Vellum Wrapped Soap Wedding Favors

I thought that handmade soaps would be a great wedding favour to give to guests... but making that many soaps would be very time consuming! Then I thought that there must be a way to make shop-bought soap look just as lovely, and personalised to celebrate your special day. I love the way that the vellum is translucent, so you can see the soap just peeping through, and the colours, though bright and crisp, are slightly softer than harsh paper colours would be. I also like the way that vellum feels - it is crisp and packaging-like, harder wearing than paper (so it will survive the journey home!) yet retains the handmade vibe. You could make these to co-ordinate with any wedding theme or your chosen colour scheme, and add suitable embellishments to match, but I fell in love with the bright stripes of this vellum paper.

Step 1: Gather Materials and Equipment

These are simple and easy to make! They require little in the way of materials and equipment:

• Bars of soap of your choice
• Vellum paper to suit your theme/colour scheme
• Glue stick or adhesive of your choice that dries clear
• Embellishments and stickers of your choice (I used dimensional butterfly embellishments and artwork that I create for this instructable.)
• Scissors, or knife and ruler, to cut with

Step 2: Cut Your Vellum Down to Size

Using your bar of soap as a guide (because every brand has a different size!) trim down the vellum to a suitable size for wrapping it. If your vellum has a pattern, as mine did, be mindful of the pattern's direction when you cut. You can use scissors, or a knife and ruler, whichever you feel most comfortable with. For accuracy, I prefer to use a knife with a sharp blade, a ruler, and a glass cutting mat.

Step 3: Wrap Your Soap

Use the vellum to wrap your soap as you would a parcel. First, wrap the vellum tightly around the soap and secure with a little glue. Then fold the excess on the sides into flaps and secure these too. Be mindful of any patterns - for example, the stripes on my vellum meant that it would be obvious if the folding was even a little bit crooked! It is important to use glue that dries clear, as everything will be visible through the vellum.

Step 4: Add Sticker and Embellishment

Add a sticker to personalise your favours. I used ones I had already created - if you don't have artwork already prepared you can create some easily using the desktop publishing or graphic editor of your choice. If you like the chalkboard effect it is super-easy - simply a black background and a font such as this one free for personal use on dafont.

After you have added a sticker, you can add the embellishment of your choice. Flowers, rings or stars look lovely, but I really liked how these dimensional butterflies looked against the vellum.

Once you have done that, your favours are complete! I hope you like them!

Step 5: