Anonymous RSVP Cards

I saw on a blog, 2 years ago so please forgive me for not remembering, where they had secretely numbered all of their RSVP cards.

It is such a pain addressing return RSVP cards with the individuals address. Most people, like us, stick to just putting the mailing address for the RSVP card and return postage. I saw on a blog where a girl had done just that. She then received a few RSVP cards with no names and no return addresses. They had just RSVPed they would be attending. Odd. Once her RSVP deadline approached, she had to call all the people who had "not" RSVPed to see if they were coming or not, and see who the anonymous attendees were. 

Her solution: Using a black light pen, or Invisible Ink, to number each RSVP card.

I didn't think much of it, but figured it wouldn't hurt to utilize it. Plus I wanted to see if it worked.

It worked.

We received an RSVP card in the mail today, but it was just marked as not attending. Ok people, who is not attending? We have a huge list of people and I don't want to call the wrong person when the mailing deadline arrives and hassle them for their RSVP. There is a line for your name, use it! haha

When you look at the back of the invite with the naked eye, this is all you see.

Lucky me, I used the black-light pen! I shined the little black-light tip to see the number, looked at our list and figured out who the anonymous non-attendee was based on the number. 

Genius.

SO, for those planning a wedding and wanting clever/unique RSVPs - or simply want to track your RSVPs - get the black-light (Invisible Ink) pen! :-]

You can also add my little caption: P.S If you do not RSVP, bring a chair and a sandwich

Seems to have worked well so far! :-]

I bought two at the time from DealExtreme

http://www.dealextreme.com/p/invisible-ink-pen-88

I paid $2.78. Not bad.

Alana XoXo

Wedding Inspired Wednesday {No 12}: Creating Pocket Invites

         We recently began the DIY project of creating all the wedding stationary. First on the agenda, wedding invitations! A few family members and I all got together at a local place here in Fort Worth called, Paper Planet to start assembling. We thought 2 hours would be plenty of time, buuuut we were wrong.

  First, there was some analyzing of our template invite.

         Then, we began the cutting.

         Next, we did some boning. haha Joke of the day.

         Then, there was some more cutting.

         After, there was some hot-gluing.

         Finally, there was inspecting of the double pocket invite, and cutting off excess hot-glue.

        The Template:
        Our invite was a 5x7, double-pocket invitation. Invitation goes in the middle, pockets on either side for inserts. Since we used custom made paper, measurements were a little hard at first, but eventually mastered! Each invite = 19 inches long x 7.5 inches tall. [From top left, to bottom right] I first made tick marks every 7.5 inches, down the length of the paper. We were able to get 5 invitations per sheet of custom made paper. I then made two straight edges at a 90 degree angle to ensure more consistent invites. 
          I cut every 7.5 inches where I had marked the paper, creating the 5 individual invite outlines. I then measured the length of the paper, making a tick mark at 19 inches, then cutting. *Some invites were 21 inches long, some 20 inches, some perfect - each one was checked to create a more consistent invite outline for the boning process.

         Boning:
         The correct thing to say is "Bone Folder". The bone folding, or boning, was done by my future-mother-in-law, Blondie, and my future-cousin-in-law, Megan. Shown in the top two photos, they started down the length of the paper, they measured 2 inches from the bottom and created the first boning crease - this created the pockets. Then they measured 6.5 inches from one end of the invitation to create the first side pocket. Shown bottom left. From that boning crease they measured 7 inches (for the 5x7 invite) and made a bone crease. Now you can fold!

         Cutting 1:
         Since we are making double-pockets you have to make sure when you fold the invitation, it isn't too bulky. How do you prevent this? You cut an upside down trapezoid out of the middle, where you will be hot-gluing on top of anyway, so no one needs to see. :-)

        Hot-Gluing:
        You will be hot-gluing four edges total. Begin hot-gluing the edges closest to the 7 inch middle. You will actually glue on the 7 inch part since it will be covered. Then, you want to glue the outer edge of each pocket. Create the smallest line of glue possible, as close to the edge as possible. Then, using a ruler or a straight edge, press the glue down outward, away from the center of the invitation. This is to ensure you don't seal your pockets, which would make adding your inserts rather difficult.

