Little Yellow Bicycle Wedding/Love Card

I had some of the Little Yellow Bicycle ( LYB) Swoon paper left from a recent project i completed, so I decided to create a card and envelope. I think this one would work well for an engagement  or wedding.Just in case you'd like to recreate it, I've included step by step instructions.  As with most instructions, it's a good idea to read through them once before you start cutting. One really big tip, when using stickles, if at all possible, always stickle first before doing anything else!




Here is the list of what I used:

TOOLS etc:
Cutter
Pinking/Zigzag decorative scissors
Glue dots - small and large
Your favorite adhesive
Foam Squares (3L)
Two 2" white mulberry flowers (Wild Orchid Crafts)
One 1" white mulberry flower (Wild Orchid Crafts)
Silver mist (Lindy's Stamp Gang Glitz Spritz Silver to spritz the flowers)
One LYB Swoon Collection sticker sheet
One silver flower brad (Making Memories)
One 4" string of flat back pearls
One package of pearl swirls, I used a Recolection one from Michaels.

PAPER
Core'dination Foundations 1 sheet 8.5" x 11" Opal Pearl cut one 9"x6 1/4" piece and fold in half

Bazzill: 1 sheet Metalic Silver 8.5" x 11" - cut one 6 1/8: x 4 3/16 inch piece and adhere it to the front of the card.

Little Yellow Bicycle
One Sheet 12" x 12" Swoon Unveiled cut:
   -  one piece at 6" x 4 3/16" to adhere to the cardstock base.
   -  one piece 3 1/8" x 1"  for 2nd layer of the Love 3-D sticker assembly
One Sheet 12" x 12" Swoon Wedding Words cut:
   - the envelope in one of the corners
   - one 4" x 4" square.  I used some old zigzag decorative scissors and cut the very outer edge off.
   - 3 1/2" x 1 1/8" bottom layer of the Love 3-D sticker assembly
   - 2 3/4" x 3/4 for 3rd layer of the Love 3-D sticker assembly
   - 4 1/8" x 1/2" for flat back pearl backing. Adhere the pearls first and then use the pearls as a guide to cut

DOILIES
Use two 4 inch (I got mine, in the white French style from the Owl and Thistle Etsy store. To create the smaller doily, simply pinch the middle of the back of one of the 4" doilies and then create the folds and add adhesive to cover the middle. I used four of the big glue dots. Adhere to the bottom doily and set aside..

Stickles: I used the silver stickles to accent the doillies.  Just choose one of the shapes that rim the outside of the doily. If you can do this first, so that the stickles can dry while you cut and adhere the rest!

FLOWERS
- Spray one of the 2" and the 1" flowers with with the glimmer spray (Lindy's Stamp Gang)
- Let the flowers dry or dry them with your heat gun.
- Put the sprayed 2" flower on top of the flower you didn't spray.
- Place the 1" flower on top
- Put your brad through the whole flower open the feet of the brad
- Put the flower aside.

ASSEMBLY

Assembling the Love 3-D Sticker
-  Pop up the Love sticker on the back of the LYB Words, 2 3/4" x 3/4 piece matching the distances on  the left side. Cut the right side to match the notch in the sticker.
- Apply foam squares to the bottom, of the previous piece and set aside
- Adhere the LYB Unveiled 3 1/8" x 1" to the back side of the Words 3 1/2" x 1 1/8" piece matching the distance on the right side.
- Trim the left side of the Word piece with the pinking/zigzag decorative scissors.
- Adhere the piece you set aside to the two bottom layers and set aside.

Assembling the Flat Back Pearl String
- Use the small glue dots on at least every 4th pearl.
- Adhere the pearls to the back side of the 4 1/8" x 1/2" LYB Word paper strip.
- Trim around the Word piece using the pinking/zigzag decorative scissors. Use the distance from the pearls as your guide.

Assembling the Card
- Adhere the large LYB Unveiled Piece to the card base.
- Adhere the Large Word Piece to the top of the Unveiled piece, making sure that the left, top and right sides are equidistant to the edge.
- Adhere the doilies to the large Word piece.
- Adhere the flower you assembled to the doilly.
- Adhere the strip with the pearls to the bottom of the card about 1/8" from the bottom of the Unveiled main piece.
- Center the 3-D Love sticker you've created between the doily section and the pearl sections lining up the left sides.
- Add a small curl of pearls from the swirl pack.
- Pop up the butterfly sticker and adhere if slightly over the 3D sticker and the mini pearl swirl.

