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 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

What's next?

I have the place, the dress, the dj, the florist, and the photographer.  What do I do next? 


I'm thinking about the invitations.  I'm not sure what the best (read: cheapest) option is.  I want them to be more personal than something that anyone can just buy at the store.  I was planning on having a good friend of mine design the invites and then order them from Vista Print, but I think that might be more expensive than I was hoping.  I can get paper cheaply and then do them myself, but is that too risky?  

(source: Martha Stewart)

What can go wrong?  Problems with the printer.  Ink, paper feed malfunctions, etc.  Crooked lines.  I might end up having to spend more to fix mistakes.  But they'd be all mine.  And look how beautiful those invitations from Martha Stewart are!  


What to do?