My Wedding Report

Remember these?

Yes, the long lost Duckling invitations. I know I have been promising the tips from the DIY process, but due to some computer crashes and general life craziness it’s been a little difficult to get everything together.

The printing of the main invitation was very basic. We basically just designed the invite using a combination of Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator. We used my very favorite font Feel Script from Veer, which we had also used for the Save the Dates. Graphics for the entire invitation suite were bought from Istockphoto for a few dollars. We found an image that had all 4 patterns to use so we only had to buy 1 item. Probably the hardest part of the main invitation step was figuring out how to do borderless printing so that the design went to the very edge. Once we figured that it it was a matter of printing 50 at a time until we were done.

Most of the work and labor was bundled up in our little Matchbook booklet a.k.a. “Everything you need to know about our wedding.”

Earlier in the summer Mr. Ducky and I were at my favorite store, Paper Source and found a whole bunch of these matchbooks for 50% off. We weren’t planning on using them, but who were we to pass up a good deal? So, we bought everything they had, not knowing what we were going to use them for. Well, eventually we came up with the idea to use it as the holder of all our inserts in the invitation versus doing something like a pocketfold invite.

On the base we put directions on one side and then details for our website on the other. We printed them on 8 1/2 x 11 paper and then cut them out individually. To avoid messy glue sticks and other adhesive messes I used my trusty Xyron. Or should I say Mama Duckling used the trusty Xyron?! She figured out just the right technique to not waste xyron sticky and go through each insert quickly.

Here is what they looked like after they popped out the Xyron. After that it was a matter of simply removing the sticky backing and then placing the insert evenly onto the matchbook.

Many of you loved our accept/decline stickers for the RSVP cards. (Thanks for all your sweet words!) I have to tell you that was one of the easiest parts of the whole process, which means you can incorporate this into your own DIY project without much trouble. We bought 1 1/4″ round labels from Paper Source and then it was a matter of printing and cutting. One column was “Accept” the next was “Decline” and then repeat for the next two columns.

After printing the paper was all a solid khaki color with the stickers. We carefully peeled away the background surrounding the stickers so that we were eventually left with the backing paper full of round stickers. Now you had white background and the stickers popped against that.

We found the best was to cut was first length wise after your 1st accept and decline column and then width wise so you were left with 2 stickers. For the actual RSVP card we designed it in Illustrator and used the circle shape to indicate where guests should place their answer.

I packaged everything together so it was in one unit and would look presentable when guests opened it. At the last minute I decided to stamp the outside of the matchbook because it seemed like it was missing something.

I knew I wanted to do envelope liners but I was pretty mystified on how to do them. Was I supposed to print the whole page in the print and then cut? Or make some sort of shape? Or just give up completely and do plain envelopes?  Remembering Mrs. Gloss’ beautiful invitations and envelopes, I asked her how she did it. She explained how she just printed the shape of the liner on paper and then cut it out. After her feedback, Mr. Ducky and I figured out how to get 2 liners out of one 8 1/2 x 11 piece of paper. We shrunk down the depth of how far the liner would go in the envelope and lined them up on the edge. This probably doesn’t really make sense so just look at the picture below. You can see the 2 liners on the page and then the cut out version. By having the bottom of the liner on the edge of the paper it also saved some cutting time versus putting it in the middle of the page.

Here is Mr. Ducky dutifully cutting out envelope liners.

To adhere the liners to the envelope we used 3/8″ Adhesive Runner by Xyron that we had previously used for the Save the Dates. It works so well! We “drew” a triangle on the back of the liner in the upper area and then tucked it into the envelope.

And that is about it for the Duckling invitations. I hope that helped. Let me know if you have any questions.

What helped you with the DIY process? Anything seem difficult and then end up being simpler than you thought?

Well, first I must apologize for the delay of this post and my absence. I know I promised you the tutorial long ago, and I figure I should probably finish that before I show you all my invitations. In the middle of my wedding craziness my computer hard drive crashed and I lost a whole bunch of blog pictures and posts along with address spreadsheets, contracts and all sorts of other stuff that stresses you out. Not to worry, I think I’ve pieced a lot of it back together in the last few weeks.

Ready for the tutorial on the Duckling save the dates? I’m warning you ahead of time there were quite a few steps. So stay with me and let me know if I start to not make sense.

The original inspiration for our save the dates came from Martha Stewart. I happened to be having a brainstorming meeting with my month-of-coordinator, Courtney from Joyful Weddings and Events and showed her the inspiration picture and a few of the other ideas I wanted to incorporate. Courtney is fellow cricut user so I knew that she would appreciate the idea. She had the idea of adding in the mini envelope for the numbers to come out of and encouraged me to just go for it.