        Cutting 2:
        All that hot-glue you pushed out through the edge to prevent sealing your pockets? Just cut it off! :-]

          This is the sample invite we made! It gives a basic idea of how the finished project will look. You can check out the blog post with details on how we made this, and other invitations HERE

        We hope to all get together soon so we can finish adding all the final pieces. I will be sure to blog the final product once finished!

Wedding Inspired Wednesday {No 10}: DIY "Will you be my...." Cards

        Part of the wedding process is picking those few special people to be your bridesmaids/groomsmen. The people who mean the absolute most to you, and who you would want more than anyone standing next to you on that big day when you begin the next chapter of your life. With such an important meaning, you should take time and consideration on how you ask them. I find it rather informal if you just call them up or shoot them a text or e-mail. If anything, take them to lunch, to get their nails done, something special! My special way of asking? Making "Will you be my cards...".

         After endless searching online I couldn't find anything that made me say, "AHA! That's it!" - so I figured I would just buy the paper myself and get to working! Paper Planet in Fort Worth sells HUGE rolls of custom made paper. I swung by there on a Saturday, looked at all their gorgeous paper and settled on 3 different kinds. The backing and main card would be made with a maroon textured paper, which sort of reminded me of leather. Then came the inner layers of espresso brown, metallic copper, and ivory cardstock. See below:

         I was making 5 cards - so one full sheet of the maroon ($6), a half sheet of metallic copper ($3), 5 8x11 sheets of espresso brown ($2) and 12 8x11 sheets of ivory cardstock ($6) = $17 (I rounded up for tax purposes too). Each card was a single pocket-invite lay-out. You could easily buy pre-made pocket invites online if you didn't want to go through the hassle of making them yourself.

1.  I wanted 5x7s, so I measured the length of the paper 17" -this included the length of the opened card + the flap to be folded over 6.75" + 6.75" + 3.5" = 17"
2. Then the height of the cards would be 4.75" The reduced measurements allow the cards to fit properly in the envelopes without being too bulky

3.   Measure 3.5" from the end and fold - Bone Folders are the best for creating straight, perfect folds. Check out this link here to see Martha Stewart's Bone Folder

4.   Using a hot glue gun, put a thin line of glue along the edge of the flap, you can use the bone folder or another straight edge to press the two pieces together *Make sure to start inward and push outward, otherwise your pocket won't be very use-able haha *Also it is ok if it comes out of the edge, just cut it off after it dries :-)

5. Using your preferred method of folding, measure 6.75" from the other end and fold to creat your pocket invite!

6.   The inner left side of my pocket is where it stated what their wedding role was. "Maid of Honor" or "Bridesmaid", with 3 different layers. First layer was espresso brown. I measured the full 6.75"x4.75" for each invite and cut 5 of them - then hot glued it to the inside.

7.    Second layer was the metallic copper paper - this was measured a little smaller at 6.5"x4.5" and hot glued to the inside on top of the espresso brown

8.   The final layer was typed up on my Microsoft Word - I created text boxes measuring 6"x4" - although they would later be cut to 6.25"x4.25" to allow room for margins - I was able to fit 2-3 per 8x11 page pending their role and what I typed below. Each one included their title, name, and personal reason on why I chose them to be a part of my special day. After printing, I cut them and hot glued them on top of the copper paper

9.   Then came the pocket inserts. I had 4 composing of Expectations, Attire, I Promise..., and the Five of You

Expectations: This is what I expected of each bridesmaid, including bachelorette party, day of the rehearsal dinner and what we would be doing, day of the wedding and what we would be doing. I also told them that I knew there would be a few showers thrown and since each of them technically live out of town, I did not expect them all to be at each of them, or even just one - that I understood the expenses of flying and travelling.

