Monday, November 30, 2009

Non Wedding Related: Puppy Episode, Part Three

part one, part two

Hi guys, remember me?!!  Sorry I left you for so long.  Last week I was off school all week for Thanksgiving break and Mr. T was in town, so I didn't get anything at all done!  I had every intention of popping in from time to time, but it just didn't happen.

But I'm back.  And I only have 8 days of classes left until finals, and then I'm done forever!!  Or until I figure out what I'm doing with my life.

But anyways, I bring you more puppy happiness.  Mr. T and I drove up to Wausau last Sunday on our one year anniversary to pick out our puppy.  We got there, and walked down into the basement where all the puppies were, and let me tell you...it was love.  As soon as I got downstairs, all of the little puppies walked over and started climbing over our feet.  They were so cute!




If you remember, there were two puppies for us to choose from.  A little boy with a blue camo collar, and an adorable boy with an orange collar.  We stayed there for 2 hours playing with the puppies trying to decide.  I don't think either of us made up our minds until we were half way out the door.
In the end, we ended up choosing blue camo guy.  He was a pound heavier than all of the other puppies.  He has such a cute, roly-poly looking face.  We both like big dogs, and figured it couldn't hurt if he turned out to be the biggest.  He was a little bit calmer than the other guy too, so that played a role in our decision.

Here's our little baby.
We'll pick him up on December 20th on our way back up to Minnesota.  We did a lot of shopping for him over the past week.  We picked out food bowls after seeing him.  Then we got a big fluffy dog bed and a couple toys on sale at Big R on Black Friday.  Mr. T's mom made us a cute little rug to go under the dog bowls to match our kitchen rugs.  My sister bought us an "early Christmas present" that consisted of a leash, collar, and two rope toys.  Then Mr. T's parents found a brand new, unwrapped dog brush when they were moving back into their house.  Oh, and we bought a nice plastic container to store the dog food in on sale this Saturday from the hardware store.  So our little guy will be all set to go when he comes home.  We'll just need a couple more little things.  I can't wait to see how big he is in 3 more weeks.

Thursday, November 26, 2009

Give Thanks!




Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope you all are enjoying your holiday breaks, or at least the day off.  I know I am!  Mr. T has been home from MN for the whole week, and I'm absolutely loving having him around and hanging out at our parents' houses.
Today marks the first holiday we're actually spending together.  Last year we did Christmas separately, so this is a big one.  Normally my family goes to Wisconsin for Thanksgiving and we spend it with all of my dad's family.  Mr. T usually spends Thanksgiving at home with just his immediate family.  This year though, my dad is in an outage at work and can't go more than 100 miles away, so we're staying home for the first time in a long time.  So Mr. T and his family are coming over for dinner =]  I'm so glad our families get along so well.  You should see what our dads and Mr. T do to our alcohol supply anytime they all get together.
So this holiday was very easy, but Christmas is going to be interesting.  He always goes to two parties in MN, one for his dad's side on Christmas Eve and one for his mom's side on Christmas Day.  I always do Christmas in Wisconsin so I have no idea what is going to happen then.  But we have a month to figure that out.
In the meantime, here's what I have to be thankful for:
-My friends and family are happy and healthy.
-Mr. T is home for a whole week, the longest I've seen him since July.
-In less than 6 months I get to marry the man I love more than anything else.
-We're getting a puppy!
-I'm graduating in about 3 weeks, and will never have to come back here again.
-Cross your fingers, but I may just have my first big girl job to be thankful for as well =]
-Life is good, and there's not much else to ask for.

So if you're going to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of the holidays, just make sure to take a few minutes out and think of what you're thankful for this year. 
Good luck to any of you going out to brave Black Friday tomorrow!!  I hope you find some amazing deals.  Enjoy your Thanksgiving and time with your family and friends.

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Our One Year Anniversary

I'm saving all the sweet nothings for the card I made Mr. T, so I figured the least I could do was share with you the night it all really began.

I already shared with you the day I first layed eyes on Mr. T.  And if you'll remember from that post, the Superfriends more or less introduced us and got things rolling.  Until this point, I had only seen him twice.  Once, an unassuming occasion when we both happened to be in the same place, and then again at Sarah and Keith's wedding where we shared a couple dances and he bought me drinks illegally, shh!

