::pirate party invitations::

I had to experiment with these bad boys.  

All of them are printed on card stock from my super cheap home printer.  I made the font in a dark brown to try and add to the aged effect.  The pirate at the top was off a Google search for "free pirate clip art". 

The first try was cut out to be a map shape and then dipped in watered down food color mixed to be brown.  It turned out green and not wrinkled enough.

The second try was paper dipped in the food coloring and them wrinkled into a ball.  It came out so faded and over wrinkled that you could no longer read it.  And it was still green.

Lily likes to make herself tea so I made a batch and experimented with it.  It was too pink, not very brown.  By this point I had looked up online from Martha Stewart the idea of putting the mixture  into a spray bottle instead of dipping the paper.  I had also figured out by this point to spray the paper lightly.  Then wrinkle it into a ball - this made the paper easier to wrinkle but the print didn't fade.  But even with all this experimentation the color was still too pink.  

I didn't want to go to the store and buy a darker tea just for this.  I started digging through the cabinets looking for something brown that would work.  I came up with baking cocoa.  I wasn't sure it would work but I figured - why not?  I put one teaspoon for about 1.5-2 cups of water into a spray bottle.  It worked well.  

Here are my final directions -
Print invitation in brown ink on white card stock.  
Take one teaspoon powdered baking cocoa to about 2 cups of water.  Put in a spray bottle and mix very well.  
Spray the front of each invite lightly.  Make sure you cover it but don't soak it.  Rub it in with your hands.  Be careful on any place with black ink because the smear on them was more obvious.  
Turn the page over and lightly spray and smear the back.
Wad the page into a ball.
Smooth it out, able more spray if needed, and leave it to dry.  
When dry rip the invite roughly into a map like shape.  
Smooth out the paper like you would a dollar bill you are trying to get into a soda machine.  
Burn the edges.  
Show them to Max and have him add his name and use a pencil to poke a hole in each one.  He says its a cannon ball.  
Roll it into a map and tie it with the string of your choice.  I used yellow raffia because it was near by.

 

 

::lollipop invitations::

These were the easiest invitation yet!

I got the lollipops on sale at Cracker Barrel.

Buy one get one half off.

Price is steep at $3 each, but I only needed 10 and decided to splurge just a little.  

Double sided tape attached the information to the front.

Done - and it took less than 20 minutes from start to finish.  

 

::nail polish birthday invites::

 These invites were inspired by some that I saw on etsy.  Please link here to see the original inspiration.

Back in the olden days when I needed a template I would print off an inspiration picture and play with the sizing on a photocopier till I got just the right size.  Now days my job would walk me right out the door for that kind of stuff, so I had to figure out a new way to get a template.  I tried tracing an actual nail polish bottle and then tracing it bigger and bigger.  This was time consuming and didn't look right.

Then I had another idea -
I found a picture online of a bottle of OPI nail polish.  I enlarged it on my iPad till it was about the right size, and then put a regular piece of printer paper on top of my iPad screen.  It was easy to trace it onto that sheet.  I cut it out and traced in onto a piece of cardstock.  Template done.  Less than two mins of time invested.  Perfect.

 The rest was just getting all the pieces cut out.  I started with the nail polish bottle traced on glitter paper with velum label wrapped around the back so you can't see the adhesive holding it on.  Then a black lid cut out and the whole thing attached to another piece of card stock.  After that I cut out that bottom piece of cardstock to mirror the bottle and lid.  I loved how they turned out and they were not too time consuming.  I did not make the lid lift off like the inspiration invite, because I felt that was going to make them too complex for me to make myself quickly.  

One thing done on the party check off sheet.

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::movie party invite::

Let's recall that I did not have the energy or funds this year to go insane for Lily's party.  But I still wanted to do something fun.  We are doing a drive in movie party.  I broke my usual handmade/labor intensive routine and bought invites off etsy.  They cost $13 for the art and $18 at staples to print off 35 copies.  Total invite cost was 88 cents each.  I can live with that.  

I highly recommend the etsy shop "Cutie Patootie Designs".  She had cool designs for many themes and her prices were very reasonable.

::bubble invite::

I usually put a TON of time (ok Josh - and money) into making the kids birthday invitation.  It is a labor of love.  Just like making their cakes, I feel like that extra touch shows that I adore them.  It doesn't.  I know that, but lets not loose track of the fact that I am not totally sane.  In any way.  This year I am pregnant again and I am struggling with motivation - so I decided to go with some of the talented artist on etsy.  There are numerous listings on etsy for printable invites.  You pay different sums, usually under $20 and then you can print as mony copies as you want of the customized invite or decorations that the artist makes you.   

 I kind of liked this one, but it wasn't exactly right.    

This one was close too, but still not it.

I liked this one too.