Source

I knew I wanted to use one of our engagement pictures and bring out some of our wedding colors. So with the idea of a number ribbon, a mini envelope and after making a few test samples, I decided to just go for it.

The Supplies
A7 Papersource Soft White (looks like a light cream)
A7 Lake Envelopes Paper Source
Mini Envelope Lake Paper Source
Fiskars Corner Rounder
Cricut
Opposites Cartridge
Basics Cartridge
Cuttlebug
10 mm ribbon in cream
Raspberry 12x 12 Scrapbook Heavy Paper
Blue 12×12 Scrapbook Heavy Paper
Mini Hole Punch
Mini Xyron Tape Adhesive Runner
Xacto Knife
Scotch Tape

The Graphic Design
I am definitely not a graphic designer, but with Mr. Ducky’s encouragement I decided to do our Save the Date design myself. He definitely helped along the way to help me with how to do the different Photoshop effects since I was very rusty on using the program. I inserted one of our engagement pictures and used the masking feature to create the rounded corners.

I’ve been drooling over Veer’s Feel Script font since Mrs. Lemon shared a sample in a post awhile ago. Feel Script is one of the glyph fonts that Pengy wrote about the other day. To compliment the Feel Script I used Garamont which is just a basic font that came with my computer.

The swirly design you see in the background is a photoshop brush. Pixels and Ice Cream has such a great selection of free photoshop brushes and patterns. I used the April Showers photoshop brushes for our Save the Dates, although there are lots of cute options on the website.

Source

We printed the Save the Dates on A7 Soft White paper from Papersource. The printer is a Canon MP830 and the quality is amazing. The color is very vibrant and saturated in person. If you are looking for a printer I really recommend this one, because it looks like we got them professionally printed. After everything was printed out we used the Fiskars corner rounder. I bought this after reading a post by Penguin on DIY essentials. It was awesome.

Source

The Number Strings
To cut out all the numbers and spacers I used the Cricut. The numbers were from the Opposites Attract Cartridge. To get the correct size to fit in the envelope without looking to small I set the settings to 2 inches high and on the shadow setting you see on the Cricut keyboard. After printing all the numbers we had to punch two holes with the mini hole punch so that the ribbon could be laced later. This was probably the biggest pain of the whole project.

For the spacers I selected a rounded square from the Geometrics and Shapes cartridge that already had the slots automatically cut into each square. This was a cartridge that came with my cricut when I originally bought it. This was a big time saver and my family was grateful to not use that hole punch anymore. For the settings I used 1 inch high and that seemed to work well. Also, you may have noticed that the original inspiration had bows in between each set of numbers but ours have spacers and a single bow at the end. Part of this was just the simple fact that bows take way longer, but also that bows create knots that could mean extra postage. Our were regular postage and we bought the forever stamp before pricing went up.

I had originally bought the ribbon from Paper Source but returned it after I found a much cheaper version at Michaels for $0.99 a spool. After cutting all the ribbon to the desired length we tied mini bows at each end. Then it was pretty much back to elementary school lacing the ribbon through. It was important that each number have 2 holes so that it would stay flat and not twist to be perpendicular to the ribbon.

The Mini Envelopes
Before stamping the mini envelope I used the Cuttlebug to emboss the flap so that I wouldn’t have to worry about smearing the ink. By arranging the envelopes like below I could emboss 4 envelopes at once, so it did not take too long.

After all the envelope flaps were embossed I used the Save the Date stamp from Paper Source with silver ink from Colorink. The ink took forever to dry, but showed up really well on the lake blue paper. I think it was meant for embossing. I’d recommend the Brilliance brand if you wanted to stamp without embossing. The ink dries faster. The stamp was the perfect size for the envelope and I felt like the writing tied into the font and look of the overall card. You had to line up the stamp so that it was next to flap.

On the opposite side from the stamp of each envelope I used an xacto knife to cut a tiny slot to string the ribbon through. To make sure you don’t cut through to the other side you can slide a thick piece of paper into the envelope before you make the slot.

Final Assembly!
To attach the number date string I strung the end through the little slot and used scotch tape to secure it. Yeah I know not the most beautiful thing in the world but it worked.

To fold up the numbers I basically did it accordion style with the last two numbers “09″ being on top. I tried to show this in the picture below. Then gently tuck the numbers into the envelope letting the bow stick out just enough to be slightly beyond the flap. I did not seal the flap because I worried about the ribbon sticking and creating issues when it was time to be pulled out. Instead I just made sure the the flap was staying down and flattened the crease a little bit if it wasn’t.