But when things really started was the following weekend at the Superfriends Thanksgiving Dinner.  It was the Saturday before Thanksgiving, November 22, and we were all at Tony's house gearing up for a fantastic night of food, drinks, and friendship.  We had a lot to eat, and a lot to drink, and afterwards it was time to bust out the drinking games.  Beer pong was our game of choice that night and after watching people partner up, I asked Mr. T if he'd be my partner.  He tried to tell me no, and I insisted.  And guess who won?  If you guessed me, you'd be correct.  I can be stubborn, but it didn't take too much convincing on my part.  And it's probably a good thing I stuck at it, because I believe that it was solely responsible for the beginning of our relationship.

After a few games, I decided he was cute and told my friend it was time to start flirting.  Keep in mind, there was a lot of alcohol flowing by this point.  I'll stop for a moment and let Mr. T voice his opinion on the subject.
We were at a friend's party and she kept stealing my hat. I resisted her flirtation for as long as I could. But eventually my interest in her won over my will to stay single because of my career change. I told her that I wanted to move to Minnesota, coach college football, fish a lot, hunt when I could, and raise a family. She said, "that sounds good." I had never met anyone that thought my plan was a good idea before.
Up until this point I was unaware that he was "willing himself to stay single" but at one point in the night he brought me upstairs to the computer and Googled a map of MN and told me exactly what he was planning on doing with his life.  And at that very moment I agreed that moving to MN was a good idea and I was totally on board with it!  What?!  Yes, alcohol does funny things.
So the night continued.  At one point we had our "first kiss" which neither of us remember with total clarity, and at some other point, his dad came out to the party and I convinced him he should play a game of beer pong with us.  I also taught him how to use an iPod and he was the unofficial DJ for about an hour.

So if you're keeping track, I was apparently a total flirt, agreed to moving to MN, we had our first kiss, AND I met his dad.  All in one night.  Wonderful.

Eventually the night settled down, we sobered up a little, and we got to talking about who we really are, and what we want in life.  We talked for hours into the early morning, and at one point he gave me his phone number.  His excuse was that his was dead, so he couldn't get mine.

The next day we both happened to be at Sarah and Keiths and sat next to each other through an entire movie.  And the day after that he called me and we went for ice cream.  And the day after that, and the one after that...and here we are today, one year later.  Most of the time you hear I can't believe it's already been a year, and while that's true, I also can't believe it's only been a year.

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Non Wedding Related: Puppy Episode, Part Two

part one

This is gonna be bad....I can already tell.

I'm already bragging about our new baby and we don't even have him yet!  But just to be clear, we will love and adore this puppy, but he will not be our "child" or even our "furbaby."  I'm sorry to those of you it may offend, I just can't stand that term.  We won't dress him in clothes, and he won't be eating table food.  Other than that though, he'll probably be spoiled rotten.

Here is his three week picture that I just found posted online.


I say him, but really there are these two males that we need to choose from.  We get to do that this Sunday!! Mr. T and I will be driving up to Wisconsin on our one year anniversary to pick him out =]  I can't wait to see the two little guys, and hopefully the decision between the two will be easy.  Since they're both adorable, and very similar in color, we'll be making our choice based on their personalities.
I'll let you guys know when we decide.  Maybe even throw in a couple pictures of the pup and me and Mr. T.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

DIY: Guestbook, Sneek Peak

After my last post, I feel like I should give you guys something to look at so you don't leave me out of boredom!  So even though it's not finished, and I haven't begun to write up a tutorial for it, I want to give you a sneek peak at my guestbook.

I definitely knew I didn't want a typical guestbook, where they sign their name and address on the line, because I already have their addresses.  Otherwise I wouldn't have been able to invite them, durr!  So to me that seems a little pointless.  And I'd much rather have a personal message from them all to go back and read if I ever have the inclination.  Chances are I won't, but I do the strangest things when I get bored, so you never know.


I bought this plain green scrapbook for maybe $3 on sale at a scrapbook place here at school that was closing.  It came with the little black ribbon to tie it closed.  The front has an open square to place a picture in.  I just put in a matted square with our names.  This will be changing most likely, because I think I've changed our "monogram" since then.

