Britain is the Best!

in celebration of the fun events england has been and will be holding this summer (the diamond jubliee and olympics), i used this countries flag and heritage as inspiration for an invitation for a girl's weekend. i used a distressed union jack flag as a back around, placing a die-cut text box on top to fit my information. i then added a vintage crown, with a sparkly gem to add a little flare to the invitation. i went through many drafts, since i couldn't pick a font or color scheme to save my life. i made the invitation the center of a red folder, adding a direction card and information card to the bottom pocket to complete the look. the fonts i used were: castellar and chopin script

Graduation from GW

this was my favorite gift to wrap up. this was the first idea that came to me. the tag reads 'hail a taxi, a spade marks the spot'. the graduate loves kate spade. so all wrapped up in  yellow wrap with black and white checkered ribbon was a kate spade pouch, the print of which is a map of new york city with a spade marking the location of the flag ship store. 

for this particular gift, the graduate was graduating from george washington and will be attending n.y.u in the fall, so i tried keep with the theme of new york city. i bought separate gifts, wrapping each gift differently, each reflecting the graduates personality and future plans. 

as an art historian i have to promote a trip to one of the greatest museums in the world. i had a map and information pack on the museum, which i added to a picture from the kate spade collection.

this gift wrap slightly hinted at the gift inside, the only clues being the vintage , sparkle pin and address.  the gift was 'breakfast at tiffany's', a must-see before a trip to new york. 

i found this amazing vintage new york city wrap which had a vintage image of n.y.u. which worked out fabulously for this gift. you'll notice i have made tags for each gift. this one in particular is a white embossed 'congratulations', which i stamped on a navy card. 

finally, i wrapped the gift in kraft paper, topping it off with a navy ribbon with white polka dots. the school  colors were navy and buff, however knowing all the gifts in side were quite vibrant and detailed, i kept the outside quite simple. i made the tag using the school mascot, mounting it on silver and white card stock. with a congratulation message on the back. 

A Peachy Mother's Day

for the ladies i work with, they are like my second mother's. they always take care of me, offer advice and make me laugh. so every year for mother's day, i give them something special. this year i decided to give them each a flower, an apricot new guinea impatient to be exact...for being such 'patient' mothers to me.  i bought rosie, pink paper bags, with a wide bottom so the flower could sit in the bag without getting squished. to keep the dirt from getting everywhere, i sat the flower in a small zip lock baggy, then wrapped two layers of pink and peach tissue around it.  to secure the tissue, i used some thin, white satin ribbon. i made a tags for the bags using my design program, my favorite fonts and some glitter paper. i used paper mod podge to secure the tag to the front of the bag.  i topped off the gift with some fuchsia satin ribbon. 

I Made it Personal

As a Bridal Shower gift, I was a bit stumped as to what to get. I looked at the registry and didn't feel right buying the bride a garden hose. Instead, I used my creative talents and created a box of personalized stationery for her and her fiancee to use for the shower and wedding gifts they received. I didn't use the same style of stationery for the whole box. I mixed it up, tried to use the couple's wedding colors, which in this case were yellow and light blue. I packed it all together in a nice reusable box, adding some pens, envelope seals and stamps. 

I was also able to buy a frame off of their registry. I placed a photograph of the two of them, backed in a textured yellow paper and ribbon. Then to keep it safe, I used some light blue paper shreds and yellow tissue to keep it safe, while it traveled. 

To top it off, I wrapped the gift in light blue paper and found this faded yellow ribbon. Making a large bow at the top, I added a large, white peony with a yellow center as the topper. 

Perfectly Pink

Once I saw these orchids...I had to buy them and use them for a gift. I used them for a Bachelorette Party gift (see Fancy Timeline post). I bought foil pink wrap and 2.75'' pink satin ribbon to go with the gift. I took the stem of orchids apart. Doing a simple bow on top, I arranged the orchids all around the bow. Using a little hot glue, I attached the flowers to keep them in place.  

To complete the gift, I found a 'Bride' gem sticker, which I attached to a sparkly purple tag I made, then attached the tag to the gift using thin hot pink ribbon. When the gift was complete, it looked gorgeous! I made sure to wrap the gift up very carefully and place pink tissue around the flowers so they would not get damaged during the shipping process. 

Fancy Timeline

I got this fabulous idea from a friend of mine, who I helped host a Bachelorette party with....it's called a 'Panty Timeline'.  Typically this idea would be displayed at the party, however I was unable to attend the party for my dear friend, so I send her, her gift instead. The picture above was what she saw when she opened the box. 

The poem is easily accessible though goggle searches and may require some tweeking on your part. You will need to buy 7 pairs of panties for this project. You will need to get the brides size and the destination of her honeymoon in order to complete this project.
Depending on what poem version you use, you will need to buy specific colors. My favorite place to go is Victoria Secret...they always have a fun selection. I printed the different parts of the poem and attached them to the pair of panties that corresponded with that section. I used a piece of pink ribbon to attach the card. Because I had to ship this, I had to pack them tightly, placing layers of tissues in between to keep them in place. If you plan on displaying these at the Bachelorette Party, You will need a long piece of ribbon and 14 clothes pins. It's really fun and cute!!!

One Tequila..Two Tequila...Three Tequila...Floor!

This was a Bridal Shower gift I put together for my future sister-in-law and my brother. I love looking though gift registries and seeing if I can come up with a theme. One of my favorite's to do is the Chips and Dip gift. Usually somewhere the bride will pick a chips and dip serving platter. In this case, I bought the serving dish, then added items that would go with it. I wrapped up up the dish with margarita/tequila mix, margarita glasses, lime and lemon storage containers, napkins, salsa and cheese sauce and of course, chips! All ingredients for a good time! I put everything together and set it all in a lime green wine/beer tub. I stuffed the bottom of the tub with lime green tissue paper and lime green shreds to make sure everything was propped up. I used a shrink wrap bag to keep everything together, topping it all off with a white satin bow, large ring and over-sized tag.