We used the Xyron 3/8 inch Adhesive Runner to stick the mini envelope to the cardstock. I was so impressed with the quality and durability of the “stickiness” from the xyron tape. We also tried the photo mounting squares but they just didn’t work as well. The xyron tape was so easy to roll onto the back and it just stuck. I highly recommend it.

Source

Last but not least we were able to slide the final product into a regular A7 envelope in lake blue that matched the mini envelope. As I mentioned they were even regular postage using the forever stamps I had bought before postage went up. Often times the post office will charge you for using ribbon, but the bow was so small that it didn’t add extra bulk. Each envelope had a slight bulge from the folded paper and mini envelope but it was still skinny enough to easily slide through the test hole they have at the post office that determines if they charge extra.

My biggest piece of advice? Make sure you have people to help you. I by no means did this by myself. My family was literally an assembly line for all of the different stages. Otherwise I’d probably still be stringing those suckers today.

And that is the long story of the Duckling Save the Dates. I hope it wasn’t entirely confusing. Does anyone have any questions I can clarify?

Up next? Duckling invitations!!

I have finally sent out our Save the Dates and now that I’m sure everyone has received them, I can finally share them with the hive. We’ve seriously taken our sweet time getting these guys out due to delays from school, life and just general procrastination. But oh well they are out and I’ve finally uploaded the pictures to share!

Without further ado here are the Duckling Save the Dates!

The first peak

Pull the Save the Date out

One more envelope!

And ta da!

Here is a picture of how my FMIL displayed her Save the Date. Isn’t that sweet?

Please let me know if you have any questions. I will try to put together a post with pictures of how we put them together, as well as what supplies were used if you are interested. Can you already tell where my cricut and cuttlebug came in handy?

As I relax and recover this week, I’m hoping to get some wedding stuff done in the meantime since I don’t sit still too well. The first big thing that needs to get out are our Save the Dates. I had originally hoped to have these out in the mail in January or February, however with all the medical stuff that has just not happened. We just booked our engagement session for a few weeks from now and I want to use those pictures for the Save the Dates.

To make things a little easier on the production and save money on postage we decided we should do postcards. I want to work on our graphic design with Mr. Ducky so that once we have our pictures all we have to do is drop the image in and send off for printing. Mr. Ducky is working so I will be on my own using Photoshop during the day, which will be interesting.

Here are some Save the Date postcards I’ve seen that are inspiring me as I think about what to do.

Source

Source

Source

Source

Source

Source

Source

Source

Did anyone else do postcards? Did you use pictures from your engagement session with your save the dates?

…Courtney from Joyful Weddings & Events is my month-of-coordinator!!

When I was looking for a day of coordinator I did lots of research to find vendors in my area. I emailed a lot of different people and met a few and talked with people I liked, but no one that I was really excited about or they were so far out of my budget there was no chance. (If you are an OC/SD person and want to hear more details about those vendors shoot me a message and I’d be happy to go into more detail)

Then I got an email from Courtney and she invited me to meet her at a bridal show she was doing in San Diego. I met her really briefly there and unfortunately couldn’t stay long, but based on her and her awesome booth I decided I wanted to meet with her again.

A great thing about Courtney is that she does weddings in both Orange County and San Diego, so I was able to meet her for coffee in Orange County after class one night. As we chatted back a forth at the local Starbucks I felt like I found a new friend! She seemed to just understand me and get what we wanted for the wedding. I loved hearing about her life, family and wonderful business. Our time flew by and at the end of it I felt like I had just found a new friend and most importantly someone I wanted on the team!

She knew all the wedding blogs that I mentioned and the different ideas that I had gotten from them. This was great, because I have gotten so much inspiration for wedding blogs etc. and some of the other coordinators I had met with had no idea what I was talking about. Another huge thing? She has a cricut!?! Yes I know, I’m a huge nerd. But I was so excited to find someone who actually knew what the cricut was and someone who could give me more ideas on how to use it for the wedding.

If you check out Courtney’s blog, you will see her amazing creativity and DIY projects for her own events. She has an awesome style that is fun, chic, whimsical and beautiful. Being a bride that plans on doing DIY projects, it was important that I find someone who also valued those details and believes in how they can make the wedding that much more special and meaningful. After meeting Courtney and connecting with her, I knew that I would be able to trust her with taking care of all my final details and that she would be able to handle of any crisis that happens that day. I felt like I could learn a lot from Courtney and that our wedding would be that much more special and memorable with her being a part of it.