The inside has about 20 pages.  The first few will be scrapbooked, with some of our favorite pictures in it.  Then the last however many pages will be filled with these little envelopes and tags.  And, yes, in case you were wondering, I did make all of these envelopes and tags, and I will be sharing the dimensions, etc with you in the near future.

The back of all of the tags are white so the guests can write their message on it.  I'd ideally like for them to write their names on the front of the envelopes, and then slide their message inside.  I was thinking about leaving all the blank tags out in a little dish next to the book.  I'm thinking about two options, and I'm not sure which would be better.
1.)  Have them fill the tag out, slide it into an empty envelope, and then write their names on the front.
2.)  Have them fill out the tag, sign it, and place it into another dish and I can go through and put all of the tags in after the wedding.  Doing it this way, they wouldn't write their names on the front of the envelopes.
or 3.)  Leave all of the tags in the little envelopes.  They could take a tag out of an envelope with a blank front, write a message, and slide it back in.  Then they would write their names on the front of the envelope.  This would only work if they all signed the envelope though.
I like option 1 or 3 the best, and I really want their names on the front of the envelopes, but I don't know if it could get to be a hold up and if people would rather just toss their tag into a dish and not worry about it.
What do you guys think?  And what are you doing for your guestbook?

Monday, November 16, 2009

I'm Kind of Tapped Out

Sorry guys, but I'm kind of officially out of things to say for awhile.  I'm in the middle of so many different projects, and I really don't want to share them all with you until they are finished, so it might get a little boring around here for the next couple of weeks.
I'll try not to let that happen though I promise!  I believe I still have some inspiration type posts for some things that I can share with you.

But just so you don't give up on me completely, here's a list of things I'm working on and will share with you shortly. (And my progress, as an estimate to when you might expect to see it)

-Flower girl's tulle "tutu" skirt
-Invitations (I just did another overhaul on the design)
-Quilted cosmetic bags (Mock up is made)
-Table squares (They're all cut and in the process of being ironed and sewn)
-Pocket squares (Waiting to be cut and sewn)
-Tulle pomander (I'd say about 80% finished)
-Cocktail napkins (I had the stamp made!)
-Guestbook (Probably 90% done)

And yes, I'm currently working on all of these things.  For one reason or another, I couldn't just finish one before starting something new.

And then on the not so near future list, but things I'll be doing at some point:
-Programs
-Menus
-Out of town bags
-Aisle runner
And most likely 20+ other things I'll come up with between now and then.

Also, my wedding dress will be coming in within the next 5 weeks!!!  I still haven't decided if I'll reveal it to you in its entirety, or just give you sneak peaks until my wedding day.  But chances are I'll probably show you.

Oooh and I bought two dresses this weekend and forgot to take pictures, so this coming weekend when I go home I'll slip them on and show you how fabulous they are!

So see?? I told you there will be lots of good things coming up.  Just don't give up on me yet!

Friday, November 13, 2009

Invitation Inspiration

I suppose it's that time.  I've been putting it off long enough because I don't want to get you guys too excited.  Personally, invitaitons and paper products are my favorite parts when reading blogs.  Sometimes I skip over the super serious stuff, I skim through the honeymoon pictures, but I stop in my tracks when they get to their save the dates, invitations, and all things paper. 
It may have something to do with the large paper collection I have.  Last year a scrapbooking store was going out of business at school and I bought up probably 300 sheets of 12x12 paper for around $25.  Add that to the already growing collection, and let's just say, scrapbooking is always fun.
So anyways, now you know why I've been holding off.  If it was me reading this post, I'd start to get super anxious for the finished product to show up.  But, that won't be happening for awhile, so please don't get too excited!

I started an Invitations folder probably a week or two before we got engaged, and ever since I've been adding to it.  All of the pictures, for one reason or another caught my eye and yelled "Save me!" "Pick me!" "Create me to send to all of your friends and family!"  But of course not every single one of them could be sent out, so it really took me awhile and lots of revisions to come up with a happy blend of them all.

p.s. I don't have sources for these, so please let me know if you where who they belong to!







