Welcome Bags

Happy Wedding Wednesday! 

I'm headed off to Austin, TX today but wanted to share some photos and wedding tips! 

I wanted to have some kind of "Welcome Bag" for out of town guests in the hotel blocks we reserved. For those of you out of the loop, the Welcome bag is for out of town guests and should have some things they need inside. Ours were filled with wedding info, water (with a wedding label!), gum, snacks, maps and brochures. 

For the bag themselves, you can use any bag. We wanted it to be an eco-choice but fabric tote bags weren't in our budget. So we collected every brown bag that was gently used. I was even trading with friends when I saw them carrying a bag. 

  I decorated this bag myself and hosted a craft night with my friends. I told them to use mine as inspiration and go wild! I got out all of my paper scraps, stickers, die cuts, stamps, etc and let them create! Their designs were amazing and I couldn't have pulled this off without them. Thank you!!!

 Here are some of the things they came up with:

The Lovely Bertha Leal

Anna Koonin and Emily Furr

Emily Furr

Potted Herb Centerpieces

Happy Wedding Wednesday! 

Wanted to share with you some pictures of coming up with my centerpieces. 

I had a very small budget for centerpieces and wanted to them to be "green."

We got the idea from Martha Stewart Weddings to use potted herbs. A potted plant is always 

a "green"choice (over cut flowers) and I wanted to make sure the containers were green as well. 

Bio-degradable planters!

Kmart had these very chic and sturdy bio-degradable containers...and you can see the sale sticker right there!! I ended up getting them in two different sizes in these three colors. I bought some in MA and in NY to make sure I had enough. 

Two days before the wedding my husband and I drove up to the Berkshires. We bought herbs and flowers at Home Depot/Walmart. Then we showed up at My Aunt and Uncle's house unannounced...where they so kindly fed us and got all the kids together to help us.

My family planting!

We had five generations putting together these centerpieces! We planted freely and then watered!

My grandmother-my Auntie-My two cousins-and my first cousin once removed 

(my first cousin's son). Here are some pics by my Auntie Merry!

The cutest gardener ever!

My cousin Marina

The groom...aka sticker remover

Another set of cousins drove the arrangements over to the reception the next day! 

 I was very happy at the end of the night to see guests and staff bringing them home. My friends and family kept telling me they used the basil, parley, oregano...all summer!

The Budget Savvy Bride

Mr. Hulse and I are this week's Budget Savvy Bride Wedding of the Week!

I'm so excited to be featured on this blog! I feel like it is my wedding day all over again!

I used this blog a lot during wedding planning for inspiration and also to look at the budget breakdowns. It was really helpful when I felt like I was crazy for spending money on vintage hankies....

The photos were taken by my dear friends at Joanna Wilson Photography.

Enjoy!

Mailing the Hankie Invites

I've owed you this post for so long!

These are pictures and the "how" behind mailing
my wedding invitations.Or just where I got everything!

  
Envelopes~Paper Presentations 

  My favorite store on my favorite block (besides all my other favs on the block)!
I knew that I wanted something really simple in terms of envelopes. This way the Hankies would be the star. I spent hours at Paper Presentations looking for the perfect envelope and sleeve to hold the invite. I found some made with recycled paper and also bought inserts to line the envelopes.

        

Information Cards~Ruffled & Avery 

I made little cards to go the sleeve with RSVP information. 

Used a template on Ruffled (free download!) and Avery labels for the card.

We skipped Response Cards to help keep things eco-friendly. 

Calligraphy~ Briar Winters

Calligraphy on wedding invitations is beautiful! It wasn't really in our budget. I took a tip from The Groom Says and asked a Bridesmaid, Briar Winters, to pen addresses with her gorgeous penmanship.

Mailing them ~ Bunny Tip


These can be tricky to mail if they are very thick! I took them to the post office and had an employee helped me measure the envelopes thickness with the hankie folded. Normally they were 61 cents, but the thicker hankies ended up being over $1.

