My hanger and a few choice words

I have made all the hangers for the gifts except for mine. I had every hopes of it saying Mrs. Earl...however no matter how many times I tried I couldn't get the E to look right so after scratching myself up, throwing wire on the ground and muttering a few choice words I was about to give up until I decided to write Mrs. Squirrel. Good thing my husband to be has a nickname, because I now have a hanger!





*photos courtesy of our fabulous photograher Stephen's Photography

Wedding Party Gifts

After weeks of rolling fabric and burlap into roses, bending wire into names and gluing everything together, the bridesmaids gifts are complete. I had my mom embroider everyone's names onto a tote bag which held their hanger and clutch. I made these for all 10 bridesmaids, my 2 flower girls, my mom, mother-in-law and myself.


We ordered initial belt buckles for the guys through Larry's Boots in Columbia, MO. We ordered them for our 10 groomsman, 2 ushers, my dad, 2 grandpa's, uncle and officiant. I forgot to take a picture of them before Jeff wrapped them up along with a plain white handkerchief to help with the heat.

For the flower girls I found these cute Barbie bags to put their coloring books and crayons, Barbie toothbrush, snack container, mirror, brush and embroidered bag with the personalized hanger.

For the ring bearer we gave him his belt, vest, coloring book, crayons, little trucks and an army guy.

I had handkerchiefs embroidered for my mom, dad, Jeff's mom and Jeff. Designs by Gloria on Etsy was wonderful to work with, she even shipped me a handkerchief with my name and wedding date in blue so I would have one. I'm planning on framing mine and Jeff's after the wedding. Here are my proofs... I didn't get to take pictures before wrapping these either. I did Jeff and my dad's in brown wording with pink design and for my mom and Fran's I did pink wording with brown design.

Personalized Hangers for the Bridesmaids

I decided that since I'm crafty I would go ahead and give this personalized hanger thing a try.

Supplies:

• 14 guage galvanized wire, can be found at Home Depot (OOK- 100' ft for $6)
  
• wood hangers, purchased from Target
  
• needle nose pliers/ wire cutter, found a 3-in-1 tool at Joann's for $4
  
• drill for holes to put wire in hanger
  
• hot glue gun
  
• patience and practice
  

I did a lot of searching online to look at how people did the letters, I practiced my sister's name, Olivia first because I figured it would be the most challenging. Once you decide to bend the wire, that is where you have to go with it, or start over. It is not forgiving and does not look pretty when you try to re-straighten it to start over.

This was definitely not a one night project. I ended up doing these over the course of a few weeks. I made them for my 10 bridesmaids, 2 flower girls, my mom and my mother-in-law.

For the first time doing them, I'm satisfied with the way they turned out. I added the burlap rose to the top to give them a little something extra. *We did have some issues with the hot glue not holding the wire in the drilled holes. I would either wrap the wire around the hanger or try gorilla glue.

*Photos of dresses are from our fabulous photographer Stephen's Photography

On Mondays I watch Bachelorette and make my own roses.

As we are getting closer to the wedding I decided that Mondays would be my night to watch Bachelorette, drink sweet tea out of my mason jar and make tons of fabric roses. Emily is my favorite and I'm so happy she's the new Bachelorette, so I was not going to miss this season.

I found a few tutorials online and took it from there. I started out making burlap roses by cutting 2 inches wide by 20 inches long strips of burlap, folding it in half while rolling and twisting the fabric. The trick is to put hot glue dots every few twists to keep it from coming apart. When I came to the end of I am using the burlap roses on the bridesmaid name hangers.

I went to Joann's and found some pink fabric that matched the bridesmaid dresses, so that I could make the other part of their gift, jute clutches with a pink rose attached in the middle. I used the same measurements as the burlap roses 2 inches wide by 20 inches long strips of fabric.





See the next few posts on the final bridesmaid gift projects.