DIY Pocketfold Wedding Invitations from 8.5x11 cardstock (w/ instructions)

Just finished and shipped out my wedding invitations so it's now time to share  Our wedding budget isn't huge so I knew I wanted to DIY as many things as we could. I am an Illustrator (and sometimes Graphic Designer) so all stationery was definitely on the DIY list. 

I knew I wanted pocketfolds but I didn't want to spend too much money on supplies. I decided that pre-folded pocketfolds were out and so were 11x17 cardstocks due to the higher cost. Now I needed to figure out how to make a pocket fold out of an 8.5x11 card stock sheet. It was a bit of drafting and I ended up with a single folded card measuring 5" x6.5" with a little pocket (diagram posted later in the thread)

For the inserts, I designed everything on Adobe Illustrator. There is 1 additional insert which is the itinerary card with a schedule of events. I also ordered postcards from www.vistaprint.ca for the RSVP card which saves me on rsvp envelopes. I only had to pay shipping on the postcards ($9.99). Other than those, I printed everything else on my printer which is just typical canon inkjet. 

The envelope is 5"x7" and I printed address bands to glue to the outside. Here are some pictures! Instructions and cost breakdown will follow.

Front of the card + envelope and address band.

Inside of card with insert and RSVP card.

Inserts

And now for the dimensions and how I made the pocket folds. Here is a diagram of how I cut the 8.5x11" cardstocks to make the pocketfolds.

It's important to make the fold slightly narrower than the width of the card so that the front flap will fold over nicely. I learned this through trial and error as my first one wouldn't fold over smoothly since the pocket was too wide.

After marking and cutting out the card, I scored along the fold lines with a bone folder and ruler (pictured).

Then I fold along the score lines and smooth out the fold using the bone folder again. The bone folder works magic. Before I bought it, I had tried to make a card by scoring with the back of a table knife and it was still ugly. I recommend buying one if you intend on folding any type of cardstock.

Then, I used double sided tape where the little flaps are to tape the pocket. 

The first one took me maybe 10 minutes but by the 50th I was a robot cutting and folding these in under 3 min

Then I printed all the inserts on 8.5x11" linen cardstock. On one sheet, I could fit 1 invitation card + 1 itinerary card as well as a few monograms on some of them until I had enough monograms for all the invites.

The invitation card is 4.75" x 6.25" which is .25 inch smaller than the size of the pocket fold so it leaves a nice border when I tape it inside.

The itinerary card is 4.125" x 6.25" to match the width of vistaprint's standard postcard size so they line up.

The monograms are 1.5"x1.5" and then I also cut out squares .25" (1.75x1.75") larger out of a darker cardstock for layering.

Here is what everything looks like cut out (as well as a bonus picture of my cat getting himself stuck in one of the sheets after I cut out the cards )

Then I printed out a sheet of the yellow damask pattern on normal 8.5x11 paper and cut out belly bands that are 2.5" width.

I bought some white ribbon and cut those out the same 8.5" length. 

I taped those to the inside of the card with regular tape. It didn't need to be pretty since I'll be covering it with invitation card anyways.

For the outside, I used double-sided tape to tape the dark cardstock behind the white ribbon, then I taped the monogram on top of the ribbon for a layered effect.

I also used double sided tape to tape the invitation card inside. I had experimented with different types of glues but all warped the paper and made a mess. Double sided tape ended up working perfect although my friend did tell me about this gun that rolls out dots of glue (or tape?) from Michaels that works even better for this kind of thing.

I don't have pictures, but the final step was printing out the address bands and glueing those to the envelopes. I used a gluestick for that.. not the prettiest, but I wanted to make sure they were stuck on real well. 

I also made these single card invitations in spanish that we will be giving out to FI's family and friends who live in Cuba. The pocket folds were so much labour I almost wish I had just done these for all of them!

In total I made 60 pocket-fold invites and 60 single card invites. Here is the breakdown of what I spent for supplies and per pocket fold invite:

Supplies:

Ruler + 2 glue sticks = $3.19 (dollar store)

Bone Folder = $7.84

1/4" Double Sided Tape = $4.80

Exacto Knife = (I already had this)

Total cost for supplies: $11.03

Pocket Fold invitation (to make 60)

8.5x11" Silver Cardstock - 60x $0.38 = $22.80

8.5x11" Anthracite Cardstock - 3x $0.38 = $1.14 (for the monogram backing)

8.5x11" Linen cardstock - 30x $0.20 = $6.00

A7 Linen Envelopes - 60x $0.22 = $13.20

White Ribbon = $7.68

RSVP postcards from vistaprint = $9.99

Total Paper cost = $60.81 not including tax or shipping costs. So just over $1 each.

I ordered everything from papercircle.ca and I can't say enough great things about them. For all Canadian brides I recommend you get your paper from here! They are fast to answer any questions and very fast at shipping. They send a personalized thank you note after every order and also sent a few cute greeting cards and sweet thank you note inside my large shipment.

Hope you enjoyed the post!

They really look great! You did an awesome job! I wish I was a DIY person that is some savings!

beautiful!! what an amazing write-up also!

love the pic of the cat LOL

You did a great job on these!

Thanks everyone!

What pretty colors!

They look fantastic!! (I like that your cat tried to help you!)

Great job! Loved that the cat wanted to help with the wedding invitations =)

i absolutely love these

I love the colors you used!