DIY Photo Envelope Liner

I couldn't go through all the work of making the invitations myself and then have average envelopes now could I?

Of course not!

I think photo envelope liners are a cool way to incorporate a picture of the both of you without actually dropping a 4x6 into the envelope

And the picture invitations with the vellum overlay are ok....but I'd seen it a million times and wanted to do something different 

Here's what you do

Find a picture of the two of you that will lend itself well to the shape of your envelope...keeping in mind that you probably don't want anything too close up 

Have the pictures printed out in black and white onto normal everyday computer paper....fancy stuff isn't necessary here.  You want thin paper so it folds easily and won't bulk up the envelope too much

Next you need a template that fits into your envelope

We used my friends Cricut to find one that was the closest match...but it still wasn't spot on

Envelopes vary alot...some come to a triangular point, some are more squared off, some rounded....etc etc

We found a template on Cricut was close in shape but a bit too long

 We just trimmed the bottom so it would fit inside our envelope nicely

You don't need a cutting machine to do this though, you can make your own template by and by unfolding your envelope and cutting and tracing the insides to make one that fits

Then just move the template around the picture figuring out what part you want to be the cut out

And cut, cut, cut!

Then just glue them into the insides of your envelope

Sorry the picture is so flashy....and it's the only one I could find.  If only I had known back then that I would end up blogging I would have photographed EVERYTHING...and relatively well

Now I know what you're probably thinking....what if your guests are the type pf people who don't "open" envelopes but instead just rip across the top?

I thought of that and I was mentally prepared for that to happen quite a few times

But I figured (in my crazy ass head of mine)  That if they did do that, they would soon realize the mistake they made and feel like a huge asshole for ruining my hard work =)

I joke I joke, I kid I kid!

Sorta. ;)

But really...it did happen.  A coworker of mines husband opened it the wrong way and once he saw what he had done he panicked and taped it all back together nicely

When she got home and saw it n the counter he explained what he did and was super apologetic  about it....which I find quite amusing

But I figured even if they did open it wrong the effort still wouldn't go unnoticed and they would see how it was meant to be....which they did....so it's all good

I got countless compliments on them and I'm so happy I did it. I'm all about small touches and details and this was one the guests got to see before the wedding even started!

DIY Kangaroo Pocket Style Wedding Invitations

Well.....Wedding Week turned into "Wedding Over 2 Weeks Worth of Crap"

And then I fell off the face of the earth

Shit happens man.....but just know I was dreaming of blogging everyday...I really was

Work has been a real b-iatch lately and it's wearin me out

And not in the typical I'm working a ton of hours kind of way...but in the whole "I can't believe I work here surrounded by these idiots....are freakin you kidding me?,..... Can anyone do their job right?.....can I please stop getting screwed over?.....how bad would it be if I quit my job right here right now?  if anybody says one word to me right now I'm going to lose my shit .....kind of way

Like I am emotionally and mentally exhausted!  That place is killing me.  I go home everyday with a massive headache and it takes everything I  have in me just to make dinner and do my yoga session before I crash out....so my poor blog has suffered

Maybe if my coworkers stopped sucking so bad I'll have a smidgen of energy when I get home....a girl can dream right?

Anyways....after a long hiatus I am bring back Wedding Week!

I still have a few things I want to share with you...like my invitations

I really wanted my ivitations to have a nice handmade feel....I didn't want them to look like the kind you buy at Michael's over in the wedding section that have the two silver hearts that are linked together.....just not my style  (no offense to anybody who used those invitations)

So I ended up making mine completely....I have zero pictures of the process so I don't have a full step by step tutorial for you..sorry!  But I can show you pictures of the finished product and tell you the dimensions I used

I decided on a Kangaroo style....so with a pouch for anybody out there who is confused by this seemingly random reference to zoo animals

We didn't use any tutorials, we just figured it out as we went along based off the size envelopes I bought 

Here's the front with the basic information

And here is the backside that has the pouch with the information card

 

The card lead them to our wedding website that had more specification information about the location as well as maps, pictures, and introducing the bridal party

The envelopes we bought were 5x7

So we cut our brown cardstock into 5x10 in. long strips

The reason you cut it 3 inches longer is because that 3 inches is what is folded up to create the pocket in the back.  Make sense?

So you measure 3 inches from the bottom and use a boning tool (whether it's a hand held one or the kind that attaches to your paper cutter) to make a clean fold up

Then use glue dots (or something similar) to glue down the edges to create your pocket....it's that simple!

 For the front I just used my noggin and made the pink mat slightly smaller than the brown, and the white one that was printed on slightly smaller than the pink

Brown: 5x7 (after the pocket part is folded up)

Pink: 4.5x6

White: 4x5.5

Glue it all down and you're done!  I enlisted The Boy and we watched movies and assembled the invitations....it didn't take that long really.  Way faster than I had imagined

Oh...and I forgot to mention that we created all of the printed items ourself  in Word, then had them printed at Kinkos

We fit 4 of the invitation fronts on a page and 8 information cards

And just to save us time we also had them cut them for us since they can take huge stacks and get them done in seconds as opposed to us doing them all one by one ourselves

I wish I could remember for sure how much I spent on them all together, but I know it was somewhere around $50 or $60...which also includes the photo envelope liners I will be posting about soon ;)

Which if you ask me is a deal for custom invitations that are EXACTLY what you want

Cupcake Liner Valentines Day Wreath

Sooooo guess what?!?

