Register or log in —

Newer blog post
more in Blog
Older blog post
Newer blog post by Mrs. Pomegranate
more by Mrs. Pomegranate (oldest)
Older blog post by Mrs. Pomegranate
Mrs. Pomegranate's Picture
Mrs. Pomegranate, Sacramento Age and Occupation: 27, Technical Specialist Fiance's Age and Occupation: 27, Software Engineer Engagement Date: August 23, 2007 Wedding Date: October, 2008 Blogging Since: June 5, 2008 Venue: R.H. Phillips Winery About Me: Hi, I'm Miss Pomegranate and I'm a shopaholic. I have a weak spot for the chic cheap - especially anything I can re-create on the DIY. Shoes are my vice, music is my passion in life and technology is the medium by which I live and work. When I'm not scoping out a sale, I'm spending my quality time training for a marathon, playing Wii with my fiance and snuggling with my Silver Labrador and Teacup Panther - and oh yeah, planning my wedding!
About Mrs. Pomegranate

When budgeting for the wedding, Mr. Pom and I didn’t discuss what I intended to spend on gifts for my bridesmaids. We had decided that we would purchase gifts for each side of the bridal party respectively, and we would choose our own budgets. With six bridesmaids on my side and four groomsmen on his side, I had to be more frugal with my funds than he— but that didn’t stop me from attempting to maximize my monies! Of course, there was TONS of DIY involved—and a little DISE as well.

z163243
Image via ThingFling.com

Sorry bridesmaids, this is the only sneak peek you’ll get at your gifts! If you peek below the cut, you’re in BIG trouble!

I set myself a strict budget of $60 per bridesmaid, as we had already booked them all a room at our hotel for the night before the wedding. Therefore, the first of many DIY projects was unearthed while delving beneath the surface of the dollar bin at Michaels. I discovered some awesome black and white damask goodies, so I snapped up enough for each of the bridesmaids to enjoy. One of the packages contained some pretty black and white flocked note cards that I thought would look amazing if I could figure out how to personalized them.

I considered:

  1. Embossing with a Heat Gun
  2. Stamping
  3. Alphabet Paper Punches

Fortunately, Mamita Pom came up with something better! She had this handy die cut machine that she uses for her scrapbooking ventures—it’s called a Squeeze QuickKutz Portable Personal Die Cutting System. You can purchase little metal cards in different fonts and shapes that you can then insert into the machine, and the machine yields a punched-out letter. Most often, one would use the punched-out letter atop a scrapbook page. In this case, we used the negative space to create the design.

z163244
Squeeze QuickKutz Portable Personal Die Cutting System
$80.99 at Joann’s

z16324401
Mamita Pom’s extensive collection of QuickKutz Dies

Once we picked a font—I think it was called “Katie“, we tested out each letter on a piece of plain white paper to see where it would sit in relation to the edge. This helped us to be sure that our punches were not too high or too low on the cards. It also helped us decide where to place the punch on each card in relation to the design—we just held the punched plain paper over each card to test it out.

z16324402
Punching plain white paper as a test

Once we had decided on the punching placement, we got to work. Mamita Pom punched out the letters, and I carefully popped the pieces out of the cards. Some of the pieces were easier to pop out than others, as the velvet flocking created really thick spongy surfaces to punch. I recommend using cards without embellishments or ones with a crisper finish for this reason.

z16324403

A close up of a card after punching

z16324404
I carefully pushed my fingernails against the edges and pried the punch out of the paper, in hopes that I wouldn’t tear the card.

z16324405
A finished card

Some letters punched out easier than others, and we quickly learned that when we worked with the outline of a letter, some letters worked better than others, like K’s and C’s, as opposed to A’s, where the inside definition would be lost when we punched it out. I chose to use lower case letters for the A’s, as they were more prominent even without the missing center dot.

z16324406

I chose damask cards for my four bridesmaids and butterfly cards for my two junior bridesmaids.

I love how they turned out! They were so simple, cheap, and easy to make—only $1 per set of 6 cards and envelopes. I was able to find matching tissues for each of the girls as well, for only another buck a piece (and a few other things as well). I’ll save the details on that for another post!

