Software and cut out on the vinyl color of your choice. I used removable vinyl and would recommend it if you want to use the frames again for a non-wedding purpose. I sized my cut files to be 6” wide.

2.     Cut out the sign lettering on your choice of vinyl. Weed out the excess vinyl. Using grid patterned transfer paper, measure and cut out two 5” x 7” pieces. Cut it out along the grid lines; it will make the vinyl transfer so much easier!

3.     Take the glass out of the frames and arrange the lettering where you would like it on the glass. If needed, you can tape the sides of the vinyl backing to keep it in place but I found it to be uneccesary.

4.     Lining up the Transfer paper to the top left corner of the glass, cover the entire piece of glass with the 5” x 7” transfer paper piece. Using a smoother or your hands, smooth out any air bubbles.

5.     Now, lift the transfer paper and vinyl design off the glass, making sure to not completely remove the transfer paper from the glass; keeping it stuck will keep your letters right where you wanted them! Once the vinyl design is removed from the backing, take the backing off the glass.

6.     Restick the transfer paper to the glass to adhere the lettering. Smooth out any air bubbles, then completely remove the transfer paper, leaving the lettering exactly where you wanted it on the glass.

7.     For the background in the frame, trace around the glass of your frames then cut it out with scissors. Place the background paper behind the glass in the frame and you are done!

While I made just the two signs for the Gift Table and Favor Table, you could also easily use this for table numbers, buffet signs, or your guestbook sign! I think I will do these again for my next shower; they are so easy and can be totally customized to whatever theme you want! What would you use these signs for? :)

Beers and Bowties Groomsmen Invitations

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Is it just me or does it seem like groomsmen get the short end of the stick in the “getting invited” department? Granted, they don’t generally have to put in the same hours as the bridesmaids but they should certainly get a fun invitation too!

This idea actually came to me while I was designing my Bridesmaid Wine Labels as I was trying to think of a fun, cheap way to invite the groomsmen with a similar theme. Enter this dashing 6 pack of beers, bow-tying up for the occasion!

There are two parts to this tutorial, making the bowties and covering and labelling the 6 pack holder. I don’t think its necessarily required to cover the 6 pack holder itself, but I did just for fun and a Cricut makes this an easy and quick project for inviting your groomsmen. The best part about the bow ties is that you can pick your pattern so each 6 pack doesn’t have to match, but instead can be themed to each groomsmen. I just used extra scrapbook paper I had and they turned out super cute!

Supplies:
6 Pack of Beer
Colored Paper for Bowties
Adhesive Vinyl (I used Black and Gray for the background and White for the Words)
Tape
Transfer Paper
Craft Cutter and Tool Set
Adhesive Mat
Bow Tie Cut File
6 Pack Label Cut File

Covering the Holder:

1.     Pick the Background Color for your 6 pack holder. I did mine half gray and half black so that you can see the way it looks with different bowties.

2.     Lay the holder flat onto the back of the vinyl sheet and trace around the top and sides. Cut the Vinyl along those lines with scissors.

3.     Peel and Stick the vinyl to the sides of the holder. I made mine a little longer just in case and then trimmed off the excess vinyl when I was done to about ½” above the holder. Once trimmed, I folded the vinyl over the edges of the holder to create a smooth line.

4.     Once your holder is covered, import the 6 pack label file into the Cricut Design Software. Measure the height of your holder and resize the image to 1” less than that height (I made mine 5” ).

5.     Cut out the design in your chosen color and weed out the excess vinyl. Using Contact Paper, transfer the label to the 6 pack holder.

Making Bowties:

1.     Upload the Bow Tie Cut File into the Cricut Design Software.

2.     Cut out bowties with you Cricut craft Cutter. I was able to get 6 bowties per sheet so each piece of paper can be used for one 6 pack. I would highly recommend using the light grip adheasive mat (its purple) so that you don’t have to worry about the paper sticking to your mat too much and ripping when you try to remove them.

3.     Remove your bowties from the mat. Using the smaller rectangular piece, fold around the center of the bowtie and tape the two edges together, so that the longer collar piece can be threaded through the center.