Enjoy!


Here is the card all by itself:

Wedding Recyclable Gift Bags

One of the fun, but time consuming things I got to make  for my son's wedding were the 35 recyclable gift bags and the tags to embellish them and make them specific to Shaun and Ashley's wedding. I have to say that it took a while to find the right bags and I was a very lucky lady that my Hobby Lobby had them in the quantity I needed!

The cloth bags were neutral colored and since there were a lot of polka dots on their wedding invites and on the dresses of the Ashley's attendants, I suggested that we add polka dots to the bags. My first attempt, and I will spare the details,was less than stellar, but I finally got in the groove! Here are the basics.

BUY THE RIGHT SIZE BAG
Buy bags that will fit what you want to give away, but that are no bigger than that. Bigger bags will either flop over or have to be stuffed with paper, which goes against the idea of recyclable bag! Our bags were 11"W x 8.5"H x 3" deep. Perfect for the two water bottles and other items we would put in and great for carrying your iPad or Nook or a couple of books at the beach or to the pool!







BUY OR MIX YOUR PAINT

One of the most important decisions a couple makes about the look of their wedding is the color scheme. Anything you make for a wedding should respect these color choices. Odds are you will not find the exact color and have to create your own mix.

 In this case, their colors were beige with a hint of pink.  To make the bags easier to reuse, I decided to match the beige and since it was a wedding, I wanted a bit of glitter in the paint.  I needed a fabric paint that would match their beige color, not as easy as it sounds! Mixing Tulip's Slick Brown, Slick White, and their Glitter Crystal Sparkles just didn't do it. Their beige has more than a hint of grey in it. My paint and glitter mist collections included a bottle of "Tattered Angel's Stiletto" a glittery dark grey which added to the rest of the mix, gave me the perfect color to match their invitations! Just know that it takes a lot of patience, where you add a little of each color at a time. Make more than you need! Trust me, making a second batch to match the first exactly is not much easier than making the first! 

CREATE A STENCIL

Making sure that all the polka dots are the same size and are placed at the right intervals is also harder than you think.

I found that using vinyl sheets I had stashed away (I still have about 25 left, lol) was a perfect way to make the template I needed. 

I used a 1 1/4" punch to create the holes.

Then I cut each apart, leaving enough room around the circle so that I could make sure that my brush strokes would not result in me adding paint past the stencil.

I used one of the individual circles per side, wiping both the top and sticky bottoms lightly between dots.  Be prepared, it took me 30 minutes per side for my first few bags and perhaps 20 per side once I figured out the process.

I painted the first circle at the top right corner of the bag. I put a line on the top of my brush, and used it to measure the disctanse between the circles, making sure the brush handle ran through the middle of the two closest circles. Remember to wipe off your vinyl stencil after each circle or you will end up with a smudge somewhere, guaranteed!

Make sure that you let one side dry completely before you try to paint the other!

The bags were prettier with painted dots on the handles but these were very hard to do and not smudge. So I only made enough with painted handles for the wedding party!

A lot of patience and roughly 70 hours from start to finish on the bags and another 20 on the 35 tags and, here is the result!

WHAT WE PUT IN THE BAGS

The bags were filled with:

• A pamphlet with timings and addresses for the rehearsal, rehearsal dinner, wedding and reception as well as, places to eat and visit, a contact person that can help anyone lost, stranded or who needs help so that the bride and groom can attend to everything they need to without being disturbed.
• Two bottles of water
• Two bottle cozies with the Bride and Groom's names and the wedding date
• Two  packets of Tylenol
• Two  packets of Ibuprofen
• Two  packets of Sun Screen (our nod to the wedding being in Florida)
• Two  packs of peanuts 
• Two chocolate bars
• Two packs of cheese crackers
• A handful of individually wrapped Life Saver mints
• A pack of Kleenex (weddings make a lot of us cry)
• A  business card giving the email addresses  for guests to forward video's and pictures

Next blog post will be about the wedding booth and what I used!