Thursday, August 5, 2010

Birthday Bonanza Part 1: DIY Invites



As I mentioned on Monday, the end of this month is my little girl's 1st birthday.  Since I was not at all crafty a few years ago when my boys had their first birthdays, this one is pretty exciting for me.  I've been oohing and aahing over all the amazing homemade parties I've seen, but

1. I did not want to be a crazy lady scrambling to put a million things together at 3am that morning
2. I'm trying to be frugal, so spending a lot is not an option

So, I figured if I started early enough and just did one thing at a time I could do the entire thing myself and still have most of my sanity by the big day.  Well....we'll see how that goes, but I'm trying right?


Ok, I decided to go for a tea party theme, which is girly and pretty but can have a lot of options.  First step was making some pretty invitations that didn't cost a lot.  The fancy design was surprisingly easy thanks to my lovely Cricut & Sure Cuts A Lot software (can you tell I'm in love with this now?  My sewing machine is starting to get jealous).   I'd gotten the files for these layered invitations & envelopes for free when I'd purchased some cupcake wrapper files from a very cool site called svgcuts.com.  (**their blog has loads of FREE holiday and themed files too, so I highly recommend checking it out & downloading some asap**).  I'm not being compensated to say this, but seriously, their files are awesome!!

I got the cardstock on sale for 40% off at Joann's and already had the printed paper in my paper stash.  For the teapot cutouts I just googled for teapot images and when I found one I liked I saved it, imported into SCAL and changed the size to make what I needed.  That's it!


To make the cards, using my Cricut I cut out the back in pink cardstock, the middle bit with printed paper and then added the invite portion I'd typed up & printed into the flap part, taped it all together and added a little pouring teapot to the top corner.


I made the matching envelopes the same way, using the envelope front & back files, folding & taping them together and then attaching a larger teapot cutout onto the front, so I could write the address on it.


Other than a bit of time to assemble everything, these cost under $4.00 to make.  A few months ago (before I had a clue about using a Cricut or how to do any paper crafts in general), I'd ordered some personalized baptism invites that were pretty basic and relatively inexpensive as far as those invite places go, but the price was still staggering by comparison.  I was really happy with how these turned out & definitely will make more for other stuff in the future.

Sharing this with my fave link parties too so check them out here!

15 comments:

  1. Your invitations are so pretty! I can't wait to throw a tea party for my baby girl someday. Your blog has been giving me lots of great ideas! Thanks!

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  2. This is wonderful!! You might have sold me on the SCAL. ;)

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  3. This is SO cute! You did a great job! I love the tea party theme because it reminds me of when I was a child and I had little tea parties with my tea set. Only girls were invited!

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  4. Those came out great

    I am your newest follower from the Friday Blog Hop!

    Hope you can stop by and visit my blog.
    http://shining2save.com

    Have a Great Day!

    Kari

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  5. I am now following you thanks to New Friend Fridays!It would be nice if you could share the love back on my blog!
    Also we have the coolest blog-hop there is... no rules just fun and would love you to join in:) Oh and if you need any help tweaking your blog or easy HTML tips, you know where to come!Happy Friday!

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  6. So very cute and creative! Thanks for sharing at It's Party Time Thursday at PonyTails&FishScales!

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  7. So CUTE!

    Sarah
    http://craftingandcreativity.blogspot.com/

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  8. So pretty! We just had a 1st birthday party for my little girl last weekend and her theme was pink and green...which means I *love* your invites!

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  9. Thanks for visiting my blog :D

    I'm your newest follower!! Very creative blog!

    Raychel from MyCreativeWay.Blogspot.com

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  10. Oh, I so love these cards! I have a thing for everything with tea cups and tea pots somehow ...
    Those invitations make me wanna have a tea party just to be able to send them out!!!!

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  11. These are so cute! I wish I had time for more paper crafts.

    Thanks for linking up today!

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  12. So cute! Makes me wish I had a Cricut!

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  13. Wow! I love your invitations and am sure it will be a great tea party! I am a new foller to your blog. Won't you come on over and check mine out?

    Shannon

    http://gettingintotruffle.blogspot.com

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  14. Just darling! I love the pink and green together!

    Thanks for linking up at Craftastical!

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Getting your comments brightens my day. I'd love if you left one:)

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