4.     Thread the long rectangular collar piece through the loop, with the pretty side of the paper facing towards the back of the bowtie.

5.     Wrap the Bowtie around your beer bottle, once you have the bowtie positioned how you want it; tape the ends of the collar together. Repeat for all remaining bowties and bottles.

6.     Once completed, put all the newly bowtied beers back into the holder and its ready to go!

As you can see, these are easy and quick to make if you have a craft cutter, just buy your guys their favorite 6 pack, cut, tape, and you’re ready to go! Plus, these boys have to put up with a lot of wedding craziness for the next couple months, never hurts to start it off with a beer. :)

Bridesmaid Proposal Wine Labels

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What Bridesmaids wouldn’t appreciate a bottle of wine to toast to the new wedding journey? I love the idea of giving a bottle of wine; it’s always appreciated and is not that expensive compared to the other bridesmaids invitation options out there. I must say I bought a bunch of swag for my maids to invite them, and while I don’t regret it in the least (they did A LOT of DIY) most people don’t want or need to drop a bunch of cash on their bridal party invitations.

Making these Bridal Party Invitations is very straightforward and turned out so cute! I would recommend wines in clear bottles for the labels to show to their best advantage, but you can use them on most any wine bottle you like!

Supplies:
Wine Bottle Labels
Wine Label Printable
Wine of Choice

1.     Download the Printable and Print your labels. I have made them specifically for Chardonnay wine bottles but you can always use something else and not use the top strips. :)

2.     Soak off the Label from your wine bottles with hot soapy water. Scrub any remaining residue off with a sponge and dry the outside of the bottles.

3.     Peel off the label and affix it to your cleaned bottle. I found the edge of the bottle and used the vertical line to line up my label so it would be level.

4. If using the Chardonnay labels, wrap them around the top where the foil meets the bottle.

5.     Optional: Glue on a few clear and pink gems to give your bottles some extra sparkle! I just used regualr tacky glue and some extra gems I had lying around from previous bachelorette parties. :)

This is a wonderful way to invite your maids and it really only costs as much as the wine and a set of labels. Want to design your own labels? The company that created these label sheets has an online design studio so you can always come up with a design all your own!

D.I.Y. Loose Tea Favors

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As much as I love teacups and teacup candles as favors, in reality that is just too expensive for everyday shower favors. That’s where these lovely tea tins come in! For a Beauty and the Beast feel, I modified a free piece of rose clipart that reminded me of the stained glass window in the original movie.

Supplies:
Avery 2” Round Labels
Silver Tins
Tea of choice
Tea-rific Labels

1.     Fill the tea tins with the tea of your choice. It took around 3 Tbsp of tea per tin to fill it about 2/3 full.

2.     Print your labels. I always print a test page of the labels to make sure they line up with your label paper. My printer was a little bit testy about printing them perfectly on the lines but since the rose pattern overlaps the label anyway it didn’t really cause any issues for my labels. :)

3.     Lastly, place the label on the lid of the tin and you are done!

Yes this is literally the easiest tutorial ever, making it a great last minute favor your guests will love! I’m already thinking of other fun foods for these tins; mixed nuts, coffee, sprinkles? :) What food would you give away in these cute little tins?

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D.I.Y. Wood Wick Teacup Candles

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There is nothing that adds a fun vintage flair to a shower quite like these teacup candles. And they are so versatile! I will be using them for a Beauty and the Beast themed bridal shower, but they could just as easily be used for a tea party, Jane Austen Shower, or Mother’s Day Brunch!

For me, the wood wicks were a requirement on this batch, they just remind me so much of a fire in the hearth, and for a Beauty and the Beast Shower, it is the perfect touch since most of the story takes place in the winter where crackling fires are most welcome! In addition, the teacups are the perfect ode to my favorite characters, Mrs. Potts and Chip!

