Ok one of my newest favorite things is the Wedding Wishing Tree. I’ve gathered a bit of inspiration for you here, as well as show you below our new Wishing Tree Tags.
Our new tags
Happy Valentines Day!
So I’m a bit late in the day, but Happy Valentine’s Day! Can’t believe the year is going this fast.
Filed under General, Uncategorized
Fun Favor Idea – Pizza Box
I normally do this on Tuesday, but I thought I would change it up a bit.
Ok I just watched the most informative video on YouTube , BUT everything was explained in centimeters so I thought I write up a quick tutorial for you in inches! These are the cutest little favor boxes that are shaped like pizza boxes. They are the perfect size for a little mini notebook, or a big cookie, or a big brownie slice! Oooo I LOVE chocolate!
Materials:
- 6” x 11” cardstock
- Scoring tool
- Ruler (or scoring board)
- Double sided tape, or glue stick
- Embellishments as desired
- Paper Trimmer**
- Scissors
**hint if you’re going to be doing a ton of these you might save yourself some time and have your package of cardstock cut at the local copy shop (I get my paper cut for just $0.75 per cut of the stack at Office Depot)
Ok so let’s get right to it (see pictures below for any clarification).
1. I started with an 8 ½ x 11” sheet of cardstock so I trimmed my it to 6 x 11”
2. I scored 1” from all of the sides. So I in tall (portrait) layout I scored at 1”, 5”, 6” and 10”. From the wide (landscape) layout I scored at 1” and 5”. That’s the hard part!
3. On the long sides cut at each of your score lines to the 1” mark.
4. Fold all of your lines (this will make assembling the box much easier)
5. Place double sided tape on the outside of the tabs (you want to be sure to adhere your tabs to the inside of the box
6. Starting with the end you want to be the bottom of the box, begin assembly. (Keep your corners nice and square here)
7. When you get to the top of the box you will give the top just a big of extra room by adhering the tab just a bit off of square.(notice how the corner is angled out just slightly, you can trim that little extra piece off when you are all done)
8. Embellish (I kept it simple here with a ribbon, but a nice monogram tag, favor tag, or other embellishments would be great!)
9. Give away!
Filed under Crafts, favor, General, Inspiration, Party
Birth Announcements – Free Design Exchange
Happy Sunday!
I know normally I post my StumbleUpon finds on Sundays, and I will try to do that a bit later today. My cousin had a new baby this weekend, and I started working on the birth announcements, and I remembered that I wanted to add these to our Etsy Store as a product offering. In order to do that I need some product to showcase. To prevent me from having to go buy lot's of cute baby photos, if you have some that you would like to see converted into a design, let's chat!
Here's what I'm offering, design of your baby's Birth Announcement, absolutely free, in exchange for the opportunity to use that same design for display in our Etsy Shop. If you've been pricing this, that's a $15 freebie!
Email me at deitra@expressionsplanning.com for additional details. See below for a sample of what we're creating.
Filed under Crafts, General, Inspiration
Grown-up Prom?!
Wow I spent forever coming up with this fun post earlier today about having Grown-up prom, and it's disappeared, but let's try this again…
So here in the new year, I'm thinking it's time to stretch my creative thoughts. Really today's thought just comes from a personal desire. And that's to have more of a social life in 2012. Every year I vow that I am going to be more active with my friends, have a dinner party or two, and just get out and live a little bit. BUT I fail to do so every year. My husband and I have 3 little ones, ages 7, 5, and 2. It's pretty "busy" at our house. Really it's just boys running around hitting each other, wrestling over stuff, and being really loud.
But it hit me. I don't have to start big, I can take baby steps, and by baby steps, I mean maybe just one or two events during the year. And what better event to get started with than a Grown-up Prom? Seems crazy at first, but it's such a fun idea, and a cute way to get a bunch of grown-ups like myself, who are looking for a reason to get out of the house, together. It could be complete with the Limo Rides, Dinner Out, fun but now sophisticated photo ops, party favors and more. We even had an awesome horse carriage ride opportunity at ours.
So I think first about my high school proms (no there will be no pictures of that coming!) I think the theme my junior year was "Captured in a Hawaiian Dream". Now it was pretty cheesy how we pulled that off, completed with a balloon waterfall, and your standard inexpensive grass skirts on everything. But I think as a grown-up this same theme holds some appeal. And I think my senior year it was something like Masquarade Ball. (OOOOHHH now that one I can work with for sure)
But any ways, I'm going to spend some days thinking this over, and coming up with some fun ideas, that hopefully someone out there will be inspired to take the leap and put together a party like this. I know the idea was getting some press back in May or so, but let's bring it back, and better than before in 2012.
Stay tuned I already have a few fun ideas in mind!
