DIY Wedding Invitations

Ok, to try to same some money, I have decided to do a few DIY projects for the wedding.  One is all of my paper products.  This includes the invitation, programs, name cards, table numbers and menu cards.

The first thing I worked on and somewhat completed was my invitations.

The colors we choosed were chocolate brown and sage green with hints of pink.  It was hard, but I finally found the pocket invitations in the bronze color (chocolate brown with gold flecks) that I wanted for my invitations.  We also decided that our theme would be a nature theme and picked a tree as a logo for the paper items including the invitations, although it is hard to see in the pictures.  I designed the invitations and picked out the fonts used, and with Mr. Teddybear's approval, picked the wording for the invited.  I also created the RSVP card, Activity card, and the Directions card.  Here they are:

It is hard to see but I did put the tree as part of the monogram that is on the front of the invitation.  I also use a sage green paper band to enclose the invitation and topped it with a chocolate brown ribbon.  This monogram is also matted on sage green and will be changing as I had forgotten that my sister (my StampinUp! Rep) ordered me some brass to use with the monogram.  When that item comes in and I complete in invite, I will post the picture of that as well.

Here is the invitation that is on the inside.  Again, it is hard to see but the tree is bigger on the invitation and lays just behind the text.  The invitation is matted on sage green paper from Stampin Up!  This is the same sage green paper that is used for the band.

Here is the pocket that is next to the invitation.  As you can see the cards are in the same pocket and have the same font.  I knew from the beginning that I wanted a pocket invitation but I am thankful that I found the pocket invitation that I wanted in the color I wanted.  Although the beige paper that I printed the invitations and the accessory cards on came from Cards and Pockets.com, I will be using the vanilla paper from Stampin Up!












I found the pocket invitation at Cards and Pockets.com  I was very happy with the quality of the cardstock and finding the color I wanted was a big plus.  I'm sorry that I don't have better pictures of the invitaitons, but I don't have a digital camera and my cell phone currently takes crappy pictures.

So there you have it.  Let me know what you think.  Also, if you want me to discuss any craft ideas you have or if you need help on a project, let me know and I will see what I can do to help.

DIY 5th Birthday Party Invitations - UPDATED WITH MORE PICS

Well it is after Christmas and it has been awhile since I blogged.  I appologize for the absence, but there has been health issues that are currently being looking into.

I have finally found the invitation to my daughter's 5th Birthday party invitations.  She wanted a princess birthday sleepover.  We obliged as we usually do for our only daughter.  So, here is the picture of the princess.

This was a stamp image from StampinUp!  I hand colored the images for approximately 16 invites.  Then I stamped the castle image on the actual invitation and tore the edges of the princess to make a feathery look.  I then glued fiber to the edge of the torn edges of the princess image and glued it onto the invitation.  This is how it came out:

The pertinent information was filled in on the inside.  Now, although we didn't do that many invites, it took me a long time as I hand-colored all of the princesses while I took the train into Downtown L.A. to work.

There were also other items that I did for the party.

*  I purchased plain paperbags with handles and as each guest came in to the party, they had a small table with crayons, markers, and other things to decorate their bags with.  They then put their names on it and it became their goodie bags.  All treats and giveaways were put in their bags.

*I went all out and purchased Disney Princess decorations and decorated the eating area.  The menu included veggies with dip, finger sandwhiches, and tea (punch).

*After we played games such as pin the tiara on Cinderella, after eating, we had a princess movie marathon.  All of the movies had Princess in the title and that was all of the movies they had to watch.

*I couldn't find the pictures of the cake, but it really did look like a castle.  I went all out for this party and was a Martha Stewart clone!  The cake was a 9x9x2 cake pan and I baked 2 cakes.  I place one on top of the other with strawberry flavor frosting in the middle.  I also frosted the outside of the cake with the same frosting.  I then took a regular (flat-bottom) icecream cone and frosted 4 of them and placed them in each corner of the cake.  I then took 4 sugar cone (pointy-bottom) icecream cone and frosted that as well and place them on top of the regular cones.  These became the turrets for the castle.  I then took half of a graham craker to make the door.  I also had a bunch of hersheys kisses and made sure that the paper was sticking up straight and place them around as part of the wall of the castle.  It was a fun cake to make and the girls enjoyed it!  As soon as I find the pictures, I will edit this post and include them.

As I believe I stated before, my daughter has requested another princess sleepover for her 12th birthday and requested that I make the cake again.  It will be fun and I am just glad that she enjoyes and appreciates what I do for her and to make her party special.


**********UPDATE***********

So I found some, not all, pictures from her 5th birthday party.   Were they on my home computer?  No, they were on my computer at work.  Go figure.

So here they are. 

The infamous cake.  One mistake I will note, I thought I used graham crakers for the doors, but it was wafer cookies, pink ones, for the drawbridge.

The dining table and the partygoers enjoying the cake.

The birthday girl enjoying one of the turrets.

The birthday girl AFTER finishing the turret.  The two things I forgot to mention and they were pivital items to making this birthday party a success were:

1) having a helper for the party.  My neice Nicole was a tremendous help at the party.

2)For birthday parties, I follow this rule:  For the number of years the child is turning, that is the number of invitees for the party.  I told my daughter that since she was turning five, she could invite 5 girls.  I also told her that if someone wasn't able to come, we could keep inviting girls, one by one until we get 5 confirmed rsvp's.  It really helped in keeping my insanity.