Vintage personalized mini suitcases

So my hubs and I decided to take charge and be in charge of the cast gifts for the production team for the show we recently were in. Every show we are in, the cast gets something for the people who helped make the show amazing.
Since our "theme" for the show was incorporating suitcases in every nook and cranny, I decided to make these little vintage-style personalized mini suitcases.

Honestly I started out painting "The Music Man" on the one suitcase, and quickly realized that it was going to take way too long to do it on all- that and my handwriting/painting isn't very good. So I decided that one and only suitcase would go to the one lady who actually painted all the awesome signage and set of the show.
For our director I altered an even larger suitcase, which I filled with goodies and put one of the small ones inside. For some involved we gave them luggage tags inside the mini suitcases. All of them got kazoos in their suitcases- the smallest "instrument" we could find to put in them. :D I also used many different kinds of ribbon on these, but all had some sort of "stitching" on each.

They turned out cute, however as we were handing them out, some of the ribbon was coming off of them- after they were sitting in my extremely hot car all day. I really need to invest in a good ribbon/chipboard adhesive- since a similar thing happened with the altered photo frame i gave to my friend for her bridal shower- the heat made the letters pop right off! Eek!

I was proud how they turned out. I even got the hubs involved in the process- he spray painted all the mini suitcases for me when I was at work (after he took off all the metal closures, he painted them, then put all the closures back on in one night). It was nice to sorta work on a project together. hehe

So the process for these were:

1. take off metal closure, spray paint brown, screw metal closures back on
2. stamp in stayz-on ink travel-themed vintage type stamps all over mini suitcase
3. adhere ribbon to edges
4. with white gel pen add faux stitching
5. add personalized name to suitcase with thicker letters
6. stamp, glue, punch hole, then attach with baker's twine the thank you tag to the handle

I hope (or think it was at least) a good successful project. :D
Currently I'm finishing up some work on a co-worker's bridal shower invites, then working on her passport-themed invites after that. I do love working on wedding stuff so much more than other design work.
Anyways, Enjoy!
-M

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