Pinterest Party Projects

I'm having a Pinterest Party!

Yep.  In a few weeks I'll have a few friends over to craft, eat food, and hang out.  I don't know about everyone else, but I am so excited to do this!  In fact, I'm so excited that I've already started making a few preparations that could technically be held off for another week or so (thank you OCD).

If you've never heard of a Pinterest Party before, let me fill you in on all the fun!

The point of the party is to get together and make a (reasonably priced) craft (or two) that you've found on Pinterest.  
At my party we're going to make wreaths!  You can either have your guests go out and buy their own supplies to bring with them, or the host can buy the supplies in advance and have each guest bring money to cover the cost.  This differs depending on whomever is throwing the party, but since everyone that is coming to my party has different styles I decided to have everyone get their own supplies.    

You can also have each guest bring a dish that they've found on Pinterest and have been dying to try (like a potluck!).
I've asked each of my friends to bring a different dish without being too specific (we could either end up with a lot of dessert or none at all!).  I've also asked that they print out directions for the recipe they've made, that way we can give it to someone else to take home if they like it.  OH!  And, if you have food allergies like I do, you can always specifically ask that no one brings a dish that you can't eat.  

That's about all a Pinterest Party entails.  Pretty simple, right?  I've also got a few surprises up my sleeve and will wait until after the party to share them with you!  I don't want to ruin it for the people who are coming.

So far, I've done a few things to get ready for the party that I'd like to share with you.

I'm not much of a e-vite person.  I love the old school charm of a handmade (or even a cute store bought) invitation.  There is just something so personal and sweet about someone taking time out of their day to write out a card to you.  That is why I decided to make my own Pinterest invites!

I wanted them to look as much like the Pinterest logo as I could, so I pulled out my cricut, plugged it in, and got to work.  Here is what I came up with:

I also made this super awesome printable using Photoshop.  I'm starting to get really good at just bs'ing my way through using it and making stuff look good.

And that is it for now!  Stay tuned for some more fun projects that I'll be starting for the party and check back in a few weeks to find out how it went!

As always, you can find the downloadable version of the above printable on my google site.  It will print up to an 8x10!

Happy crafting!  

How I Spend My Monday Nights

I just wanted to share a few pictures of some cards I made tonight.  This is how I pass the time when Chris is playing games on his computer.

They're going to fill in all the empty space in my newly made card box!

All of these cards of versions of pictures I came across on Pinterest:

I think this is my favorite one.  I love the colors and the
idea that it's a shirt is just so cute! 

I'm not really sure what this card is going to be
for, but I just liked the ideas of colored
butterflies on a black piece of paper.

I'm not sure what I'm going to use this card for.  I have an
idea but I think I'll keep it a secret for now...

Homemade Card Storage

Have you ever seen the Friends episode where Monica has the secret closet?  If not you should watch this scene from youtube.  It's hilarious!

I have my own similar not so similar but kind of like the closet situation in that episode.  I call it the "everything-that-I-don't-care-to-find-a-place-for" drawer because things that I don't feel like organizing at a specific time get tossed in there only to be buried and found at a much later date.  It is a little embarrassing to admit that I have one of those drawers, but doesn't everyone?  I guess I should give you a sneak peek into what it looks like...

One item that lives in the drawer that is begging to get out is my homemade cards.  I can never remember what cards I have, what cards I need, and when I need to make more.  So I started to brainstorm on what I could do and how I could find (or make) a new home for my cards.

It was pure luck when I came across the post from Delightful Order.  Not only did it fit all my needs, but it was practical and would be cute to display around the house!  Perfection!

Lucky for me, my best friends mom gave me the exact same box that DaNita from Delightful Order used for this project.  I have been struggling since March to figure out what I wanted to do with the box and I finally found a great use for it!

The first thing I did was make labels on my computer (thank you powerpoint!).  I sort of borrowed the design from Delightful Order and just changed the colors to match the color palette I wanted.  After they were printed I waited about fifteen minutes just to make sure the ink was dry and then laminated the labels.  I used some laminating paper that I bought months ago at Target then cut out the individual labels into squares.  I also made dividers out of regular colored card stock and a birthday reminder sheet to glue to the top of the box.