Now for some eye candy from her wonderful weddings…

All Photos From Joyful Weddings & Events Blog

While I love wedding planning and wouldn’t give it up for the world, I know that if I had to choose someone to plan the whole wedding from start to finish, I would choose Courtney. I couldn’t be more excited to work with Courtney through this whole process and am thankful in advance that she will be putting up with me!

Aren’t you amazed by her work? If you haven’t yet check out her website and blog! Also, she just had one of her weddings featured in the latest Ceremonies magazine and on the WedddingbeePRO!

Now I know there are several of you that are wondering whether or not you need a day of/month of coordinator and if one is worth the cost. I want to give my thought behind that topic so I’ll try to share some of my thoughts in an upcoming post.

Have you gone out to get your copy yet? I think I already mentioned how excited I was to get the new Martha Stewart Weddings magazine over the break. I probably have way too many wedding magazines. However, I think that Martha Stewart has one of the better ones because it is filled with ideas, tips, diy suggestions and is not inundated with advertisements like many of the other ones.

Anyways I thought I’d pick out some bits and pieces from the different features that I really enjoyed and how I could potentially add my own touch to include them in my wedding.

I loved these pictures done with different color themes. The details and fun little items were so fun to pick out.

I was happy to see the feature on different things you can do with scrapbook paper. First of all I already have a bunch of it and second of all it’s an affordable way to add personal touches and use some DIY skills.

Table Numbers:

These were done by cutting the paper in half and then using a number stamp with gold ink. If I were to use this for my wedding I would maybe cut numbers out using my cricut and then frame the scrapbook paper to make it a little more sturdy.

Paper Flowers, Wrapped Vases and Runners:

I really like the idea of wrapping the vases and candle votive holders. For the runner I would favor using wrapping paper just for ease of use, but if you some paper you really want to use that would work.

Sweet Sensations:

How adorable are these little guys? The heart is so sweet. These would also be great for little shower favors to add some decor to the table.

Placemats:

I think this can give a pop of color to your table, especially if you don’t want to pay for fancy chargers or linens. I would choose a softer design so that it doesn’t over power the centerpieces. Another idea would be to paste the menu on this sheet maybe on a circle shaped paper under where the plate goes.

What were your favorite parts of the new Martha Stewart Weddings magazine? Later I’ll also share on some more ideas that gave me inspiration for our escort cards and floral details.

I have yet to decide how I will actually use my Cuttlebug for our wedding. However, I need to start using the Cuttlebug to get familiar with how it works and the different ways I can potentially use it. Now despite my love of craft/diy stuff I would not consider myself an expert. I don’t do those crazy scrapbooks nor have lots of experience in making paper products. And although I love Martha Stewart, I am far from getting anywhere close to her league. I am basically in the process of learning and experimenting while I create things along the way.

I recently went to Michael’s to use some coupons that were going to expire and take a advantage of their sales. I bought Fiskars 1/2 inch corner rounder that I had been wanting for awhile after reading about Mrs. Penguin’s DIY Essentials.

When buying paper I try to buy paper pads instead of individual sheets, which saves some money. I love the big paper pads because first of all you get a huge assortment and some of it coordinates making it easy to tie projects together. Also if you are patient they sometimes go on sale for 40% off at Michaels.

I wanted to share my first two creations using my Cuttlebug and Cricut. I made two simple cards.

The first card is for some friends of our that recently got married that we are taking to dinner soon to celebrate. Their initials are L & J. I used my “Cricut sampler” cartridge and “opposites attract” cartridge to cut out the lettering. I used a polka dot embossing folder with my Cuttlebug for the background of the lettering.

(The lighting isn’t the best so I apologize for the picture quality in advance)

The next card is just a straight forward Happy Birthday card. The “Birthday Girl” is from my “Storybook Cardridge” which is my favorite cartridge. I used this cartridge from my bridesmaids cards as well. For the embossing folder I used this fun swirly one I got at Michael’s.

I even did envelope liners and embossed the flaps for an extra little detail. To make the envelope liner I traced the envelop flap onto the back of the paper I was using for the liner and cut that out. I snipped each side a tiny bit so that it would easily slide into the envelope. The liner itself only goes half way down into the envelope and I used a glue stick to put in there. I also got to use my new Martha Stewart bone folder to make sure I had a smooth crease after adding the liner.

They aren’t the best, but not bad for my first 2 cards. I really like embossing the envelope flap, so that is something we could possibly do for our invitations.

