Craftiness on Crack

OK, the first thing you should ask when someone wants you to make wedding invitations for them is, "How many do you need?" I asked this way too far in to the process, and I got the answer of 200.

At first, an air of tedium enveloped me. Despite my OCD nature, assembly-line type activities are not appealing. However, as of late, I have actually enjoyed completing them. It was a brainless quiet time that gave me some satisfaction, albeit delayed.

So, as of today, the 200 invitations with their three layers each, one of which was embossed, their matching response cards, and their stamped envelopes are all finished. They will be delivered on Monday. Here is their story.

The specifications I got from the bride indicated that her colors were watermelon and canary, a la David's Bridal, and that she was going to inject daisies into that mix as well. I knew the watermelon would have the ability to take over the invite if allowed, so I tried to keep it at bay.

I found the watermelon metallic paper at Scrapbook Friend'z, as well as the initial color of textured canary cardstock. Alas, the canary color was in a few different hues, as my order of paper was delayed from Friend'z, and I found myself scrounging colors as similar as possible. It all worked well because the canary was embossed with Cuttlebug's Stylized Flowers embossing folder and was then layered between the watermelon metallic base (5 x 7") and the translucent white vellum top layer (4.75 x 6.75"). On this layer, I sampled (via MS Publisher)the watermelon color from the David's Bridal site and used that as the ink for our script.

The script I used was French Script MT. The type style for the response envelopes and for part of the response cards was Candara is all caps.

I used Jolee's Daisies vellum stickers, and let me tell you, thank God for eBay. They only came six usable daisies to a package, so I had to order a boatload (well, 34 packages) of them. I found them from various eBay vendors for well below retail and reasonable shipping. I originally found them at Meijer, but they were $2.99 retail. I got them from eBay for about a dollar less per package on average.

I have to also give a shout out to LCI Paper, whom I found online. Great envelopes. Great prices, delivered exactly when they said they would be.

The response envelopes were a bit frustrating. I could not program my printer to take them (a little larger than 3 x 5"), so I ended up printing the response address on clear labels. When the labels were on the envelopes, they looked so plain, and, quite frankly, slightly off center (I think I loaded them wrong in the printer). So, out came the stamp!

I started by stamping the small flower from SU!'s Simply Said set in SU's So Saffron. I stamped it twice next to the address, and three times on the back flap of the envelope. Then, it appeared that there was a disconnect with the stamping, so...

Yes, you are correct. I stamped on the other envelopes as well. The inner envelope has three small flowers where the names will be written. The outer envelope has one flower on the flap (it's a V flap) and three in the lower left-hand corner of the envelope.

So, I finish tonight, and I start cleaning up my area, which has been a train wreck for a couple weeks due to this work in progress. What do I find? Another set of response envelopes! Man, when you think you are done, and a pack of 25 envelopes pops up out of nowhere, it can really throw you for a loop!

Now, I really am finished. They need to be stamped, labeled, and sent, and I believe the bride and her party will have the fun with that part.

Total cost: about $425 for materials.