Those Handy Little Freebies (Part II)

You may recall that a couple of weeks ago I blogged about the free downloadable template I used to create a bridal shower invitation for my stepsister.  Well, after figuring out how simple it was to do I was pretty hooked, and I started looking at other downloadable templates.  And that is how I discovered (courtesy of iDIY)  these STUNNING downloadable templates from Download and Print.

These templates have quickly become all-stars in my crafting projects because they are so easy to use- you download them in word, print them on cardstock, and then just use a paper cutter.  Because the background color comes from the paper itself, you have tons of flexibility in terms of color scheme, and I especially love that you can choose your own fonts.  Love!

I used the last ones (Dandelions!) to make an engagement party invitation for my Stepsister’s upcoming e-party, and look how cute it came out!  I ended up photoshopping the design a bit in order to make it into a file I could upload to VistaPrint (you knew they had to be involved somehow didn’t you) because I knew I was not going to have enough time to print these myself, but I’m still extremely thrilled with the product!

Are you sold yet?

Tacky Tacky Tacky

I generally try not to focus on the negative here at The One! but once in a while, I hear about something so appallingly tacky that it would be a crime not to share!

Ok so here’s what happened.  A friend recently received a wedding invitation where, directly on the invitation was the following poem…

To help us on our way

as husband and wife

gifts of cash are welcome

to start off our new life!

Um, excuse me, I know weddings often involve cash gifts, but seriously?  Just because the poem is cute does not mean that the concept is cute.  Every single etiquette guide I have ever read has said that under no circumstances may you mention gifts or registries on an invitation, unless you are specifically asking people NOT to bring presents.  Because nothing is worse than making people feel like they are being invited to a fundraiser.  To make things worse, most people are well aware of the rule and will judge you (severely) for doing it.  Sorry guys but as a public service, I simply have to call this out.

But of course, I’m not only about being snarky.  Here’s a helpful tip- if you want to provide this information in a socially acceptable manner, put your registry information (with absolutely no requests for cash, there are alternative registries that can help you with that) on your wedding website, and the website information can be part of an invitation enclosure.  That way your guests can find out gift information if they want to.  And don’t discount the value of word-of-mouth when it comes to gift giving.  You don’t need to put it on the invitation, and if you do, you’ll just offend pretty much everyone who gets it.

A good cautionary tale though right?  Have you ever seen any invitation faux pas?  And how about www.tackyweddings.com?  That should make every bride-to-be feel pretty good about her wedding choices!

images source

Those Handy Little Freebies (Part I)

I’ve blogged before about my love for the Wedding Chicks.  In fact, they are the reason I found my photographer, Jessica Morrisy, and they are responsible for so much of my own wedding inspiration.  And they also featured my wedding, which in and of itself was pretty rock star.  *love them*

Well, one of the many things I love about the Chicks is their section of freebies.  They have so many customizeable, free loveliness, its hard not to drool.  So it’s no shock that I turned to them when I needed to design a shower invitation for my stepsister!

And while we’re on the topic, yes, my stepsister’s name really is Sarah.  And her future husband?  He has the same name as my husband.  Ah, the modern blended family!

My stepsister Sarah is planning a summery yellow and orange wedding, and so when planning the shower, we bridesmaids thought we’d stick with the same color family.  And once that had been decided, I immediately wanted to use the Wedding Chicks dahlia  invitation design I had seen a few months ago!

The Chicks' sample

While the Chicks’ design was intended for a wedding, it worked just as perfectly for a bridal shower.  And it was easy to do- I just downloaded the template and then added the text- it involved a bit of photoshopping the PDF, but in the end, the result turned out great!

And MY version!

I had the invitations printed on matte cardstock at (where else?) Vista Print, and they came back perfect.  I couldn’t be happier with how they turned out.  I used the same image to make coordinating insert cards and mailing labels.  And for the crowing touch:

Adopt a Shelter Pet Stamps! A cause near and dear to both Sarah's and my hearts!

Have you customized any good downloadable freebies lately?

Porn for the Paper Lover

If you’re madly in love with paper, just like everyone else I know, then you’re going to totally love today’s images.  My dear friend R. made, yes MADE, these gorgeous invitations, totally from scratch for her upcoming nuptuals.  The wedding is being held at an old mill, complete with the original old wood, wrought iron, vintage windows, and it’s right next to a river.  Her details will all be antique-inspired and her materials will be very natural (think: burlap and craft paper).  Her colors are navy, ivory and blush pink.  And yes, I do have an exclusive to blog about it (hey, I’m a bridesmaid, so I get the perks!)

The invitation elements are as follows: (1) Navy outer envelope with wrap around craft paper address labels; (2) vellum inner envelope with invitee names, wrapped in baker’s twine with a Thoreau quote on a vintage tag; (3) the invitation, also on craft paper and with vintage hot air balloon details; (4) RSVP card (with bright pink envelope), information enclosure, and invitation to the welcome BBQ, also incorporating vintage hot air balloons.  DROOL.   Most of the elements were printed at home on the bride’s printer, though the tag was made with a stamp.

Ok ready to fall in love?  And by the way, I’ve had the good fortune of previewing other elements this bride is working on… I cannot wait to show them to you after the wedding!

Once Upon A Time: Invitations!

I am so excited today to FINALLY be able to share with you a project I’m particularly proud of… baby shower invitations for my sister in law!  I made (designed, printed, assembled) these myself, 100% from scratch.  And I’m so excited about how they turned out!  Sure, they were work, but I love projects and crafts– and these were a labor of LOVE!

The first thing I love about them is their theme.  Sister in law T is a teacher, and so a book reference was a no-brainer.  When searching for invites online, I was instantly drawn to the “Once upon a time” themed invites, but the company I liked best did not make enclosures or RSVP cards– and since we needed both for this set, I did some thinking. I realized, I could totally do this myself!  And so I ordered the paper and got to work!

The invitation consists of three parts printed on light pink cardstock- the main invite, the RSVP postcard, and then an enclosure with registry information, asking folks to bring a baby book in lieu of a card (cute, right?!)  The components are wrapped in a belly band of bright pink, and the envelopes are lined with the same shade.  And then, around the belly band, I wrapped and tied some yarn.  It’s a little nod to my mother in law who knits, as well as baby appropriate- and on top of all that, it’s a great little textural addition that peeks out of the envelope when you open it.  LOVE!

Since we saved some money making these, I splurged on custom Zazzle stamps for the postcard and envelopes… I think they add just the right finishing touch, and of course I had some coupons and Ebates to help with the cost!

One of the other things I love about this concept is that it would also work well for a girly-girl bridal shower.  And the components themselves are simply 5 x7 paper/envelopes, traditionally sized postcard RSVP’s, and then smaller enclosures- all of which are easy to find at Paper Source or the craft store.  Seriously, anyone could make something like this!

Have I convinced you?  Would you try making your own invitations for an event??

Vintage Postcard Breakfast Invitations

One of the absolute most wonderful things about getting married so close to Christmas is that, in fact, it is so close to Christmas (!!), my favorite holiday!  And one of the things J. and I have been mulling over as the final countdown gets closer, is whether to have a breakfast the morning after the wedding for the guests, and if so, how to invite them!  So I began thinking about all how much I love those old victorian post cards you see in antique shops, and how fun it would be to incorporate them into our potential breakfast invitations.

After spending just a little bit of time surfing the net, I’ve already found three potential images which I think would work well, and I made a couple of little mock-ups for what such an invitation might look like.  These little cards could have the details of the breakfast itself on the back (postcard style) and could easily be printed at home or at my favorite place, Vista Print!  These samples are literally something I spent 5 minutes on, and nowhere near close to the final product (I’ll need to spend some time in Photoshop getting the resolution and colors just right) but isn’t it fun to see all the directions one might take this project in?  What do you think, is this a project you would attempt?

click on image to see source for original postcard

I cannot figure out where I got this image- if you know, please comment!

click on image to see source for original postcard

UPDATE:  Since writing this post, I have totally changed directions with this project.  The victorian thing ultimately didn’t work out for me and I found a better format for shape to work with.  Stay tuned because I used some Mad Men-inspired fabulousness that was even better!

Brilliant, DIY, Budget Rehearsal Dinner Invitations

 Today I am so excited, because our rehearsal dinner invitations have been sent and should be at their destinations by now!   These invitations were so much fun for me, because although I didn’t DIY the wedding invitations (I had to make the call to preserve my sanity!) I decided that the smaller number of rehearsal dinner invites merited some DIY action.  And in case you didn’t know, making invitations is WORK!  I’m glad I just stuck with these (and glad I had FMIL and FSIL to help)!  Don’t worry though, I’ll give you all the details for how you can make them yourself!

First, I went to Paper Source and I purchased enough of the following supplies to make 30 invitations: (1) A7 note cards in leaf, (2) cover weight 8.5 x 11 cardstock in leaf, (3) soft white enclosure cards, which are slightly smaller than the A7 cards, (4) 4 bar cards in soft white, (5) “Retro Snowflake” envelope liners, and (6) A7 envelopes in superfine white.  I also gathered up my handy-dandy address labels, which have been used for a variety of projects.

For step 1, we attacked the envelopes.  I had 50 envelope liners but only needed to line 30 envelopes, so I cut rectangles from the leftovers and glued them to the front of the envelopes.  I also used a heart-shaped hole punch to add a heart near the return address.  Using fonts we selected for the invitation, I printed out address labels and added them on top.

Of course we couldn't send a plain envelope...

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A Compendium of Free Wrap Around Mailing Labels

It makes me glow with pride every time someone says how much they loved my wedding mailing lables because I loved them too!  And though there are a great many etsy sellers in the world, eager to design for you a perfect, custom label, I thought it would be good to share some freebie, downloadable templates I have found which also do the trick, all while looking adorable!  When I first started planning, I searched everywhere for these, and lately it seems I am finding new good ones every day!  I love how these could be used for so many things- not just weddings!   So without further ado, my compendium (note excellent use of legal jargon) of free wrap around mailing labels… happy Friday!  Note, each image links to its source.

French postcard.

Lil' prettie.

Martha's pink labels.

Pen pal.

Dots!

Ming.

Antique ledger paper

Cherry blossoms.

School house.

Damask.

Wedding Invitations Are Out!

I have been ITCHING to write this post for a long time.  And now I finally can because our wedding invitations *should* all have arrived at their destinations by now.  That’s right, we sent our invitations out last Friday!

Chloe helps me get the invitations ready to go.

I hear people say how much they love paper all the time, and because of this fact, I’ve kind of started to internally roll my eyes every time someone says how much they love paper.  I know its hypocritical because I’ve said it too, but I’ve slowly come to realize that everyone – or at least everyone I know – loves paper.  It is such a luxury, its like loving flowers on Valentine’s day or like loving a great pair of Manolos!  Duh, everyone loves them!  But then, when I look at these invitations, guess what I think about?  How much I too love paper!  In fact, it pained me to put redactions on these photos, that is how much I loved our invitations.  So I hereby promise to stop rolling my eyes at all you paper lovers out there! Continue reading »

Mapmaker, Mapmaker Make Me a Map!

I love me some wedding maps.  A quick browse through the blogosphere and you will too.

For example, this map from Laura Hooper has me drooling.  Its not just a map, it’s art!

Or this map from Trial By Cupcakes.  Amazing!

Sadly, a custom wedding map was, let’s just say, so far outside our budget that it wasn’t even something we were going to think about. Not even a little bit.  Not even after I begged J.

Enter the wonderful world of Weddingbee with its amazing tutorials.  Where do all these creative ladies come from?  It is through them that I discovered, and used, this tutorial for making your own map by Mrs. Ballet Flat (and here’s another good one by Mrs. Spring Roll).

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