I have wanted to make these candles for a while but was always discouraged for one reason, finding the teacups! While you can find teacups at yard sales and estate sales, I could rarely find them and when I could, they were $10+ per cup! Luckily, I had the thought to check Etsy for teacups and I was not disappointed! :)

I was very impressed with the Etsy shop, The Acerage, which I purchased my teacups from. First, they were half the price I see at estate sales for the same cups due to what they term “minor damage.” So when I received them I was expecting some stains, chips, or even small cracks. Imagine my surprise when all the cups that came not only were in great condition (I could hardly find any chips), but they were in fact much better than the aforementioned teacups I paid double for at the estate sale! I have linked in the supplies the set I used, which are great to make a whole set of candles for shower favors. When someone orders them, the listing will disappear but as soon as they gather the next set they list it again.

If giving the teacups as a favor is not quite in your budget, use them as bridal shower prizes and only make a couple! I have been using them for the last couple showers I have gone to as prizes for games and they have been beloved by all!

Supplies:  

Mismatched Teacups and Saucers
Wooden Candle Wicks
Candle Wax*
Candle Pouring Pot
Powdered Candle Dye
Essential Oils for Scent

*I used leftover candle stubs, but the wax linked here will make about 20 -8oz teacup candles

1.  Melt wax on low heat in your pot. If, like me, you are using candle stubs, remove the wicks from the old candles once the wax is completely melted using either tongs or a fork.

2. For these candles, the full wax wick is far too long. Insert the wood wick into its metal stand and place in the cup. Cut the wicks at the top of the teacup with a pair of scissors, then remove the candle wax from heat and soak them in the wax for 10 minutes. Soaking these wicks is VERY IMPORTANT, they are not like the standard wicks that are already coated in wax and not soaking them will lead to the candles not staying lit.

3. Once wicks have been soaked, remove them with tongs or a fork. Once they are cool enough to handle (I was able to touch them immediately) insert them into the metal holder stands included and let dry.

4. Now, attach the wicks to the bottom of your teacups by dipping the metal holder into the melted wax, then position at the bottom of the jar. 

5. Let the wax cool for a couple more minutes, then add color and fragrance of your choice. The ones I have recommended are great for candles, bath bombs, soaps, and bath salts, so you can get a lot of use out of them! I made pastel pink, purple, and yellow candles that were scented as peppermint-lemon, lavender-lemon, and rosemary-lemon (I know you can't tell that I like lemon).

6. Pour cooled (but still liquid) wax into the teacups. Reserve about 25% of your wax to remelt and top off your candles if a divot is created in the middle due to the wax cooling. The cooler the wax is, the less of a divot will form. Some of mine with the cool wax needed no additional wax to fill in, while the ones where I started with hot wax needed a lot of extra to make them look nice!

7. Once candles are cooled and solidified, remelt the excess wax and fill in any divots that were caused during the first pour. Now you have a lovely set of candles for your home or favors for your next party!

These have been by far one of my favorite DIY projects I have done lately and a project I have wanted to do for a long time! Now I just need to find homes for all the teacups I can’t keep, time for a tea party! :)

Bride Tribe Tumblers

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If there is one thing I love making for Bridal Parties, it is Tumblers! They are so cute and so useful for getting ready gifts, bachelorette party favors, or even to ask your maids in the first place.

For these tumblers, I was looking for a free dream catcher file for a more unique “Bride Tribe” tumbler, but none of them were suiting my fancy. Then I found this amazing one on Etsy! For a couple bucks it was well worth the price! Better yet, its an SVG file which are super easy to import into the Cricut Craft Cutter software.

For these tumblers and many of the wedding and bridal projects you will see on this blog, having a Cricut is required. I can’t say enough good things about mine, I wish I had had it when I was crafting for my own wedding! It would have saved me hours of work and many of the projects I did would have turned out even better! If you are a crafter, a bride, or even part of the bridal party I would highly recommend one, the one-time purchase will serve you well. :) Not only can you make tumblers like these, but you can also use it for custom cut invitations, iron on clothing, paper crafts, and removable vinyl wall decorations. I could go on and on but needless to say they are awesome!

Supplies:

Gold Adhesive Vinyl
Metallic Teal Adhesive Vinyl
Transfer Paper
Purple Tumblers
Craft Cutter and Tool Set
Adhesive Mat
Dream Catcher File
Bride File
Bride Tribe File

1.     Download the Dream catcher File and import into the Cricut software. You can do this by going to the software; and, after making a new project, click the upload button. Import the file, the click Continue.

