Wedding Wednesday: Simple Signs

I did a post a few months ago about coordinating all of your wedding accessories: invitations, favors, signs, programs, etc.  You can read that post here for ideas.  I thought I would focus this Wedding Wednesday post on signs.  I think signs are a great way to add just a little something to the decor and have functionality.  I wish I had used more signs at my wedding, but didn't think of it at the time.  I have made plenty since for Lisa's wedding and a few others we have had orders for.  

They can be as simple or as complex as you'd like them to be.  Here are a few samples of signs we've made.  All were used at weddings, but you can see the difference in how the bride was decorating.  

This bride stayed simple.  She wanted to the colors form her wedding used and a fun font, but that's about it.  She did make sure her guests could easily find the area they were supposed to sit in with large arrows.  

This bride wanted just a little bit more.  She wanted to use polka dot paper for the words and add a few flowers to give her sign something extra.  She also made it easy on her guests by using arrows.  

This one is essential!  Ha ha!  People have to know where the restrooms are.  This was place on the door to the restroom, but you could also have signs with arrows pointing your guests in the right direction.  

How and where you use signs are completely up to the bride, but I think they are so fun to have!  

Happy Crafting! Lisa and Jess

Technique Tuesday: Using pictures

I always forget that just because I'm not creating a scrapbook page that I can use a picture to add a little pizzazz to a card.  Most of the time it's because I don't just have pictures sitting around my house that I want to use.  Since it's something that people don't usually think to do I thought I'd use that as our Technique Tuesday!  

A great time to use a picture is basically for any birthday or occasion that is special to you.  I made a Mother's Day card a while back to send to my mom.  I thought of this idea to make a "flower bed" and thought I could use her picture near the flowers.  Thanks for the circles I used it was simple to incorporate her picture onto the card.  I used a pop-dot to make the picture lift off the page.  

You could do this for Christmas or a birthday easily!  What a great way to show off your family or spotlight someone special.  :)  

Happy Crafting! Lisa and Jess

Wedding Wednesday!

I know it's Thursday instead of Wednesday, but I wanted to get a Wedding Wednesday post up this week.  As I said in our Technique Tuesday post, the days get away from me.  In the last Wedding Wednesday post I blogged about bachelorette parties and fun invitations you can send to your guests.  This week, I thought I'd share some cards we have made for guests to give to the bride and groom with their gift.  

I like to use the colors that are being used as the theme for the wedding.  It's usually easy to figure out once you receive your invitation, but if you aren't sure you can always ask the bride of groom.  I think coordinating the card is a thoughtful way to celebrate the bride and groom.  

Black, white and silver theme

Red and turquoise theme

Red and turquoise theme

White and champagne theme

Happy Crafting! Lisa and Jess

Technique Tuesday: Corner Rounders!

And we're back!  I have been a huge slacker the last few weeks when it comes to our blog.  I'm so sorry followers.  It's amazing how quickly the weeks get away from me.  I need to be better about writing these posts ahead of time, but I never think about it.  Anyway...since it is Tuesday it's time for a new technique for the week.

Honestly, I am a bit stumped at what to write about today, so I'm going to make it quick and easy.  I love to add a little something to my cards by rounding the corners.  It's really easy to do.  All you need is a corner rounder.  You can buy this at any scrapbooking or craft show.  How well it works is really a "you get what you pay for" kind of thing.  We have one or two from Hobby Lobby or Michaels and they work well, but the one I have from Creative Memories is by far the best I've used.

You can round corners in any way you want.  If you like things to be uniform you can round everything like I did for Cameron's birthday invitations below.  It also looks nice when you round the corners to your actual card.  It adds just a little bit of fun.

 I always mix it up by leaving some corners sharp and rounding others.  Now, one thing you should do is round all the corners that are layered together.  If you round the top and bottom right corners of your actual card then you need to round the laters you put on top of the card.  You don't have to, but I think it makes it look cleaner.

You do not have to round the corners of your actual card and still round the layers on top.  That always looks nice.  As you can read above there are so many ways you can make your cards look beautiful and fun using your corner rounder!  Now go out and create some of your own.  Please share then with us if you have a really pretty card or a fun technique with corner rounding.  :)

Happy Crafting! Lisa and Jess

Technique Tuesday: Using Scraps

Happy Tuesday again!  I apologize for not posting last week.  I was on my way back from visiting family and was too exhausted to write a post when I got home.  I'm back at it this week though.  Are you happy now?  This week's technique is how to use your scraps.  

Have you ever made cards or a scrapbook page and you have paper left over that you just can't get yourself to throw away?  I would certainly guess you have.  It happens to me all the time.  I buy really fun and bright paper, so throwing away paper is difficult for me.  I will admit that I have kept even 2x2" paper just because I loved it.  Ha ha...ridiculous I know.  I have started a scrap bin, so the tiny pieces aren't taking up space in my paper shelves.  It is a lot easier to find those tiny pieces when I decide what to do with them.  

