Bag up some JOY for the bride!

Wedding season is upon us and we have one coming up in our family.  Our daughter is the bride and we are going all-out with a DIY wedding.  Joy letters are perfect for personalizing shirts, bags and gifts for the bride and her attendants. 

I found everything I needed to make the bag at my local Michaels store.  This is a quick and easy project.  

The letters have a release paper on the back that when taken off reveal a tacky surface.  This allows you to place the letters where you want them.  It is sticky; but not permanent.  To make the letters adhere permanently; follow the manufacturer's directions and apply heat to the letters using an iron.

Supplies you will need:

Joy embroidered letters:  1-1/2" Lettershop to spell BRIDE.  The star is sold by itself.

Canvas bag:  black

Rhinstone:  clear

Tacky glue (for the rhinestone)

You will need an iron, ironing board and pressing cloth.

I also purchased a bandanna in one of the wedding colors.  It serves as a liner for the bag to hold other gifts and the bride can use it to tie her hair back or as a neck kerchief.  

I will be making bags for the bridal attendants but using smaller letters and in different colors.  Maid of Honor and Bridesmaid take a little more room on the bag!

I hope you got some inspiration here today, if you would like to leave a comment or question I love getting them.

Make sure to take time to enjoy the small blessings along the way and,

Live Life with a Flourish!

Marilyn

SmoothfoamR "no measuring" Wreath Base

SmoothfoamR has a new wreath form that takes away the need to measure!  It is perfect for changing up the colors when you want to space them evenly.

Do you like Alice in Wonderland?  We do!  We are doing a DIY wedding in August.  This wreath will be on the door in June just in time for the bridal shower!  The theme is a Mad Hatter's Tea Party!  We have all kinds of fun plans for decorating and this is the first piece. The wedding colors are black and white stripe, teal and pale shimmer gold with a touch of pink.  It is fun incorporating the wedding colors into the bridal shower.  

I will show you the process starting with the Smoothfoam wreath forms.  I chose the smaller size for my wreath.

Cut the ribbon and use the measured indentations on the wreath to space it properly.  The glue gun works best for a quick adhesion to the wreath.

I wrapped the narrower ribbon around the wreath several times to fill in the space; gluing it on the wrong side.

I added a lot of texture to this wreath as you will see in the following pictures.  I pinched the wire edged ribbon at intervals of about 4" and hot glued the pinched portion to the wreath.

I purchased several rolls of black and white ribbon using mainly the black and white stripe.  I made shoestring bows from the ribbons, trimming the tails in a V.  The ribbons were hot glued to the wreath in intervals.  I followed up with the flower blossoms and some leaves; then adhered pom-poms to the tails of the ribbons as shown.  This process was not that exacting; but I did use my background as a guide.

My final touches were adding a Mad Hatter's hat and the Cheshire Cat's face to the wreath.  

For the cat's face:  I pinned an 8-1/2" x 11" piece of pink shimmer paper to the back of the wreath so it would show through the center.  The eyes are paper punch layers with an iris cut from the black paper.  I adhered the layers together, centered and glued to the pink paper as shown.  I drew the mouth with a black permanent marker, cut it out and adhered it to the pink paper as shown.  The nose is a piece of black cardstock that I cut out and glued to the face.

I hope you got some inspiration here today and will try out the new Smoothfoam wreath forms.  They are the perfect solution to a quick and easy application of embellishments.

We are looking forward to all the festivities and still have lots of DIY to finish up!

Make sure to take time to enjoy the small blessings along the way and,

Live Life with a Flourish!

Marilyn

Look for the new wreaths on their website!  http://www.smoothfoam.com/