It has become quite clear to me that I am in no way a DIY bride ….however, I love crafting, and would LOVE to be able to say I made some of my wedding items and favors. With that, I’ve been on a quest to find the cutest, most appropriate projects for my wedding to work on during my evenings at home. When I saw these matchbox covers on Style Me Pretty who had written about the idea from PaperMade, I knew I wanted to try.

The original intention was to have a sparkler send off, and these matches would help light the sparklers, and in turn be a favor for the guests. I asked our venue if this was a possibility…and apparently its a fire hazard. HA! Guess I won’t be doing a sparkler send off, but does that mean its weird to hand out matches? Maybe….but I’m doing it anyway.

A professional paper cutter I am not. I started this last night, and wasted so much paper, just trying to get the right size. I figure that there has got to be a better way…(I’m pretty sure that Style Me Pretty explains how to do it), but in true form, I just went scissor happy and eventually got desired results.

I bought a bunch of strike anywhere penny matches from eBay. There are other tutorials out there that actually deal with matchbooks but I like the boxes better. I picked up the desired paper colors, and last night got to work. The tutorial offers up a template if you are planning on printing your design, but I bought a rubber stamp and just used it instead. ML2010. Thats a Mick/Lauren 2010 logo now. The stamp I got should have been a little bigger, but I like the way it turned out, so no real complaints.

You need:

matchboxes
kraft paper (or any color or decorative paper you plan to use)
computer/printer (if you plan to print out your design)
ruler
Cutting Mat
scissors/razor blade
glue stick (or tacky glue)
pencil
bobby pins
cardstock

For me… I need to invest in a ruler, but I just used a straight edge from a book.

I’d suggest looking at their tutorial for detailed instructions, but its pretty simple. Pull the matchbox cover off and apart so its flat. Cover the sides with the desired paper, glue it back together, secure with bobby pins and wait for it to dry before putting the matches back in.