All but a couple of these played a major inspirational role when I was creating my mock-up.  Keep your eyes open, because at some point, before May anyways, I will be unveiling my labor of love.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Non Wedding Related: Puppy Episode


+

=



Mr. T and I are getting a puppy!! A yellow lab puppy to be specific.
I found a stay at home mom whose dog Maddy just had puppies on October 23, with their male dog Kaden.  She had 5 females and 3 males.  One of the males is already spoken for, but we get our pick between the remaining two boys.  We'll go up to Wisconsin the week of Thanksgiving and pick him out, and then he gets to come home with us after December 18.  I'm so excited =]





One of these little boys will be coming home with us in about 5 weeks, and he's going to be spoiled rotten.

And just for good measure:




DIY: Invitations, Sneak Peak

It's been a looong time coming, but don't get too excited!  I haven't even begun to post about all of my inspiration, ideas, etc.  And chances are, it won't happen for awhile either.  I will probably do a series of posts soon about all the invitations I have saved for inspiration, but I won't actually get into my own for awhile.  I'm still changing and revising, and then changing some more.  The basic concept is the same, but the details change from day to day.  So I'll wait until they're totally done and ready to leave before I share them with you all.

But the other day I was working on a small part of my invitations (yes, I'll be making them of course) and thought I would give you a sneak peek.  This isn't going to give you a whole lot of insight into my design, and it's not super exciting, but I have to start somewhere.

Earlier this summer I thought it would be a good idea to make my own envelopes. 
Yup, you read that right.  I'm making 130+ envelopes, when I can just as easily buy them at the store.  But here's my defense.  Each piece of white cardstock costs $0.05 which means I can make 130 for $6.50.  And they're exactly the right size.

I believe the origin of this crazy idea went something like this:  I made a mock-up of my invitation.  I didn't have any envelopes at the house.  I was really antsy to try this new envelope lining fad.  I found templates in the basement from my mom's old stamping days.  I decided to alter one to fit my invitation.  I made a liner to go with it.  I was sold, easy as that.
And now not so easy, is the process of making a bajillion more.  It actually is quite easy, it's just extremely time consuming.  To date, I have about 100 made, and only 50 or so lined.  p.s. if you're going to run envelopes through your printer, do that first, and THEN line them.  I learned this the hard way.

This is the most recent stack of 50 I worked on.  You can see a peek of the lining if you look closely.

And that's all you get.
But if you remember, I already shared my map with you, so I'm not doing too bad.
There will be much more I promise!

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

DIY: Door Hangers

I know I haven't made any mention yet about my out of town bags, but the majority of our wedding guests will be from out of town.  We'll have at least 50 rooms booked, possibly upwards of 60, so keeping costs to a minimum is a must.  I promise I'll share more about this in the near future, but in the meantime, here's a small portion that was just too cute to pass up.
This is another one of those absolutely unnecessary projects that I'm hoping will make an impact.  But then again, who am I kidding.  It's a small, little detail that only I might notice, but I'm okay with that.
I laid out the design so that each door hanger was 3.5"x8" to fit three to a page.
(back)
(front)
I only put the cutting guidelines on one side, so I didn't have to worry about the other side matching up perfectly.  I printed them out with my home inkjet printer onto paper I cut down to 8.5"x11"  Then it was just a matter of cutting them out.  I cut out each hanger with my papercutter, and then trimmed out the circle by hand.
I'm hoping to have this hanging on each door when the guests check in, welcoming them into town.
Then, if they so choose, this side can be hung at the end of the night.

Price Breakdown
8.5"x11" green paper = $0.33
Price per door hanger = $0.11
Total for 50 hangers = $5.50


****UPDATED 9/26/2011*****
After failing to see many of the comments below, I have included a link to download this template rather than emailing it to those who suggest it.  So click on the link below and download the template in Powerpoint.  You can change the colors, text, layout, etc.  I JUST ASK THAT YOU DO NOT ATTEMPT TO SELL THESE AS IT IS MY DESIGN. Thanks!
They are also available for purchase in my Etsy shop here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/kmattso2




What is your favorite "little detail" so far??

Monday, November 9, 2009

Mother of the Bride Dress

Quite honestly, my mom and I haven't talked much about her dress yet.  I've been really excited for her to start looking for one, and I told her absolutely not would she look like a stuffy Mother of the Bride.  No sensible shoes, or gaudy two piece outfits.  She said she wanted to wait until she lost a little more weight.

