invitations - part 1

This is part 1 of a 2-part entry on how I am designing and fabricating our wedding invitations! All of my photos are from the Paper Source website, with the exception of the Martha Stewart edge punch from Michael's (the photo of which I found at http://www.michaels.com/) and the MasterCarve blocks from Art Media (photo from http://www.artmediaonline.com/).

The overall form of the invitations came about from a wedding workshop Jesse and I attended at Paper Source on NW 23rd in Portland. The event was supposed to include several brides-to-be drinking champagne and crafting, but low registration led to our chance to have a private workshop session with a Paper Source teacher. We looked at a variety of different shapes and color combinations and practiced several different stamping techniques. We knew we wanted to include a few enclosure items, so we decided on the Gatefold Enclosure card in "Luxe Fino Cream." This card features an inside pocket for enclosures and a folded flap closing. For each of the 4 enclosures (invitation, map, hotel & activity info, rsvp) we chose the Half-Moon/Pocket Folder Enclosure Flat Cards in the same color. Both are shown here in "Chartreuse."

Next came the gorgeous Copper Shimmer envelopes. These were a new release when I was shopping for supplies and they were a perfect match to the copper-laden Flying J, where our reception lunch will be held. Not to mention the fact that Jesse lived in a town known for its huge copper mine when I met him!

Next, I created each of the invitation's components on the computer using Adobe InDesign. I adore the font I found on 1,001 Free Fonts - "One Forty Seven." After changing my mind ten times, I settled on a color palette of dark olive green, light leaf green and an orange-copper shade.

I purchased a copper stamp pad and clear embossing powder, to use on the invitations. I had formatted the text so a large area was left clear for a stamp...but I couldn't decide on what to carve. I wobbled between some kind of quail design or one involving local Arizona plantlife. On our last trip to Sierra Vista I noticed an interesting plant, which I later identified as a desert agave. That was it! I sketched the image and then carved it in Mastercarve block (the best product ever) from Art Media.

Just last night I purchased Shimmer Copper Business Cards and thin "Leaf" ribbon from Paper Source, along with a Martha Stewart Thin Ribbon Threader Edge Punch from Michael's. I'm thinking these items will be used with some Paper Source "Superfine Soft White" Labels to create the invitation's closure.

So nearly all of the components are printed. I just need to cut the smaller ones to size and figure out some way to assemble them into a pretty, cohesive unit! Some photos of completion are hopefully on their way.