diy favor kit for vintage inspired weddings, showers and parties

Friday 24 February 2012


Have you picked up the 2012 Weddingstar magazine yet? If you are planning a wedding or planning a bridal shower this year you are going to love all of the products and inspiration in this magazine. We carry everything in Weddingstar on our website and you can also see and purchase many of the items in our three store locations.   

I've always been a fan of vintage style and I was really excited to hear that vintage is one of the big wedding trends this year. You will find many vintage inspired products in our stores but one of my favourites is the Vintage Style Favor Wrapping Kit. The kit contains 12 kraft coloured paper boxes as well as an assortment of ribbon, lace and vintage printed papers.

Of course, I had to open one of the kits and make some samples for the new Creative Studio at the Toronto store. The favor boxes come flat in the kit so the first thing that you have to do is to make the boxes.  
There were not a lot of instructions in the kit in regards to how to put together the boxes but thankfully Weddingstar as put together a number of videos that show us how to fold favor boxes ...


Once you have the boxes folded together you are ready to get to the fun part - decorating the favor boxes!
I really like the idea of not having every favor look the same so I was quite happy that there were so many different embellishment options in the kit. I think that it would be too stressful to have to come up with 12 different ways to decorate the boxes so I decided to create three different designs ...
and I think that it would be easy to repeat these designs with the other boxes. I used two sided tape (not included in the kit) to attach all of the papers, lace and ribbon to the favor boxes.

I really like paper flowers, so of course I had to try to recreate the paper flower favor that was shown on the kit photo. Here's how I made my paper flower:
I cut four "petals" from the two different paper strips in the kit and punched a small hole in each petal as shown in the photo above. I also cut an irregular circle shape from a piece of the lace and punched a hole in the centre. A brad (not included in the kit) was used to hold all of the paper petals and lace together.
I also used the brad to attach the flower to one of the ribbons that was wrapped around the box.

Gift tags were not included in the kit but it would be very easy to add small vintage looking manilla shipping tags to these favors. I think that these would be nice at a wedding, shower or any vintage themed party.

If you have not picked up a new copy of Weddingstar magazine you can buy them at all of our stores or you can view it online here. And if you would like to view more inspirational videos from Weddingstar on YouTube you can see them here.

I will be in our Creative Studio at the Toronto store on March 3rd doing mini workshops and demos. You can see my vintage favor kit samples on display in the studio now.

Save the date for my mini workshops on Saturday March 3, 2012!

Friday 17 February 2012

I'm so excited to announce that I will be at our new Creative Studio space in the Toronto store to do some mini workshops.
So please save the date of Saturday March 3rd, 2012 if you'd like to attend.
There will be three one hour workshops starting at 10:30, 11:30 and 12:30. Come for one or stay for all three ... I guarantee that there will be lots of fun diy projects and ideas to inspire you whether you are planning a wedding, party or special event.

I will be making up some "project kits" for the diy paper flower workshop. You DO NOT have to purchase any project kits to attend the workshops. I am putting together the kits so that if you would like to make the sample projects that I am demonstrating you can do so along with me in the workshop or when you get home! The kits will be on sale in the Toronto store on March 3rd.  I will post some more information about the kits as we get closer to the date so stay tuned!

I hope to see you there! Have a great family weekend.

{Personalized} Direction Signs for Weddings

Tuesday 14 February 2012

We just received samples of our new directional signs from Weddingstar this week. The signs go together very easily and I was very impressed with the quality of the printing.  I love that the signs can be personalized and come in a variety of different colour combinations and designs that co-ordinate with other products from Weddingstar's stationery collection.

These directional signs are really easy to put together. You receive a sign base and 2 custom printed signs (front and back) for each sign that is ordered. 

The sign base has two sided tape already in place on both sides so all you have to do is "peel and stick" the signs in place.
You can use these directional signs at the church and/or the reception. Don't you think these signs would be fun to see on the beach for a destination wedding? I think so!
Weddingstar's stationery collections are not just invitations and directional signs ... you'll find lots of different tags & cards, table signs, escort cards, save the dates, tickets, chocolate bar wrappers, water bottle labels, wine bottle labels, stickers and cling vinyl.



Have you seen the new Weddingstar magazine? We carry everything from Weddingstar online ... visit www.creativebagwedding.com and use the promo code CBW10 to receive 10%* off your order. Not getting married? You still may want to take a look because there are lots of items that are perfect for birthday parties, showers and anniversaries!

(*Please note that the 10% off promotion is only for merchandise ordered online at www.creativebagwedding.com).

Valentine inspiration - marshmallow pop treats and gift cards using my free downloads

Wednesday 8 February 2012

Valentine's day is next week and I thought I'd share a couple of more ideas if you are planning a Valentine celebration.

