Save the date!

I am finally getting round to posting about my first DIY project, our Save the Date cards!

Most of them have now been sent or given to our day guests. I just have a couple more to post this week after getting the last few addresses from mum. {Excuse all the smudgyness in the pictures, I wanted to make sure no names or addresses were shown!}

To make the cards I used the following:

Card - Dark purple card that we found at the Paper Mill;
Paper - Sparkling White Iridescent paper from the Folio range at Paper State {Hobbycraft};

Overlay - Marble Transmarque translucent paper also from the Folio range at Paper State {Hobbycraft};

Stamp - Holly Blossoms rubber stamp from the Decorative Blossoms set by Hero Arts {Ebay};

Ink - Violet Versacolor ink from Tsukineko {Hobbycraft};

Tools - Making Memories Instant Setter with the Slot Punch attachment {Ebay};

Ribbon - Purple & white ribbon from Kate's Paperie;

Stamp - Custom 'Made by Gaynor' barcode stamp from Mirramark {Ebay};

Glue - Double sided permanent transfer tape from Stix 2 x 3/4 {Hobbycraft};

Envelopes - C7 oyster white iridescent envelopes bought from the Paper Mill;

Return address labels - Dandelion labels from lettercdesign {Etsy}.

I really enjoyed making the save the date cards and they turned out exactly how I wanted them too but they were quite time consuming for such little cards {just A7!} This was of course because I insisted on having 3 separate layers which all had to be cut to size before printing, then the stamping had to be done and left to dry before 2 layers were glued together. The ribbon was then added once the slots had been punched out to secure the transparent layer. Although I loved the cards, and we have had lots of lovely comments about them, if I was to change anything, I maybe wouldn't have gone with punching the ribbon slots if I had known how long it would take. The card we used was too thick and each punch through the 3 layers took quite a while! Alternatively, we could have used thinner card but it was the perfect colour! So ribbon slot punching is definitely not happening on the invitations although I will still use the white paper, the stamp, the dark purple card and of course the ribbon. I wont be using the translucent paper as an overlay again but I'm trying to think of a way to incorporate it, maybe as a belly band around the pocketfold?

We actually bought the ribbon for the cards the day after we got engaged in New York. We went to Kate's Paperie, which is one of my favourite shops in New York, to have a look around and I couldn't resist buying some purple satin ribbon and some white organza ribbon. Of course, after we had started making the cards I realised that I would want the invites to follow the same design and would therefore need more ribbon. We did search here for a similar colour but couldn't find anything as nice. Luckily, my aunt and uncle were going to be in New York in May after my cousins graduation in Indiana so they agreed to get us some more. So now I have 9 spools of ribbon waiting to be used {.5" purple satin x 3; .25" purple satin x 3 & .25" white organdy x 3}, which I hope is enough!

We have also had an issue with the dark purple card we used but I will expand on that in a future post, as well as the new stamp I have found!