Almost finished invites!! Pics!

[april diamonds]

I'm DIYing my invites. And after a huge epic with my printer, I finally got it to print my invites. Or well at least half of them so far.

Our colors are chocolate and pink but since I couldn't find a nice pink colored flat card I decide that an ivory insert with brown text and pink accents would be much better.

Here's the workstation I set up in my sunroom to take advantage of the nice weather this weekend.

(I had to black out the names and stuff...FI doesn't want them posted)

 

[april diamonds]

I found a stamp that we liked and stamped and then embossed it to give it a nice raised look. It turned out really nice!

 

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And then I colored in the flowers for the pink accents. Tada! Finished inserts!

 

[april diamonds]

And then I will tie a ribbon around the middle and glue it into a petal enclosure. I don''t know if you can see it but all the paper has a metallic sheen/shine to it.

 

[april diamonds]

Here''s a "better" pic wher eyou can see all four petals. they''ll fold over each other and stay sealed. I''m thinking about doing a vellum overlay on the flat card with our monogram. It will depend on if I have time or not. RSVPs are still being drafted!

What do you guys think?!?

 

[saltymuffin]

Very, very nice!

I love seeing DIY invites. If you are willing to share, I would love to hear what you think it is costing you to make these per invitation. They look great. Where did you buy your supplies?

 

[april diamonds]

Saltymuffin, I have not yet down a cost breakdown of $/per invite. I''m still missing some of the costs. But I would say somewhere between $2-3 an invite (this includes the cost of 150 RSVP cards, invitation envelopes, ribbon, stamp, stamp pad, and embossing powder). This is based on an approximation of 130-150 invites. It''s tricky because I bought 150 invites worth of flat cards, but only 130 worth of invites since the packaging was in off numbers (25/pack of flat cards and 10/pack of invites >_<). I really only need about 100-120, but I knew I would have printer issues, hence the 150 flat cards. I was right, so far I''ve sacrificed 10 of them, and each time I''m having problems with the printer, so I may end up losing more. oops!

I''m going to do the real math later, just out of curiosity myself and then I''ll post up the real figures.

I got my paper supplies from Paper Presentation in NYC. It''s a pretty awesome store, with a TON of different options. You can even just order your invites straight from them. But I really wanted to DIY. The stamp and stamp pad I got from this stamping store called The Ink Pad, also in NYC and the embossing powder from Michaels.

Hope that helps!

 

[karasue91]

This may be a dumb question, but what is embossing powder and how do you use it?

We have a friend who will hopefully print our invites for us but he only has access to digital and offset printers, so I was thinking that perhaps I could use some of this embossing powder to make them look a little more custom. I think the offset printers are the kind they use to print greeting cards, so they will just be flat I think....

 

[winternight]

Very pretty! I''ve also never heard of embossing powder. I love the cherry blossoms though, so cute!

 

[saltymuffin]

Thank you for that bit of a breakdown!

I had seen the shimmery paper at a local store, and wondered how it would work in printers, it seems like it does pretty well.

I had hoped you had got your supplies online, the only local suppliers I have been able to find for such items sell "by the sheet", which gets pretty pricey.

I would also be interested in hearing a bit of a description of how the embossing powder works.

 

[april diamonds]

Ooh Saltymuffin, you CAN buy their stuff online! http://www.paperpresentation.com/ And they give you a small discount for buying in "bulk" (i.e. like buy 5 or more packs of flat cards and they knock of some percentage)

I didn''t buy online because the color I want wasn''t listed (and I can easily go to the city and browse) but if you dont'' see acolor you like you can call them to just ask if they have a color simliar to what you want. I think they may even send samples.

As for the embossing powder - it''s not a silly question at all! I''m an avid scrapbooker and am into these kinds of things which is why I know about it.

Anyway, how it works is that after you have stamped your image you power this powder over it, shake off the excess powder, and then heat it so that the powder melts. It takes some practice at first but then its super easy. To heat it you use an "embossing gun" but really it''s just a glorified hair dryer. (although you can''t really use a hairdryer because it would just blow all the powder around). It''s a concentrated stream of hot air and you just run it over the top of the paper until the powder melts and then you let it cool (not long just like 30 seconds) and then it''s good to go!

You have to make sure you get ink that doesn''t dry too fast on your paper though otherwise the powder won''t stick to it. It''s simple to do and it makes any project look fancy. It is raised up off the paper so it also gives texture and also comes in a bunch of different colors! But if you do it, make sure you don''t run the paper through the printer AFTER you''ve embossed because a laser printer will melt the embossed part off mostly likely...

Karasue - I think for your project embossing powder isn''t the way to go, since with the powder you need to have wet ink to hold it before drying it. So I ran the apper through the printer and then stamped on the cherry blossoms. You could totally do that as well though! Hope that was a clear explanation!

 

[saltymuffin]

Thanks for all that - especially the link!

Your invitations do look great, and VERY professional.

 

[shigidigi]

You''re invites are beautiful! Well done!

I love how the paper you used has that sheen to it. And thank you for giving us the link to paper presentation- I have been looking for someone who carries the Astrobright line for a long time!

 

[Harleigh]

Hi April! Your invites look great!

