My First DIY!

I wanted to give my bridesmaids something thoughtful when I asked them to be a part of my big day. But then I procrastinated…and waited a little more…and put it on the backburner. With 8 months to go, I figure I better get a move on it.

I decided instead of just scratching the project and asking them via phone, I would go ahead with what I had planned. There are a few elements to the gift, but the first element is a homemade card. Each one of them will receive a similar card, but the dress on the front will be different. I also had to create one groomsman card for one of Mr. H's guys that isn't local.

All of the products are from Michael’s. I went into a local scrap-booking store first, but was so intimidated and confused, I went back to a place where I felt comfortable for my first project.

The Materials

Step One

I started by taking my cute black and white damask wrapping paper (found during Christmas at, of all places, Old Navy), tracing the size of the envelope onto the backside and cutting it accordingly. Then, I took the adhesive tape and put in on one half of the card. I wrapped that half first, then folded it over and finished wrapping the card.

Step Two

The next step was to cut out the black cardstock to place on the front. I pretty much eyeballed the first one and then cut the other three to the same size. I also cut out the white cardstock, ½” shorter in the width and height and used the adhesive to attach it to the black cardstock.

Step Three

I placed the cardstock onto the card wrapped in the damask paper. I then used adhesive squares to attach the dresses and give them a 3-D look. The dresses were found on istockphoto and I printed, cut out and traced them onto the remaining black cardstock. Since I am going to have black bridesmaid’s dresses, I figured this would be perfect. (And I can use the images over and over for other print projects in the future!)

After the first couple of cards, I got a little fancy and did some rounded corners. The more I worked on them, the braver I was to play around a bit. I was going to put something cute on the front with my own writing, but was worried about messing up the whole thing after all that work, so I left it as is.

The inside of the girls' cards said the following:

I wanted to pick something
You all would like
that way you wouldn't
have any gripes
As much as I looked
and as much as I liked
I just couldn't justify
paying that price
So for my big day,
this is all that I ask
Please pick something black
And pick something long
And please don't let me see
your boobs or your thong
Your hair and your maeup
are all on me
As long as you are my bridesmaid to be!

The boys' card said the following:

I always knew one day
I'd be a groom
I just never knew who
would fill the room
The time is now here
and I must decide
Who I want to stand
When I take my bride
It would be a great honor
If you would agree
To stand at the altar
And be a groomsman for me!

I placed each card inside these cute damask boxes filled with tissue paper. Along with the card and box was a personalized photo album for each girl (more on that fiasco to come)! The girls really loved the cards, which, ultimately, was most important to me. I'm just relieved it all turned out well. Since I'm not very sentimental, I felt uncomfortable getting all mushy when asking them, so, instead, I handed them their presents and let them read the card.


I can only aspire to be as great as some of our other crafty Bees, but I have to say I did enjoy my first DIY project. Hopefully this is the first of many to come!

**On a side note...I am no poet, nor do I even claim to know the proper ways to form a poem. I just did them on the fly and wrote them down to my best ability :)