Filed under Crafts, General, Inspiration, Party
New Favor Boxes Coming Soon
So as you know we've taken the shop down for a few days to spend some time with family and work on new items for the shop. Well we've definitely been very busy coming up with new items for your special events.
Here are just a few of the boxes we've come up with so far:
Triangle Box
Triangle Box
Gable Box
Gable Box
All of these boxes will come assembled ready for you to add your treats!
In addition to the boxes above we have also been working on some new printable materials to help compliment your event. We're seriously so excited for the new year, and all of the new things we have to bring you! Stay Tuned!
Our Grand Re-Opening is Coming Soon
Here in about a week we will be taking our Etsy Shop offline, to allow for holiday travel, and time with family. Additionally during that time we will be working to update the shop. New sections, New Listings, just NEW, NEW, NEW!!!! When we re-open we plan to be bigger, and better than ever.
To celebrate our re-invented shop we will be throwing a
~ Grand Re-Opening ~
Event
We're still working out all of the details, but we know it's going to be a great time! Check back often for updates as to the new things coming!!!
Look forward to new items in:
- Baby Showers
- Birthday Partys (Boys, Girls, & Grown-Ups!)
- Bachelorette Parties
- Weddings (of course)
- Holiday Celebrations
- More
- MORE
- MORE!!!!!
We Look forward to seeing you there
Filed under Uncategorized
Tutorial Tuesday: Party Invitations – Layered
WHERE HAVE I BEEN?!?!?
I think for a minute, I forgot how to type my tutorials! 
Ok no just kidding, sometimes running a business takes the fun out of running a business. I've been so busy focusing on running the online shop, I haven't had much time to devote to the blog, but I'm going to try to make a concerted effort to spend more time over here. So without further-ado welcome back, and enjoy our newest Tuesday Tutorial
***Normally I don't center text, but something funky is going on with this post. So until I figure it out, just bear with me!***
FLAT MULTI-PANEL INVITATION
[/caption]What You’ll Need
· Patterned Scrapbooking Paper
· 2 Colors of Cardstock (Coordinate with your paper)
· Ribbon (Satin or Grosgrain work best for this)
· Scissors
· Paper Trimmer
· Adhesive (Glue sticks, Terrifically Tacky Tape, Adhesive Runner, Glue Dots…You decide)
· Word Processing Program
· Printer (or a trip to the copy supply store)
· Envelopes (For distributing your finished invitations)
· Camera (to take pictures of your handy work)
Instructions
1. Determine the size of your finished invitation (Our finished invitation was 8 ½ x 5 ½)
2. Decide how much of each layer you would like to see, this will allow you to determine the size of each layer (we sized each layer down by ½” giving a consistent ¼” around each layer of the invitation.
a. Because we have 3 layers total the sizes were as follows:
i. Back Layer – 8 ½ x 5 ½
ii. Middle Layer (Patterned Paper) – 8 x 5
iii. Top Layer (Printed Layer) – 7 ½” x 4 ½”
3. Create a text box in your word processing program for your printed layer. Again, in this finished invitation the printed layer was 7 ½ x 4 ½. When creating this your program will automatically make the outline black. I suggest making it a very light grey, or a color to match your cardstock. This will allow for easy trimming (step 6)
4. Type the text for your invitation. (I left a space between “Keidra is turning 5” and “Join us for Lunch” to accommodate for the ribbon. This a bit of a guessing game based on the width of your ribbon”
5. Print on the cardstock you have chosen for your text layer. (It is suggested you make this the lighter of your 2 cardstock colors)
6. Trim to your desired size. (Illustration A-1)
7. Attach your ribbon. (I used a glue stick, but this can be extremely messy, I would suggest either an adhesive runner, or a double sided tape) (Illustration A-2)
8. Measure and Trim
A-1
A-2
Stay Tuned for additional examples of this invitation for other events.
· Wedding
· Baby Shower
Filed under Crafts, General, Inspiration, Invitation, Party, Tutorial Tuesday
BLACK FRIDAY SALE!!!
We're celebrating Black Friday with a 35% off sale in our Etsy shop! Save 35% off all items in our shop. Buy now for your big event!!!
Sale runs Thursday 12:01 AM – Monday 11:59 PM
Don't miss out!
Filed under Uncategorized
We’re Desinging – Wedding Monograms
So the last few months have been quite crazy with custom work in the Etsy shop. We'll I've carved out some time to start working on some wedding monograms. I can't even remember whether I've told you about them already, that's how crazy it's been!!! BUT check out some of our custom work here below!
We're working on some fun ways to use the monograms such as favor tags, Wishing tree cards, thank you cards, invitations, menus, programs and more. Keep checking back as we develop more designs, and more ways for you to showcase them at your event!
Happy Planning