I've pinned a few of these marshmallow pop treats on my pinterest boards and I thought that it would be cool to try to make these with my daughters. They are so easy to make and you can use different colours of marshmallows, chocolate and sprinkle to customize these for any occasion or party theme.

To display these sweet treats on a lollipop stick I simply placed them in one of our glass cube vases that I filled with candy. {yum}

So here's how I made our Valentine marshmallow pop treats:
You will need some lollipop sticks, marshmallows, chocolate candy waffers and sprinkles (we used mini hearts in red, pink and white).
First you will need to insert the lollipop sticks into the marshmallows and set aside.
Melt the chocolate candy waffers as per the directions on the bag.
Carefully dip the marshmallow tops into the melted chocolate so that you cover about 1/2 of the marshmallow.
Add the decorative sprinkles to the chocolate candy coating while it is still warm.

Tip for the candy display in the glass vase: If you are making a lot of these marshmallow treats and you are using a large glass vase for presentation purposes I suggest that you bury a piece of styrofoam wrapped in wax paper into the vase and completely cover it with candies. This will save you from having to purchase a lot of candy and the styrofoam is an excellent material to keep the lollipop sticks in place.

Here's another cute idea for Valentine's day that was created by one of our customers!
Ivanka Lentle posted this project on her blog at ivankascardstudio.blogspot.com. Ivanka used my valentine flag download as an element on the gift tag of a Valentine themed loot bag. The clear candy bags are from our candy bag collection.

And here's a Valentine card that I created using some scrap elements from previous projects ...

I used one of my {free download} vintage labels from here and here, my {free download} mini chocolate wrappers from here, and scraps of scrapbooking paper (red dot print), ribbondiamond wrap from here and crystal stickers.  

I used a heart shaped punch to cut out my mini chocolate wrapper and I made the heart shiny by adding a layer of Inkssentials Glossy Accents and some clear glitter. All elements were attached to the card using two sided tape. The red machine stitching was added for a fun and unexpected detail ... I have been machine sewing on my scrapbooking and card making projects for years so it is part of my personal style.

Have you used any of our products and/or my downloads in one of your projects? Have you used our products at a party, wedding, special event? If so, I'd like to hear from you. Leave me a comment on this post with links to your blog or website. You can also email me your pictures! I would love to feature more of our talented customer's work on our blog!

{mini} Chocolate Bar Wrapper download just in time for Valentine's day!

Friday 3 February 2012


Here's one of my favourite Valentine projects because it involves one of my favourite "food groups" - chocolate! I started designing these mini chocolate bar wrappers a number of years ago for my daughters to give as a Valentine treat to their friends at school. This year I have designed one for you and I've added a really neat way to package these little sweet treats using our cookie box with round scallop window.

You can download the art to my mini chocolate wrapper here. This download is for personal use only. No commerical use please.

To use the mini chocolate wrappers you will want to print my art on your colour ink jet or laser printer using regular white text paper. There are 12 wrappers on a page and you will want to cut each of the wrappers out using a paper cutter if you have one or with scissors.
I purchase mini Hersey's chocolate bars in bulk at the bulk food stores.
1. There is a space on the wrapper to personalize who they are from. Tip: Write on the wrappers before you attach them to the candy bars.
2. You will need two pieces of two sided tape for each wrapper. Attach the two sided tape to the wrapper as shown ... one piece on each end.
3. Leave the original Hersey's wrapper on the chocolate bar. Our wrapper will be placed on top of the original wrapper. Work out your placement of the wrapper on the chocolate bar with the label positioned as shown. Fold the wrapper in place.
4. Using the two sided tape attach one end of the wrapper to the chocolate bar and
5. then attach the second end making sure that the wrapper is tightly set in place.

To package a handful of these mini chocolate bars I used the cookie box with round scalloped window, bakery twine and some colourful sizzle. I placed 8 candy bars in each cookie box and used the sizzle to position the candy bars so they could be seen through the window. The bakery twine was tied around the cookie box and finished with a simple bow.
Because you added a name on the chocolate bar wrapper ... it will be easy to know who the gift box is from! I think that these would make great party or wedding favors too.

And now I'd like to announce our lucky winner of the roll of diamond wrap ... Nadia (of Nadia's Beautiful Mess).

Congratulations Nadia!!
Nadia is expecting a baby girl soon and wrote that she would like the pink diamond wrap to use on a couple of projects that she is planning for the baby's nursery.

Thanks everyone for taking part in our first blog giveaway. I loved hearing your comments ... so many creative ideas. I'll be doing more giveaways and free downloads so please keep checking back or sign up to receive our blog posts by email so you don't miss out!