Bridal Shower Favor Purses

The best way to get any project done is to have a group of ladies (and men too!) to help out in the assembly process. These pictures are the result of this afternoon's crafting effort to crank out 40 of these adorable favor purses and 40 coordinating invitations. We had a couple of manly men who helped tie ribbons, added velcro and fasten paper flowers. The rest the ladies did and they were amazing! Sure wish there were a few extras as I would have loved to have kept one for myself :-)! These favors will be filled with chocolates or mints.





Inspiration for the purses came from Inking Idaho.
Recipe
Cardstock: patterned paper is Making Memories, SU! black and pink cardstock
Ribbons: Black organdy ribbon from Jo Ann's, black and white polka dot ribbon and raspberry pink ribbon from Michael's; silver cording from SU! (retired)
Accessories: Cuttlekids shoe die, pink rhinestones from Michael's, tag punch from Martha Stewart, Top Note Die from SU! (Sizzix); assorted brad centers from SU!; flower punch from EK Success; Spellbinders scallop circle die; and Colluzzel (sp?) circle template

Here's a Lindt chocolate holder I made for Easter. These were "carrot" shaped chocolates and I just made a box to hold 2 of them and decorated the outside with mostly Martha Stewart punches (handle, fence, rabbit) and paper flowers I made. The chocolates are being held in place with a piece of cardstock with holes punched, small enough so you can stand the carrots in there without having them tip over. Cardstock used was all from SU! Stamps are from PTI.





I finally got a chance to try this adorable mini magazine holder. This one I found somewhere out there in blog land, can't recall the site but will update this post when I find the link to her blog. This one has the top edges folded down so the holder is a lot sturdier. Also, it uses 12 x 12 paper. Paper is from DCWV and the mixer brad I got at OTC.

Update: I found the tutorial for the magazine holder from embellish me. Check her out - she has a great step-by-step instruction on how to make these!

Sam Bernstein the Easter Rabbit

Just before Easter, our 8 year old had a serious talk with his Dad about the Easter Rabbit. He said, "Dad, there really isn't an Easter rabbit, is there? I mean, rabbits are not smart enough to know where to deliver Easter baskets and they can't even hold eggs!" When my husband finally said that there isn't, my son started to cry and told his Dad to say no more. I was so upset by this that I consulted a few moms at school regarding this issue and one Mom told me about Sam the Rabbit. I can't recall for sure if his last name was Bernstein but she said he's the Jewish Easter Bunny. I don't know what kind of blasphemy we committed by introducing Sam Bernstein the Easter Rabbit but we "introduced" him as the new, improved Easter Bunny who has been around for awhile. We encouraged our son to check with his other friends about Sam (Sam has been the Easter Rabbit at several friends' homes for awhile) so I figured we could stretch the belief for another year until we can think of a way to explain it all. Well, it worked! We even did the follow-the-string hunt that was recommended to us and my kids had a blast searching for their Easter baskets all over the house. Though I don't recommend you doing up the string at 2am the night before - and you have to make sure that you are not going to walk around the house after you put up the string!