Showers of Love & a give away!

I had the pleasure of making bridal invitations and favors for my cousins wedding shower. I wanted to keep the look simple since I needed to mass produce, but I wanted them to feel elegant also. I went for a "Boutique Chic" feel. I started out by using "Aqua Mist" cardstock from Papertrey Ink and ran it through my cuttlebug using the swiss dot embossing folder. I cut the focal piece out using my Label 1 dies from Nestabilities. I then stamped the dotted flourish with black ink on the top and bottom. I stamped the circle image with white craft ink onto black paper. These images are from Papertrey Ink's "Boxes, Bags and Tags" stamp set and the sentiment is from "Favor It Weddings". I punched the circle out and adhered it with a foam square. I added two gem stickers from Martha Stewart Crafts. They look quite simple and really they are, but when you add in all the time to cut each label and run each piece of cardstock through the cuttlebug, it does actually take some time.

I really wanted to add some ribbon, but decided rather to add a strip of black cardstock. I needed to make them less bulky so they wouldn't require extra postage.


I have mentioned before how much I love nests and eggs. Last year at Macy's I spied some egg and butterfly chocolate molds from the Martha Stewart Collection on clearance. Of course they had to be mine and I was thinking of all the ways that I could use them. I have always wanted to center a baby shower around "nests", but never have had the opportunity. I decided that I was going to work the "nest" theme into the favors that I would be making. Although it seems a little on the baby side, I decided to use the sentiment "Thanks for helping Jamie build her nest" Every new bride prepares her new home with pride and enthusiasm, so I thought it would be perfect.

I created the "nests" from excelsior by taking a bunch and forming it with my hands. They actually worked up much faster than I thought they would. I assembled the clear boxes that I purchased from the Local Craft Store. I didn't want the chocolates that I had so carefully made to get the excelsior on them, so I placed a tiny muffin cup into the center of each nest. In each nest I placed one milk chocolate egg, one white chocolate egg and a milk chocolate butterfly. I created the sentiment on my computer, punched it out with my large oval punch from SU! and stamped the nest image using "Aqua Mist" hybrid ink from Papertrey Ink. I found the sheer ribbon at the craft store with 25 yards per roll. I decided to use the motto- work smarter, not harder. Everyone thought they were really cute.

I placed the boxes onto a tier of cake plates in matching colors. I couldn't get the best picture, because of lighting issues, but I thought they made a nice presentation. While I was at Macy's the day before the shower I again checked out the "clearance table" and found the same chocolate molds so I bought two more. One more for me and one for a lucky blog reader.

Can I just say how much I love that Papertrey Ink's Aqua Mist cardstock is the perfect match of Martha Stewart's packaging!

This is a photo of the box that you will be recieving! Simply leave a comment on my blog and I will draw a number on Sunday and post the winner on Monday Morning! Thanks for fluttering by!

Supplies: Boxes, Bags and Tags stamp set and Favor it Weddings by Papertrey Ink.

Cardstock: Basic Black, PTI White, Aqua Mist Cardstock by PTI

Ink: Aqua Mist by PTI, Palette Noir, Craft White

Accessories: Martha Stewart gem stickers, cuttlebug and swiss dot folder, nestabilities label 1 dies, foam squares, circle punch