Attire: This was not fully decided, but I did let them know to expect to wear boots, and a cocktail length dress. That I would let them decide on their dresses since this was their out-of-pocket expense and I wanted them to like what they bought and if possible, even wear again after the wedding. Also, they would be responsible for their hair and make-up, we could arrange for the person who does mine to help them, they could find their own, or do it themselves.

I Promise...: This was my promise to them. To not be a Bridezilla, to enjoy this planning process to the fullest, and to laugh as often as possible. To understand that the day was about us and love, not bees and insects, bad hair-dos, or being sweaty. I asked them to be honest with me, if I was getting out of control, getting fat from too much cake tastings, if my hair choices were hideous, etc. It was a light-hearted, sweet promise .

The Five of You: This included each of the girls names, roles, and numbers.

10.   Expectations was the biggest, using a text box on Microsoft Word 6.25"x4.25" and cut accordingly to 6.5"x4.5" to allow smaller area from any hot glue that might have made the pocket smaller

11.   Attire/I promise/The Five of You are all cut subsequently smaller, pending on how much you type on each, this will also determine if they go in the same order as mine did. *Be sure to note you cut each ones length the same only the heights will change

12.   On the back of each invite, I also glued a picture of myself with the particular person. A picture I was fond of or knew they were fond of.

13. On the front I did a 1.5" square Monogram using the same espresso/copper/ivory layers.

Final step was to mail them out and wait! :-) If any of these steps are unclear, please let me know and I will gladly clarify! I will be posting another pocket-invite how-to hopefully the beginning the of June 2012! So stay tuned! :-)

For more card inspirations, check out my other posts: DIY Wedding Invitation Class or Burlap Bunting How-To to learn how to print directly on burlap - you could even print the info on the burlap and glue the printed burlap to decorative paper for a real rustic touch. :-)

Wedding Inspired Wednesday {No. 9}: Burlap Engagement Bunting How-To

          After many days of browsing  for wedding ideas I came across engagement photos with buntings. Each one was different, with it's own style. Fabric buntings, paper buntings, buntings with sayings, buntings with numbers, etc. Since our engagement photos were coming up I decided to come up with one of our own! Our wedding theme is, "Country Boy Meets City Girl", so it was only fitting for our Six-O Ranch engagement photo location to use a burlap bunting strung with twine.

      Materials:

1. Burlap - Hancock Fabrics 1 yard $3
2. Ball of Twine - $7 at Wal-mart
3. Freezer Paper - Wal-mart
4. Iron
5. Ironing board
6. Ink-jet Printer
7. No-Sew stitching glue - $6 Hobby Lobby
8. Cardboard "stencil" - Cardboard box from garage :-P
9. Magazine
10. Scissors
11. Tape

Preparing burlap for direct printing:

         I took my burlap, freezer paper, iron & ironing board to prepare the burlap for direct printing. With the burlap ironed & flat on the ironing board, I took a piece of freezer paper, not too big, & laid it on top of the burlap - shiny side facing the burlap. On medium, NO STEAM, heat I ironed the freezer paper to the burlap. It takes a few minutes, but the freezer paper eventually sticks to the burlap - which is easily peeled off later.

         With the magazine, I traced an 8x11 outline on the freezer paper, then cut out the outline of freezer paper/burlap. Your burlap is now ready to be fed through the printer for printing! I used a font called, "Bleeding Cowboy" that we intend to use for other wedding stationary.

Printing:

        Choose your wording on Microsoft Word, put the burlap/freezer paper in the printer like you would normal paper - pay attention to which way it needs to face to print on burlap, not freezer paper. Print! Peel off your freezer paper & TA-DA! You now have your printed burlap!