You have probably figured out that I like craft stuff and DIY personal touches on everything. After Mr. Ducky saw how much I loved my Cricut and it’s creations, he decided to follow in a similar theme and get me a Cuttlebug for Christmas. “Cuttle what”? Yes, my friends it is another “craft insect” from Provo Craft to add to my collection and hopefully use for different details in the wedding. Do you think I’m a nerd yet?

The Cuttlebug embosses and does die cuts. Basically I can get different patterns and sizes of embossing folders to use on paper. I can also take specific dies to cut out specific shapes and unlike the Cricut I can get exact placement of where I want the cut to made.

An example of an embossing folder:

An example of a die cut:

The Cuttlebug was easy to figure out how to use, which is a good thing because I am not technically inclined. You use a spacer as the base and then in between two cutting pads you place the embossing folder with the paper inside.

Then after you have that set up, you place everything on the Cuttlebug and “wind” (my technical term) it through. It is not hard at all do do the “winding”. I was worried that I was going to have to press real hard or my arm would get tired if I was doing a bunch of embossing at once, but it is super smooth. You do have to press a little harder for the die cut though.

And after that you are done! Remove the paper from the embossing folder and you have a fancy design.

There are also smaller embossing folders like these 3 that give you smaller embossing images.

There are so many different kinds of embossing folder and die cuts, similar to the Cricut cartridges. I have several more generic embossing folders that can be used for any sort of event. However, there are more themed ones like thank-yous, babies, love etc. if you want to be specific. I like the you can buy individual die cuts if you want something really specific like a giraffe for example, where as with the cricut you would need to buy the whole cartridge which is much more expensive.

Now what how do I plan on using my cuttlebug for the wedding? Well to be honest I’m still figuring that out. I think I could use it on small details for our invitations and programs because it gives a more professional and polished look without me sending away for something like letterpress.

Do you have any ideas of how you would use a cuttlebug?

Up next is my first test projects with my new insect…

I’m a big fan of Laura Hooper’s calligraphy.  She is always being featured on my favorite blogs and I get excited to see all her beautiful creations.

While I don’t think we can afford a calligrapher, I can’t help but drool over her work.  I wonder if there is a font that is based on her calligraphy?  Anyone know of one?

I especially love her maps.  They are so fun, whimsical and personalized.  Wouldn’t you love to have one of these included in a wedding invitation?

Here is one for San Diego!

Photos from Etsy LHCalligraphy

Her work is incredible and you can see her exqisite attention to detail.  I wish I were that talented. If you want to see more of her work go check out the A Lucky Orchid blog.

I thought I would show you some great things you could use for invitation DIY. I know that for many people it’ difficult because you don’t have access to designing your own graphics for invitations, can’t afford custom invites (like me) or just are short on time. Here are some letter press invitation sets from Target that are so beautiful and chic.

Wedding Invitation Kit with Ivory/Brown/Green Flowers

Green Flat-Panel Invitation Kit

Cherry Blossom Invitation Kit

Pink Peony Invitation Flat-Panel

Black Filigree Invitation Set

Jean M. Tea-Length Invitations (Check out the other color combos too)

Baroque Flat Panel Invitation Kit

Green Melon Invitations

Jean M. Piper Pocket Invitations

Now you may be like me and want that extra personal touch to everything so that it is really “yours” and has the extra “wow” element. Have you ever seen Sandra Lee’s Semi-Homemade show on the Food Network? She takes already prepared things and adds those extra ingredients to take a plain ready-made dish to something really delicious without too much cooking chaos on your part. Here are a few ideas do do some semi-diy invitations and take these simple invitation kits to another level.

• You can add embellishments like simple belly bands by using some decorative matching paper cut in strips to wrap around the invitation. Use a square punch out with your monogram or date to attach to the center of the belly band strip.



• Order cheap monogram stickers to put on that belly band or add them to the outer envelope.



• Even a simple bow attached to the top of the invitation could be an extra personal touch.



• Another great detail would be investing in a $10 corner rounder to give the invitations a more polished and custom look.



• If you want to maybe use different envelopes you could back the invitation in another color of paper to pull together your colors. For example the black filigree invitation would look great against some green paper to create that chic and modern color scheme of white and black damask with green details.



• Take one of the more basic invitations (like the Jean M. Piper designs above) and use a rubber stamp with some metallic ink to stamp out a floral design or flourish. You could even get really fancy and emboss some images!

Look at these fun stamp images from Stamin’ Up!

Photos above from Target, myOWNinvitations blog, Create for Less, Renaissance Writings, With This Ring Blog, Stampin Up

What do you think? Have you taken the “Semi-Homemade” approach to any of your wedding planning details?