Our less than $100 DIY invites (Pics!)

[AnnaBanana]

To begin with, I should tell you that we had about 50 invitations to go out.  I was not really interested in spending a lot on my invites and I am neither crafty nor overly involved in DIY projects.  So I was in a bit of a pickle.

 

I decided to venture into Michael's craft store on a whim, hoping to find those all-inclusive DIY package things, but found nothing I really liked.  And then it just came to me out of nowhere.

 

I hauled my butt to the paper crafts section and picked up 2 Martha Stewart paper punches which were both on sale.  I got them both for $10.  There was a pretty nice selection of these there with a lot of different images.  However, we are getting married in a garden setting in Hawaii, so I chose a pretty flower petal design.

 

Next, I made my way to the DIY invitation section where I picked out chocolate brown A7 card stock.  I bought 5 packages for a total of $10.50. I bought cream colored A7 envelopes - 5 packages for a total of $9.80.  Then I bought cream colored A6 card stock.  I ended up buying 6 packages of these since I intended to print on these and knew I would mess up a couple times (and oh, did I).  These came out to $12.60.  Lastly, I purchased a package of 50 notecards with envelopes in cream for $7 at Hobby Lobby.

 

Total so far is around $50.

 

I then purchased scrapbooking tape - 3 rolls for $12.

 

Awhile back, I had been looking online for custom paper.  I don't know why I did it, but I'm glad I did.  I bought a sheet of Aubergine-colored handmade mango leaf paper for $2.80 + $10 for shipping (which you can find here: http://www.papermojo.com/Mango-Leaf-Paper_c_154.html.)  It was probably too expensive, but the paper is really lovely.  You can use anything for this from vellum to ribbon and it would look great, too!

 

So we're now up to around $75 and that will cover it for materials!

 

We did end up buying our stamps from zazzle because we had a coupon for $.44 stamps.  And after weighing the invitations at the post office, it is confirmed that they are within the $.44 stamp range.  Yay!  So, assuming you pay $.44 for the stamps for both the invite and rsvp, that still brings your grand total to $119.  Not too shabby!

 

So, what are we doing, exactly?

 

1. Print invitations on cream card stock.

 

2. Use paper punch to punch images into the invite.

 

3. Use scrapbooking tape to adhere the invite to the brown backing card stock.

 

4. Print RSVP card.

 

5. Use the paper punch to punch an image in notecard.

 

6. Cut 10 inch by 1.5 inch strips of mango leaf paper.

 

7. Address envelopes and assemble invites.

 

8. Admire!

 

 

 

 

[janapana]

And you said you´re not crafty?!

 

I think they look great, very pretty and elegant.

[AnnaBanana]

Haha, thank you so much!

I assure you, I am not a crafty person.  This was shocking.  In fact, when I bought the materials, my fiance gave me a good, long staredown and said, "Now, are you SURE?  I mean, REALLY sure??  Cause you know... you're gonna have to make stuff.  You're ok with that?"

 

I reminded him that if he still wanted to marry me, he would accept my lack of DIY knowledge, smile, nod and love whatever would come of these invitations - even if they looked like a 2nd grade art project.

[bizzyangel]

They look so simple but elegant! Love the color combo and I disagree, you are very crafty!

[SonyaR]

I agree you are definitely crafty and they look great. You proved that you do not have to spend a fortune on invites.

[Kelitaw]

Love, love your invites! and yes you are crafty! I love the stamps you got from Zazzle! I wish I had been on the ball and got some for our invites.

[JanineA]

Your hard work paid off, they look great!

[emilyk78]

They turned out great for not being crafty!! Good job!

[terilina]

Looks great!

[hzak1203]

They look great!