 

I was very happy with the way these turned out and my guests loved receiving them!
Are you making Hankie Invites too?

Ode to Stamps!

Geek Confession: I love Postage Stamps. When I was in fifth grade I started collecting them. My Dad collects stamps too and started me out with a children's stamp collecting book. He taught me the basics about how to soak them to remove the paper envelope. I love stamps so naturally I strike up conversations about them at Pink Olive. I mainly struck up a conversation about these stamps:

 These are the exact stamps I would've LOVED to have used for my wedding! I thought about using Vintage Postage Stamps but didn't know where to get them (Psst-Etsy). Instead I used many current stamps from the Post Office... and they were beautiful.

  I'm stocking up on the Herb stamps above and will probably use them on my holiday postcards (since there isn't a .29 cent holiday stamp).  Here are a few more current stamps I'm loving!

Anytime Stamp

 
Stamps for Save the Dates or Wedding Invitations:

Stamps for Holiday Cards:

All stamps and Images belong to the USPS https://www.usps.com/

PS. USPS....I could use a Holiday Post Card Stamp..for next year...

Martha Stewart Living: Wax Seals

I saw these wax seals in Martha Stewart Living, November 2011.

They used them in gift wrapping but they would also be great
on Wedding Invites, Holiday Cards, etc.

The seal wax is made to go in a glue gun!!! SO EASY!!!

For more: http://www.marthastewart.com/857299/wax-seals

  Image from Martha Stewart Living, November 2011

Where you been?

We haven't written in so long... and amazingly...you are still reading Cozy Rustic! We've had more than ten readers this week...and we haven't posted since April. And people are sharing Cozy Rustic! I've found our projects all over the web! On Pinterest and other crafty sites!! Shocker!

Where have we been you ask?

Well... I got married. That took up some of my time...or ALL of it.

Bea has been busy writing and work-shopping breakthrough musicals. She has also started another blog called Giant Dorkgasm. Check it out!

Photo by Gabe Rizzo with Tuesday Night Pictures

I've come back to Cozy Rustic to keep up the crafty posts and share my wedding projects with you. Above is a photo of me walking down the aisle in honor of Wedding Wednesday... and for all of you that just look at the pictures..

Thanks for staying with us!

Love Bunny

Show Off!

I made a Brooch Bouquet and I just wanted to show it off!

Here's a QUICK recap of how I made it:

1) I hunted for Brooches! I had a collection from my childhood, my mom contributed and my fiance's grandmother. I scoured Ebay, Etsy and all the local thrift stores for the rest... Just like the Hankies it took months to find them all!

2) I got my supplies together:

40 Brooches (approx)
Hot Glue!
Styrofoam wand holder
2 types of wire ( a thick/flexible craft wire and a thin/green 18gauge wire)
Wire Cutters

I labored over which wire to choose and my local Michael's had very little selection. So I got a gold craft wire in the Jewelry Section and a thin wrapped green wire near the hot glue. They both worked lovely! You just need a stiff wire for the stem for the brooches and a flexible wire to steady them.

3) I researched how to make it! I used Ms. Awesome and Seamstress of Avalon to put the bouquet together.

4) I created a 4 or 5 inch stem for each brooch, stabilized it with craft wire and hot glue. Then I hot glued each brooch into the Styrofoam wand holder.

5) When I was researching, I saw lots of posts about how hard and expensive these are to make. I made the bouquet for about half of what people estimated and it was EASY to make! It really was simple and it just came together. I did it over the course of three nights and two movies (My Fair Lady & Wuthering Heights). About 4 hours of putting it together.


6) I will add ribbon to the handle as the Wedding date gets closer!

Wedding Invitations on Vintage Hankies

It has been so long since I've blogged. Apologies all around my crafty friends.

You can see what I've been up to here: Wedding Invitations on Vintage Hankies. This was in some ways less, and some ways more, of an undertaking than I thought it would be. Thank you to all my friends and family who helped!

