DIY Wedding Invite Ornament

This year I've decided that I want to start making a lot of the bulbs on our tree.  We normally have a blue, silver, and white theme but now that my little one is getting older I want to add personal ones to the tree that I can pass down to her.  I also wanted to start the tradition of making one together every year.  I have a more kid friendly one scheduled coming up, but I wanted to share an easy one first!

I'm a bit of a hoarder, so I still have a lot of our wedding (from 4 and a half years ago!) mementos and decor in boxes in the basement.  I've been trying to find ways to use some of them.  Remember my DIY Wedding Card Album??  Well, I have a bunch of wedding invites that were extra still sitting in a box and wanted to find a way to use them.  So, I got the idea to make a cute bulb.  This would also make a great Christmas present for a friend if you saved their wedding invite!

Supplies:

Wedding invite

Ribbon

Scissors

Pencil

Ruler

Clear glass bulb

Step One: Measure where you are going to cut the invitation

Flip the wedding invitation over and use your ruler to measure every half inch on top and bottom and make little dashes with your pencil.  Connect your dashes by making a straight line across.  This will be your guideline for the next step: cutting.

Step Two:  Cut and Sort

Now you are going to cut out all of your little strips.  If you have a paper cutter then use that, otherwise you can just use scissors like I did.  After you finish cutting out all of your strips, you can start pulling out the ones that you want to use.  I pulled out the pieces that captured the words that I wanted to see peaking through areas of the bulb.  Unfortunately, I can't remember how many pieces I ended up using.  Just use your own judgement.  More pieces for a fuller bulb, less for a bulb that's not completely full.

Step Three:  Curl the strips and start stuffing

Now that you have the pieces picked out that you want to use, you can start curling them.  I simply winded them, with the print facing outward, around a pencil.  Once you have it curled around the pencil, you can slide it off the end and start feeding it into the open end of you bulb.  I would do this right away so you keep the tighter curl.  Keep curling and stuffing until you have the desired amount of strips in your bulb.

Last Step: Finishing touches

Almost done!  I cut a piece of ribbon and made a bow on the front of the bulb, and also at the top for hanging.  And that's it!  You did it!  Really simple!

Optional extra touches:

You could add a little charm on the ribbon if you would like

At the very beginning you could paint the back of the wedding invite a pretty color (silver, gold, etc.) before cutting out your strips, to have the inside part have a little pop.  (I didn't think of this until I was all done, Poo!!  I bet it would look awesome!)

You could paint the silver cap at the top just to add a little something..

So what do you think??  Will you give it a shot?

DIY Wedding card book

So it is no big secret that I am kind of a hoarder when it comes to keeping sentimental things.  That's why I was so excited when I came across this DIY on Pinterest for making a wedding card album.  I thought it would be a great way to keep them out with the rest of our wedding memorabilia on my shelves.

Just in case you haven't come across this amazing DIY project, I decided to show you how I made mine.  

Supplies:

2-3 pieces of scrapbook paper

hole punch

wide ribbon

thin ribbon (optional)

scissors

binder rings

big stack of wedding cards

a couple embellishments (you can use a picture of the two of you or pick up stickers from a craft store)

2 brads

Step One: Creating the front and back cover

Get all of your cards together.  Put them in a stack and pull out the biggest one.  You are going to use this as your guide for covers.  

Trace the outside edge of your card and cut it out. (Photo below) You are going to trace it twice, once for the front and again for the back cover.

Step Two: Design your front and back cover

Use anything you want!  I used leftover things from our wedding day.  The "label" on the front of my book is actually one of the extra water bottle labels.  The wide and skinny ribbons are leftovers from our favors.  They also sell SO MUCH wedding scrapbook stickers/embellishments at craft stores.

Step Three:  Hole punch your cards

This is kind of the annoying part.  I held my stack of cards together and found the middle of the smallest card, then I made to dashes where I was going to punch the holes.  I punched the holes in the small card first and then used that as my guide for the rest of the stack, punching one card at a time.  (And don't sweat it if you make a mistake and have to re-punch a hole because remember your cover is going to be over it anyway)

Step Four:  Feed the binder ring through the holes

I take it back, this was probably the most annoying part for me. haha!  Feed one ring at a time.  And you may need to feed it through each individual card if your holes don't line up perfectly.  (Mine didn't, but it still works!)

Step 5: Create the wraparound bow to hold it closed

On the BACK cover you are going to lay your wide ribbon across the back of your book, making sure it reaches to the front with enough room to tie a bow, and is even on both sides.  Once you have your bow in place, use scissors to pop a small hole through the ribbon and cardstock, and insert your first brad.  Move a couple inches from that one and add a second brad using the same method.  Bend the edges to adhere them to the page. (Photos below) Now wrap it around to the front and tie a pretty bow.

 Optional step:  I added a thin ribbon to my binder rings just so the weren't so plain.  I just tied cute little bows.  You could also attach a cute charm or keyring to jazz it up a bit if you wanted.

And you are ALL DONE!!  That wasn't so painful, was it?

What do you think??  Are you going to give it a try?

linked up at: Create With Joy, Oh My Heartsie Girl, Just Us Four, Diana Rambles