DIY Entry #5: Tri-fold Invitations

November 4, 2008 · Posted in diy, stationery, invitations by ami elizabeth

Our next entry is from crafty bride Lauren and crafty groom Mike! Together, they made these beautiful tri-fold invitations from start to finish, including calligraphy!

Instructions for making these beautiful invitations:

1. Print invitation, RSVP card, and RSVP envelope. Lauren and Mike had theirs thermographed.

2. Cut and score paper to desired length/width.

3. Mount invitation onto cardstock, then mount onto tri-fold.

4. Cut ribbon and form into a vertical holder for the inserts.

5. Close using a pretty matted name card with your guests’ name! If possible, include groom’s calligraphy!

The beautiful finished envelopes, including custom stamps!

click to go to comments

Delilah writes... {November 4, 2008 at 12:49 pm}

Those are so beautiful! Great work.

Lauren writes... {November 4, 2008 at 5:01 pm}

Thanks so much for posting our invitations!

Julia writes... {November 4, 2008 at 6:45 pm}

Yay for Lauren and Mike :)

Kate writes... {November 7, 2008 at 11:01 am}

Lauren,

I la la love your trifold invitations. I would like to do something similar and w0nder if you could offer some more details.
1-What size invitations did you use?
2-What size reply cards did you use?
3-Where did you purchase the cardstock for the trifold?
4-What size did you buy and what size did you cut the trifold to?
5-What tools were used to cut the trifolds? Do you have any suggestions on tools to use?
6-Can you explain in a little more detail how you fixed the ribbon to the trifold?
7-Did you use tape to secure the reply card to the envelope?

I look forward to hearing from you.

Lauren writes... {November 9, 2008 at 8:20 pm}

Thanks Kate! I am glad that you like our invitations.
#1. Our actual invitation size was 5 X 7.
#2. The reception and RSVP cards were the size of 4 bar envelopes (I don’t know the exact dimensions off hand)
#3. We bought the black cardstock at an Art Store in St. Louis and the green cardstock and envelopes at paper-source.com.
#4. We didn’t really measure the black trifold. We just decided how much border we wanted and created a prototype based off of that.
#5. We cut the trifolds with a large paper cutter at my husband’s office. We also scored each of the trifolds with a whale bone tool.
#6 and 7. We wrapped the ribbon around the RSVP card and envelope and reception card. We taped the ribbon together at the back with a small piece of clear tape. Then, we ran a longer strip of double stick tape all the way down the back of the ribbon. Then we just stuck it to the black trifold.

Hope that helps!

Megan writes... {December 17, 2008 at 7:01 pm}

Hi Lauren,
Could you tell me what size paper the black cardstock was?

Thanks,
Megan

Lauren writes... {December 17, 2008 at 10:04 pm}

Hi Megan,
Our actual invitation was 5X7. If you look at the picture above, you can see that the middle and the right side sections are both 5X7 and then we just created a small triangle section for the right side. We are not sure of the exact size but I am guessing about 2 1/2-3 inches. Good luck!

Karen writes... {March 31, 2009 at 1:23 pm}

Your invitations are beautiful! Where did you get the ribbon and the black and white scroll cards? Did you design it yourself or buy it preprinted? I really appreciate the information you have provided and we hope to make one similar!

Lauren writes... {March 31, 2009 at 4:34 pm}

Hi Karen,
We bought our ribbon from Borders. We scanned the design from the ribbon and created our own cards and invitations. We chose a local printer to do thermography on our cards.