Mrs. Penguin, Sacramento
Age and Occupation: 26, Video & TV Producer/Director/Editor
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 29, Doctor of Physical Therapy
Engagement Date: January 29, 2007
Wedding Date: June 7, 2008
Blogging Since: September 14, 2007
Venue: Winery in the Gold Country
About Me: I'm a silly mess of a girl who, above all else in this world, LOVES the Spice Girls. I eat sushi at least 3 times a week, and feel guilty about how much it costs the other 4 days a week. I love designer jeans and cheap accessories. I don't like sweets, but I love the UCLA Bruins!
Savor The Favor
February 28th, 2008 @ 8:27 am by Mrs. Penguin
Eons ago I set out to Gocco our coaster favors to match the motif of our invitations. I’m so close to being done, I can taste it! Here’s a peek at how it all came together:
I Gocco’ed the front of the coaster with two passes, and the back with our new monogram and wedding date.
Next, I filled 130 small square kraft jewelry boxes with a layer of blue Jelly Bellys.
Each guest will receive 6 coasters laid on top of the beans.
Using the Gocco Hand Stamp, I printed a circle design on the top of the boxes to give them a little more color.
Finally, I threw a paper tissue pom on top of each one. Since each place setting will receive a set, I thought the pom would spice up the tables and add a little more color to the tablescape.
Because my wedding isn’t until June, I’ll have to store these suckers in an airtight container. But I was determined not to be slaving away over favors at the last minute! Each set cost a little under $1 to make.
65 Responses to “Savor The Favor”
So CUTE & creative! Sigh.
Did you also make the tissue pom? If so, how did you do it?
Those are fantastic!
[…] you seen Miss Penguin’s favors on Wedding Bee? Wow! Love […]
Wow. These are beautiful! You are one creative gal!
they are great pengy!!! in the words of borat “very nice” =D
sublime!
Where did you get the blank coasters?
Those are great! You have completely inspired me to break out my gocco and print some coasters for our cocktail hour 
Those are insanely beautiful! I’m bowing down in total awe!
I am so ready to start my projects, I’m dying here!!! Thanks for letting me live my creative needs through you!
Again, OMG remarkable!!!
You are so crafty!
i hate you! why must you be so gawsh darn awesome?! they are friggin fabulous!!!!!!!!!!!!! I’m ubber jealous!
wow — these look great. did you coat them with something so they don’t smudge? i’ve never used the magical gocco so i don’t know how this would work.
$1 each… and about zillion hours of time and unlimited patience?? hehe
seriously, i am in AWE *bowing down to penguin*
i wish i knew how to use a gocco. i wish i was motivated enough to learn… haha
can you send me some? please.please.please.please.please???
i’ll be your friend for life.
woah, sooooo pretty! like seberu asked, i’d love to know where you got the blank coasters or how you made those!
fantastic job!!! so crafty you are!!
beautiful and so economical!
Miss Penguin I’m wondering will those coaster ink get smudge if it comes into contact with water. Sometimes cold drinks with ice in it melts and water from outside of the glass will drip. So I’m afraid that the ink will smudge the coaster. Have you tried it before, is the ink smudge proof? I hope I explained clearly.
These are so great! Your designs inspired my Save the Date (I posted a link to pics on Miss Milkshake’s recent post on her Save the Dates). I love your creativity and eye for design! Thanks for sharing everything with us.
These are great! I’m having some trouble deciding on favors… I wish I were as creative as you!
too, too cute, ms penguin!
mrs. fadingflowers, if i remember correctly, i think miss penguin dumped a coaster in some water to try it out and it was fine.
those favors look awesome pengy!
Beautiful
And aren’t you organised?!
Found the site for the coasters!
WOW! I am totally jealous of anyone who knows how to use a gocco and who can come up with creative favors like this!
Amazing. I can just picture the impact of those little boxes on a table. Wow!
Love the colors, love the design, love the personal imprint. You are a DIY goddess.
*tossings crafts supplies in garage*. That’s it. I quit…you clearly rock.
When you calculate the price are you including the boxes, ink and gocco itself?
Wow. I am in awe.
Those cute favors cost under a buck!!! You’ve got to be kidding me! They look wonderful and I love the circle print under the pompoms…. *droool*
Nice job on being early! I refuse to doing things last minute too, so I guess I should get started on mine since my wedding is in June too! Yikes!
Your are such an inspiration! Can you tell me where you got those blank coasters? My email address is thanh.t11@gmail.com
Can u pleeeease tell me where you got your blue flowers, coasters, stamps or however you did all that stuff???? I LOOOOVE it. i would appreciate it sooo much!!
i swear! I think you’re the resident Gocco expert of all the Bees. You must have an unlimited supply of screens and bulbs stached away at your place!
Ms Penguin, do you live in southern cal? if so, have you ever thought of teaching a “how to gocco” class? i would sign up!!
Hi you guys! I just got in from a LONG day to all your nice words…aww I’m blushing! Anyway I don’t want you guys to think I was just gonna blog and run on your asses, so here’s all the info you’ve asked for.
