DIY: Drink Stirrers

Here's another quick project for you...it'll be a short but sweet post!

They say "Drink and be married!" to go along with the coasters I made to put at the bar.  I bought the stirrers from Walmart.  I found them in the craft section and they're called skinny sticks.  They were 75 to a bag and cost around $2.  Then I just printed out the design onto address labels.  You can't see the back, but they're double sided.  Then I just stuck them around the stick.

Easy peasy! 

DIY: Coasters, Part Two

Part One

While I was back at home for two weeks recently, I finally got around to getting my coasters done.  Most of them anyways.  Back in part one I said I was going to use the StazOn ink in black to stamp on them, but I changed my mind a little bit after running across some awesome embossing powder at the Unclaimed Freight store I was telling you all about.

I already had green pigment ink in a very similar color, so I decided to stamp on the coasters in green, and then emboss them with the green powder.  We just so happen to have an embossing heat gun laying around the house from my mom's stamping days, so it worked out perfectly.
I didn't take any pictures along the way, but basically you get your stamp inked really well, stamp onto your surface, and then coat the entire thing with embossing powder. 
Don't worry about using too much, because all you do is tap it off onto a piece of paper and funnel it back into the container.  After doing 100+ coasters the container looked like it had been barely touched.
Then all you have to do is heat up the powder and watch it turn.

I was doing all of them the first way and my sister came in and said I should do them on an angle to make them "more interesting."

Right now I have somewhere around 100 done, and I need to figure out how many more I want to do.  They're going to be sitting at the bar, so I don't know if everyone will grab one, if some people will grab one with each drink, etc.

Side story:  So you know the little caddies at a bar that hold napkins and straws and stuff?? Maybe?  Well I was telling my sister how I wanted to steal two of them from the bar we always go to, and she was saying she could probably get her friend's parent to get them for me since they own the bar.  I probably mentioned this like three times.  Then one day Mr. T's mom took me to a new little store in town to buy some spaghetti bowls she thought I would like.  It was a restaurant supply store that was open to the public, and a few rows in we found exactly what I was talking about.  There were two of them, they were black, and they were only $1.82 each!
In case you don't know what I'm talking about:

The coasters fit in perfectly, and now I want to find some cute straws and make some drink stirrers to go in those other little cubbie holes.  I'm pretty sure all 100+ fit in that container.  So then there will be another 100 at the other bar, and I can leave about 50 at each for refills as the night goes on.

And thanks to some of you girls, I was able to sell most of the extra coasters, so this project only ended up coasting me about $10 not including the stamp.

DIY: Coasters, Part One

Wanna know my current favorite aspect of planning my wedding?

Getting boxes in the mail all the time!  I think it's the build up that happens when you're waiting and waiting and waiting, and you know it should be here at any time, and then there's a knock on the door, and if you're like me you go running to answer it hoping it's your package.  In my case, it's usually not...but when it is, I get so excited.  And yes, I'm a dork, I realize that.
But anyways, this is one of the latest packages to show up at my doorstep.  Although this one went to my house, so I didn't get to run to the door like a little kid.  But I did get to open it up when I got home, and this is what I saw.

I ordered coasters from Katz Americas that I'm planning on using for the cocktail hour and throughout the reception at the bar.  Unfortunately, it was a minimum order of 1000 coasters, but the price wasn't bad, so I went for it.  For $33 including shipping, they sent me blank coasters of medium thickness.  At the moment, you can't order blanks from the website, but if you call their phone number, they'll get you all set up.

I'm going to use my custom "Eat, Drink, and Be Married." stamp that I ordered from Etsy along with another stamp that I've got in the works.  I would like for the coaster to also say our names and our wedding date, so I need another stamp for that.  I already bought the StayzOn ink that I've read multiple places works perfectly for this so it doesn't bleed when the coaster gets wet.  I bought mine at Hobby Lobby, but it's available at many stores and also online.  It's a little pricey at around $8 so make sure and use a coupon if you have one!

I haven't actually stamped on any of them yet, because I need to get that second stamp.  But as soon as I do, I'll let you guys know how it goes!

Oh and by the way, if any of you are interested in buying some of them, I'd more than happily oblige.  There's no way I need that many!