Layout of the Week - Wedding Invitations

Yes, I know this isn't a scrapbook layout & I promise to get back to layouts next week. I've just had these invitations on my project list for quite a while. These invitations are for my brother & future sister-in-law's wedding in September. A few years ago, I tried having my own company creating handmade invitations & baby announcements. I have made quite a few over the years, but found that there was no way I could get paid enough for the time I was putting into them. So now, I create them by request for family and friends. In case you'd like to try your hand at creating your own invitations for your next small party or large event, I'll let you know how I created them. My brother needed 80 invitations and let me know that their colors are a sage or avocado green, copper & ivory. So that's where I started.

I usually create invitations by cutting each layer of paper on my large (12 x 12) Fiskars rotary blade cutter. Cutting each of the two or three layers of paper, one piece at a time. This time, I was in a time crunch and was excited to learn that Paper Zone (a cool paper store in my area) had pre-cut cardstock in tons of colors and sizes. Just by chance, they had EXACTLY the color I was looking for. They call it Wasabi, it's in their PZ Facets collection. So I purchased 4 packs of 20 sheets, in the A-7 or 5 1/8" x 7 1/8" size) to use as the backing sheet.

Next, I chose a copper metallic paper for the middle layer. I wanted a 1/4" border around all sides, so I cut the sheets of 8 1/2" x 11" paper down to two 4 1/2" x 6 1/2" pieces.

For the vellum topper, I chose ivory vellum from World Win. This vellum works very well in ink jet printers, which allowed me to choose colored ink to match the copper theme. I set my invitations up in Microsoft Publisher, I'd rather use Adobe Pagemaker, but don't have access to it on my current computer. My brother & his fiancee chose Vivaldi as their font. I was able to use the Pantone color chart available in Publisher to chose the exact ink color I was looking for. (It's 153CVC, in case you were wondering.) I cut the vellum into 4" x 6" pieces. I used page set up to choose a "portrait" setting and so I could put two sets of wording at the top and one sideways under them. This way I was able to cut three vellum toppers out of each 8 1/2" x 11" sheet, thereby saving a few sheets of paper and a little bit of money. The vellum would sit on top of the Wasabi paper & copper paper, with a 1/4" border around it.

After sorting the three layers into individual invitations, I used a Memory Makers Paper Piercing Tool to poke small holes approximately 1/4" from the top & sides on the left and right sides of the vellum. (I use my paper piercing tool on top of a self-healing mat.) I then placed small copper brads from American Crafts into each hole.

For a final touch, I used spray adhesive from Loctite to mount small copper skeleton leaves from Mountain Valley Paper Company at the bottom of the invitations. The wedding has a Fall leaf theme and I thought these leaves would be a fun addition.

The invitations will be mailed in matching Wasabi envelopes from Paper Zone, in the A-7 or 5 1/8" x 7 1/8" size.

The approximate cost for the supplies to create 80 of these invitations is $120.00

I'm happy with the way these invitations turned out and thankful to be done with such a large project. I probably wouldn't recommend a wedding as the project to tackle the first time you try creating your own invitations, but you should definitely try creating some for your or your child's next birthday party! People always love receiving something handmade in the mail. I've had many comments over the years from customers & friends, that they are keeping my invitations as mementos of a joyous event.

So, don't be afraid to try creating your own invitations! And remember, you can always ask me any questions you have while working on your project. I've run into all sorts of dilemmas in my projects and would be happy to share my solutions with you!

Layout of the Week Valentine Party Invitation

Hi there! I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend! I promise to post a photo of our cupcake-covered boy soon! He had a great birthday, thanks for all the good wishes!

I'm busy working on some invitation for the scrapbook store today. Here's a photo. This one was my sample. I did end up making the type bold so it was easier to see on the final invites. I just thought you might want to use it as inspiration for a Valentine card or two. The background paper is from LUXE's Trinket collection. I chose 4 different papers from this collection and made invites from each one. I think it's fine to use a variety of paper for your invites. Don't worry about them not all being the same. The recipients usually don't compare their invites anyway, but even if they did, I think they'd love the variety. And using a few different papers keeps it interesting for those of us doing the creating. I tend to get bored making 50 of the exact same invites.

Here are the details, if you want to copy them. The background paper is 4" x 5 1/4". I mounted a 4" x 1" black strip to the background paper with glue stick. I did lay the vellum next to each sheet before gluing the strip down, just to be sure I was adhering it in the correct spot. The vellum overlay is cut 3 3/4" x 5". I used Microsoft Publisher to design the vellum overlay. I created the overlays on an 8 1/2" x 11" page. I created a text box 3 3/4" x 5" with margins of 1/4" in the box. I centered the text both vertically & horizontally and used the font Gaston (the extended version). I thought Gaston looked great with the black lines of the Trinket papers. I copied and pasted the text box three times, so I had a total of four boxes on my page. I printed the pages on my ink jet printer. I cut all my papers on a large Fiskars rotary blade cutter. It makes a nice clean cut without the "fuzzy" edges you can get from smaller cutters.

I laid my vellum on top of my background paper with black strip attached. I placed 2 1/2" pieces of dark pink ribbon and black sparkly ribbon over the hole. Next, I used a Making Memories paper piercing tool to create a hole directly in the center of the black strip. For the final touch, I placed a heart shaped brad in the hole. I loved the shape of some bronze brads I found in the bulk embellishment section of the store. But the color wasn't my favorite, so I took a cardboard box and pushed all the brads I needed into it in rows. Then I sprayed them all black with a satin finish black spray paint. For just a little extra effort, I had perfectly matching embellishments.

To hold everything in place, I used a couple of mini-glue dots under the vellum. I didn't want my vellum & ribbon to spin around the brad.

I used black envelopes for these invites. A silver pen was perfect for writing the recipients' names and return address.

I hope you try this technique for creating your next invitations. It's a simple, cost-effective way to create something very personal for your friends & family. Stop by your local scrapbook store to find the perfect papers, ribbon and any advice you need. If you're in the Portland area, stop by Whimzee's Scrapbook Studio, we'd love to help you find everything you need for your next event. Check out our blog for more creative ideas.