2.    Press save for the file to be uploaded to the software, then click the image under the Upload Tab. Select Insert Images" to insert it into the current project.

3.     Size the dream catcher to 3.25” wide, then remove the unneeded cuts. For this image, ungroup the cuts using the button on the upper right.

4.     Now, select each of the first 5 cuts and press the red "x" on the image to remove it.

5.     Once the excess cuts are removed, copy and paste the number of dream catchers you need then click the "Make it" Button in the upper right. You can get up to six dream catchers per 12” x 12” sheet of vinyl. Press Continue to got to the cut Screen. On the Cricut itself, set the dial to "Vinyl", load the mat with Gold Vinyl, and press the Cricut button to cut.

6.     Similarly, import the “Bride” and “Bride Tribe” pictures into the software, sizing them to be 2.5” tall. Cut these out in the Metallic Teal Vinyl.

7.     Remove the excess vinyl (known as weeding) until just the images and words you want to transfer are remaining.

8.     Cut away the excess backing around your vinyl designs. Fix them to the vinyl mat based on how you would like them to transfer onto the tumbler. As you can see from mine, I nested the “Bride Tribe” words into the bottom right of the Dream Catcher.

9.     Cover the design with transfer paper. Push out all the air bubbles and press it into the design, such that when you lift the transfer paper the design comes up with it without its backing. I prefer the lined transfer paper as it makes it easier to orient the designs on their final resting places.

10.     Starting at the top of the tumbler, line up and press the transfer paper onto the tumbler, working top left to bottom right. Because it is curved, it will not stay exactly parallel with the top, this is ok! Pres the transfer paper as flat as you can against the tumbler, rubbing the design especially to get out any air bubbles. Lift the transfer paper, leaving the design on the tumbler.

11.     For the Bride Tumbler, I wanted the letters to overlap the Dream Catcher. So the same steps as above are followed, but you first transfer the dream catcher, then the test as two separate transfers.

Using these basic instructions, you can also design whatever tumbler you like to make your own custom tumblers for you, your bride, or your wedding party (if you are the bride!).

D.I.Y. Wooden Wick Candles

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These lovely crackling candles first came to be based on my own bridal shower. One of my friends won one as a prize and absolutely loved it! When it finally burned out a couple weeks ago, I went looking for a way to replace it as her birthday present. Luckily, I had the thought to check for the wooden wicks first!

I love these wooden wicks compared to the regular ones, where you can achieve the comfort of a crackling fire with a little candle. I didn’t realize it would be so easy to make them myself, or that amazon would have had such an assortment to choose from (last time I doubt that Amazon doesn't have everything under the sun).

Now, I have a wonderful assortment of these candles which were cheap to make and so nice to have! I would highly recommend making them if you have candle stubs at home; I used the ends of my wedding candles for them and was able to make a bunch of them in both leftover favor jars and teacups as prizes for upcoming showers and gifts for my friends! These also work wonderfully for Bridal Shower favors, Wedding Favors, or Baby Shower Favors!

Some things to note on this project: for your candle making supplies, you need a pouring pot or an old pot you don’t care about to melt the wax. I made the unfortunate choice of using one of my cooking pots with an old measuring cup and it took me a good couple hours to get all the wax remnants out. Seeing as I could’ve bought an actual candle pouring pot for a little over $10, it would’ve been a far better choice and I wouldn’t have been spilling wax all over the place!

Supplies:  
Wooden Candle Wicks
6 oz Jars with Lids
Candle Wax*
Candle Pouring Pot
Powdered Candle Dye
Essential Oils for Scent

*I used leftover candle stubs, but the wax linked here will make about 26 -6oz candles

1.  Melt wax on low heat in your pot. If, like me, you are using candle stubs, remove the wicks from the old candles once the wax is completely melted using either tongs or a fork.

2. For these candles, the full wax wick is far too long. Cut the wicks in half with a pair of scissors, then remove the candle wax from heat and soak them in the wax for 10 minutes. Soaking these wicks is VERY IMPORTANT, they are not like the standard wicks that are already coated in wax and not soaking them will lead to the candles not staying lit.