I used to demonstrate for a rubber stamp & scrapbooking company, and I must say, you do lovely work!

Can''t wait to see everything together when it''s done!

 

[iwannaprettyone]

I am sooooo super impressed. What imagination AD!

 

[Stephanie]

Wow! They are amazing!

 

[LauraBabe08]

They are beautiful! Thanks for sharing!!!

 

[surfgirl]

April, LOVE the invites! And of course I'm a big fan of the petal envelopments so yeah you! I'm also in awe of your DIY gumption. Man, very impressive. I couldn't deal with the gluing the announcement layer to the border layer to the petal layer. It was too much for me so I paid MyGatsby.com an extra $1.00/announcement to do that part. I'm in awe of what you did by your little 'ol self. Kudos!

Also, I do really like your color combo and the cherry blossom stamp. Very nice. Love the pink contrasting bow too. Well Done!

ETA: Are you going to fold your petals inside one another like I did? Or use sealing wax? I cant remember...

 

[april diamonds]

Thanks everyone for the kind words!!! I was SUPER nervous about doing them, worried that they wouldn''t turn out right. It took me forever to stamp the first one. but then once I got going, I got going! Still have like 90 left to go! Guess I know what I''m going to be doing this weekend!

Harleigh - whcih stamping company was it? I have a friend who does it from Stampin'' Up and I LOVE those stamps. I usually go to her "parties" and end up ordering a ridiculous amount of stuff. haha The stamp I used though was from Stampendous! (if any of you gals are looking for some nice stamps for your invites check out Stampendous (just google them) they have some really nice stuff)

Surfgirl - Thanks! I knew from the start that I really wanted to work on my own invites. Everyone thinks I''m crazy for wanting to do like a 130 invites by hand but believe it or not this was the MOST simple design I came up with. I am intending on using sealing wax to hold the petal shut, but it depends on if I can find just the right "stamp". If not I think I will use a pretty sticker of some sort. OH, I meant to ask you, I saw that your stamps were 58 cents, is that the standard cost for the square shape? Ours might be a bit heavier with the info card and rsvp card but I just wanted to do a minimum cost estimate.

 

[surfgirl]

April, yeah, that was the postage cost for the 5x5" square Envelopment inside an envelope. But I think it''s a standard charge for your average wedding invite, which would normally include RSVP card, etc. If I were you, I''d put together all the elements that will be inside the envelopes - even if they''re not finished yet just stick them all inside the envelope - and take it to the post office and ask them to weigh it and see how much it costs. Also, I took my announcements to the main post office and had them all hand canceled so they wouldn''t get shmushed in the meter machine. I highly recommend doing that since you''re putting so much care into your invites.

 

[Harleigh]

Hi April,

I used to work for D.O.T.S. (Dozens of Terrific Stamps) and C.T.M.H. (Close to my Heart) scrapbooking. I believe they are just CTMH now, but I haven''t kept up too much over the yeares.

I am just NOT a good salesperson, but I am creative, so I still enjoy making my own things, but feel awkward trying to sell any of the products to people, IYKWIM... Stampin'' Up has some cute stuff...my friend''s sister sells for them and I always pick something up!

Now get goin'' on the rest of those invites now, will ya?

 

[Independent Gal]

Gorgeous! Just love them.

 

[april diamonds]

Ooh that''s a good idea, Surfgirl. I think I will do that. Also mine are going to be 6x6. Yeah, my friend told me to get them hand canceld but then my sister told me that the post office where she is very nasty and might not do it for me. So I think I''m going to go to my friends neighborhood and get it done there since she said her post office was really nice and had no problem hand canceling her wedding invites.

 

[april diamonds]

Harleigh,

I know what you mean! I could never host one of my own parties, it feels weird to try to solicite your friends to buy something. Or even people I don''t know. When I was little I had a hard time selling girl scout cookies!!!

I don''t have a problem with buying though...

I haven''t heard of DOTS, think I will need to go check it out.

This weekend will be invite making marathon! Wish me luck!

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

Uh, I should know this considering my aunt is a post mistress, but what does "hand cancelling" mean?

 

[april diamonds]

Hudson,

You know how there''s a stamp on the stamp saying the date it was mailed and stuff on the evenlopes? That stamp bascially "cancels" the postage stamp so that you can''t reuse it. Normally the post office just shoves all the mail through a machine and it just stamps them out, but a lot of times with nice delicate invites they can get crushed in the machine. Or the stamping is just ugly cause its like a huge black ugly stamp on your pretty envelopes!

So you can as the PO to hand cancel them...meaning they take a stamp and do it all by hand. Painstaking yes, but you get to keep your pretty envelopes from being mashed. I''ve heard that some POs actually just give you the stamp and let you do it in the PO yourself. I wouldn''t mind doing that if they were busy.

 

[surfgirl]

Date: 10/18/2007 8:55:47 AM
Author: Hudson_Hawk
Uh, I should know this considering my aunt is a post mistress, but what does ''hand cancelling'' mean?

Your aunt is a "post mistress"? That sounds so naughty.

The hand cancel stamp is nicer too. It''s round and smaller than the one that they use in the machine.

 

[kimberlina13]

Those are gorgeous!! I know your guests are going to love getting them!!