$2 down, $58 to go!

What was the cheapest and/or easiest DIY project you’ve done so far?

Tags: , , , |   Link for this post | Share this post: The Bridesmaids Make Out Like Bandits - Part I      
Newer blog post
more in Blog
Older blog post
Newer blog post by Mrs. Pomegranate
more by Mrs. Pomegranate (oldest)
Older blog post by Mrs. Pomegranate
advertisement below

12 Responses to “The Bridesmaids Make Out Like Bandits - Part I”

1.
Guest Icon
Guest
Soon2BMC

Those turned out super cute!!

 
2.
Guest Icon
Guest
Soon2BMC

Those turned out so cute!!

 
3.
Member Icon
Member
MrsDavis (message)  251 posts, Helper bee

I checked out the dollar bin at Target and scored. I found some cute green damask notepads and I stamped the top sheet with a cute thank you stamp I had. I got some other cute things in the dollar bin as well to fill the mongrammed cosmetic bags, like a manicure nit and lip gloss. I loves me some dollar bins. Its my fav section of Target.

 
4.
Guest Icon
Guest
melanie

I actually bought those for my thank you cards. Our colors are black and white and we are using damask on our table tops so they are perfect.

 
5.
Guest Icon
Guest
Adrienne

Those are adorable! They are going to love them, and you barely spent anything to make them!

 
6.
Bee Icon
Bee
Miss Hot Cocoa (message)  1,715 posts, Bumble bee

Ooh. I must get me one of those die cutters.

 
7.
Guest Icon
Guest
Becky

So cute and what a great idea to make them personalized! I love it!
:) becky

 
8.
Member Icon
Member
chibride (message)  112 posts, Blushing bee

Darling cards. Lucky maids.

 
9.
sweetestdaybride
Member
sweetestdaybride (message)  41 posts, Newbee

Ooh I used those exact cards in my bridesmaid baskets when I asked them. They are cute and only $1 each! Michaels had a ton of matching stuff. Great idea to personalize them like that…so pretty! Makes the cards look so different!

 
10.
Bee Icon
Bee
Miss Pomegranate (message)  956 posts, Busy bee

@MrsDavis: I am a HUGE fan of the Target Dollar Bins as well. :) Basically, if you mark something as $1, I get excited.

@Miss Hot Cocoa: Seriously, it’s SO easy to use - I started looking around my house to see what else I could personalize! So fun.

 
11.
Bee Icon
Bee
Miss Sea Breeze (message)  912 posts, Busy bee

You are soooo creative! These look smashing.

 


You can also just...

Newer blog post
more in Blog
Older blog post
Newer blog post by Mrs. Pomegranate
more by Mrs. Pomegranate (oldest)
Older blog post by Mrs. Pomegranate
Visit our sister sites Project Wedding
Wedding Songs
eHarmony Advice
Dating Advice
JustMommies
Pregnancy Calendar
Fertile Thoughts
Infertility Support
Copyright 2004-2009, eHarmony, Inc., Advertise
 


Sponsors
Mrs. Pomegranate
Mrs. Pomegranate Mrs. Pomegranate, Sacramento Age and Occupation: 27, Technical Specialist Fiance's Age and Occupation: 27, Software Engineer Engagement Date: August 23, 2007 Wedding Date: October, 2008 Blogging Since: June 5, 2008 Venue: R.H. Phillips Winery About Me: Hi, I'm Miss Pomegranate and I'm a shopaholic. I have a weak spot for the chic cheap - especially anything I can re-create on the DIY. Shoes are my vice, music is my passion in life and technology is the medium by which I live and work. When I'm not scoping out a sale, I'm spending my quality time training for a marathon, playing Wii with my fiance and snuggling with my Silver Labrador and Teacup Panther - and oh yeah, planning my wedding!
Weddingbee PRO
 
Boards
 
Classifieds
 

Blog Calendar
November 2009
SunMonTueWedThuFriSat
1234567
891011121314
15161718192021
22232425262728
2930

Weddingbee Bios
Wiki
More