The other week she asked me what color she should wear.  I haven't put a lot of thought into it, and told her just as much.  I said probably a nice, darker jewel tone would complement the girls' dresses nicely.  I don't really think it needs to be the same color green, and good luck finding it anyways!  She agreed, and said she looks good in jewel tones.  We left it at that.

So she caught me off guard a little after breakfast yesterday when she told my sister and I to wait in the living room and she'd be down with something to show us.  This is a frequent occurence in our house, so I had no clue what to expect.
As soon as she got downstairs I could hear heels clicking down the hallway.  She walked into the kitchen, and this is what we saw.

By the way, she WILL probably kill me when she finds out that I've posted this.  I told her I needed to take pictures, and she kind of freaked because her hair and face weren't done, and I believe her excuse was, she hadn't even brushed her teeth yet.  I told her not to worry after she asked me who might see it.

Last week she went shopping with her friend for a wedding she had to go to this last weekend.  This friend of hers is an awesome influence and told her she absolutely had to get it.  Thank you Zan, it looks amazing!  It's an Adrianna Papell dress that she found at Macy's at originally $188, and on sale for an amount she couldn't remember when I asked.

My mom has concerns though.  She doesn't think she should be wearing a short dress when the girls are in long.  And she thinks the top is too revealing, but I told her her boobs look great.  What are daughters for, right?  I absolutely love the dress, and I think it looks adorable on her.  I really don't care that it's purple, and not at all in our color scheme.  And I definitely don't think she needs a jacket or a wrap like she tried to suggest.

Now we just have Mr. T's mom left.  Do you think the two "Mother of" dresses should be similar in color, or would an unrelated jewel tone work well too?

Music Mondays: Part Six

part one, part two, part three, part four, part five


Here's one more song for the Anniversary Dance.  This dance is very important to me and I want to be sure that we pick the perfect song.  This one is a little upbeat, but I think you could still slow dance to it.  The words convey perfectly what the dance is all about.

"Still the One" by Orleans

Sunday, November 8, 2009

One Year

No, not until our wedding, nor is it our anniversary, but today marks one year from the first time I met Mr. T  (Our one year is fastly approaching, though, on the 22nd!)

First, I want to give you a little background on the situation.  About two years ago, I started hanging out again with an old friend, Sarah, from high school.  She very quickly became one of my closest friends, and I absolutely love having her in my life.  But that's not the point.  The point is, at the time she was engaged to Keith, a boy 4 years older than her.  Keith is a member of what we like to call, the "Superfriends."  The Superfriends is a group of about 10 guys, who are closer than your typical group of girls.  We're talking gossip, best friends, do everything and anything together.  They're just that close.  They all went to highschool together, played football together, and even though they're grown men now, it doesn't make a difference.  A typical weekend would consist of any and all of them out at the bars until closing time...and then staying out a few hours longer, just for good measure.  They're the greatest group of guys, and a blast to hang around with.
Well, by necessity, fiancees and wives are a part of this exclusive group as well.  So by hanging around with Sarah, I was also hanging around with the Superfriends.  So in time, I've become really good friends with all of these boys.

I'm sure you're wondering what that has to do with the story.  Well you see, Mr. T was also a member of the Superfriends.  But I had no clue.  For the first year of my inclusion in this group, Mr. T was living in another town, with his then girlfriend.  Never once did I see him, although I'd occassionally hear his name mentioned and wonder who they were all taking about.  They would always talk about him like he was this mythical being.  He had gone away to a big ten school and played football, and his dad was this awesome hunter, which you'd have to know these guys to understand why that really matters.

But anyways, a year ago today we were all gathered at Tony's house, for the bajillionth night in a row, working on finishing his basement.  We were sitting upstairs taking a break, and a new face made an appearance.  We were sitting in the same room for over an hour, and after he left I still had no idea who he was.  I asked afterwards who he was, only to find out it was Mr. T!  I'd later come to find out that he had ended things for good with the then girlfriend, and moved back to his parents' house in town.