Then I found this one and I was IN LOVE.  It's just right.  We will mount these on a background of bubble wrap and pass them out at school.  They are simple enough to not be overwhelming but still visually interesting.  I am supper excited.  The artist is wonderful!  Super professional, very happy to customize, and offers many matching printable items.  Prices are great too - the invites are going to run me $15 for the art.  I will spend a little more with her because I just have to have some of the other printables she makes.  But most of the food labels will just be on different color vellum circles.  

What do you think?  Are these the right ones? 

(Side note - I LOVE BIRD CRAFTS printables and party supplies, but she told me she was just to slammed this year to do a custom party.  I can understand that, so I have had to search for a new person to do printables.  I still miss my BIRD.)

::fashion party invite::

 Last minute parties blow my mind.  

When my 13 year old mother (I am the step monster), told me that she wanted to do Emma's party at our house this year AND IN ONLY TWO WEEKS I almost threw up.

I need months!

I am planning Lily's September party already.

I am WAY on her tea party in May.

But I sucked it up and got to work.  

Emma and I made this invites off party that I already had laying around.

 For some unknown reason I also had a pack of pink envelopes that were just right.

Emma wanted them to be fancy - so we printed out each girls name on them and added some sparkle. 

 Now, I just hope the party goes off as easy.

Sneak peak - we have a real hair dresser coming to do hair and I am taking their modeling photos.  

FINGERS CROSSED!!!

side note - this is a wonderful chance for me to chill out and not get overly stressed about a party.  Chill out and let the girls have a great time.  It's not about making the coolest treat table ever, its about the girls having a blast.  And celebrate the fact that a first wife and a current/second wife can come together and throw a party together.   

(BUT you can bet you rear that the tea party is going to be over the top.)

These are inspired by this link. 

::bat invites for the not happening party::

I spent a good chunk of time cutting out these bats.

And I talked several people into helping me.

I made 23.  With love.

And shipped them off to school.

Some how Lily managed to loose them.

At first I was ticked.

Now I decided that it doesn't matter.

So - no Halloween party.

But the invites were really cute. 

 This was the first draft.  

Smart Shelly came up with  poem.  She is amazing at that.  

But it really wanted some sparkle.

So I added purple glitter around the circle.

Then folded in the wings.

I really like how they turned out.  Even if they never get used.  

::palette invite::

When Lily started Kindergarten last year I struggled with her party invitations.  I usually try to make her invites a year in review, with lots of pictures.  But other kids don't care about seeing all those pictures.  So last year I made a family invite and a put only one picture in the school invites.   This year I decided that I wanted two totally different invites.  I have already done her water colors school invites, so it was time to get to work on the family invite.  The first thing I did was cut out two inch circles of different color paper on my cricut cutter.

Then I bought a real palette from the craft store and used it to trace the base for my invite.  I tried to find online templates but could seem to track down the right one.  This one cost $2 at the craft store, and it was just the right size.

Then I had to cut it out.  Not my favorite job, but an evening with American Pickers helped me get it done.

I printed out a variety of pictures of Lily from the year in a 2/3 inch format.  I used a 1.5 inch hole punch to cut out circles of her face.

Then I taped it all together with my industrial tape gun.  (Which I should post about, because I am actively IN love with it.)

Then I got on the Mac version of Word and made up this simple information sheet for the back.


I really like how they turned out.  

 

  

::easy art party invite::

Disclaimer: I am crazy about birthday parties.  This has already been established.  

I am making two different invites for Lily's birthday art party.  One has lots of pictures on it and is for the family/adult friends, I will post it in a few days.  But for now I am really excited to talk about the invite that Lily will be passing out at school.  I worked very closely with a wonderful designer on Etsy named Bird.  She made this custom invite printable for me.  The cost was $20 and I felt like that was very reasonable.  I can't wait to work with her again.  She did some custom labels for me that I will be using at the party.  Please link here to see her clever party idea filled blog and here to see her Etsy shop.

The outside

The inside

These were so easy.  Walmart had the paint sets for $1 each.  Then I just printed out as many copies as I needed from the art work that Bird made for me.  I printed them on card stock and used my paper cutter to trim them down.  I used a little tape from my tape gun on the middle to hold the two sides together.  And finally, I put just a little bit of tape on the "are" on the front to hold it down to the plastic.  

I love the idea of giving an invitation that is also useful.  I hope that even the kids that don't come to the party get the chance to make some cool art with these paints.










 

::flip flop invite - take 2::

Both Emma and Lily are having end of school parties.  Kinder-shorties from 4-6 and 6th graders from 7-MIDNIGHT.  Since the theme is a luau I decided to recycle my flip flop invite idea for Lily's party.

  

They really are pretty quick and easy to make.  The hardest part is figuring out the right spacing on the computer so they print out with in the flip flop shape.

Top layer from the back and bottom layer from the front

Party isn't till the 28th, but I will post lots of pictures then of how the event unfolds.