Wedding Favors on a Budget
As you know from the last post, my sis Beans just had her wedding reception. For the reception favors, she wanted to hand out baby trees from the Arbor Day foundation. Two days before the reception, they still had not arrived, so she, of course, was flipping out a bit. Clever Chick to the rescue! (Yes, Again!) FYI: they did make it on time, so we just handed out both favors.
Since time was of the essence, I decided to make magnets out of oven baked clay. Some of the typical brands are sculpey, primo, and fimo, and they have tons of colors at Hobby Lobby, and other craft stores. I used a deep red for these.
This is a tiny rolling pin and cutting board I got specifically for craft projects, so I don’t have to worry about cross-contamination. They are from a child’s play set, so they are much easier to store than a normal sized set. I roll out small chunks of clay at a time, so it’s easier to keep it a uniform thickness.
I used a tiny heart cookie cutter, which I had on hand, but I got in the baking section of the craft store. These are usually used for bakers to cut decorations out of fondant, and they come in a variety of shapes. I think this one cost about $1. I got 11 hearts from each package of clay, so it worked out to about 15 cents each for that part of it.
I used a needle tool from my ceramics stuff to press their initials into the hearts. You could easily use a toothpick for the same result. You do want to press the letters in if you can, rather than trying to carve them in. It won’t come out as clean that way.
Here they are, ready to be baked according to the instructions on the package. I left them on top of the stove to cool overnight, and when I came down in the morning I thought there was a tray of cookies waiting for me. I was disappointed, but that’s the kind of thoughts I have before I get my coffee: “Cookies!! Are there elves, or…oh wait. Those are the reception favors. Dammit.”
Now you need magnets and strong glue. I had both of these on hand. You can see the magnets are $7 for 50, so about 14 cents each. Other than glue and the heart cookie cutter (both of which were fairly cheap), they cost about 30 cents each. If you wanted to get crazy you could buy stamps to stamp into the clay, or glue on rhinestones, fake flowers, whatever.
You don’t need a whole lot of glue for these. You don’t want it to squish out the sides everywhere. An amount about the size of a lentil should be enough. I let them dry for a few hours before packing them up.
This is mine holding up their invitation:
This is where I put it first, and I just thought that was funny! Yes, that’s Jimmy Carter dressed as a pimp. I have a whole set called “Our Pimpin’ Presidents” that entertain everyone who sees them.
So again, congratulations, Beans, the star of the blog!
