Reachin' Out To My Girls

It had been quite a few months since I had touched base with my girls about where my wedding planning stood. Sure we would discuss bits and pieces over cocktails, but never all together and never exactly what I was thinking. Plus, since my last email to them, I had changed my colors & also changed the look of what I wanted them to wear. I had made a couple of trips to Hobby Lobby, (which PS, is a 50 minute drive across state lines...yes I have to venture to New Mexico, a whole different state to get craft supplies) I had visited Hobby Lobby and picked up some basic crafting supplies: paper cutter, stamps, card stock, bone folder and I was itchin' to do some craftin'. I decided I would create something to give to my girls showcasing my ideas. Being that I got too anxious and asked my bridesmaids to be in the wedding either via a phone call or an email, I thought this could make up for it.
I will preface by saying that I did NOT have a clear vision when I started, and because of that, it took me four weekends to complete, with numerous hours devoted to how I wanted this something to look. There were three ideas I knew I wanted to portray to the girls: 1. My Vision 2. My New Colors and 3. The Bridesmaid Dresses.

I started with My Vision:

I created the collages through Mosaic Maker and printed everything on neutral toned card stock. After I printed and cut them, I mounted them on another colored card stock.

I introduced My New Color Palette:

I saved the color swatches of off 100 Layer Cake's Inspiration Binder and then just bordered them in Microsoft Word; separating out the Main from the Accent's.

And then the Bridesmaid Dresses:

I made another collage with eight pictures of mismatched bridesmaid's dresses, to get them to see that my lack of control on this issue would turn out perfectly beautiful.

I used stickers to accent their names and stamps to add a little decoration; adding a picture of myself and each girl put icing on the cake:

{Front}

{Back, yikes sorry for the blurry photo}

{All Together}

Thennn...I was stumped. I wasn't sure how to present the card. Do I just mail it as is? Will they wonder why the hay I'm sending this to them? Another weekend passed...then I was making a card for a friends birthday and came with the idea of creating my own card and ended up with this:

{Front}

{Inside}

I hand wrote a note to each girl also, you know to make it personal. I customized the one for MOH Honey saying Maid of Honor rather than bridesmaid and I made one for my parents that said "and we have your support as parents and future in-laws".

I created this little explanation flag to tie it all together:

Then I literally tied it all together with some yarn:

I signed, sealed and delivered dropped them in the mail. I think the girls appreciated it, even though it wasn't necessary I felt satisfied giving them something personal.

Sure, it wasn't the most efficient DIY project but it helped me get some crafting jitters out before I began working on the real wedding projects.

How did you touch base with your bridesmaids? Anyone else use a crafting project as a 'practice run'?