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“Why Did I Think This was a Good Idea?”

So as I mentioned, I decided it would be fun to make our entire lot of save the dates, invitations and anything else involving paper and our wedding. Why you ask?  Looking back I’m not really sure, but it was an experience! I don’t have any special training or real artistic ability, I just have a mother who was always extremely crafty and have always been striving to be like that.

Our save the dates were nothing novel I suppose, just a take on the calendar idea. I cut file folders down to miniature size (yes, you can buy them in index size, but I already had a whole box). Vintage wall paper and ephemera were used to create a backdrop for a simple printed calendar marking our future wedding date. I used a variety of miniature vintage postcards featuring various scenes of Buffalo to display our wedding website address and the wedding date. The whole package was then clipped together with a mini clothes pin or funky clip. The 125 save the dates took about two weeks to complete, and while definitely not the most cost effective option out there, they were relatively inexpensive.

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Our invitation suite was definitely more of an undertaking given the number of components to include. I really wanted to do something handmade with a whimsical feel to it. We wanted it to feel like you were receiving a little package of goodies, with each piece having a unique attribute – whether it be the paper or the design. I took the idea of the RSVP stickers from birddog press, I just loved them! I’ve seen them popping up on a few invitations over the past few months as well. And the “Admit One” ticket just has some reminder travel information.

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The invitation itself was just a vellum hand sewn onto vintage wallpapers and papers I collected, each one being completely unique.

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I would have loved to use vintage stamps, but it was just not in our budget to do so, given the number of invitations we had to send out. But we lucked out with the adorable king and queen love stamps which were new at the time.

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Are you DIY’ing your stationery?  What made you decide to do so?