Bachelorette Party Goodie Bags!

As you all know, my sister Megan is getting married (in 17 days to be exact!), and being the Matron of Honor I planned the Bachelorette party. I worked closely planning the details with one of the Bridesmaids (thank you Vanessa for the help!), as we tossed around ideas such as wine tasting, spa day, San Diego weekend, etc. and ultimately ended up in Las Vegas for the weekend!

We stayed at Caesar's Palace, within the Palace Tower; the room was recently renovated which made it a stylish and chic home away from home! We had a great time in Vegas- nothing too crazy like The Hangover (thankfully!), just a nice girl weekend with some great memories! :)

Now for the crafty part of the Bachelorette party... Growing up, hands down my favorite part of a birthday party were the goodie bags- honestly, what's not to love?


I had grand plans for the goodie bags, but was unfortunately set back by my finger incident (as I cut it while cutting the fabric for the goodie bags!). My wonderful and talented Momma offered to make the reusable grocery bags for me, one for each of the girls (including me). I absolutely LOVE how the bags turned out! We used the Jane Market Bag pattern by Alicia Paulson, two fat quarter bundles for the sides of the bags and handles, and additional fabric for the front and back panels and lining.

My bag! The white bags had a black patterned lining.

Megan's! The black bags had a pink-flowered lining (same and front and back panels).

While browsing Etsy I spotted cute polka-dotted custom wine glasses and I was in love! The price per glass was much more than I wanted to spend on the goodie bags, so I did some research and came across this! The wine glasses were instant gratification (which I love!), as the tutorial I followed was spot on! My friend Christine (thank you!) donated the vinyl, as she had scraps, which made the cost of the wine glasses very feasible! :) In addition to the wine glasses, the goodie bags were filled with snacks and hot pink beaded necklaces.

Wine glasses for all of the girls: Vanessa, Anna, Candice and Megan.

As previously mentioned, I've always been a fan of goodie bags; at the end of the day the goodie bags were a fun surprise for the girls, but were also a token of appreciation for spending the weekend with Megan and I, in celebration of her big day! Thanks for a great weekend girls!

Bridal Shower Photos!

The much awaited for photos have arrived! A quick thank you to Marie, Nancy, and Grandma B. for sharing their handy work with me, for all to enjoy! :)

The Shower was held at a local neighborhood community center (aka 'The Parkhouse').

The tables were adorned with black table clothes, handmade red table runners...

...potted flowers in handmade flower pots for the centerpieces, along with festive Hershey Kisses, heart confetti, chocolate covered marshmallow pops for the favors, and Words of Wisdom cards.

The food trays were prepared the morning of as the menu consisted of sandwiches, chips, salads, and fixings.

Yummy cupcakes were served for dessert.

Presents were brought and opened! :)

x2!

Family gathered...Aunt P, Grandma B., Momma, and Grandma M.

...and the Bride-to-be left with an enormous bouquet, lovely memories, and a household full of new kitchen-ware, bath-ware, and appliances! :)

DIY Successes!

Saturday's Bridal Shower was a success- woo hoo! Many of the Shower elements were handmade including the favors, the centerpieces, advice cards, recipe cards, all of the games, and the invitations (which I already revealed). Today I'd like to showcase the graphic projects as well as the game stationery, and as the day of photos trickle in (I must admit that I forgot my camera when I left the house!) I'll do a separate post.

First up are the recipe cards, which were sent with the invitation. The color theme of Megan's shower was black, red, and white polka dots (hence the invitations and recipe cards!). The recipe cards were created in Photoshop, with use of a digital (although slightly modified) polka dot paper background. I'm super happy with how the cards came out, as they look great by themselves and even better in Megan's new red recipe box! :)

I also created the Words of Wisdom graphic below, and printed them on small cards for the experienced guests to share valuable marriage advice with the Bride-to-be. I originally spotted the idea for the Words of Wisdom in the bridal aisle at Michael's. They directed all to their website for directions where it said something to the tune of "find chat bubble, and print on cards". Needless to say I was frustrated, as where in the world was I supposed to find a stylish chat bubble? I took it upon myself and created the graphic in Photoshop. I hope Megan references the advice cards in the future!

I'm a lover of games (what about you?)! Three games were created for the Shower- How Much Do You Know About Megan?, Purse Scavenger Hunt (my favorite!), and Gift Bingo. It's just my opinion, but I think game #1 and #2 were the favorites among the guests. Gift Bingo was played later in the afternoon, and with 50+ guests, I think it was hard for many to see Megan opening the presents (you live and learn- right?).

Invitations!

I'm happy to announce that the five years I spent in architecture school have payed off, as I recently put my mad Photoshop skills (giggle giggle) to use. :) After browsing Etsy one lovely afternoon I fell in love with the idea and design of digital invitations, thus I put myself to work and came up with the following...


The middle polka dot image is a Photoshop file, which was saved as a JPEG and printed in the photo department at our local Sam's Club. The 'photo' was then backed onto red card stock and voila!

Just like old times I enjoyed the time I spent working in Photoshop, and hope to have the opportunity to do some more design work in the future! :)

Sneak Peek...

I'm not big on surprises, but hope that you are as I promised to reveal some of the do-it-yourself projects that I've been working on for my sister's shower.

First up are the invitations! Here's a sneak peek as I have to do some edits to the location and RSVP information, no offense to any as if it was my shower I'd love to have ALL of you join me, however it's my sister's and I don't think she feels the same way I do about my blog friends. ;o)

Did Someone Say Party?

I haven't been crafting per se, but I have been designing and party planning! My little sister is getting married to her high school sweetheart this coming April (time sure does fly by when you're having fun!), which means that her wedding shower is right around the corner.

I've been working on lots of do-it-yourself projects and can't wait to show all! (However you'll have to wait until the latter part of February, as the guests have to be the first to see the big reveal). Stay tuned!