Assembly of Bunting:

        I decided to do a shape different from the typical triangular bunting, especially since I needed a bit more room for the wordings. I took the flap of a cardboard box and cut out the shape of choice. I then used double sided tape & lined the edges of the cardboard to hold the burlap in place as I cut around the burlap edges. Take your twine & cut to desired length.

My bunting in the original 8x11 form right after printing - prior to cutting them with the cardboard outline

        Using the No-Sew stitching glue, put a good amount on the burlap at the desired spot - I chose to do an inch below the top - and press the burlap onto the twine. The glue will seep through a bit & will be white, but it dries clear. :-) Give it a good 24 hours before handling to make sure the glue really sets. :-) Since we were going to be outside, I then glued a 2nd piece of burlap to the back of each individual bunting shape. This was to make the letters stand out better & to add weight to the light burlap in case of wind. THAT'S IT! Now enjoy your bunting masterpiece.


The bottom right burlap you can see I have glued the twine 1in from the top, burlap in top right



Keep in mind you could line your bunting with the twine, jewels, lace, etc. The options are endless!

Bunting strung across our fireplace mantel until it was time to be used - hence the boo sign, this was back in October haha

These two were worn by our adorable puppies! I braided the twine to make it easier to tie around their necks.

       Check back to see the final photos taken by the wonderful photographer, Michelle Peyronet < click the link the check out her work! :-)



One of our favorite engagements utilizing the dogs and their buntings!



Here is the final 5x7 Magnet Save-the-Date that Michelle Peyronet designed for us! It doesn't have the best clarity using my iPhone of it up on our fridge, but you get the point :-)

Wedding Inspired Wednesday {No. 8}: DIY Wedding invitation Class!

         More Photos to Come!!

          Since I have slacked a bit on my Wedding Inspired Wednesday blogging, I decided to make up for it a bit by posting TWO this week! Enjoy {No.7} listing a few fabulous country/Texas country first dance songs & this one, {No.8}!

          This past weekend I had the pleasure of taking a DIY Wedding Invitation Class at Paper Planet with my fabulous in-law family - Blondie {Mother-in-law-to-be}, Audrey {Sister-in-law-to-be/bridesmaid}, Megan {Cousin-in-law-to-be/bridesmaid} & Terri {Henry's aunt twice removed hehe}. These women are some of the most fun women to be around! They are laid back, go-with-the-flow, down to earth, sweet, funny as can be women! Now to my knowledge, none of them are really in to DIY crafts - with exception of Megan. I am pretty sure if it weren't for me pestering them, they would have been perfectly content NEVER taking this class or any class of the sort. However, they love me sooooo much they were willing to give it a shot, cough up $50 and suffer through the class with me. :-)
          Marissa, our instructor for the class, gave each of us two bags - bag one was filled with various kinds of paper. Marissa went over each kind of paper, what it was good for, what you needed to be careful for ie. smudging etc. and ways to use them with each other. Bag two was filled with 5 different invitations/ribbon that she was going to use to help us construct 5 different invitations using various techniques/papers/bows/etc. It also had a tiny notebook - this notebook gave you the tools you needed to calculate exactly how much paper to use for whichever card design you chose, so you wouldn't waste paper or spend excessive money. It also included ribbon sizes for the various bows/knots we would be tying, as well as explained all the different envelope sizes so you could cut your paper to fit the envelope accordingly. VERY HELPFUL INFORMATION!

Audrey & Megan - Say Cheese! - Waiting with their two bags for us to begin!

          We started with the "Love Knot" pre-made pocket invite. It was rather simple, using two equal size ribbons. Hot glue the ends of one together, loop the second ribbon through and glue those ends together, then wrap around the edges of the envelope. VOILA! Oopsies: We used hot glue - well don't press those ribbon ends together with your hands - OUCH! haha - then don't press the ribbon ends together using a boning stick on top of paper - paper glued to the ribbon LOL

Hot-glueing the ends of one ribbon together - Audrey glueing on paper - pressing the ribbon together with a boning stick, Megan using her fingers - we were all guilty of one or the other.

