Invitation Unveiling

Okay guys...it's finally time for me to share my invitations with you!!
I have probably put a combined 100+ hours into these things.  And I'm not kidding when I tell you that.
I made all of the invitations and pocketfolds from scratch, printed out all of the inserts and individually cut them out, hand addressed all of the envelopes, lined the majority of the invites, and designed and redesigned the layout.
But enough whining about that.  Here's what I know you guys want to see.

First a little of the process?

Building of the envelopes.

Inserts printed 4 to a page.

A small amount of the overall mess I've made over the last two months.

100+ invitations times 5 inserts = a whole lot of cutting!

Stacks of finished invites.  I got so sick of these that I went through the whole process 5 different times.

But now for the details =]
I forgot to take pictures before sending them out, and at the moment I don't have one to keep (but don't worry I still have more to make so I'll be making an extra for myself) so these pictures come from an invitation that got sent back to me.  I noticed that some of the ink smeared from the processing.  I know they didn't all turn out like that though, because I've seen some that other people got.

I'll show you my inspiration pictures that influenced my invites.

Pocketfolds:

Mine

Inspiration

Inside layout:

  Mine

Inspiration

RSVP card and other inserts:

 Mine

Inspiration

Envelopes:

  Mine

Mine

I used the "fauxligraphy" method of printing out the addresses in a very light grey ink, and then tracing over with an ink pen.  It took forever, but I love the way they turned out!

And I just wanted to give you guys a close up of my RSVP cards and the back in case any of you need help with layouts and wording.

I made sure to indicate how many people were invited, because we're inviting a lot of single people and not allowing them to bring a guest, so I wanted it to be clear to the guest how many were invited.  It's helped a lot.  So far we haven't had anyone try and return an RSVP for more than they were allowed.

For the most part, people have been putting their names on the line following the "M"  The only times they didn't, they wrote out their full names on the back so it worked out fine.

At the bottom it says See reverse for entree choices.

For the people that said yes, I had them put down their names and what they wanted to eat.  If anyone left this blank, I decided that they were getting chicken (because it's cheaper!)

Well that's it! I suppose it's fitting that the post is super long, since they took me super long to make.  Coming up next is a budget breakdown so you (and I) can find out if I saved any money doing this myself.

Review: Custom Stamps from Etsy

A couple months ago I placed my first Etsy order.   I ordered two custom stamps from Etsy seller Jen from scribbling club and I finally got around to using them this weekend.  She had a deal going at the time for two stamps for $28.00 plus shipping.  We emailed back and forth until we settled on a design I liked for both.  I designed both of the stamps, and she played with them to make sure it would work for the size.  Then she sent me proofs for both of them before making the stamps, just to finalize everything.  I was incredibly impressed with our conversation, and the amount of interaction I had with her.

Once she started making them, it took no time at all, and they were shipped out to me 6 days later.  I'm thrilled with the quality of them both.

This "Eat, Drink, and Be Married" stamp measures 2x2".  I'm planning on using it on cocktail napkins for the bar, as well as on blank coasters I ordered.

I also ordered a return address stamp to use on the back of our invitation envelopes.  It measures 2"x3".

I reversed both of these in the picture so you could see what they really look like.  In reality, they're obviously backwards so when you stamp them they read correctly.

I addressed our Christmas cards this weekend and got to use my new stamp for the first time.  It's a little big for everyday use, and definitely can't be used on the front of the envelope, but I wanted it to be big for the back of our invite envelopes.  It stamps nice and clean, and like I said earlier, I'm very happy with the way it turned out, and will probably be ordering from Jen again.  My mom said she wants one for Christmas!

Invitation Inspiration

I suppose it's that time.  I've been putting it off long enough because I don't want to get you guys too excited.  Personally, invitaitons and paper products are my favorite parts when reading blogs.  Sometimes I skip over the super serious stuff, I skim through the honeymoon pictures, but I stop in my tracks when they get to their save the dates, invitations, and all things paper. 
It may have something to do with the large paper collection I have.  Last year a scrapbooking store was going out of business at school and I bought up probably 300 sheets of 12x12 paper for around $25.  Add that to the already growing collection, and let's just say, scrapbooking is always fun.
So anyways, now you know why I've been holding off.  If it was me reading this post, I'd start to get super anxious for the finished product to show up.  But, that won't be happening for awhile, so please don't get too excited!

