Wednesday, May 15, 2013

The Best Card Ever

Expectations will be high with a title like that, don't you think?
I'm not worried, I know you're going to love these cards. My baby sis gets married in less then two months. It really is hard to believe that my baby sister is old enough to be dating let alone to get married! When I left for college she was in 3rd grade and while that age gap seems huge, I promise you it has gotten smaller and smaller as the years have gone by (and not because I stopped aging at 29).

There are nine years and one sister in between us but it hasn't stopped us from developing a sisterly bond. Two years ago when she called to tell me she was engaged, I was thrilled, but only half as much as the day she asked me to help her with her wedding invites! Yeeeeaaaahhhhh, homemade wedding invites...oh yeah, your fiancé is great too, you'll be married and in love forever, blah, blah, blah.
So here they are. The best card I (I'm using "I" here to make writing simplier but in full fairness my sister gets equal credit for these) have ever designed. It was a huge team effort, her and I, oh yeah and the fiancé had a tiny little say in these as well.
A little bit of bling, a little bit of chevron, a little bit of whimsy, oh my. So when you slide off the little outside sleeve with the groom's initial, you'll find a bit more chevron and get a full look at the cute couple. We wanted these to feel similar to her STD's (oh yes, my sister's STD's, who could forget those) in color and style.

When you open it up all the way, you find a cute little pocket holding all the details to their wedding. Don't readjust your screen, I did blur out some details to their wedding (I didn't think they wanted my million readers to show up on their big day!).
The ribbon is symbolizing "tying the knot", a theme we are trying to work with for all her wedding details, of course using cute bakers twine. Most of the invitation is printed on the computer but the saying, "love is patient, love is kind", is a custom stamp she bought on etsy (not cheap!). It was important to get that stamp on her invite, they both love that saying so much, they each have half the saying tattooed on their bodies....love is FOREVER too.
Here are a few shots of the inserts. We stamped the red heart on the inserts.
Making 150 invitations is a process! A LONG process. Especially when she was finishing her last semester in nursing school and I was you know, having a baby. These took us a TON of time, lots of designing and redesigning, and a couple trips to the post office to see if these suckers were legal to mail without having to take out a second mortgage on our homes.
Designing your own wedding invites is not for the faint at heart. It also isn't a project for a newbie! These were stressful and kind of pricey but the benefit and satisfaction of having and making the wedding card of your dreams is priceless (sort of like meeting and marrying the man of your dreams, sort of).

I'm looking forward to crafting with her for the rest of her big day and of course I'll share all the details right here on my blog.

6 comments:

  1. Your invites are incredible! I'm sure you and your whole family are immensely proud of the invitations!

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  2. Absolutely awesome! You're right, I love 'em. Unique and well planned. Thanks for sharing.

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  3. Honestly, with these beautiful pictures, and heartfelt dialogue, I feel I've just received an invitation to a close friend's wedding! Every well thought image is so warm. Love the colors, and beautiful photo. I can't think of anything better than handcrafted! Well done, and best of times to your family!

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  4. Your invitations came out fabulous! What perfect timing for this MIM challenge. Congrats to your sister and her sweetie and your whole family. May they be blessed beyond measure!

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  5. Absolutely perfect and I'm saving this idea for someday when my youngest meets her Mr. Right and gets married! :0)

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