You can do absolutely anything with scraps.  Here are just a few ideas:

1. Use them as trim on a scrapbook page or card. 

2. Create pendents for your pencils

3. Wrap them tightly around your pencil to make a curly-q.  You can then make pictures to be framed or use them on cards

4.  Use them as a layered background for a card

5.  Confetti (one of my mom's friends always puts confetti inside cards she mails out.  It's really annoying to clean up, but super fun as a way to make the card seem special)

6. Punch out shapes or cut out letters 

There are so many more great things you can do with a card, but if I gave you too many ideas you wouldn't have time to try out the 6 ideas above.  Now go craft my friends!  

Happy Crafting! Lisa and Jess

Technique Tuesday

Happy Tuesday friends and followers!  We hope you are having a great week so far.  Our technique for this week is making different shaped cards.  The standard card is a regular rectangle folded in half to make a smaller rectangle.  While that is just great and very simple to make, it's also a lot of fun to make different shapes.  This can sometimes be time consuming if you haven't made a card that shape before, but after a little trial and error it's not as hard as it might seem.  Believe us!  Ha ha!  

Card 1: Yes it is a rectangle, but it's an extra long rectangle.  You can only make 2 cards out of the cardstock it takes for the backing, but this is one pretty cool card.  I actually made this shape for my Christmas cards last year.  I forgot how time consuming it is because of all the different patterns you need, but it just pops with color.  :)  This rectangle card is a tri-fold, so it fits into a regular sized envelope, but it opens out into one big card.  It's great for birthdays, Christmas, or even a baby shower.  

Card 2:  An oval.  I made this card for Easter.  I wanted to make something a little different and figured that since eggs are the typical shape for Easter I should use it for a card.  You can do so much with this shape.  You can put letters on it with your occasion, but I had that fun rick-rack ribbon and thought it'd be fun to make it look like an old fashioned decorated egg.  Super cute! 

Card 3: Yes it's a rectangle again, but the way it opens is very different.  The back in a rectangle, but there are 2 flaps that fold over to cover the inside.  Not only are there flaps, but they are two different sizes to give a little dimension.  Add in a brad holding the flaps closed and you have a super fun birthday card.  

Card 4: A Square.  I love square cards.  They do cost a little bit extra to send, but can really make a statement depending on your occasion.  This is a wine part invitation.  Squares are great for birthday cards and invitations, baby showers and pretty much anything you could want.  

Card 5: Marquee!  I couldn't find a picture of any other cards in this shape, so I had to use the baby shower invitation Lisa made for me.  She used a marquee to make the head of the owl.  Love it!  She has also made anniversary and birthday cards in that shape.  You can have it horizontal like this one or make it a vertical card just as easily.  Either way looks adorable.  All you need is some materials to decorate and you are finished.  

There are so many other shapes you can use and I know I will kick myself in about 10 minutes when I remember another one, but oh well.  I think 5 is enough for you to ponder right now.  :)  

Happy Crafting! Lisa and Jess

Wedding Wednesday!

It's that time of the week again.  Yep, it's Wedding Wednesday!  :)  Last week I posted about bridal showers and shared some of the fun invitations we've created for those special parties.  Check it out here.  While the bridal shower is very special and something a bride looks forward to a few months before her wedding, the bachelorette party is the night a bride waits for.  It's a night of friends, pampering, and celebrating her awesome-ness!  Ha ha!  Well, it's true.  Every bride needs her closest friends to tell her how beautiful and wonderful she is before her big day.  I do suggest you don't celebrate the bachelorette party within the same weekend as the wedding.  Can you say ouch?  

We have created bachelorette party invitations for 3 very different women, which calls for 3 unique invitations.  Each party was very different.  The first party was an evening out on the town.  Dinner, drinks, and friends.  We created a fun card that would show the guests what the night would be about.  

Front of card:
The fold doesn't cover the entire front, but meets at the hallway point
and only covers the invitation on the inside.  

Inside of card

 The second bachelorette party invitation was for a lake weekend celebration.  This bride wanted to make a weekend out of it.  All the guests would be staying in a house at the lake and enjoy time in the sun.  We found this idea online (unfortunately I can't find the original website) and make it to look like a bathing suit.  I've seen it as lingerie before too.

Front/Bra side of invitation

Back of invitation

Invitation wording!

This invitation was for a bride who loves wine!  You can do so many things with a wine theme.  We decided to make the invitation look like a bottle of wine.  This was a bit difficult because we had to draw it and cut it out by hand.  We like to use the Cricut because it's faster, but since there weren't many invitations to make we did it by hand this time. We made a label that stated who the party was for.  The bottle immediately told the guests what the theme was.  

We knew that the invitation would not hold as well if this card opened, so we just made it one piece.  It worked out well.  The invitation itself glued right to the back of the "bottle."  Such a fun way to share the news if you ask us.  :)

Bachelorette parties are so much fun!  We look forward to the other designs and invitations we will make in the future! :)  

Happy Crafting! Lisa and Jess