Thursday 22 March 2012

DIY Wedding Ideas with Felt + Washi Tape

The third and final project this week is actually several mini projects - a selection of crafty ideas using pretty washi tape and little felt hearts.

I designed them with a DIY wedding in mind, but you could also use these ideas for engagement or anniversary parties, or for girly birthday parties... any occasion you want to make extra special with a bit of crafty love and lots of matching/themed details.



The basic how-to goes like this:

1) Choose a pretty washi tape that matches your chosen felt colour, or a felt colour that matches your favourite washi tape! I used "deep pink" wool blend felt (from the range I sell in my shop) and cute polkadot tape from Papermash.

2) Cut out lots of felt hearts using the template from this project. (Check out this post for tips on cutting out small felt shapes).

3) Stick felt hearts and bits of tape to everything paper-based to do with your party :)

You can tear the washi tape to give a lovely rough-edged look, or cut the tape to be slightly longer than required and trim any excess with scissors. I turn the tags/card/etc over first and use the paper edge as a guide when cutting, for extra neatness.



The felt hearts can be stuck in place with a dab of craft glue or small pieces of double-sided sticky tape.



Here are a few ideas for ways to use the hearts + tape...

Mini invitations or "Save the Date" cards. I handwrote these, but you could type a page of invites (leaving space on the right for adding the decoration) and print them onto blank card... or write one in your best handwriting, scan it in, copy and paste to create a full page of ready-to-decorate invites.


Add a strip of tape to the envelope - either on the front, or use the tape as a decorative "seal" on the flap (washi tape peels off quite easily so make sure your envelope is properly sealed if you're sending it through the post!).

Place cards. More mini cards, with a small space to write a guest's name. 


Bags of Confetti or Favours for your guests. Fill mini glassine envelopes with confetti, or with sweets / other small favours and seal it with a piece of the washi tape (extra bonus points if the contents match the colours on your chosen tape!).


I filled my envelope with cute heart-shaped polkadot buttons from Big Fish - a mini envelope full of buttons and bits of ribbon would be a lovely party favour for a craft-themed birthday party.

Food Labels. Make sweet and simple labels for piles of sandwiches, cakes or other food you're serving at a buffet. Put the details of the food on the front, with a line of tape along the bottom, and then tear a small piece of tape and use it to fix a cocktail stick to the back. You could use clear sticky tape for the back if you prefer, but I quite like the idea of the back looking almost as cute as the front.



Gift tags. Finally, if you're hosting a party for someone and you've got gifts to wrap, why not make some pretty tags? You could also use these at a wedding if you're giving little gifts to your bridesmaids, etc. Use plain wrapping paper in colours picked out from the tape.

Decorate large tags with tape and a trio of hearts (plenty of room to write a special thankyou message on the back)...


... or decorate mini tags with a single felt heart. 


Please note: this tutorial is for non-commercial use only. You may borrow one or two photos if you want to blog about my projects but remember to credit me and link back to the original source, and do not reproduce entire blog posts on your site. Thanks! 

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4 comments:

Victoria said...

Great post :) x

Tumus said...

I love washi tape and wish I could find it more locally. It's just waaay too much fun to use and decorate.

Caro said...

Thank you for these lovely ideas & Papermash looks wonderful!!

Bugs and Fishes said...

Thanks guys!

Tumus - washi tape is so awesome, so many yummy colours and patterns to choose from.

Caro - Papermash is a fab shop, I have a long wishlist of things from there :)