How to make geek-tastic 8-bit wedding accessories

Guest post by Donelle

After spying Donelle and Adam's glorious 8-Bit wedding, we fell head over heels for the DIYed 8-bit boutonnieres, hair clips, corsages and, of course, Donelle's “diamond” necklace. Here's how you can make 'em.

boutsnclips alternative wedding ideas from Offbeat Wed (formerly Offbeat Bride)We had a budget of 6k, so we made pretty much everything ourselves. We used Shrinky Dinks to make the boutonnieres, corsages, jewelry, hair clips and cake topper. We used window paint to make the bouquets, and fabric paint for the pixel tie t-shirts.

What you need:

  • Shrinky Dinks (You can get these at your local craft store. I got the bright white large sheets because, after some trial and error, I found that the colors on the transparent scratchy kind of Shrinky Dinks weren't as vibrant as I would have liked)
  • Sharpies (The only type of marking pen that the white Shrinky Dinks seemed to work well with was Sharpies.)
  • Paper (I used graph paper for the pixelated designs because it made it WAY easier. If you aren't doing 8-bit style pixel work, any type of paper will work.)
  • Scissors
  • Super Glue (or strong adhesive)
  • Mod Podge
  • Oven or toaster oven

Step 1:
Draw a design out on a piece of paper. It will need to be approx. 4x bigger than the size you want to end up with because it will shrink in the oven!

Step2 alternative wedding ideas from Offbeat Wed (formerly Offbeat Bride)
Step 2:
Tape the Shrinky Dink on top of the design so it doesn't move around. You should be able to see your design through the Shrinky Dink.

Step3 alternative wedding ideas from Offbeat Wed (formerly Offbeat Bride)
Step 3:
Color it in with Sharpies. This step is fun but tedious depending on how many items you are making.

Step 4:
Cut it out — be careful though, because this stuff tears easily.

Step 5:
Bake it in the oven according to the Shrinky Dink's directions.

Step 6:
Apply Mod Podge with a paint brush. Your design, even after baking, might smear and bleed easily. This stuff helps to seal it, although it doesn't seal it all the way. You may want to look for other clear sealants depending on what your local craft store carries.

Step7ab alternative wedding ideas from Offbeat Wed (formerly Offbeat Bride)
Step 7:
After letting it dry, you can glue the pieces together, and then glue them to the backing of your choice. I used a pin back for the boutonnieres and a hair clip for the hair accessories (see pictures 7a and 7b).

Step7c alternative wedding ideas from Offbeat Wed (formerly Offbeat Bride)

Corsages

I had to be a little more creative with the corsages though. I went through several design mock-ups and ultimately came up with this one (see picture 7c).

corsages alternative wedding ideas from Offbeat Wed (formerly Offbeat Bride)
I made a plus-shaped design out of Shrinky Dinks and punched 2 holes in it prior to baking. I cut it out, baked it, and threaded the ribbon through the two holes. I then glued the piece to the back of the corsage. And voila! The result was a corsage for the mothers that could be easily tied around their wrists with a sweet ribbon.

“Diamond” Necklace

diamondnecklace alternative wedding ideas from Offbeat Wed (formerly Offbeat Bride)
For the “diamond” necklace, I found that the two blue colors included in the Sharpie kit didn't look that great together. So, I went back to the craft store and discovered that they make Shrinky Dinks that can be printed on with an Ink Jet printer! How cool is that?

So I drew the design on the computer and printed it out. I recommend doing several mock print-outs on regular paper first though to get the size you want because I know that, at least for me, it took several tries playing with printer settings and what-not to get it right. And it's not good to waste the Shrinky Dink paper because it is somewhat pricey.

Cake Topper

caketopper alternative wedding ideas from Offbeat Wed (formerly Offbeat Bride)
The cake topper was also printed using the Shrinky Dink Ink Jet paper.
So there you have it… Shrinky Dink wedding accessories! Play around with the idea, you'll be surprised with what you come up with!

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Comments on How to make geek-tastic 8-bit wedding accessories

  1. Yay! Oh, forgot to mention that the colors on the printer ones should be about 50% faded because the colors will get more saturated when they are baked.

  2. This is really cool! I have no previous experience with shrinky dinks worked, so I had to google it to see that they are actually plastic and thicken up after you bake them. Neat!

    I am planning on working a lot of video game elements into my wedding reception, and have been struggling to think of ways to make it work. Being able to make shrinky dinks of things that represent our favorite video games would be perfect, because I could punch holes in them and put them on ribbons going around the vases. Or maybe glue them to the vases? And I absolutely love the 8 bit shrinky dink diamond necklace, that’s awesome.

    Thanks for the inspiration, I would never have thought about shrinky dinks, but my mind is churning on some cool possibilities.

  3. I LOVE your bouquets! I can’t seem to find a tutorial for it. You said you made it with window paint. Did you paint the window paint onto something and peel it off? What an AMAZING idea! We plan to do a nintendo theme and your wedding inspired me! We want to do an 8 bit Mario fire flower instead, or maybe even a piranha plant. Who knows, obviously the sky is the limit! Thank you for your inspiration! Any help would be great, and by the way… you are a GENIUS! Thank you!

  4. Absolutely love this!!! Our wedding has a split personality of magic/nature with 8-bit geeky goodness, and I’ve already made a bunch of the “sensible” stuff in the nature side, but I am so definitely incorporating little touches like this for the evening reception fun and games! Thanky!!!

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