That night marked his return to the group.  A week later we were both at Keith and Sarah's wedding, where we shared a few dances, and he bought me alcohol illegally from the bar.  A week later we were at the Superfriend's Thanksgiving Dinner, and one thing led to another and we were inseperable from then on.  Now here we are, almost a year later, 6 months out from our wedding!  It's amazing the way things happen sometimes.  We're both firm believers that God puts people into your life for a reason, and that he has a plan for each and every one of us.  We're both so glad that our plans were met to include each other, and I can't wait to see what He has in store for us.

Proof that we were, in fact, at the same wedding.

Mr. T is in the middle.

There I am on the right, in the green dress.
Although it isn't a picture taken together, the guy in the blue shirt is what links the two pictures together.

Any of you have "first encounters" with your honey that were less than stellar??

Friday, November 6, 2009

So I Might Be Just a Little Bit Crazy...

Wedding planning is taking over my life.  There's no other way around it.  I've got piles upon piles of stuff in my room at home, and in my apartment at school.  I've found it spilling over into other things that I do, so much so that I've even started a "Wedding Shower" folder in with all of my other wedding stuff.  It's got cute ideas for decorations, food, invitations, etc.

Do you think this is bad?  That I more or less want to plan my own shower?  A shower that hasn't even been decided upon yet?  You'd think it could be a part of this whole process that I'd give away freely for everyone else to do, and just show up and have a good time.  But no, not me!

Chances are my mom and sister will throw me a shower, since she's my maid of honor.  And that means that it will more than likely be at our house, or at least in our town.  And that means I can tell them all of the wonderful things I'd like for them to do!  Maybe make my own invitations, hint at them and guide them along for decorations and food.  This could definitely be interesting.

So just for good measure, I thought I'd share some of my ideas with you.

I was looking online for napkins for a future project, and came across this collection at Party City which would be perfect for my shower.

It's the perfect color and super cute.  So cute, in fact, that I decided an inspiration board should be made.  Don't ask me where I come up with this time in between all of my classes and tests and such, because I honestly have no clue.

These plates would look adorable on top of black tablecloths.  Hint, hint Mom and Sis!!

And you've already seen the cute little recipe cards I came up with to include with the invitations.


And I even went as far as coming up with an invitation idea to go along with the recipe cards.

(obviously none of my real info, but you get the idea)

We have a cute little bay window in our dining room that a nice spread like this would look cute in.


So yes, as you can see, I'm a very anal, detail oriented kind of person.  And apparently this aspect of my wedding isn't safe from me.

Any one else out there a little bit crazy like me??  What can't you keep your hands off of?

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Choreographed First Dances

Since I put today's post up early last night, I needed to come up with something to take it's place.  I had forgotten I started this post a few weeks ago, so now's as good a time as any to finish it.  For your viewing pleasure:




This one starts off a little so-so, but it definitely picks up in the middle.  And boy, does that groom have some moves!


I'm absolutely in love with this!! Makes me want to change our first song, and hire a choreographer =]  But seriously, I want my dance to look like this.


This one is freaking amazing! That's all I have to say.


Aaaah.....favorite movie of all time!


Now I just need to find us some dance lessons!

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

DIY: Card Box

Okay guys, I was saving this for tomorrow, but some of you may be bored by my latest webpage series.  So I'm going back to my roots for this one.  Ha!  But seriously..

I'm not sure if I shared what I was originally thinking of for a card box or not.  I can't seem to find it in any old posts, so I'm guessing it was one of those things I meant to do, and then never got around to, which by the way, happens way too frequently in my life.  Either way, I have a new plan.

But just for those of you that may be curious, here's what I was planning on doing.

I even went as far as adding the DIY tutorial link to my favorites and buying four 8x10 frames from Hobby Lobby on sale for $30 total.  But then I moved into a house in MN this summer and put the picture frames up on the wall, and I just didn't feel like taking them back down.

So while I wandering around Hobby Lobby last week, lusting after Christmas decorations two months too soon, I came across some square and round boxes that would be perfect for a card box.  I stood in the aisle for a good ten minutes just staring at them trying to figure out if that's what I wanted to do.  Seriously.  This same worker walked past me like four times and I'm sure he thought I was a complete idiot.  But then I realized they were 50% off of already cheap prices, so my mind was made up.  So then I stood there for another 5 minutes trying to decide between round and square, (I went with 3 different sizes of round) and then went back to the fabric section and picked out some material to cover them with.

I forgot to take a picture of all the boxes before starting, but you'll get the idea when you see the finished product.

Step-by-step tutorial

1.  Cut a hole in the bottom of the top box, about an inch from the outside edge.  I just used a utility knife I found in my mom's tool box because I couldn't find a fancy shmancy X-acto knife in our collective craft supplies.  It worked just fine afer I switched out the old blade.

2.  Take the lid off, flip it over on top of the middle box, and trace the circle you just cut out.  Make sure you have it centered first!


3.  Now cut out along that line.

4.  Then you flip over the middle box, and cut out a hole in the bottom about an inch from the outside edge just like you did with the bottom of the top box.
5.  Now flip the middle box over and trace this hole onto the top of the bottom box.
6.  Cut out that hole.

7.  Now it's time for the slot on the top of the top box.  I cut out a circle the same size as the top from newspaper to make a template.  I had first tried finding the center of the lid and measuring out this way and that, but it just didn't work.  So if you fold the newspaper circle in half and half again, you can find the center and easily cut out a slot.  I don't have a measurement for this, but I went off of a card I found laying around the house.  I designed it so the card would be placed in vertically.  Make sure it is wide enough for a thick card to fit through after you cover it with material.

You can see all the lines I attempted making on the lid before I made the newspaper template.

8.  Trace the slot onto the lid and cut it out.

I originally bought three boxes with the intention of having it go three-high, and then I got home and thought I would only use the top two because it seemed bigger than in the store.  But then when I started to wrap the two boxes, I realized it was, in fact, not big enough and I really did need the third box after all.  So it was a little bit of trial and error, you'll just have to see what size works best for you.  I would rather have too much room in it than not enough since we're inviting 300+ guests.

9.  Now you need to wrap the boxes with material.  I wrapped the middle with the lid in place.  The top box I wrapped separately from the lid so it would be a cleaner look fitting the material through the slot.  The bottom box I also wrapped separately from the lid, so that I can take the bottom off and get the cards out at the end of the night instead of reaching through the top two boxes.

Here's another learning place: I had planned on placing the box on the center of a large circle of material and gathering it up and into the center so there would be a ruching effect, but I didn't like it as much as I thought.  So I took a long strip of fabric, that was wider than the box laying on its side and glued the short edge along the side of the box.  Then I rolled the box down the length of the fabric, folded it under, and glued the end at the starting point.  With the box on its side, there was extra fabric at the top and bottom.  I took this and pulled it tight, gluing it to the inside of the box.  Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures, because I was too busy burning a few fingers in the process.  So hopefully my explanation makes sense, but feel free to ask me if it doesn't.

Right now I haven't attached the boxes to each other because I'm trying to figure out the best way to do it.  I'm thinking about velcroing the layers together so it can be taken apart easily for storage, and shipping it if I can sell it after the wedding.  So right now the layers are just sitting on top of each other looking pretty.

I did add a bow, using my super fantabulous Bow Making Tutorial to the bottom layer to hide where the box and the lid meet, so no one can tell that it comes apart.

Right now I'd say it's about 90% finished, I just need to decide what other finishing touches to add and possibly incorporate my chartreuse green color. I had thought about painting some wooden letters to spell out "CARDS" but I think I want to keep this simple and not clutter it up too much.  I'll probably just add a sign that will match my table numbers.

Price Breakdown
Lg. Box (50% off @ 9.99) = $4.99
Md. Box (50% off @ 8.59) = $4.29
Sm. Box (50% off @ 6.59) = $3.29
Fabric = $2.99
Fabric = $4.49
Fabric = $4.19
Ribbon (already had)
Hot glue gun and glue (already had)
Utility knife (already had)
Total = $24.24
FYI:  I used a yard of material for the bottom box, 3/4 yard for the middle box, and a yard for the top box.  I got extra for the top because most of the top was covered and I just wanted to be safe.  It ended up being pretty perfect, there wasn't much left over from the bottom two boxes, and I probably could have gotten away with 3/4 or less for the top box.

So as you're getting to know, I change my mind ALL the time.  Do you have any projects that started out as one thing, and turned into something completely different by the time you were finished?
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