3. Once wicks have been soaked, remove them with tongs or a fork. Once they are cool enough to handle (I was able to touch them immediately) insert them into the metal holder stands included and let dry.

4. Now, attach the wicks to the bottom of your jars by dipping the metal holder into the melted wax, then position at the bottom of the jar. 

5. Let the wax cool for a couple more minutes, then add color and fragrance of your choice. The ones I have recommended are great for candles, bath bombs, soaps, and bath salts, so you can get a lot of use out of them! I made pastel pink, purple, and yellow candles that were scented as peppermint-lemon, lavender-lemon, and rosemary-lemon (I know you can't tell that I like lemon).

6. Pour cooled (but still liquid) was into the jars. Reserve about 25% of your wax to remelt and top off your candles if a divot is created in the middle due to the wax cooling. The cooler the wax is, the less of a divot will form. Some of mine with the cool wax needed no additional wax to fill in, while the ones where I started with hot wax needed a lot of extra to make them look nice!

7. Once candles are cooled and solidified, remelt the excess wax and fill in any divots that were caused during the first pour. Now you have a lovely set of candles for your home or favors for your next party!

The crackling of these candles makes me want to make a slew of them for a fall or winter wedding, just with different colors and scents. :) What would you make these cute little candles for?

Chocolate Dipped Cookie Spoons

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These adorable cookie spoons are something that I was planning on doing for my wedding out of town guest bags; but I never got around to making them! They go perfect with a cup of cocoa and are a wonderful addition to a coffee bar. :) The best part is that they are quite cheap to make, 120 spoons for about $50 if you have to buy all the ingredients.

Supplies:
Spoon Shaped Cookie Cutter
2 – 10 oz White Candy Melts
2 – 10 oz Chocolate Candy Melts
Sugar Cookie Dough (Here is my recipe)

1.     Prepare the Sugar Cookie dough according to the recipe you plan to use. For the recipe I used, it will make around 120 spoons if you use all the dough. In general you want the dough to hold its shape and not flatten out, so try not to use the store bought stuff (If you do, add a little flour into the dough before rolling it out).

2.     Sprinkle flour on your work surface and roll the dough out to a little over ¼” and cut out spoons with the cookie cutter. Transfer to a cookie sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes. Try to have your cookies come out on the crispier side; that will help them keep their strength for being dipped into coffee.

3.     Once your cookies are cooled, melt the chocolate melts according to the package. Dip the end of each spoon into the chocolate then lay on parchment paper to cool. I put my candy melts in glasses so that it made dipping the cookies easier and made half of my cookies white and half dark chocolate.

4.     Once the chocolate has hardened, use a spoon to drizzle the extra chocolate over the spoons, and you’re done!

These cookies are easy to make into cheap favors by simply putting them in cellophane bags and are the perfect addition to a welcome bag for a winter wedding! Leave any questions you have in the comments!

DIY Personalized Wedding Matches

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One of my favorite ideas that came into play with our wedding was the Cigar Bar I designed for my husband and his fraternity brothers. It gave the guys a fun "manly" thing to do during the wedding and everyone told us how much they liked it! Now for me, no cigar bar is complete without personalized matches, and no better time to personalize everything than for your wedding! As I searched, I couldn't seem to find anything quite right so I decided to design my own! It was surprisingly easy and I love the way they turned out!

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links and choose to purchase, I will receive a small commission. This does not affect your price in any way and I only promote products I use and love! :)

Supplies:

Plain White Box Matches

Full Sheet Adhesive labels (I used Avery 5156)

Matches Template

1. Using the matchbook template, start by putting your own information into the text boxes. The font I used for our names and location is called Baroque Script, so if you want it to look exactly like these matches make sure to have the font downloaded beforehand!

2. Print out the matches and cut them out with scissors. Next, line up the top of the matchbook and the sticker. Make sure that the sandpaper strip is on the side that won't be covered by the sticker.

3. As shown above, adhere the sticker starting at the top, then smoothing around the entire matchbook. Below you see a finished matchbook.

This project really added a special touch to our big day and as you can see its quite easy to do! After the initial measuring and designing of the template it only took about two hours to cut and make 100 matchbooks! Stay tuned for more fun wedding crafts!