Adorable Ring Bearer Pillow

I know that lately my posts have been few and far between, but it's wedding crunch time now, so the DIY is in full force.

Yesterday I made our ring bearer pillow. The total cost was about $5. The fabric was $2.10 for half of a yard and the fiberfill was $2.99. I already had ribbon from previous projects and some miscellaneous white thread and a needle from sewing buttons. :)



Step 1: Fabric

1. Purchase half of a yard of the fabric of your choice per pillow. If you think you will mess up (which is surprisingly difficult), purchase more.
2. Cut your fabric into a rectangle. One side should be the length of your pillow plus one inch, the other side should be two times your desired length, plus half an inch. My pillow is 11" by 11", so my piece of fabric was cut to 12" by 22.5".

TIP: The extra length is to account for the hem.

3. Fold your piece of fabric in half so the inside of your pillow is facing out.



Step 2: Sew

1. Starting at one of the two folded corners of your fabric, begin sewing a straight line half an inch from the edge of your fabric.


TIP: You can do this by hand, I did! Each stitch was about a centimeter long.
TIP: Draw a line using chalk along the half inch line to ensure you are sewing straight.

2. Continue sewing half an inch from the edge of your fabric, until you are 4" from hitting the second folded corner of your fabric. This will leave a hole to stuff the fiberfill (and your hand) into.

3. Tie a knot in your thread.

(Click the photo to see the fabric zoomed in. My 4" hole is on the bottom right)

Step 3: Stuff the pillow

1. Turn your fabric right side out.


TIP: Stick your hand into the fabric to push out all of the corners. This will make the corners look better.

2. Stuff fiberfill through the hole until you've filled it to your desired size.


3. Sew the last 4" of fabric together.


TIP: Fold a little bit of the fabric into the pillow so that the edges are smooth.
TIP: I do not have a straight hand at sewing, but I honestly don't think it mattered for those last few inches.


Step 3: Ribbon for the rings

1. Near the center of your pillow, fold the fabric up and snip a small line. By folding the fabric, you double the length of your snip.

2. Snip again a centimeter away from the first snip.


3. Pull the ribbon into one snip and out the other.


4. Tie into a bow to complete your ring bearer pillow.

spruce up your invitation envelope

go from plain jane...

...to fabulous!


for the cost of ink and a stamp.

Save-the-Dates Magnets & Postcards

Woo hoo for budget-friendly save-the-date options! I feel like I appear to be in marketing for VistaPrint although I'm really just a civil engineer who doesn't make a lot of money yet.

Our total cost was only $15 total for 100 postcards and magnets, plus the cost of stamps and envelopes. I used a promotion for 100 free postcards and 50 free magnets from VistaPrint.


Step 1: Magnets and postcards

1. Design and purchase the magnets and postcards. VistaPrint offers exceptional templates, but you can make your own design in Photoshop, Paint, or MS Publisher. The file just needs to be in an acceptable format for VistaPrint.

TIP: Be sure to leave empty space on the postcard to apply the magnet.
TIP: Include your wedding website on the magnet and/or postcard so guests can simply look at their fridge to find information on accommodations, attractions, etc.


Step 2: Assemble

1. Apply a glue dot to the back of each magnet.
2. Adhere the magnet to empty space on the postcard.



Step 3: Mail

1. Stick your save-the-dates in an A2 envelope. The sizing is perfect for VistaPrint postcards + magnets. If you just have the postcard and magnet, you will only need one stamp.

Pretty Placecards

As much as I dream of letterpressed placecards with beautiful calligraphy on them, that is not in my budget! Instead, I opted to spruce up a plain placecard to my own liking.


Step 1: Purchase placecards and stamps

1. Visit stores like Hobby Lobby, Michael's, and Jo-Ann's (where I found mine) to find a very simple and very cheap set of placecards.


2. Find a stamp you adore and some ink to match your style.

TIP: Buy different colored ink and different stamp designs to make each table at your reception a little different.


Step 2: Stamp the placecard

1. Lay newspaper or another material down on your table so nothing stains.
2. Fold the placecard. This will ensure the stamp does not affect the back side of the card.


3. Gently place the stamp on the inkpad.


2. Gently apply the stamp to the placecard in the corner of the folded card.


4. Allow the stamp ink to dry.

Step 3: Finish the design

1. You can customize your design by painting little scrolls along the edges or gluing rhinestones or pearls.
2. Write guest's names or hire a calligrapher to do so.
3. Admire the finished product.

Favor Bags

Cute favor bags and tags are easy breezy lemon squeezy! We are having a candy buffet for our favor and wanted to find a cheap yet creative route for guests to take the candy home.


Step 1: Make some tags and purchase bags

1. You can design and print these yourself using a word program and your printer.
2. OR you can do what I did- order 250 "business cards" from VistaPrint for free! If you are not on their mailing list for free goodies, I strongly urge you to join.


3. Purchase your bags. I bought mine at Hobby Lobby. I bought half in the red and teal paisley design and half in the clear cellophane to save a bit of money.


Step 2: Holepunch the tags and bags

1. Punch your tags in the upper lefthand corner with a basic holepuncher.


2. Punch your bags in the upper righthand corner.


TIP: The reason the bags and tags are holepunched in those locations is to make sure the tag lays off of the bag in a less awkward way.


