Having a baby has really made crafting a lot more exciting!  I've always enjoyed crafting for myself, but having Aiden gave it purpose.  Or maybe I'm just justifying all those previous purchases?  Either way, my baby is getting baptized this weekend and we are having a small party afterwards at our house.

This means party favors!  I have to admit, a lot of what I create in my shop revolves around my visions of the perfect party/gift wrap/decoration.  Now that I have my own baby to celebrate, I did go a little crazy crafting the packaging and the party favor.


I decided that, for the main party favor, I would make a magnet with one of Aiden's latest photos.  I liked that it showed who the special boy was, but didn't scream "party favor...throw me away later because I'm useless".  Admit it, sometimes you get the cutest little party favors, but what do you do with them later?  I can only have so many little bookmarks or keychains.  With a magnet, pop it on your fridge and hold up some important things!  And hey...there's a cute baby on there as a bonus!


I used 100% wool felt for the outside of the magnet.  Nothing but the best stuff here!  To make putting it together quick and painless, I used the Stitched Frame Die from PTI to cut all my pieces out.  I used the Stitched Swirls Die to add the cute little accent below his picture because it needed a little something.  Initially,  I was going to put his monogram in that space, but I couldn't find a die that fit in that small of a spot and I was running too low on time to improvise.

To turn it into a magnet, I die-cut a piece of chipboard and glued a rare earth magnet to it using Glossy Accents for a super strong bond.  The chipboard also gave the magnet some rigidity so it wasn't super floppy and made sewing it all together so much easier.


On the back of the magnet, I printed out the details on some sticky back canvas that I had hoarded from years ago.  Remember that stuff?  I remember buying it when I first started scrapbooking almost 8 years ago.  It definitely felt good to be able to use up some things in my stash.

Printing on the canvas was very easy and it took the ink well, but I did notice that it needed some time to dry before I was able to handle it without smudging.  I would say I waited half an hour just to be on the safe side.

The canvas does have a sticky back, but it does not stick well to felt.  To fix that, I just added some lines of Glossy Accents to the edges and it adhered perfectly.  That really is some magic stuff!



The magnets were slipped into glassine bags and then put into some quick and easy gift bags I made using the Favor It 3 Die.  To pretty things up, I made a small frame to put on the outside of the bag and tied things up with soft Moss Green seam binding.  I love using seam binding for wrapping up packages because it ties beautifully.  It's so soft and makes the loveliest bows.


There are going to be a few kids attending so I decided to make some goodie bags for them as well to hold a few toys and candies that could keep them occupied while the adults chatted.  I had a lot of fun shopping around Party City looking for these.


I came away with some candy coins in the party theme colors, different types of stickers, bubbles, and this ball popper thingy that I thought was pretty cool.  I should have gotten one for myself.


The bag itself was super easy to put together using the Front & Center Die and a brown paper bag as the base.  I used the little strip from the Jar Bonnet Die to make a ribbon tail and I made that "thank you for coming" sticker and printed it out on sticker paper.  The sticker was mounted on a punched out heart.  I also added a little frame near the bottom of the bag with the baptism details.


The last thing I made for the goodie bag were these candy treat boxes.  Honestly, they're just going to get ripped apart, but I really wanted to try out the Vintage Favor Box Die.  These took a little bit to put together because I had to die-cut two sets, stamp them, and then assemble, but I think they were so worth it.


It even comes with a little tear-away strip to get to the candy inside.  The kids would most likely not even care, but it's still a nice touch.  Anyway, decorating is all about the adults right?  We want the pretty matching packaging and decor, and the kids only want the candy and the presents.


The last things I made were these pinwheels, not so much party favors but decor for the house.  I used the WRMK punch board to make these pinwheels quickly and in several different sizes.  My favorites were these two tone pinwheels.  They don't exactly spin since I didn't buy the kit, but they look super cute.


To assemble, I used an extra long brass brad to hold the pinwheel together.  I think I bought these off of Amazon, but I'm pretty sure they can be found at Staples.  I wrapped the ends of the brad around a striped paper straw to secure the pieces of the pinwheel together.  Easy right?  I tried using thumbtacks at first since I thought they would let it spin, but I would need a long-needled tack to make this work.  I like that I could adjust the height of the pinwheel on the straw easily since this is really only meant to be decoration.  I have several of these on our mantel. 


And that's it!  Handmade items for inexpensive boutique-looking party favors.  The consumable supplies (e.g. cardstock, ribbon, felt, etc.) are very inexpensive.  The dies are a bit more pricey, but I consider them an investment because I can use them for a multitude of events and also to create things for my shop.

The biggest investment is time.  We had less than two weeks to pull everything all together for Aiden's baptism this Sunday so I literally scrambled making these.  Thankfully, we're only inviting a handful of family and close friends so it wasn't too bad, but this involved a lot of late nights after Aiden already went to bed.  I pretty much pushed out the felt magnets in two days over the weekend and the packaging over the course of three days.  It helped that I've been thinking about what I wanted so I wasn't completely starting from scratch.

I don't regret it one bit though.  Making my own favors was a great way to personalize things just the way I wanted them and I always find joy in creating.  I can't wait to give them all away this Sunday!