Matchbook Favors

I love all things old.  No, I don't mean smelly cheese or spoiled milk- I mean things like: shoe shining stands, dusty leather-bound writing pads and yes, matchbooks.  It is true that some people still use these things today; but let me ask you: If you needed to light a candle would you pick up the matches or your click lighter?  My point exactly.  There is something simply pure about using these "old" things that I just adore.

That being said, I will show you today how to make matchbook favors for any gift, party or event.  This craft brings a taste of the old and the new together for something really quaint and practical!

These particular ones were made to give as wedding favors to our guests.  I knew that I wanted to incorporate seeds into the favor (our theme had a lot to do with "growing") and when searching the internet for ideas, I stumbled across this idea on marthastewartweddings.com:

{Image via marthastewartweddings.com}

That website offers a free template that you can just print right off and use.  Because I like to do things myself however; I opted to make my own design.

When choosing my design I pulled some modern inspiration from subway art!  I don't know about you but I am LOVING all of the subway art crafts that are out there right now.  Here is an example if you're not sure what I'm talking about:

{Image via silhouetteamerica.com}

How I did it:

I actually designed this entire layout in WORD.  Easy right?  No special programs, no fancy skills, all I did was type out what I wanted to say, changed the fonts and sizing and added a flower pot image to the side.  All it really takes is a little time to adjust everything to perfection.

{Then I just printed it out and cut it into strips, folding where needed.  This may take a few trial and errors but it will be worth it to get the exact size that you desire}

After that, I filled individual bags with 1/4 teaspoon of seeds.

Lastly, I printed out planting instructions and a message from the bride & groom which was then placed behind the seeds.  Both were then stapled into the matchbook.

Isn't that easy?  We made our matchbooks small in size and then placed them inside of a flowered box (shape bought from the Silhouette store) to set at each place-setting.  That's it.  Simple and beautiful.  Old but new.  

Your turn!

These matchbooks can be themed towards anything- weddings, baby showers, birthday parties, even individually personalized!  What can you see yourself using them for?  Can you think of anything to put inside them besides seeds? I would love to hear your ideas and I always love receiving comments from my followers!

With Love,
Kelsie Ann

 LINK LOVE!  This post is linked up to Every Day is an Occasion, go over there & check them out as well!