Step 3: Cut ribbon

1. Cut 2" or 3" long pieces of ribbon. If you would like to make an elaborate bow, you can cut your ribbon longer.


Step 4: Thread and tie the ribbon

1. Thread the ribbon through all of the bag holes and the tag hole.

2. Tie the ribbon, but not so tight as to tear the bag or tag.


Step 5: Trim to perfection

1. Trim your ribbon to your desired length
2. Voila, you have a fun favor tag that outshines a ziploc or paper bag!

Photobook Guestbook

I received my Kodak Photobook in the mail a few weeks ago and simply adore it. However, the outside of it was pretty bland, so I decided to spruce it up.

Note: My book is a 9"x9" book, so you will need to adjust your ribbon measurements accordingly


Step 1: Order a photobook

1. Use a company like Kodak, Blurb, or MyPublisher to find the best prices and style for you
2. Follow their directions for arranging photos
3. Order the book


TIP: Include poems, lyrics, and phrases that are sentimental to you and your significant other


Step 2: Wrap base ribbon around the book

1. Cut 2- 12" pieces of ribbon in colors of your choice
2. Wrap the first piece of ribbon around the front of the book and bring to the inside cover
3. Adhere the ribbon to the book using glue dots



Step 3: Tie the top ribbon

1. Cut 1- 40" piece of ribbon in the color of your choice
2. Wrap the ribbon completely around the front and inside cover of the book, leaving equal lengths of ribbon (approx 16")
3. Adhere the ribbon to the inside cover of the book using glue dots/lines


4. Place a small glue dot/line onto the center of the base ribbon, wherever you would like your bow located


5. Cross the two ends of the ribbon and loop one end under like the first step in tying your shoes
6. Adhere the tied ribbon to the glue dot already in place


7. Follow these instructions for making the tidiest bow possible
8. Finish trimming the excess ribbon from the ends

9. Admire your work

Pew Bows

Once again, Knottie Kinks offers up her DIY wisdom. This time the topic of interest is pew bows! One of the best things about these pew bows is that they are 100% customizable. Choose your flowers, ribbon colors, extra accessories, whatever!


Materials:

• Silk flowers of your choice. The smaller the flowers, the more you'll need. I used a single blue hydrangea bloom.
• Cost: $2 per hydrangea bloom (60% off at Michael's Arts & Crafts)
• Organza sashes. I used white ones, about 7 inches wide and 107 inches long, sold as chair sashes by eBay seller hermila51.
• Cost: $1.70 apiece for 12, plus $5 shipping.
• 18-foot spools of 5/8" wide ribbon – each spool gives enough ribbon for 4 pew bows if you use 4 1/2 feet of ribbon per pew marker. The ribbon I used is single-sided Offray satin ribbon in Copenhagen blue from Jo-ann Arts & Crafts.
• Cost: $2.29 per spool
• If your flowers have long stems with wires in them, you’ll want wire cutters, often found with jewelry-making tools
• Cost: About $5
• (Optional) clear monofilament (fishing line, can be found at Wal Mart or Target) and pew clips (found on eBay). These are helpful if your ceremony seating has nothing to hang the bows from, if you're using more than 2-3 silk flowers or you would like some extra assurance that the bows won't blow off the chairs at an outdoor ceremony.
• Cost: $1 for fishing line and $1 per pew clip

Instructions (without pew clips):

• First, make sure your silk flowers are in good shape and remove any leaves, tags or other extra pieces you don't want. The stems of the flowers should be about 1 foot long -- if they are longer, feel free to trim them (although you may need wire cutters to do this if your stems are wired). I also bent my flower stems slightly so they wouldn't look so unnaturally straight. If you are using multiple flowers, bind them together using string, twist ties, or whatever else is convenient.

• Cut your ribbon into segments that are 4 1/2 feet long.

• Now find the center of an organza sash and gather it together, then rest your flowers at that point. Tie a knot around the flowers.

• Tie a knot on the stems of the silk flowers with ribbon, between the bloom and the organza sash knot, leaving a loop of ribbon just large enough to attach to the chair (even if you're using pew clips, you'll still want this extra ribbon). To do this, I folded the ribbon in half, then tied a simple knot that left the loop at one side and the two tails of the ribbon on the other side.

• With the knot in the organza sash, tie a bow that's about 1 foot across, leaving tails about 3 feet long underneath (but don't pull it too tight yet!). Since these sashes are so large, it may take a couple of tries to get it so that the bow is symmetrical and one tail isn't longer than the other.

• Now pick up the two tails from the ribbon and guide both of them through the center of the organza sash bow, each from opposite sides. This will not only help hold the organza bow up with the flowers, but will allow us to tie a bow with the ribbon on the face of the organza bow.

• Using the two ribbon pieces, tie a knot around the center of the organza bow. Use this knot to tie a small bow on top of the center of the organza bow

• If all your bows are straight and even, you're essentially finished! The loop of ribbon that should be behind your bows and flowers can hang from your chairbacks (as long as your chairs have some protrusion at the top that allows this).

Instructions (adding pew clips):

• If you prefer to add pew clips to add some extra stability to the bows and flowers, you'll want to tie them to the ribbon loop that should be on the back of your pew bow.

• Just force the ribbon through the slot on the side of the clip and wrap/tie it as tightly as you can. I found that looping the ribbon around the inside of the clip (not just around the slot on the side) is better for keeping the flower and bow in place.

• To bind the stems of your flowers to the pew clip, use the monofilament fishing line to tie them to the little plastic nub that juts out fromt he bottom of the pew clip. Wrap it well and tie double or triple knots, as this line is slippery, but it's transparent.

Finished product (with pew clip):