The cutest bridesmaid proposal ever (if I do say so myself!)

Ever since he popped the question, I've known exactly which girls I wanted to stand up there with me, and I also knew that I wanted to make me asking them almost as special as him asking me!  I surfed around on pinterest for inspiration, but didn't really find anything I loved to draw from.
The idea struck me when I stumbled upon these super cute Valentine's Day plates at Target, which just so happened to be in the colours we chose for our wedding!
I bought a few of them, not knowing exactly HOW they would be put to use, just knowing that they WOULD be... and got cracking!

It started to come together when I found this frame.  I thought about decoupaging it in our wedding colours, but instead, I settled on decoupaging it with pages from a vintage romance novel (My one bridesmaid, Marlena, actually got a frame that was decoupaged with pages from a French romance novel!)



Then, I discovered this awesome program to use in conjunction with my Cricut machine called Cricut Craft Room.  It allows you to create a layout using cartridges you already own, OR, any Cricut cartridge, which you can then purchase online, directly through the program.  This made it a lot easier to visualize, because I could see exactly how big the letters would turn out.


I took my letters, and very carefully (using tweezers when necessary!) glued them on the inner matting of my frame.  The Craft Room program made it super easy to get just the three letters ("I Do") in a different colour, because I knew exactly where to position the paper on the cutting mat.  I used a glue runner to glue the letters down, because it's easier and less messy than white glue, a glue stick, etc.   You could also do it with mod podge, if you prefer.


I created some paper medallions, using this tutorial over at How About Orange.  Inside the centre of each medallion, I wrote Bridesmaid, or Maid Of Honour.  I then glued them to a piece of textured paper that matched the centre of the medallion, and on the paper, I stamped, "Will you be my"

Because the ribbons are higher than a flat picture, I couldn't replace the glass part of the frame, so what I did was include it behind the art work - that way, if the girls decide, they can replace the "proposal" part of the frame, with a picture of us at the wedding, afterwards!


I put it all together with some Cherry Red & Aqua coloured Jelly Belly's, and some cheesy, wedding related bubbles that I found at the dollar store (wedding cake & champagne).  I used the Cricut and some of my own decorative punches to create confetti out of matching paper.

I included a card that told each girl why I picked her, and how much she meant to me... Then I wrapped it all up in cellophane and hoped they'd say yes!
(They did!)

Feel free to Pin this on Pinterest and draw inspiration for your own bridesmaid proposal!  Please let me know if you decide to do something similar!

 

Handmade Cards: The Wedding Edition

In a one-week span I had two weddings.  Therefore, I have had a very busy couple of months!  Here's some of the cards I created in the last little while:

First up, the bachelorette party.

This card was for my friend Amy.  It features a martini-glass cut out, where I then sandwiched glitter and confetti in between plastic to create a super fun girl's night out theme.  I used the same martini outline in black & white polka dot paper, and just some plain strips of paper & ribbon on the opposite side to balance it.

Next up is a card I made for my friend Katy's wedding.  I decided to go with simple, traditional wedding colours for this one.  It's a square card on silver cardstock, followed by gold vellum, patterned white paper, and two sticker strips that say "wedding".  The middle stamp says Happy (heart) Day, and there's some gold swirls above and below the stickers.

I created a square envelope by using the same size circles and layering them (4) and tying with ribbon.  This tutorial explains it much better!

And here's the last one - Amy's wedding card!
I knew Amy was going to have a fall themed wedding, as it was taking place up in northern Ontario, where the leaves had already started to turn... So I thought I'd make her something to match the surroundings.  I used a few different Cricut cartridges - for the leaves, the letters, and even the couple (It's actually Ariel and Eric, from the Disney Dreams Come True cart!)





What have you been crafting lately?

Lots of greeting cards in May...

 


May is a big month for greeting cards... between birthdays, Mother's Day, and various other events like showers, new babies and then some.  I like it, because it means I get to flex my creative muscles.

The first card here is a birthday card for my sister.  I used a turquoise, white and red colour scheme, and my first step was to gather objects in those colours and decide which ones I wanted to use.  I picked out a heart-shaped doily, a page from a French novel, some ribbon and a sparkly brad, and then some scrapbook paper.  I used my Cricut cartridge to cut out the star, and a stamp that says "Happy Birthday".

The second card was for my mom on Mother's Day .  I used images and lettering from my "Wall Decor and More" Cricut cartridge, and a pink, brown and beige colour scheme.  Really love how this one turned out!

The last card was for my grandmother on Mother's Day.  I actually ended up making this one using only supplies I had left in my craft room at my parents' house, that I didn't take with me when I moved out.  It was pretty challenging, because I didn't even have a pair of scissors with a straight edge, or any of the proper adhesives!  I ended up getting creative with the ribbon, and I adhered it to the card using my GeMagic machine!  I used blues and browns of different shades, and I think it came together quite nicely!

Anyone else doing anything creative this month?  Post your links in the comment section and share with the class :)

Birthday card fit for a princess

Yesterday, a very special little girl turned 6 years old.  She loves pink and butterflies more than anything... so naturally, I had to make her a card that incorporated both of these elements.  I didn't take any process photos, so I'll try to just describe what I did.

I started with a printed pink base card.
Then I cut out the silver & white cardstock with pinking scissors, and the silver paper with a paper cutter (and wrote the text by hand, with a Sharpie pen).
The black and white polka dot strips are actually stickers, and I just cut them to size and laid them across the card.
The pink bow at the top is stuck on with a dimensional sticker.
The flower and butterfly at the bottom of the card are stickers.

The butterfly was cut out using my Cricut Home Decor & More cartridge.  First, I cut out the butterfly shape.  I popped it out of the paper, and sliced it in half, so that I could fold the wings upwards to give the butterfly dimension.
I set those aside for a bit, then I took what was left of the main sheet of paper (ie the silhouette), and I used Smooch Spritz spray ink in black.  I held the spray ink pretty far from the page (which had some scrap paper laid down underneath, so that I didn't ruin my table) to get the light ink spatter pattern.
Then I cut out a little border of the silhouette, and glued it down to my card.  I took my two butterfly halves and stuck them down in the middle of the silhouette, and folded the wings up.
Voila! All done!

I also created this little insert for the trinket box that I presented her present in.  See if you can figure out how I made it.
(I'll give you a hint... the items used were:
- Smooch Spritz spray ink
- a patterned mask for the ink
- my cricut
- a few stamps & some ink.

And an even bigger hint... you can click through the Smooch Spritz tag on my flickr to see some process photos!)

All U Need Is Love wedding card

Here's a card I made for two of my friends who got married this weekend!  (Hopefully they've already opened it, or they don't see it online before they do!)
Materials:

• silver patterned cardstock
• gold vellum
• blue ribbon
• silver paper
• gold cardstock
• stamp & ink pad
• Cricut Cartridge: Straight From The Nest

I started with a 5.5" by 4" card base.  Next, I cut the silver patterned cardstock to about 4x3 and glued it down.  The gold vellum is about 5.5" by 2", and is glued down across the middle.  The ribbon is cut down to size at 5.5" and glued on top of the vellum.

Then I took my Straight From The Nest cartridge and cut out the shadow (silver) and main (gold) "Bird4" border image at about 2 inches.  I glued them down on top of the ribbon.

Then I just took my stamp & teal ink and stamped my main greeting along the bottom... and done!

Linked to: