DIY-ish invite suite

Before I get to my invites (we'll get there eventually - haven't even shared our save-the-dates yet), I thought I'd share my "experience". Warning - it's minimal.


One of my bridesmaid duties in a wedding this past year was shower invitations and, needless to say, I set myself some lofty goals to create a high quality product for the bride-to-be. I didn't totally DIY the invitations, but many of the elements are DIY. 

For context, the bridesmaids chose coffee as the primary theme for the shower. The bride was a huge fan of coffee and we thought the colors of the caffeinated beverage (brown) went quite well with the scheme chosen for her wedding (purple and gold). So, when starting the invitation journey, I searched online for any options with a coffee motif.

I found, quickly, that this was an uncommon theme, which meant some creativity and flexibility was in order. Ultimately, we decided upon these invites from Papeterie* featuring a pot and using purple, brown and gold.

Hate to blur it...

But an invitation is only so much in the greater scheme of the suite I had in mind. First, we needed to type up directions to the location and explain the contents of the envelope. I have shared my invitation suite online here (albeit altered to be generic). The suite also included recipe cards**. I created a template to be 4x6 and put in space for well wishes beyond the recipe itself. Each recipe card has a different image, either wedding or coffee related. It's easy enough to change the images - just make sure they all have the same dimensions. For both the directions and the recipe cards, I used cardstock for printing and cut them with different decorative scissors.

Now, since it's all the rage right now, I decided I needed to have envelope liners for the invitations. The Papeterie envelopes were square flaps, which I think may be even more difficult than pointed. First, I traced the inside of an envelope on cardstock, creating a template. I then used the template to trace liners on scrapbook paper which I purchased with a coffee theme. It was a LOT of cutting.

Stacks and stacks of liners

Next, I had to get the liners into the envelopes. I started with craft glue, then tried glue stick, but I didn't like either of the results. There was always a slight imperfection with the work. I turned to my scrapbook supplies and found photo squares. This worked perfectly and was a fairly simple process (although I'm still finding little blue squares in my carpet).

I just found a blue square...and it's been a year since this project

To make the envelopes more flexible, after sticking the liners in, I used a boning tool to create the fold.

In hindsight, you could use a ruler...no need to buy the extra tool

Now, you'd think with this full suite completed, I'd be done, right?

Ta-da!

Nope...because, like I said, lofty goals were set. This meant that I wanted to DIY calligraphy for each of the envelopes and do stamp embossing. Since I had to blur out the front of each envelope for privacy, I wrote out some samples of my calligraphy here (I used Copperplate as my template):

Sorry for the cheesy ... I wasn't feeling very creative

As for the embossing, this was a fun project. I chose a stamp that went with the invitation and used gold embossing powder. For all those stamping novices, make sure to have a way to catch the powder for reuse (it's expensive!!) and be ready for a smelly process. I'll take it, though, since the end result was pretty good for a newbie. 

Need a tutorial? Let me know. But there are better ones online

And so, there you have it, the full bridal shower invitation suite, in all its complicated glory!

*I highly recommend Papeterie. They give you a designer to work with as you're going through the proofing process. The designer I worked with was incredibly helpful, providing me multiple variations of the invitation and helping me choose the most aesthetically pleasing color combination.

**The recipe cards were for a recipe binder I created for the bride on Zazzle.com. If you have any interest in seeing the final product for this, let me know and I will share (note - it was very easy)!