Today is The Busy Broads Birthday!

Yup........my bloggerversary!

One year ago today I wrote my very first blog post

And it was terrible.

No really......god awful!

You can go look at it and laugh if you want....HERE.......I really won't mind.  Promise.

But I started off with a Valentines Day pillow....so I figured what better way to celebrate than with another Valentiney project

That brings us to a wreath.....cuz I'm a wreath makin fool

And for the very first time I think in history.....I made a wreath where the basis WAS NOT the shreddy paper gift basket stuff

If you look under my "Wreaths" tab you will see that pretty much all my wreaths start that way

So I decided to step outside the box and try something new

That something new ended up being cupcake liners

It's pretty crazy that I haven't used them yet considering I'm cupcake crazy. I collect all things cupcake....it's getting out of control actually

So I bought three different cute patterned cupcake liners from the dollar store

Even though the bottoms are totally cute....they don't matter at all

That part gets glued down so find ones with cute sides

All you do is flatten them 

Then fold them inside out and crumple them into a kinda sorta flower shape

And hot glue them all the way around your form.  In my case it's always cut from scrap cardboard

It's not hard, just take a little while

Then I went simple and embellished it with a few hearts that I pulled off of picks from the dollar store

That's all there is to it!

I really like it much better in person where you can better see the mix of polka dot, hearts, and chevron stripes in different shades of pink and red.  I like that it's not as matchy matchy as I usually tend to go

Now I think that since it's our first birthday me and the blog should get to wear a diaper and smash cake into our hair while everyone watches.....what do you think?

Pink and Brown Candy Buffet

Candy buffets today are what chocolate fountains were to weddings circa 2005....everybody had them  

And they actually surpass just weddings. They are at birthday parties, showers, graduations....you name it!  They are definitely a popular trend right now

I'm not at all against trends as long as I know I actually like the idea and I'm not just doing it just because it's "in"

Because of this I actually resisted the idea of the candy buffet for the majority of my wedding planning....now I couldn't imagine my wedding without it!

I figured out why I just wasn't digging it at first

It was because most of the ones I had seen online on different wedding sites seemed to mainly consist of  just...... well...candy.

You're probably saying..uhh....DUH!....it is after all a freakin candy buffet!

I know I know!  But I kept seeing tables full of just gumballs...M&Ms...lollipops....MORE gumballs...Kisses...jelly beans.....and good god MORE GUMBALLS!!!

While those are all good....they just didn't really catch my eye enough to make me want to have it

Then it hit me

One day I was at the Ranch Market (big Mexican market) and I was in the bakery section.  I'm not even sure why I was there to begin with because I almost never go there...but I was drooling over all their amazing baked goods when I saw these GIANT pink and brown cookies

At that distinct moment I realized I wanted a candy buffet....but with more than just hard candies...I wanted the good stuff!

And the rest is history ladies and gents......

If you're wondering why the heck there is a cat on the table click here 

So as you can see, we had the above mentioned gumballs, M&Ms, and a few swirly lollipops...but we also had....


Circus animal cookies. I know....it's pink and white not pink and brown...but they were such a favorite of mine growing up I let them skate past the Match O Meter

And The Boy loves coconut the so coconut neapolitans were a perfect match!

Pink and brown tootsie pop...another one of my faves.

 Rocky candy

The big giant pink and brown cookies that started it all

Mini chocolate donuts

 Pink snowballs.  This was the one thing that made me cringe a little.....but I let it go like a good bride.  They were supposed to be taken out of the packages and they weren't....but what are you gonna do?  I'm over it...............kinda

Chocolate and strawberry wafer cookies....pink and  brown salt water taffy

 

Pink and brown marshmallows.....homemade pink and brown dipped pretzels

There aren't any good pictures but we also had both of these

Strawberry hazelnut cream dippy deals...  I don't know how to describe them but they are creamy and come with a little stick to scoop it out with...they're good!

 And these mexican cookies that are kind of like oreo but with a pink marshmallow piped on top

Here's everyone digging into the  Table O' Diabetes

I had plain pink treat bags with twisty ties to take it all home in

And just a recap of everything I had

*M&Ms

*Gumballs

*Rock candy

*Taffy

*Tootsie pops

*Coconut neapolitans

* Marshmallows

*Strawberry & hazelnut creams

*Chocolate cookies w/marshmallows

*Circus animal cookies

*Pink and brown cookies

*Snowballs

*Chocolate & strawberry wafers

*Mini Chocolate donuts

*Pink and brown dipped pretzels

*A few lollipops

DIY Photo Props (pink and brown wedding)

Hiring a company to run a photo booth is awesome.....we went to a wedding that had it once

You get the cool little printed out strip of photos that remind you of your tween mall rat days and makes you crave Cinnabons....but it was WAAAAAAY out of our budget

I mean Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!

