Bend and Snap (Bridesmaids Keep Out)

I FINALLY finished the hangers for my bridesmaids dresses and I'm BEYOND happy with how they turned out.

Here's what I used:

• 12 Gauge Hanger Wire (100ft. roll), bought at Home Depot for $5.99

• Wooden Hangers (6 pack), bought at Home Depot for $6.99
• Ribbon (extra that I had from invitations, but you can pick up a roll from any craft store)
• Pair of Wire Cutters and Pliers
• Drill
• Hot glue gun

1.  Cut 6 ft. of wire per name.  

2.  Leaving about 6 inches on the end, start to create their name. (You can print out their names in a nice font and try to follow it, but I found that free-styling worked much better for me.)

3.  If your hangers have a pant bar like mine did, you'll need to remove those.  I found that if you just pulled on it firmly the bars came right out.  

4.  Drill (or have fiance drill) holes for the wire to be inserted into.  The holes that we drilled were basically right where the holes for the pant bar were.  

5.  Center the name on the hanger and cut off the extra wire, leaving some extra to insert into the holes.

6.  Put a blog of hot glue in one hole and insert the end of the wire, pushing firmly.

7.  Repeat for the other end of the wire in the other hole.

8.  Decorate however you'd like.  I made little bows from ribbon with tacky glue and then attached them to the hangers with hot glue.

Here's the finished product (6 hangers for $12.98) (I left mine off since it's Mrs. "_______").  

Plenty of Packages

        My fiance stopped by his parents house to grab some of our mail the other day and we had 3 packages for us!  The sashes, the bridesmaids gifts, and the menus and programs had all arrived.  Everything looks AWESOME.  I LOVE the sashes - they are PERFECT.  The bridesmaids gifts are just what I wanted.  And the menus and programs look WONDERFUL (just like everything else that I order from Vistaprint).

     The only downside to the sashes is that they have the creases from how they were folded, so I'm going to have to unpack the iron and get to work pretty soon.  I'm hoping that I can iron them out now and put them over some hangers in one of the spare closets until the wedding.  I'll let you know how that adventure goes!

Mission Complete (Bridesmaids Keep Out!)

I found and ordered my awesome gifts for my bridesmaids, but I needed the last piece to the puzzle!

To go along with my travel theme, I found these perfect toiletry bags from L.L. Bean to add.  Right now (through July 8th) if you use your L.L. Bean card you can get 15% off your purchase (along with the usual free shipping and free monogramming).

So I bought one of these bags for each of my maids and monogrammed it with their first initial.  My favorite thing about these bags is that they're from L.L. Bean which means that they have a lifetime guarantee.  If anything ever happens at all you can just return it for a brand new one, no questions asked.  You really can't beat that.

I am looking forward to these arriving, I can hardly wait!  I'll let you know how they turn out.

Bridesmaids Keep Out: Again (A.K.A. They've Arrived)

My duffel bags arrived today!  I am VERY happy with the quality of these bags.  First off, they are HUGE - they are big as you can possibly have for a carry-on.  They have SO much space and I LOVE all of the extra zippers and pockets, etc.  I think I might just have to buy one for myself.  Three recommendations for these bags:

1) Find a way to get a copy of the receipt to give to the recipient.  (Since I ordered online, I'm just going to print out one copy for each bridesmaid).  The bags have a 5 year warranty, so you'll want them to have a copy of the receipt showing when and where it was bought.

2) Order them early and open them up.  They smell like new plastic, which (in my opinion) is not the best smell.  I have now removed each of them from the bag that they came in and have them opened and airing out in the basement.

3) For some reason I could not figure out how I was going to wrap such a large gift.  What the heck was I going to do with them?  Well once they got here I saw how easily they folded down flat - easy for gifting them and as well as storing them when they're not in use!

I will keep you posted as to what other goodies I find to add to my travel themed gift.

Bridesmaids Keep Out: Part 3 (A.K.A. I did it!)

Just two days ago I posted about the duffel bags that I was considering.  Well I decided to go for it!  And I got an awesome deal on them.

Here's my breakdown:

I ordered them from Target.  They com in all different patterns and are reasonably priced at $29.99,

The downfall - they're only available online.  In order to save, I actually signed up for the Target Red Card (their credit card) which gives you free shipping and 5% on all purchases.

I also used this coupon to get $5 off your purchase of $50 or more at Target.  

AND I used my Swagbucks points to trade in for Target gift cards.


AND (last thing I promise), if you shop through EBates you can earn 2% cashback on your purchase. (That is my referal link for ebates, so if you don't use it yet and sign up I earn $5 or something like that!)

Basically, you can get an AMAZING deal on these bags.  I hope this helps!  Sorry for the long post, I just love finding good deals.  

I did purchase the three duffels that I have pictured here.  However, I do have three bridesmaids.  I forgot to mention in my previous post that I won't be getting these for my younger sisters since they don't travel.  I'm still brainstorming for their gifts.

Bridesmaids Keep Out: Part 2

Almost forever ago, I posted about my first purchase for my bridesmaids:  awesome robes!

So I have been trying to figure out what else to get for my bridesmaids and finally I found these:  

Rockland 22" rolling duffel bags.  I think they are very cute and convenient and come in all sorts of patterns.  

All of my bridesmaids travel pretty often (and are all getting married within the next year and they will definitely be traveling for their honeymoons) so I thought that this was a great idea.

Here's my plan:
Get one for each of my girls that matches their style and then fill it with other travel goodies.  I.e. Small travel sized bath and body works things in their fave scents, a lingerie baggie, maybe a set of luggage tags?

What do you think?  What fun gifts are you getting for your ladies?

Vistaprint Deal!

What a steal!

There is a Groupon starting today where you pay $17 for $70 worth of credit.  Vistaprint.com is an awesome online print store where you can order things such as business cards ( an invitation insert to mention your website?), invitations/annoucements (wedding invitations/save the dates?), calendars, bags, hoodies, t-shirts, etc (bridemaids gifts?).  This is such a steal.  I am even considering buying one myself and having my fiance buy one so that we can stock up.  I'm thinking it will come in handy for some of our upcoming wedding purchases!