Tools for Graphic Artist Wannabes (like me haha)

When we were doing the layout for the invites, we relied heavily on GIMP. According to Wikipedia,

"GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program) is an image retouching and editing tool and is released under the GPLv3 (or later) license as free and open-source software. There are versions of GIMP tailored for most operating systems including Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X and Linux."

Yes you read it right, it's an open source tool! It's a great alternative to Adobe Photoshop if you are working on projects for personal use only and if you don't have the moolah to buy a licensed software. (I'm implicitly saying no to pirated software. Get that? Haha)

Assembling Invites - WIP 70%

Well, we have finished a few invitation suites for our wedding last weekend. Hooray! So while the groom-to-be is still doing the rest of the ribbons, I am happy to share our finished DIY invites. We don't have the part where we will put the names of the invitees yet but I believe the suites are in a state where we can hand them out already to some family members so we can get initial reactions. Haha

When opened

I am now in love with the paper cutter! If it wasn't for it, we are still cutting the sheets manually up to now.

When closed

The suite is so sweet!

Looking back, here's also the anatomy of our invites:
http://diyinday.blogspot.com/2012/08/diy-pocketfolds.html
http://diyinday.blogspot.com/2012/08/invite-layouts.html 

I know it's far from perfect and we can't compare it to the professionally done invites but PJ and I are really pleased with the outcome of this DIY. I hope the invitees will feel the same way too! :)

Nothing beats labor of love. Hahaha

Save-the-Date

Last month, PJ was very excited to show me a number of save-the-date invites. When I saw the images, I already knew where it came from but I did not tell him right away. His eyes are full of pride, the same eyes that melt my heart everytime. I'm kilig much. Haha. I feel lucky and am just too happy that he's willing to help with the DIY wedding stuff.

Going back to the save-the-date.. Drumroll, please... He got it from Wedding Chicks! Haha. So the template I picked from the downloaded images he showed me is this one but it's missing a vital information so I tweaked it a bit and here it is:

 

I used Rockwell Font for the church information.
You can find the font here: http://www.eaglefonts.com/rockwell-ttf-130959.htm

Wedding Chicks Save-the-Date template: http://www.weddingchicks.com/2012/07/13/free-printable-save-the-date/

Assembling Invites - WIP 50%

We're done cutting! We'll do the ribbons next. Yey!!

Assembling Invites - WIP 20%

We are done cutting all main invite sheets but there are still 174 more sheets and 60 monograms to cut. So far, we have mounted 30 sheets on the pocket fold. It's far from done. I think the ribbons for our invites are now collecting dust.

DIY Pocketfolds

We really wanted to create our own invites so after numerous pegs and continuous research, we decided to have a pocket fold invite. This project was completed sometime July 2012.

The size of our invitation is 6 X 6 inches so our pocket folds are sized to 6.5 X 6.5 inches.

Materials:

1. Venice Specialty Board with Metallic Effects by Veco Paper 
2. Glue

Tools:

1. Scoring Board
2. Bone folder
3. Cutter
4. Cutting Mat
5. Sola Iced Tea Bottle

Scoring the board to 6.5 inches vertically and horizontally

Invite Layouts

We have started drafting our invites last year and I have lost count already as to how many times we have changed the layout. Since we have started printing our invites already, I believe this is the F-I-N-A-L.

I'm excited with the paper cutter! Will post soon. :)

Main invite