Terri with her perfect "love knot" ready to be glued to the card

Left Invite: Love Knot on the back side of the invite

Left invite: Front side of Love Knot invite - Ribbon was hot-glued to the silver pocket invite, followed by a blue, sheer, tissue-like, glitter paper glued to the invite with a glue stick, and finally the cardstock paper hot-glue on the very top

          Next was a simple knot - well not so simple as it looked when Marissa did it. haha We eventually got it down, and then it was easy as pie! We were able to use this knot on two separate invitations. Then we learned the use of a boning stick to create straight folding edges. Being a huge scrapbook-aholic, WHY HAVE I NEVER SEEN THIS BEFORE??? Makes crafting a lot easier and opens so many doors for ideas! haha We also learned here which paper was ok to use hot-glue and which ones you needed to use the extra strength glue stick.

The simple knot, cut on the ends in a "happy bow" as Marissa put it haha I never thought of it before, but it makes sense

The simple knot used again - This invite was one of my favorites! I love the fabulous patterned paper with subtle metallic accents. We used the boning stick to crease the patterned paper at 1 1/2 inches, we then hot-glue hot pink paper up under the crease, followed by the ivory cardstock on top of the hot pink - THEN we hot-glued the 1 1/2 of creased patterned paper on top of the ivory paper. Get it? Kind of confusing, maybe? We were then able to hot-glue the center of the simple knot in the center, wrap the edges of the ribbon around and hot-glue the ribbon ends to the back of the patterned paper. FINALLY, we hot-glued the maroon cardstock paper to the back of the patterned paper and TA-DA! DONE-SKIS!

Group photo of the finished card! The top colorful paper was creased perfectly with the boning stick, then our finished bow placed on top! This was such a fun, colorful card!

           The final knot was actually a beautiful green bow. With it being St. Patty's Day we HAD to make a green invitation! :-) This was rather hilarious to make. Left over right, pull left under, pull the two bows and ribbon ends at the same time to get the middle knot tight and the bow just right! Whew! I can't wait to use this idea for a future baby shower! The bow was super cute in the end.

Terri with her ribbon left over right

Pull all four to get bow nice and tight

Terri's beautiful bow!

Blondie's beautiful Bow!

Myself and my bow! To finish it off, hold the invitation where the bow is verticle (bow on left side if you are right handed) and cut the ends with scissors straight up, parallel to the bow itself. You get a perfect bow!

           The second to last invite was one we all loved. Henry's mom is even going to replicate the outline to make rehearsal dinner invites. I was so excited after the class when she said she wanted to make these! Audrey even mentioned wanting to make lingerie/bachelorette party invites! YAY! I mean we went from non-crafty in-laws, to them being so inspired they wanted to make more! I was beyond ecstatic! Below is the one we made in class - the one actually made for the rehearsal dinner will be the same format, but different colors :-)

This was a simple 3-layered invite. We were able to hot-glue one end of twine to the back of ivory cardstock, wrap the twine strung with a horseshoe charm around the cardstock in any fashion we chose, followed by hot-glueing the other twine end to the back of the cardstock. Hot-glue the ivory cardstock to the brown textured paper, followed by hot-glueing the brown textured paper to espresso brown cardstock and you are done! Lovely right? This is perfect for a rustic wedding/rehearsal dinner/shower/party - whatever you choose! Not to mention you could easily change the charm. Since we will be using horseshoes in our wedding, it was perfect!

            The final invitation was one they custom made to help me make my actual wedding invitations! I told them I wanted a 5x7, double pocket invite. Julie, the owner, cut all the pieces for me - then Marissa showed me how to properly piece them together, how to cut the paper in the right spots to prevent bulky edges, & gave boning measurements for folding the pockets up and for folding the invite itself. They were amazing!