I got the idea from seeing Hankie invitations in Real Simple and from Bird and Banner. I had a couple of vintage hankies myself and thought, "HOW CUTE!" I became obsessed with the idea and HAD to do it... even though it seemed too expensive, too complicated, etc. After careful consideration, Justin and I decided this would be something special to send people. I was worried they wouldn't be as stunning as Bird and Banner's, but I hoped for DIY adorable!


I used the tutorial from The Wedding Chicks as a starting point. I think their method really is the way to go. Definitely think about your budget and how you will mail these BEFORE you start. Hopefully, these steps and tips will help you. I think I figured out a great way of using iron on transfers for dark fabric! You DON'T need hankies that are BLANK in the center!!!! You don't need them!!! You can use just about any hankie!!! Even ones that are thin, dark and covered with flowers!!!

What you need to make these lovelies:
Vintage Hankies
Lint Roller
Iron on Transfers
Iron
Pillow case

Step One: Find your Hankies

Wedding blogs say this is the hardest part. It does take quite a bit of thrift store searching, so give yourself a couple of months. I found mine at two thrift stores, The Brooklyn Flea, The Chelsea Garage and Etsy. I collected enough for 150 guests. Make sure you have enough, because everyone will want one!

Bunny TIP

Be flexible. I bought a variety of hankies and not all of them were in mint condition. We bought some with beautiful patterns, even if they had small holes or tears. These were usually marked down as well.

Buy Vintage. There are some sellers out there selling "vintage like" hankies. Help out the planet people and buy second hand!

Step Two: Create a Template
The Wedding Chicks have an Invitation Suite that is free to use! I really loved it. The look was beautiful. I do recommend having a couple sets of eyes look over your template in case of spelling errors...which I made on my blue template...

Step Three: Print your Template onto Iron on Transfers

Follow instructions that come with your transfers. You may have to invert the image!

Bunny Tip

Make sure you research Iron On Transfers before buying. Find which ones will work best for your hankies, based on pattern and thickness. I tried a generic brand from Michael's and two Avery brand transfers. The generic brand from Michael's for Light Fabric (8x11) was great, though it did bleed on some of my thinner hankies. The transfers for light fabric must be used on a thicker hankie that has a blank center. My favorite was Avery brand for dark fabric (4x6). It has a white background so you can use it on any Hankie and it won't bleed. You also do not have to invert the image and it is a great size for mailing.

Step Four: Prepare your Hankies, Iron on area and Iron on Transfers


My dear fiance made a Iron-On area with a pillow case clamped to a table. It worked out perfectly! Iron the pillowcase to make sure it is wrinkle free. I washed, steamed and ironed all my hankies to get them ready. Then I lint rolled them. Lint will show up encased in the Iron on Transfers... I trimmed my iron on transfers with a paper cutter, sometimes scissors or just a corner rounder.
Here you can see my talented friend Amanda from The Disney Chick making some invites! She was really good at it!!

Step Five: Iron on


Follow your packet's instructions on how to iron on. Many include peeling paper and ironing through tissue paper (provided).

Step Six: Prepare them for the mail!


My mailing envelopes and tips will be in Invites Part II this week!

All photos belong to Briar Winters from Marble and Milkweed. If you would like to re-blog or use any of the pictures, email us at cozyrustic@gmail.com for permission.

Sneak Peak: Invitations!

Wanted to share this sneak peak or "Before photo" of my wedding invitations! I became obsessed with the idea after seeing a Save the Date in Real Simple's Wedding Magazine. It is rather trendy right now and I'm seeing quite a few hankie invites all over the wedding blogs.... but I still HAD to do it! It is not an easy task to seek out these hankies and collect them. And not knowing how to silk screen... it will be iron on transfer all the way! I did try to print on them from my printer.. but it didn't work out very well!

Enjoy the Hankies!