Tabby's Bridal Shower

I've been crafting like crazy, but was unable to post because the items I was making were for Tabitha's Bridal Shower, and the theme was a surprise.

Diana picked the most adorable theme: "You're My Cup of Tea!"
And the colors were a pastel orange and pink, with touches of brown and sage.

Her wedding colors are orangey-pink and aqua.


 Decor

First off, a wall plaque!

I started by hand drawing a teapot outline. I think I did pretty darn good, myself. I guess I did learn something in beginning drawing. Haha.
Then I cut out the outline, out of cardstock, and used the outside of the cutout to paint it onto the wooden plaque. 

 

I continued to add details. 

 

 Then I added glitter!

 This will be used for decor at the shower, and then can hang in her new house afterwards!

I also made some cute paper decor for the walls. Due to my travel mayhem, those will be used at the rehearsal dinner. (so no pictures!)


Party Favors

I saw the cutest idea to make cloth tea bags on Pinterest, and created some adorable favors based on a photo (the website was broken).

To start with, choose the cloth! I bought of four-pack of cloth scraps at Hobby Lobby.

I chose the one with the larger print.

Then I cut out shapes of tea bag, doubling it over so I had less to sew.

Then I cut out batting. I used the same stuff I've used for Picture Holders. 

I used my new sewing scissors that I got for Christmas. Cutting through batting last time was killer, and the scissors kept getting snagged. 

This time, it was like cutting through air. 

Then I got to break out my new sewing machine! So excited to play with my new love. 

However, after a couple of mistakes, I realized I should iron the hem of the bags first, then add batting, then sew. 

Don't iron the batting.

I sewed both side edges with the cloth wrong side up, flipped them right side out, ironed the top hem, added batting, glued the string in (Tacky Glue) then sewed the top. The hems are visible this way, but I couldn't think of another way to get the batting in, and they turned out pretty cute. Just stay close to the end.

These are now going to be mailed out in the thank you cards.


Party Games

Date Night in a Jar
                This is a cute idea I saw at Danielle's shower (thrown by HolyCrapLiz) where shower guests write cute date ideas on popsicle sticks that get put into a jar. This can help whenever the couple is stuck for ideas and wants a night out. Liz color-coordinated the sticks into three categories by price range. I did the same.

First, buy popsicle sticks! Michael's or Walmart will give you the best bang for your buck. Target sells "craft sticks" in packages of very small amounts, with a surprisingly high price. And I was, quite frankly, shocked that Safeway didn't have popsicle sticks anywhere.

Paint them! [Liz and I both used cheap acrylic paint from Walmart]

 

I did multiple coats on either side. The orange took more coats than the darker colors. They do dry pretty quickly, because the wood is unfinished and soaks up the paint. For that reason, they also take more paint than you would think.

Then buy a mason jar. Safeway sells them (at least in rural places such as Modesto and Salinas), but they are cheaper (by 2-3 dollars) at Michael's. 

And decorate! 

I chose to use Zots, my favorite craft item, to stick the ribbon and label onto the jar. Why? They're faster than any sort of glue, way less mess than even glue guns, and stick very very well. Remember, Zots come in different amounts of sticky-ness. I'd suggest a high level sticky, or a lot of Zots. 

 I printed the jar label and lid label after creating them on Word. I'm willing to share the pdf if you comment or message.

   

Wedding Vow Mad Libs

 So Liz sent me a link to a website for their download of Wedding Vow Mad Libs, used for Daine's shower, but alas, the link was broken when I went to print.

I spent some time looking up other options, but the only ones available were on Etsy. Now, I understand that design is a lot of work, and I realize that people who it for a living would like to make money off of it, but I was not about to pay $14-$28 for a pdf to print one page of a wedding vow with blanks left out. No matter how cute they were.

So I created my own, pictures to follow. It took me two hours of design work, but I think it's adorable. Feel free to borrow it, or comment/message me for an editable version. Blogger only lets me upload photos, not pdfs, so e-mail me if you want a pdf, too.

Despite my hard work, the items for the shower did not make my shower. Read all about it here. But we will re-appropriate and use them in other pre-wedding functions. Diana's decor was adorable, so pictures! We also ended up not using them at the rehearsal dinner, but oh well! It was fun to make.

Photographs of the Shower

The girls scored thrift stores for mismatched teacups. The guests were able to choose a teacup to use and take home as a favor.

A close-up of the plaque Diana made for T.

T's mom bought an adorable tea set which was used as centerpieces for the shower, and then given to T for her new house.

T is excitedly picturing her fiance drinking coffee out of these dainty cups. 

Fresh flowers are must at parties!

A delicious array of teas including herbal, fruity, and caffeinated.

Ceiling Decor made from doilies.

    

Our beautiful bride-to-be      

Tabitha and her girlies!