I started an Invitations folder probably a week or two before we got engaged, and ever since I've been adding to it.  All of the pictures, for one reason or another caught my eye and yelled "Save me!" "Pick me!" "Create me to send to all of your friends and family!"  But of course not every single one of them could be sent out, so it really took me awhile and lots of revisions to come up with a happy blend of them all.

p.s. I don't have sources for these, so please let me know if you where who they belong to!

All but a couple of these played a major inspirational role when I was creating my mock-up.  Keep your eyes open, because at some point, before May anyways, I will be unveiling my labor of love.

DIY: Invitations, Sneak Peak

It's been a looong time coming, but don't get too excited!  I haven't even begun to post about all of my inspiration, ideas, etc.  And chances are, it won't happen for awhile either.  I will probably do a series of posts soon about all the invitations I have saved for inspiration, but I won't actually get into my own for awhile.  I'm still changing and revising, and then changing some more.  The basic concept is the same, but the details change from day to day.  So I'll wait until they're totally done and ready to leave before I share them with you all.

But the other day I was working on a small part of my invitations (yes, I'll be making them of course) and thought I would give you a sneak peek.  This isn't going to give you a whole lot of insight into my design, and it's not super exciting, but I have to start somewhere.

Earlier this summer I thought it would be a good idea to make my own envelopes. 

Yup, you read that right.  I'm making 130+ envelopes, when I can just as easily buy them at the store.  But here's my defense.  Each piece of white cardstock costs $0.05 which means I can make 130 for $6.50.  And they're exactly the right size.

I believe the origin of this crazy idea went something like this:  I made a mock-up of my invitation.  I didn't have any envelopes at the house.  I was really antsy to try this new envelope lining fad.  I found templates in the basement from my mom's old stamping days.  I decided to alter one to fit my invitation.  I made a liner to go with it.  I was sold, easy as that.

And now not so easy, is the process of making a bajillion more.  It actually is quite easy, it's just extremely time consuming.  To date, I have about 100 made, and only 50 or so lined.  p.s. if you're going to run envelopes through your printer, do that first, and THEN line them.  I learned this the hard way.

This is the most recent stack of 50 I worked on.  You can see a peek of the lining if you look closely.

And that's all you get.
But if you remember, I already shared my map with you, so I'm not doing too bad.
There will be much more I promise!

DIY: Invitations, Wedding Map

By now we've all seen wedding maps.  There are so many options to choose from.  I've seen some that don't really convey directions, but highlight important landmarks special to the couple.  And then there are straight and to the point maps that will help you find your way.  Some are in black and white, while others are painted in watercolors.  Not only are they cute, but we have a ton of people coming from out of town, so they're functional too...yay!  I'm definitely not willing to spend a lot of money on one though.

There are a lot of great artists out there that will create custom maps for you, but I'm just as artsy and know my way around Powerpoint pretty well, so I decided to make my own using Mrs. Ballet Flat's tutorial on Weddingbee.  If you haven't seen it already, I would definitely go check it out.  I followed it step-by-step and this is what I came up with.

(click to enlarge)

I blurred out my home address for the sake of posting it online.

I made sure to add the addresses for the important locations so the guests would be able to Mapquest them beforehand if they needed to.  The only thing I didn't include on here was the hotels, because I'm sure we will have guests staying at many different ones around town.  I may consider adding the hotel we blocked though and then if most people stay there, like I'm hoping, they'll be able to see where they're at in relation to the event locations.

I've heard so many people say it took them hours and hours and lots of fidgeting and correcting to get their maps the way they want.  But honestly, this took me maybe half an hour?  I tend to be a perfectionist too, so some of that time was spent reworking some of the lines and details.  Personally I thought it was pretty easy though.  And I'm very pleased with the way it turned out. 

I don't actually have Powerpoint, and some of the first drafts I attempted on Word or Microsoft Digital Image Suite turned out so bad I'm not even going to share them with you.  But my lovely school's library has all those programs so I was able to create this there and copy it over to Photoshop to be saved as a .jpg file that I emailed to myself.  I would definitely recommend taking advantage of school or public libraries if you don't have the resources yourself.

Is anybody else including a map in their invitations?  If so, how long did it take for you to make it?