DIY Wedding Invites help

[jojolh]

Hello,

I have looked at several of the DIY wedding invites and I am feeling totally inspired. I went to the Paper Source yesterday and I would just rather do them myself rather then pay someone 3xs as much to do them for me. I have a really good idea of what I want to do I am just stuck on the next step and how to actual print and assemble them.

I found the card stock I want, do I try to print them myself on my computer? Would Kinkos or Staples be a better choice? Same with RSVP cards? I can actually use my printer to feed these small cards into? I am also worried about getting the color right. Lastly, I found a wrapping paper I want to use as a "sash" around the middle of the invite. Would I use a glue stick to adher it to the invite?

We are on an extremely tight budget so I am trying to save where we can and this would be a fun project. I also am going to buy one of the stamps to add a pop of color to the invite as well (maybe a flower or a palm tree?).

You ladies seem so talented on here and I look forward to any advice you may have or suggestions. Buy the stock locally or online? Any online retailers you might suggest?

This is the link to the paper-souce of the paper I want to use as the sash. The card stock I want ona recycle textured antiqu white and the lettering would be "Pool". Almost the same color as the blue in the paper. I would also LOVE to do envelope liners with the paper. Are there templates for this? Or do you just cut and glue them on?

http://www.paper-source.com/cgi-bin/paper/item/Yuzen-Pool-Gold-Waves/3160.010/12441950.html


So many questions, sorry!!!!

 

[newbie124]

I love that wrapper paper that you chose!

My advice would actually be to call Paper Source and ask them for advice as they are probably most familiar w/ the properties of the paper you purchased. Some papers have coatings (or lack a coating) that may not take ink well. Better to ask them first than experiment only to find that the paper doesn't work and then you can't return it.

 

[Morgie44]

Depending on your printer, there is no problem with printing them on your own printer. We are getting our self-designed invites printed at a Kinkos type place because we don''t have a reliable printer. The look will be the same with a good home printer as with Kinkos since they use a color copier.

Whether you are going the Kinkos route or print your own, I suggest printing before cutting for two reasons: Kinkos charges per sheet for their printing, so if you put 4 or so RSVP cards on one sheet and then have them cut them or cut them yourselves, it will save you money. If you are printing at home, I would still print first, because it will save you headaches later on.

I am not doing the sashes/ bellybands, but am matting my invitations on a plain colored sheet of cardstock and will be using double stick tape. I have also seen glue dots used and recent raves about some type of glue pen from the Martha''s Stewart line at Michaels that I might look into.

For paper, we (I) wanted plain white cardstock for the main part of the invitations, so we are just buying that from an office supply store, but if you want a color or metallic I suggest Anchor Paper or Paper and more for good prices. For the envelope liners, I found a template the other day but don''t remember where. Try googling envelope liner template and maybe you can pull something up for free. If not, I believe Papersource sells a template kit for around $10. Good luck and post pics when you are done!

 

[Clairitek]

I have a question for you about the wrapping paper sash. When I read this I envisioned something that would go around the invite and be slid off to read it. Do you know what I mean? If this is the case, I suppose you wouldn't want to adhere it to the actual invitation so maybe I just don't follow.

It seems that a lot of people who make their own invitations here use glue dots. I bet they will be more expensive than a glue stick but probably a lot more clean.

I can imagine that if you do some googling you can find some templates for Microsoft Word to fit text into the correct size space for your invitation.
Here is the link to Word's wedding invite templates.

Sometimes when I have bought something for DIY printing before there has been information on where to download templates on the packaging. Perhaps you could check out the website for the manufacturer of the cardstock.

I really love the idea of a stamped splash of color. If you decide to buy something from JoAnn's you could probably use one of those 40% off coupons to help out with the price!

Make sure to check out The Big DIY Thread stickied to the top of the BWW forum. There are many links to PS threads on DIY invitations that various PSers have done throughout the years. I hope its useful for you!

ETA: Awesome wrapping paper!! I just now checked it out and I love the colors.

 

[newbie124]

Forgot to add that we had a wrapper around our invitations (one that slipped off) and I used double-sided tape which I''m so glad I found out about! It was cheap and really easy to use. (I''m not sure what glue dots are, so can''t comment on those

 

[jojolh]

Thanks Ladies!

Regarding the paper around the actual invite...I want it stuck on there, not slipped off. So it actually looks like part of the invite. I wish I could sketch you what I mean!

I attached a pic of an invitation to give you an idea of the sash. This one is printed on the invite, mine will be glued and also up higher (a little higher then the middle).

 

[musincy]

Just so you know (I learned the hard way)... Kinkos and Staples won''t print on paper smaller than 8.5x11. At least, the stores by me said they don''t. If you want them to print for you, you have to take them bigger paper and have it cut down after printing.

I ended up printing mine on my home printer and they look just fine!