Category Archives: DIY Wedding

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 engagement pictures

It wasn’t long after Karl proposed that I was already planning our engagement pictures. I had a vision of us standing in the middle of the river in ‘regular’ clothing, as opposed to those ~~stylish~~ unflattering waders–perfect for my fly-fishing husband-to-be. At that point we didn’t know who our wedding photographer would be and I was so eager to send out our save-the-dates, I just couldn’t wait. We had planned to go fly-fishing on the Delaware River (close to where we got engaged) one day last August and I knew it would be the perfect time to snap a few (or maybe 500) pictures. With the help of a friend’s heavy-duty tri-pod, my dad’s camera, a remote and some vintage accessories we were able to get some good shots. I remember buying that catch card from one of my favorite stores in Chicago secretly thinking it would be perfect for our wedding. Karl borrowed the vintage fly-fishing basket from his shop and we grabbed the vintage throw from my mom’s stash. We picked some wildflowers and we were all set for our photo-shoot.
Overall, I was really happy with our pictures. We got some strange looks from other fly-fisherman and kayakers–which is probably because they couldn’t believe we were wading in the freezing cold water. It was definitely not easy focusing the shot before running back over slippery river rocks (that’s why so many of our pictures are not framed perfectly). But, we got just enough shots for our save-the-dates, which was our ultimate goal. It’s funny to think that these were all taken in the same day because the lighting changes so frequently on the river and in the mountains. I think that’s what I love best about our pictures. *Luckily, we have hired a professional for the wedding.

wedding invites in progress

This is just a little sneak peak of our wedding invites. We’re going to be DIYing as much as we can for our wedding weekend, including designing and printing the invites. When we started to plan last August, I was really only interested in the many craft projects I could tackle (and thrifting for decorations, too). It’s been nice to take time away from my schedule to focus on creating the invites and crafting. I even broke out my Crop-a-Dile to use! So even if my eyes start blurring from looking at fonts for hours upon hours in Photoshop, it is all worth it! I feel motivated to craft more and share what I make in this space– which is always a good thing. I will be happy when they are finished and in the mail!

The only negative thing about a DIY wedding is…

the ever-growing piles.

Crafting Ideas & DIY Craft Projects | Elementally Bound