The coasters (like sebaru said!) are from
http://www.americancoaster.com/
(You cannot order online, you have to call them, but they’re super nice people!) They cost about $17 for 1000, but ship from NY, so cross country shipping for me costs as much as the coasters themselves but $40 is still an unbeatable price. The quality is magnificent.
Miss Radish - The clipart is from our own fabulous Irene Chang, who designs our cute Weddingbee Icons! Here is her Istockphoto profile (where you can find all her images)
http://www.istockphoto.com/user_view.php?id=383586
and here is the particular image
http://www.istockphoto.com/file_closeup/people_specific_attributes/race/asian_background/1613588_calm_spring_silhouette.php?id=1613588
miss fadingflowers - no the ink is oil based and does not smudge or run after dry, even when wet. I did a demo on BeeTV a while back and ran one under water for 30 seconds, then rubbed it with my finger. None came off, and then it actually dried to its original look!
Jessica - I included the price of ink, bulbs, screens, jellybeans, boxes, coasters, and tissue paper. It actually came out to well under a dollar by my guess, but I’m too lazy to give an exact cent amount… I hope “about a dollar” is sufficient to guesstimate if you want to make something like this on your own I did not include the actual price of the gocco MACHINE…as I assume people dont add the price of a sewing machine to the cost of a sewn item.
Stinker - all printed elements were made with a Gocco Machine (you can type in Gocco in the search above to find all sorts of tips and tutorials about it), the tissue poms were made by hand following Martha Stewart’s directions on her website.
Whew! Sorry for the long one!
this is great. i’m inspired to make the poms now!
Which weight of coasters did you purchase?
BEAUTIFUL! I seriously want those coasters They match my decor perfectly….. GREAT job!
BEAUTIFUL! I seriously want those coasters… they match my decor perfectly! Great job! Can I come to your wedding, just so I can get a favor? 
Okay - where did you get the boxes? AND Did you buy your JB’s in bulk locally?
I’ve been struggling on what to do with all these friggin’ coasters I bought awhile back (which I almost forgot I had until about 4 minutes ago when that one dull light bulb in my head went off…hehe)
So I’m thinking of doing a twist on your beautiful design if that’s ok with you, but help with where to buy the boxes would be really helpful!
You rock, and I shouldn’t even be so brave as to try to take on a project inspired by you because I could just fail miserably!
I’m off to blog about how much I love you…er your design and ideas…now hehehehe/
I tried to make the paper flowers but they aren’t looking as good as yours. what size tissue paper did you start out with? thanks!
The Boxes are from http://www.papermart.com/
The JellyBellys are from http://www.bestbuycandy.com/
The tissue paper flowers started out with 3×5 inch rectangles of tissue.
that tissue paper flower sets it all off so perfectly, and i love the idea of a favor that includes candy AND something useful!
Love the pompom, it adds so much texture!
Hi Miss Penguin,
you just totally amaze me ^-^. Did you purchase the exact amount of coasters? If you have some extra, would you mind letting me know. I’m interested in purchasing them. I’m currently in Sacto too :).
Hi Carla! Unfortunately, I did print them all…I dont really know why, I actually needed to print only about 800, but I decided to print them all…Mr Penguin and I will have personalized coasters FOR LIFE
They are really economical, about $17 (plus $20 shipping for 1000)
http://www.american-coaster.com/
there is a lot of interest in them, I’m sure you could sell the ones you dont use!
GL!
Hi Miss Penguin! Gosh, you must have more than 1 pair of hands, how long did it take to do all of them? Do you think embossing powder will do? I don’t have a gocco, I wish I do… Thank you so much for the info, you’re awesome
Hi Miss Penguin,
What type of paper is the coaster made out of? is it pulpboard? is it laminated by any chance?
Thanks for the great ideas
I recently emailed american coaster and they said they have a min. of 5,000… do you think it’ll help if I called?
Thanks so much for your help.
@jean: Hi Jean! I ordered mine about 6 months ago so perhaps their policies have changed but I dont think it would hurt to call them.
The coasters are pulpboard, I believe. They are not laminated, if they were, the ink wouldnt adhere to them.
GL!
[…] so if this is all deja vu, that’s because, yes, my invitations look just like my favors, only in a larger proportion. My guests may never want to see another Berry Blue Jelly Belly after […]
I know you’ve heard it all before but I absolutely LOVE the favor boxes with the pom! I’ve been inspired to try and make them! Have you considered selling your handmade items on Etsy.com? I would definitely buy wedding favors from you!
Where can you purchase a Gocco machine? I have never heard or seen one but sounds like something I need to check out!
i’m super bummed i just read this because gocco sets are super expensive and i was getting really excited to do this project for my favors!!!! i absolutely love the concept and the creativity. thanks so much for sharing!!!
(any chance you’re willing to rent your gocco out?! i may have to make a trip down to sacto (from seattle) to hook up with you!!!)
Would you mind sharing where you got the image that you used for the top of the box? It’s great.
@KateMW: I searched “vector circle pattern” on istockphoto.com
I cant seem to find the exact pattern now, but if you dig around a little you should be able to find it! It was cheap, only 1 credit. GL
@Heather:
Heather, I have gocco for sale, please email me at karen123105@yahoo.com if interested.
what size box did you buy? and what is a gocco hand stamp? is that a totally separate gadget from a regular gocco machine?