Marissa giving the boning measurements

Marissa providing more measurements

I am pretty sure I just burnt myself - haha - The outside ends of the pockets were glued down first

Then the inside fold of the pockets were cut to prevent too much bulkiness when folded and the inner side of the pocket glued

The basic invite finished!

            When all the invites were assembled and photos were taken, we all decided on paper we thought would be appropriate for the rehearsal dinner invites and wedding invites. Marissa then did all the calculations so we could order the hand-made paper in batches to ensure colors were the same across the board. After all the layers of paper, envelopes, ribbon, charms etc. were picked for both invites & rsvp cards we paid around $350 total - that was for 25 rehearsal invites, 125 wedding invites, 125 rsvp cards - plus all corresponding envelopes, etc. That is not bad at all - to me. That still leaves me $200 in our stationary budget to buy paper for ceremony programs, name tags, menus, and thank you cards. Sweet! Not to mention, we will make some wonderful memories assembling these together when we come back in April once the paper orders are delivered. I can't wait! You can bet your bottom after ours are mailed, I will be posting a DIY tutorial!

My three favorite invitations made that day! Notice the green bow is cut! If you hold it vertical can you see what I meant by holding it vertical and cutting the ends? Ehhhh? I will be recreating these. Kind of considering making cards for every event possible for the rest of my life! haha

All the invitations except one! Standing in front of the giant hand-made paper wall!

        

Wedding Inspired Wednesday {No. 6} - Stationary

         It has come to the point in our wedding planning process where stationary has become my main focus. I am looking for ways to display the seating chart, assign tables, invitations, response cards, maps, etc. There are so many aspects of a wedding that involve stationary!

{1} Here is a cute DIY embossing idea from Lovely Little Details:

The photo is from the blog, which comes with a DIY video tutorial for a menu - but you could add this little twist onto just about any of your wedding stationary!

{2} Another DIY trick from Lovely Little Details: DIY Calligraphy!

Such a simple idea! She gives plenty of ideas on other places to use it as well! Example: black paper with a white pen to get that chalkboard look that is so popular right now! :-) Can't wait to give this one a try myself - I will let you know how it turns out hehe

{3} Bachelorette Party Fun! Here is a fun game for the bachelorette party:

The photo above is an example from the game - from the authors blog page of course - it's basically a cute quiz regarding the Brides relationship to the Groom - The groom was asked a series of questions and the bridesmaids made these cute cards that were then used to Quiz the Bride - Every wrong answer = alcoholic beverage

{4} Name cards for seating:

Courtesy of The Knot - I love this idea for a twist on traditional, plain jane name cards - especially since our wedding is rustic! You could easily combine this idea with the DIY calligraphy video posted above as well. :-)

{5} Speaking of seating - how about arranging the seating chart? All that re-arranging, last minute cancellations, last minute add ons, new found "enemies" or family feuds? Well fear not! Here is a wonderful, FLEXIBLE seating chart arrangement idea for all those last minute changes!

Courtesy of Martha Stewart Weddings - here is a fun flexible idea! Adhesive strips with the names on them - as suggested on the site, you could even create color-coded groups: bride's family, groom's family, friends, kids, etc.  

{6} Last, but not least: Thank you cards - now by no means do I think these should substitute a good old fashion "thank you card" personalized in the mail, but if you opt to not do a menu, or just want each guest to have a sweet sentiment to read, these two are good starters!

Both Photos are courtesy of Style Me Pretty

Hope you have found some inspiring ideas for your wedding stationary! Be sure to check back in a couple of weeks - March 17th I am taking a fabulous "Blueprint of a Wedding Invitation" class with bridesmaids, Audrey & Megan, Mother-in-law, Blondie, & "Aunt", Terri! Hopefully, I can post as many tips regarding DIY wedding invites as possible, not to mention helpful tips for any sort of wedding/event stationary!

Hope you have a fabulous Wedding Inspired Hump Day! XoXo