DIY invitations, part 2

Tips

• I printed the invitations on our HP ColorJet printer.  I only needed to buy a new color ink cartridge before printing and it lasted for all 300 cards!  
• The printing took me a few hours on a Saturday.  
• I found that the printing looked much better if you printed in small batches (10 cards or so) at a time.  Once I set the printer to print 15 at a time and the color began to fade on the last one.
• With the 4 bar cards, I had to feed each one through individually because the printer would shoot two through at a time.
• Practice stamping!  Because the white enclosure card (the card mounted onto the slightly larger blue card) was slightly textured, the stamp rarely turned out "perfect."  Now I think they look just fine, but I was a little disappointed at first.
• Ink your stamp every time!
• You can stamp and powder several (we maybe had 15 sitting around at one point) before heating them.
• Wash and dry the stamps frequently so that you get nice sharp lines and don't have much bleeding of ink.

DIY cocktail napkins

I was inspired by a friend of a friend's custom cocktail napkins which were printed with trivia style facts about the couple.  Fun!  And then I bought one of the DIY Bride's books where she made simple version of the custom cocktail napkin using rubber stamps.  (PS-This is a great book for those brides looking for easy and interesting projects.  The instructions are great and she even gives a cost approximation for each.)


Hello, I already ordered rubber stamps for my invitations.


So, while I had my fabulous friends over to work on my invitations, I put them to work stamping 600 (!) napkins as well.  Now, I only had four friends come over but let me tell you, every single invitation was made and every napkin was stamped.  I was blown away by their motivation and hard work.  


We used the silver pigment ink with the monogram stamp on navy blue napkins.  I ordered the napkins from My Paper Shop for $18.  What a steal!  My friends were digging this project so much that one friend may use the idea for her January wedding.  With friends like these, she'll be able to make 1200 napkins in just a few hours!

I hope 600 napkins is enough for about 200 people.  I figure once it gets later in the night no one will notice if they have a white cocktail napkin or none at all.  It's the first impression that counts!

DIY invitations

After attending the Paper Source wedding invitation workshop, I have been thoroughly set on making my own invitations.  I priced it out, and it would save a few bucks doing it myself.  Plus, I love crafts and I have a bunch of wonderful friends who immediately offered to help.  What more can a girl ask for? :)


So I created an invitation layout with a friend who is an editor (thanks, Deb!).  She helped me line everything up right and get all the spacing set.  I spent hours trying to find the right font color only to decide that it will never match perfectly so I should not worry so much.  Then I bought all the supplies and the girls headed over for a surprisingly quick and painless night of stamping, embossing, and taping!

I decided to go with a layered square invitation.  I also kept the stamping idea and ordered a monogram stamp and an address stamp.  The monogram was heat embossed onto the invitation, and the address stamp was used for the return address on the main envelopes and the main address on the response card envelopes.


Here is a price breakdown for 100 invitations.  I bought all the supplies at Paper Source.  On some items I got a 10% discount for buying 10 or more packages.


Cost
$24 soft white 4 bar cards (8 x $3)
$27 night 4 bar envelopes (10 x $2.70)
$21 luxe white fine square enclosure (4 x $5.25)
$17 night 5.5" x 5.5" card (4 x $4.25)
$38.30 night 5.75" envelopes (10 x $3.83)
TOTAL $134.50


$3 silver ink pens (2)
$8 embossing powder
$24 heat tool
$6 midnight ink pad
$8 silver ink pad
$12 tape runners (2)
TOTAL $61


I ordered two 1.5" square monogram stamps from www.rubberstamps.net for $10 each.  And I ordered two return address stamps from tickled pink paper ink for $18 each.  Since once person pretty much did all the envelope stamping (thanks, Meghan!), I probably didn't need to order two of these.  


I did need to get two more tape runners and also a new heat embosser while we were working on the invitations.  The heat embosser just crapped out after about 20 min and we are not sure why.  But I have the warranty and the receipt, so I can return it for a refund.  I got the second heat tool at Joann's, and the clerk used a 50% off coupon for me, plus I was able to use a friend's (thanks, Claire!) teacher discount for another 15% off!  The cost of all of this came to $24.  


GRAND TOTAL (without tax and shipping) $251.50
For 100 invitations: $2.51 each

Cake tasting!!!

Tomorrow is our cake tasting.  I have been looking forward to this for months!  Our cake is included in our package with the caterer, so all we have to do is head over to the bakery and taste some samples!  (I think)  


I really am not totally sure what we get with this package.  The bakery (Rolf's Patisserie) has a few different types on their website, but I am not sure what we are allowed to pick.  Also I do not know exactly how much I can dictate what design I want.  I do have some in mind, though…

(source: 100 Layer Cake) 

(source: Style Me Pretty)

(taken at a friend's wedding)

I love that rustic look of the frosting, and the glam of the sparkly rock candy and silver dragees (does anyone know how to pronounce that?).  I also saw some gorgeous cakes at Sweet and Saucy Shop, a bakery in California.  I think I linked to their website through another wedding blog, but oh my god.  They make the most gorgeous desserts!  

I made a presentation using google docs, and I think I am going to print it at FedEx Kinkos to bring with tomorrow.  Hopefully they'll see what I like and they'll be able to accommodate me, or at the very least suggest something similar.  

I'm so hungry right now…time to make breakfast and put away these sweet dreams!