I mean, I guess we could have...if we didn't want an officiant (who needs it to be legal anyway?)....or say..maybe music?....or me in a pretty ivory dresss (I curse way too much to wear white)

But call me crazy...those things are kinda important to me

But I still wanted people to get silly and take some pictures..so I decided to just make props and let our photographer take over...along with our guests using their own cameras

Here are some of the items I made

Well actually I made like half of them....my sister made the mustaches and pipe out of stiffened felt and the glasses are felt and glitter foam just glued to sticks

I painted the mask (it was in the Halloween section) to look like our kitty Mo

(You can read all about how we represented Mo in our wedding  here)

And made the ties out of foam and glued them to alligator clips so people could easily clip them on and off

I bought this little chalk board at Hobby Lobby

And painted over it in brown chalkboard paint.  This was before I found out on Pinterest that you can make your own....so I paid out the booty for a jar of brown chalkboard paint....LAME!

And I painted the border pink

Then I threw in a bunch of store bought stuff....as closely sticky to our wedding colors as possible

We had:

*Big pink sunglasses

*Pink and brown cowboy hats

*Pink foam glitter crown

*Sombrero.....a nod to The Boys Mexican heritage....arriba arriba!

*Chefs hat...since we met in Culinary school

And I put them all in this basket with a little sign on it

We had tons of fun with them!

Can you tell by the horrified look on my face that she'll be waiting a while on that one?

And this one here really chaps my lips.....

Nobody forced them to write this...this was a self proclamation to the world....and I'm still waiting,

Tease.

Hurry. Up. Brian.

I would like to plan another wedding please




Oh...and I'm totally down with making you an OFFICIAL member of our crazy ass clan...we give out jackets!  Just a little bonus that might entice you ;)

Anywho.......

It was fun!


And didn't cost us a gazillion dollars....and people still got to eat.....and drink.....and our marriage was legal

All good!

DIY Here Comes The Bride/ Just Married Sign

FYI....I'm suddenly realizing that I have ALOT more posts about weddings than I knew about.  So as of today Wedding Week is now renamed "Wedding NowOveraWeekIGuessIWillGoUntilWhenever theHellIRunOutofPosts"

Did ya catch that?

We didn't really do the whole flower girl situation very traditional

First off, we didn't have a flower girl we had flower girlS

Yes 2.

My two youngest nieces Brooke and Elsa

Second, there was to be no throwing of the petals

Not that I have anything against it really....like I won't laugh at you if you throw some petals around or anything  (just make those petals $20 bills...mmkay?)

It's just not really "me"

Instead my niece Brooke carried a small bouquet of the coffee filter roses and a small stuffed cat that was to represent my precious Mo Mo kitty which you can see here

And Elsa was in charge of carrying the sign

I got these cute plain pink wood signs at Hobby Lobby in the Valentine's Day section for a $1 a piece

I had my sister Kinsey, the family artist, paint "Here Comes The Bride" on one side

And "Just Married" on the other

Looks like we didn't get any shots of them holding it on the bride side....darn.....

But we got quite a few of the Just Married ones

We tried to make things as easy as possible for a 6 year old.  Here cue to flip the sign over was when we kissed....she took her role very seriously and she got the job done!

They carried it again as the were announced at the reception

And another random shot at the very end of the night

Cute huh?  

The kid.

And the sign.

Oh...and The Boy

Flip Flop Baskets

I wanted to have baskets of flip flops in the bathrooms for the women because let's face it......

Girls wear heels to look cute....not to comfortably dance all night long

(all night.....all night)

I apologize.  I just had to go there

So before the girls ended the night walking out like the zombies in the Thriller video, heels in hand.  It's the walk of pain....but hey....least it's not the walk of shame!

I figured I would offer them an  alternative...comfy flip flops...coordinating with my wedding colors of course!

I watched the ads at Hobby Lobby and waited until their flops flops were 50% off.  They are normally $1.99 so you get them for a buck...not too shabbyy!

I got them in a variety of sizes (but more of Medium than any other size) in a mix of pink and brown

I made individual size tags to hang from them that I made out of cardstock, some stamps, and ribbon

And rubber banded them together at the bottoms....then I pealed off their little size sticker from the bottom.   The reason I made my own was so it was at the top and they wouldn't have to dig through the entire basket to find their size....it was displayed right in view

Stuck them all in a big basket that was next to the bathroom baskets

And let the ladies have at em'!

Here I am pretending to be all shocked an appalled that they were completely wiped out

 (if you can't see...the board says WTF?)

But I wasn't!  I was glad to see they were put to use!

Everyone loved them!  Like I said in my bathroom baskets post....I like to give the guests that little extra something that makes them feel like they were thought of

Yes ladies....I was thinking of your poor little feetsies.....you're welcome! =)