DIY Wedding Card Box

Weddings are expensive. It's one thing to say the average wedding costs $35k. It's another to live it. (Tho trust me, my budget is nowhere near that!)

Today we are going to explore an alternative.

Wedding card boxes are expensive. Whether you are looking at a traditional card box, wire bird cage, or something in-between... it's going to be $20 minimum for a 'nice' style. However, you can get something cheap- and cheap looking- for less than $10.

NO MORE I say! If you have a little time to spare and are crafty, you can get something way more unique and cheaper! Because I'm a DIY craft junkie, the only real out of pocket expense for me was the box itself. I could have stopped there, but why?!

Worst case scenario this is going to cost $20, for me it was just over $10 and took maybe an hour to do.

Materials:

-Large fake book storage box: at Michael's 40% off plus an additional 25% off coupon= less than $8!
-Hemp Twine- or string or whatever you have
-Scrapbook paper- if you don't have any laying around, look for alternatives (think of your theme-comic books maybe? or Michael's has specials all the time)
-Template
-Pencil
-Scissors
-Misc. embellishments- optional
-Di-cut Shiny Red Damask letters- previously purchased ~$3 (I've been holding onto these for the perfect wedding craft so I am including the cost here) or if you have a Kricut or something you could make your own

I don't want to spoil too much, so here is the incomplete card box!

The outside- fits our "Adventure theme" and colors.

Nice and roomy on the inside! Dare I say- BIGGER on the inside?

 The materials.

 The layout.- All I did was trace a template on the side of the scrapbook paper I didn't want to use (this way messy lines won't show) and cut 'em out. Then, hole punched two corners on each for my twine to string them up inside the book.

Not done, but you get the idea. The black/gold things in the corners are picture corners. I'm planning on hiding the end of the string with them. I also need to add the di-cut letters to spell out  C A R D S.

BONUS: the fiance loved the idea and picked out the book to use.Teamwork and collaboration.

So tell me- what crafty projects are you up to?! (Doesn't have to be wedding related!)

Its a Mad Mad Tea Party

For those of you who don't know, my brother got married! And I was asked by my lovely sister-in-lawto be Maid of Honor! Probably 1 of 2 times in my life I will get to do this, so I couldn't help myself and may have gone little overboard for the Bridal Shower. Months ago the Bride approached me with an Alice in Wonderland Bridal Shower Invitation. That's all I needed... one little idea to set the whole thing in motion. I've only attended 2 Bridal Showers, 1 Bachelorette Party and 2 or 3 Baby showers in my life. So I did what anyone would do, I went to the interwebs.

Bad idea! Do you even know how many ideas there are out there!? And me being me, I just can't contain myself! So if you find yourself throwing a themed shower/party here are some ideas I narrowed down after many Google searches and hours on Pintrest (not that I'm complaining!). See my bridal shower themed board here! Not all Alice themed, but many cute ideas if money and time were no object.

Theme:

Start with an overall/general theme. Being Alice in Wonderland Tea Party Scene- I went for anything floral/pastel/pretty. There is a lot you can do with that! It helps to try to think of an idea that will not cost you an arm and a leg, especially if you keep holiday decorations by the boxful (like I do), and if you have people you can rely on to help pull it all together (ie an Aunt who is willing to prepare food).

Table décor:

Hardcover/Vintage books- without the book jackets. We scoured Salvation Army/Thrift Shops/Etc for them. Beware: Goodwill is expensive for used/old books! We decided to pick out titles that went with the theme/love/marriage/etc. In total we got 9 books titled: Catch a Falling Star (pleasantly surprised- 1st edition book from 1949 in excellent condition), The Book of Goddess, Love for All Time, Sour Puss (get it- Cheshire Cat!?), Belladonna, Daughters of Fortune, Slovak-American Cookbook (you know, the cook in the story), Reader's Digest V2 1956 (just because it was pretty looking- bonus 1st edition book!), and Misery (my own little bit of humor). Did I mention the Bride is an avid reader and lover of Vintage?

Small colorful picture frames ($ section at Michael's) with black and white character pictures inside (printed at home)- courtesy of my mom.

A vintage flocked white rabbit (again my own personal stash).

3D Red hearts (my own stash)

Oversized flowers (purchased a small bunch, other we had laying around) with googly eyes (had those laying around, too) glued on (you know, like the talking/singing flowers in Alice).

Scored a cheap pink girl's alarm clock at Goodwill. Managed to take it apart and repurpose it into a pretty alarm clock. Super impressed with myself. All other materials I used, stickers/tea cup picture, I had in my craft stash.

I got lucky with this part- soon after we started planning, I went to the Dillards Outlet. Meandered in to the Home/Textile section and what do you know- 20+ Lavender cut-out flower/butterfly placemats! At just over a dollar each we picked them all up (except a few that weren't in good shape) and even a Pink one especially for the Bride.

My dad got me 2 decks of playing cards- these I scattered on the table and used for a game (see below).

Food:

Finger Foods appropriate for a Tea Party- little sammiches, fruit salads, teas,

I was fortunate enough to start this process around Spring/Easter and found great things on Clearance at Target (gotta shop smart!)... like Pink Lemonade cookie mix with Pink Icing and candy Bunny Ears/Faces for cookie/cupcake decoration.

I personally had Valentines things in storage- hello Red Heart Plates for serving trays!

I got lucky and found pretty pink/blue watercolor flower napkins on clearance at Target! Perfect!

I had cute little tags in my craft stash that I used to label the food, Inspired by the "Drink Me"/"Eat Me" in Alice.


Games/Prizes:

Of course we had to throw in some traditional shower games. I complied a Love Libs (Mad Libs- but Wedding Advice and Wishes) from others I found through Google searches. Printed individual sentences out on cardstock and once they were filled in, they went into a scrapbook we started.

And some non-traditional/themed games (narrowed down from a list of ideas):

Queen of Hearts- Inflate red and black balloons with playing cards inside. Guests pop balloons and whoever finds the Queen of Hearts card wins a prize!

"Change Places!" Randomly throughout, one of the Bridesmaids will yell this out and everyone relocates. At the end, whoever ends up with a Q of Heats playing card under their seat wins a prize!

Everyone votes on favorite hat and dress of the day. Prize awarded for each.

Favors:

Probably my favorite aspect of the shower! Every good party needs awesome favors! I decided on [mismatched] vintage tea cups/saucers. What a chore that was! Again, Goodwill/Salvation Army/Thrift Shops are your friend- don't be afraid to go often! I tried to keep them all similar size/shape and nothing TOO modern. If I found matching tea cups/saucers I broke up the set, so it was more MAD like Hatter would want it. Each cup had a small Rabbit/Cat Key charm tied with twine to the handle. These were great because they doubled as the actual cups for the drinks we served.

Other favor options were these amazingly pretty soaps!

Favors for the games included a heart bracelet, blue heart candy dishes, a green tin lunchbox with flowers, and a floral covered notebook.

Scrapbook table and prizes

Invitations/etc:

For the invitations- I made them! I started with this cute digital stamp from Hannah Lynn. Printed it, colored it and created the invitation around it.

One of the stipulations I included were that everyone must wear Tea Party attire and a fun hat! Being that the party was in Kentucky- I went in expecting Derby Hats. Me personally, I wore a Mad Hatter costume hat. The Bride herself played the part of Alice, frilly blue/white dress and all!

None of this would have been possible without an amazing support team! My mom, the bride's mom, the bride's aunt, and the bridesmaids! SO thank you to all who made it possible!

Have you thrown any crazy theme parties? DO share!! And I'll be back with more pics later.