Monday, July 13, 2009

My Knock-Off OOT Bags

OK, I had all these ideas for OOT bags. First, I thought I could do boxes, kinda like An Atlanta Bride had, but I wasn't quite groovin' on the fancy-schmanciness of a bowed and boxed vehicle for a bunch of snacks. Her boxes were more than lovely. That chickie has some serious classy style.

I really like the super-cute bags from Maptote, but I am pissed that they don't have Nashville. I mean, come on. They have Charlottesville, Virgina, but not Nashville? Please. Anyway, even if they did have Nashville, I wouldn't have paid the $15.00 per bag cost anyway. The point is moot, other than they are uber-cute, if you live in the cities of bags they offer.
A shout out to all my high school peeps in DC, yo. Source

So then I had this idea that The Candyman and I could hold a welcome sign, take a photo of ourselves and then I could print it on a sticker and put it on a bag. The Candyman was NOT down with that idea. Next!

I tossed around a few ideas and then I saw that The Wedding Chicks had a new store on their website with super-cute totes and t-shirts. Well, I kind of took their idea and made it my own! I'm not positive if I'm going to use this or not. I'd like some feedback as to whether it's neat-o-burrito or way lame because I totally knocked-off the super cool WC's with an uber-cheap Thirty-Something Bride version.

Here's the skinny:
I went to cheaptotes.com and ordered 1 canvas bag ($.99) and 1 sheet of iron-on tranfer paper ($.99). Shipping the things cost more the items themselves. However, it was still cheaper than buying a package of iron-on transfer paper from anywhere, even with my trusty coupons. I really just wanted to test it out.

So then I shared some ideas with The Candyman, who suddenly started paying attention and wanted to know what the hell an OOT bag was and that we most certainly did not need them, whatever they were.

So I just decided to go for the simple LOVE idea from the WC's. I downloaded a font called Egyptienne Zierinitialien. Yes, that is the font name and it is a pain in the ass to work with. For some reason it doesn't print O's. But then it does. But then it won't. I have no idea why, but I worked it out. I spelled out LOVE and underneath put our names and wedding date. For that, I appropriately used the font called Nashville. Both fonts I downloaded for FREE! Love that about the Internet.

I tried some different colorways and came up with this:


Of course, it has The Candyman's name and not TMC, although I think putting The Candyman would be hi-LAR-ious.

The trick for me and my non-graphic-designer-all-I-have-is-Microsoft-Paint self was to get a mirror image of this so I could print it onto the transfer paper. I figured it out with out too much hassle and printed it off and ironed it onto my cheap $.99 cotton tote.



So far, I've got the following goodies for the OOT bags: 2 bottles of water, small fruit chew things from Costco, Rice Krispie Treats, Blow Pops, pretzels, chips, mini chocolate bars (the Halloween candy size), gum and Lance's cheese and crackers. It all fills up the bag quite nicely. Can anyone think of anything else that should go in here? I was additionally thinking of loading up on that week's edition of The Nashville Scene (our local indie rag) and popping them into the totes.

What does everyone think? I probably need to just pull the trigger as the count down to The Big Show seems to be speeding quickly down to zero at break neck speed. Lord, help me.

I'm attempting a poll at the top right of the blog. Tell me your thoughts on the OOT bags!

Last, but not least. Anyone out there have time to find me an ivory flower girl dress that isn't nasty frilly polyester? Oh, and I need a Etsy flower hair clip - stat. Suggestions?

16 comments:

  1. I got my hair flower from muscari when WeddingBee had posted a coupon code. I had the essntial Katie and I loved it!
    You can see a pictures of it in the last picture on my most recent blog post.

    Her designs are gorg.

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  2. Shut up those bags are ador! You are so crafty...impressive.

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  3. Your OOT bags are so awesome & such a great deal!! love love them! I've been eying the WC Love bags but the $36 price tag always made me close the browser.

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  4. love it!! Maybe a map of Nashville? or toiletry items?

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  5. Ahh, I love the bags!! They are fabulous. And I like the idea of a map of Nashville from The Professional Bridesmaid.

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  6. I was also thinking a map might be cool. And, yes, I have time to find a flower girl dress . . .

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  7. Oh, and the bags ARE super cute and super Nashville!

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  8. Um...your bags are pretty much AWESOME! How about maps of the area? Does the local department of tourism put out any vacation guides you could stick in the bags?

    For flower girl dresses check out http://www.flowergirldressforless.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=SFNT. They have some beautiful dresses and their prices are incredible! They're having a sale right now and some dresses are as low as $28.99! If you want me to give you specific links I can, just let me know!

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  9. Love the bags!!!! In fact- I might copy you myself. How's that for flattery? Here's a hair doodad for now: http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5270569. Etsy is filled with these- but I'm sure everyone else already said that.

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  10. Ooh and one more thing- maybe make a little brochure of things that you and the Candyman like to do around Nashville. We're doing that for our guests.

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  11. I love the idea of the bags, very clever and cute. I would probably change the font and/or color of the name and date though. In the pictures I didn't think it went well with the LOVE but that's just me.

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  12. @Sarah - We have a long list of suggested places for folks to go on our wedding website. Go idea to add it in here though!

    @Anonymous - Quite right. I wasn't sure of that color to begin with. Also, when I printed this sheet, I was on the dregs of my color ink, so it isn't as saturated as it should be. However, still think I just go matchy-matchy with the chocolate brown.

    @Everyone - THANKS for all the great feedback!

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  13. Not sure if you're still looking for a flower clip but I found some really cute ones on eBay that I'm using for my beach/ocean color themed wedding. Not exactly sure what you're looking for but this eBay store features almost 200 different foam flower clips and they are just freakin' awesome!! Do a search for 3" PLUMERIA FLOWER FOAM HAIR CLIP. Click on one of the first couple of auctions and on the left side click on See Other Items. It will give you a whole list of their items available for sale! Good luck and enjoy :)

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  14. hey, I LOVE your bags! I am just trying to understand exactly the process you used to get the design on the bag.

    You printed the image (backwards/ mirror) etc onto the transfer paper, and then ironed it on?

    Did you do the printing at home???

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  15. Impressive! its gorgeous, and looks so beautiful
    Blessings!

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