My DYI Invites - 1st Attempt!!

[teebee]

Okay, I''ve been having some trouble finding invitations that coordinated with my ''colors'' and wedding style. And the ones that I did find that I liked were super expensive and even still weren''t exactly the style I was going for... So I decided to try to make 1 DIY invite to see how it would turn out and go from there ~ if it looked okay and wasn''t ridiculously difficult and time-consuming I would go for it, but if it ended up looking awful or being too complicated I would scrap that idea and keep looking.

As most of you know, my dress has multi-colored embroidery on the bodice and my goal was to find invitations that emphasized 3 of those colors (celery/apple green, light blue, bright pink) but I could never find that color combo (always found pink & green or green & blue, but not all 3). Plus, a lot of the colorful invites were too ''cutesy'' for me ~ like, polka dots and really bright stripes or plaid ~ and although cute and colorful, we are having a semi-formal evening wedding in a really beautiful location and I didn''t want the invitations to express a casual mood...

So, went to Hobby Lobby, got some cardstock in green, blue, pink and ivory and went to work so here is the final product, although I will make a few changes, but I''m pretty pleased with how the first one turned out, considering I didn''t really have much of a plan.

Also, the colors are a little less bright in person, I think the flash distorted the hues a little:

 

[AmberGretchen]

OMG - so pretty!! I LOVE those. Do you have a template/instructions? Thats very similar to what I am going for, although with different colors and some other different details, but so nice and clean and modern-looking. How are the RSVP cards etc attached?

 

[rms]

teebee,
I love your invites. they look fantastic!

 

[teebee]

Date: 4/22/2005 7:52:42 PM
Author: AmberGretchen
OMG - so pretty!! I LOVE those. Do you have a template/instructions? Thats very similar to what I am going for, although with different colors and some other different details, but so nice and clean and modern-looking. How are the RSVP cards etc attached?

Thanks AG!! No template or instructions, I just kinda ''winged it'' with my exacto knife & straight-edge and it worked out. I haven''t exactly worked out the RSVP card yet... so I will probably have to make some changes to that part. Right now it says this:

The favour or a reply is requested on or
before April 30th by visiting our wedding
website, www.Bxxxx-Wxxxx.com or by using
the perforated response card below:

------------------------------------------------------------

We look forward to celebrating with you!!!

M _________________________________

______ Wouldn''t miss it!
____ Number attending

______ Can''t make it, but we''ll
be there in spirit!

-------------------------------------------------------------


So, the section in between the dotted line is about 3.5"5" but I haven''t exactly figured how to perforate it or if I can score it w/ exacto knife or what... I''m also going try doing a trial run pocketfold which would eliminate the RSVP dilemna, but I haven''t been able to find larger paper in that shade of green...

 

[CanadianGal]

Teebee - My Aunt has a perforating tool , it is probably from good old Michaels (the craft store), but it may be from a scapbooking store ... I do not think it should be too hard to find. Also, my Aunt lives by the company "Stampin'' Up" www.Stampinup.com they are great for making cards etc... lots of neat things, all really easy to use!

Good luck with those invites, they look great!

 

[teebee]

Date: 4/22/2005 11

1:41 PM
Author: CanadianGal
Teebee - My Aunt has a perforating tool , it is probably from good old Michaels (the craft store), but it may be from a scapbooking store ... I do not think it should be too hard to find. Also, my Aunt lives by the company ''Stampin'' Up'' www.Stampinup.com they are great for making cards etc... lots of neat things, all really easy to use!

Good luck with those invites, they look great!

Thanks CanadianGal!! I just realized that there is a rotary perforating blade available from Fiskars that will work with my rotary paper trimmer so that''s a big relief ~ I didn''t see it at Michaels when I was there earlier so I bet they will have it at Stampin'' Up or any of the local scrapbooking stores, great suggestion. Part of me is concerned that it may be tacky to ask guests to do it this way w/ the card being perforated ~ but the other part of me does not care at all!!!

 

[MelissaSue]

teebee- Those are adorable. I know if I tried to make DIY invites they would look like my 5 year old neice assembled them.. I''m just not crafty. And boy.. are you on TOP of things! You have like.. everything done already.. and you''ve been engaged less time than me.. I havent even BEGUN to narrow down what I want my invites to look like. THere are just SOO many options!

 

[Kaili]

TeeBee,
I love it!! The colors are fantastic and totally match your gown. You have given me inspiration!! You did a fantastic job!

 

[MissAva]

TeeBee, those are adorable! They are so cute and friendly looking and the colors play off each other and pop! Wow, I am so impressed.

 

[flopkins]

teebee that looks lovely!
abt the rsvp 'problem' I have seen invites where they used small cute clips for all the side info, so it can be taken apart etc... dunnos where you might get them though... boy am i helpful!
but the perforation thing isn't a big deal, IMO!

have you tried paper-source.com for the pocketfold paper?
envelopemall.com has lots of different colored standard envelopes too. hope that helps!

ETA: also http://www.marcopaper.com has a large variety of stuff. haven't looked that closely at the site but it was recommended by a knottie.

 

[Kaleigh]

teebee,
They look terrific, so colorful and friendly too!!

 

[teebee]

Thanks!! I''m very pleased with how it turned out!! Like I said, I''ll probably make a few changes and am planning on eventually downloading some other fonts in order to try to make it a tad bit more sophisticated and a little less "cutesy"... And yesterday I made a monogram in Word that I''ll print onto ivory cardstock and attach to the front.

MS ~ I guess I am somewhat ahead of myself in the planning... I think it''s more of an obsessive compulsive control freak disorder more than it is any sort of organizational skills or efficiency on my part!!

Flopkins ~ I guess I haven''t seen those clips? Sounds like a great idea so I will have to keep my eyes open for them although I will probably go ahead and use the perforation method since I''ve got it all formatted that way. I have checked quite a few places for pocketfold paper and have found a few that would work... but my biggest objection is the price. Most that I''ve found ranges from $1.61 per sheet (envelopments prefolded pocketfolds) up to $2.50 per sheet (paper-source 12x12 cardstock). The envelopments price isn''t too bad, especially considering it is prefolded... until I compare it to the $0.20 per sheet of the 8.5x11 cardstock that I used to create my ''trial run'' invitation (which ended up costing me $1.00 total in paper). I finally found some large paper that may work but it is still more of a sage green than an apple green ~ I bought one sheet and am going to give it a shot to see how it works.

Thanks again ladies ~ I''m just excited that I may be able to do this by myself & save some $$$ w/ out it looking too amateurish!