After looking at the labels I knew I didn't like the square design they had.  I wanted something a little different and I was falling in love with the scalloped look from Delightful Order's labels.  Since I didn't have a scalloped punch I tried using my cricut but that was a complete disaster.  Luckily I had printed out another copy of all the labels so I was able to see if the scalloped cut worked without ruining my newly laminated labels.

(I did not take a picture of this step.  I was too busy getting frustrated because plan A was not working out the way I wanted it too) 

Once I bought the scalloped punch I was able to finish my project!  Now all I have to do is make some cards to fill it up!

So what do you think?!  I'm so happy I found a practical and cost effective way to store all of my handmade cards.  The whole project only cost me $5.00!  Chris was pretty happy with it too.  The first thing he asked was whether or not I shared the finished product on my blog.  He knows me so well...

Thank You's

While I was browsing Pinterest today I came across a list of things that every bride should remember to do. Luckily, since we're having a destination wedding, I didn't have to worry about most of the list but there were a few that caught my eye.  It also reminded me that I need to make thank you cards to write out after my bridal shower at the end of March.  So...I did what I always do and started searching on etsy for ideas!

I really like this card I found...but I wanted to add a little something more.  I'm thinking the words, "from the future Mrs. Cox" would look good as well as mixing up each card with a different little embellishment.  The first prototype I did was a little plain...but I think it was a great first draft!  What do you think?

  

Wedding Invitations Part II

Now that pretty much everyone has received their wedding invitations, I think it's safe to finally post the finished product on the blog!  If you read this post, you'll know that Chris and I went through several different designs before deciding on the one that was right for us.  I also surfed etsy and different wedding blogs until I found the invitation design that worked the best for what we needed.

Even though our wedding is a bit different (since we're getting married at DisneyWorld and all!) I wanted to bring a little bit of the traditional side into our invitations.  I'm not exaggerating when I say Chris and I went through six different designs before settling on the one we used.  Each design was different in it's own way, but I am very proud of the one we chose.

Here is the back of the pocket fold invitation.  I love the color! 

The invitation

Invitation inserts

I think this is my favorite part of the invitation!

The finished product.  

The back of the invitation.

I wish that I had taken pictures while I was making the invitations.  It would've given a lot of insight into what I had done and how time consuming the process was.  It took about three hours to cut and score all the paper, as well as put in the inserts.  While the entire process took a lot of time, I couldn't be happier with the finished product.  Finishing this project was extremely rewarding because I did it all on my own.  I love the fact that our wedding will have many personal touches that I did.

**Sorry about the poor quality of the pictures and the smudges I didn't notice until I uploaded them**

Wedding Invitations

Today I finally finished the wedding invitations.  I have to send them out about two weeks from now, so I wanted to get them done early so I didn't have to worry about them over the next two weeks.  Back in October, I did my first wedding invitations with my soon to be mother and sister-in-law.

Here is an example of what we did

At first I was really happy with them, because they fit in really well with our Disney Wedding.  As time went on though, I began to feel like they looked more like a birthday invitation instead of a wedding invitation.  And I decided that since Chris and I are having a non-traditional wedding in Disney (I mean really...how many people that we know get the opportunity to get married there?!) I wanted a traditional invitation.  So...I began my search.

Chris advised me to look on etsy after a few failed attempts to make new and more traditional looking invitations so I eventually took his advice.  I also learned that even though Chris has a "whatever you want, honey" attitude about most things concerning the wedding, he is very opinionated about the invitation style.  

Here are a few things I found on etsy that fueled my imagination:

I used the RSVP style as inspiration for this invitation!  Plus, I love the blue color on this invitation!

I loved this pocketfold invitation as soon as I saw it (just not the colors)

I made my own version of this monogrammed closure flap (I have no idea what to call it!) which is probably my favorite part of the entire thing.

I also found a helpful blog that I used when constructing my own pocketfold invitations!  I ordered the paper I used off of MisterArt (although I did not use the type of paper that comes up with that link) and got it cut at Kinkos for under $5.00!  I also found that using tacky tape alone did not guarantee the pocket would stay in tact, so I used both tacky tape as well as superglue (I felt pretty clever in coming up with that solution!).  All in all...I am extremely happy with how our invitations came out and cannot wait to hear what all of our friends and family think of them!  

And now...I will leave you with a sneak peak of how mine turned out.  Don't worry...after I know that everyone has received theirs I will post a picture of the invitation in it's entirety.