Wedding Shower Gift Packaging and Matching Card

Hi everyone! Today I wanted to share what I did for my oldest brother a couple of weeks ago. He walked in the kitchen with a comforter and asked if I would wrap it for the wedding shower to which he was invited (lesbian wedding, he's one of the best men, and men are invited to the bridal shower- got it?) :) Okay, so my first thought was, where did you buy that? He told me Bed, Bath, and Beyond, and then I said "Okay. Did you use a coupon? I bet that was at least $100". To which he replied "No, and it was $250". So, being the amazing sister that I am, I went digging through the paper recyclable bin to find a coupon for BB&B. I couldn't find one, but then my mom looked in our Entertainment book (you know, the fundraiser book filled with coupons?) and she found a coupon. Whew! My brother took the bedding back to the store, "returned it", and then bought it again and saved himself $50. THEN I agreed to wrap it for him. :) By the way, Matty's not allowed to wrap anymore- the last time he did, my otherwise calm and easy-going brother got frustrated, punched a hole in the wall and had to get a couple of stitches. Nice. So, I went to see if we had any appropriate paper for a bridal shower, but found we only had anniversary paper. I pulled out my go-to-in-cases-of-emergency-blank-white-roll-of-paper and took out my Doodlebug wedding stamps (LOVE Doodlebug!). First I measured out how much paper I would need (a LOT as it turned out- I had to cut pieces to tape to the ends b/c the comforter was way bigger than the paper, but I made do) and then I randomly stamped wedding bells and "wedding". The "shower" stamp is by Rubber Soul and came from a baby set. (Don't you love when you can use bits and pieces from different sets!?) :D My mom is the ribbon lady when it comes to wrapping packages- I don't really have the patience for it, so she did that part, and then I swooped in with the decorative tag. I punched a black scalloped circle with my Marvy Uchida 3" punch and glued the chipboard tag by Around the Block (LOVE these tags, they're seriously amazing) to the circle. I tied some black polka dotted ribbon to the package, and voila! C'est magnifique! :) Then I turned my attention to making the card, and I wanted them to coordinate, so I used the wedding bells stamp again. I added some color with a gel pen (to the heart and flourish on the bells) and used scraps of paper to make up the layout. I painted a chipboard heart by Making Memories with some silver acrylic paint also by MM and added the "wedding shower" rub-on by Creative Imaginations and the front was all finished. I added a "best wishes" sentiment to the inside and I had made a quick and easy card to match the packaging! I don't know if my brother liked the gift wrap or the card because he's pretty quiet, but the fact that he asked me to make him a card was a compliment in itself, because he usually buys his own cards. (Remember my post about the "first birthday" card and how he rarely asks me to make cards? Well we had the same discussion again, and he seems to think it's only wedding cards that he buys on his own, so I'll have to keep track now) ;) Anyway, I hope you all enjoy my ensemble- thanks for popping by! :D

-Suzanne :O )