Party Planning: Invitations

These are a complete labor of love and have been drafted, revised, worked on, revised some more, worked some more, revised yet again, and finally -- completed. I took feedback from three different people at various stages of the project.

I had an idea in my head of the look I wanted. I gave that idea to my best friend, Amanda, while shopping for materials and she drew me to something I hadn't even considered. Jungle Animal buttons! What? We were at Michael's and went down the button aisle where we found the cutest buttons: giraffe, monkey, lion, zebra, and panda bear buttons. She told me I could hang them like a charm on the invite. I took it from there.

I bought a stamp online and a lot of giraffe print scrap-booking paper, with a cute giraffe silhouette border. I had a bunch of raffia twine still on hand from a previous clearance rack shopping expedition. And I went to work.

Originally I intended the giraffe silhouettes to be a belly band over the invite, but it became clear upon adding the raffia strung button charms that that just wouldn't do! So I cut the belly bands in half and pasted them to the front of the invite, below my cocoa colored ink stamped message.

I used a line or two from common jungle invite jingles and designed the rest of the invitation wording with the creative juices I have for poetry (HAH!). I spent hours working jungle animal silhouettes in paint for my border on the inside. (Note: I really could use some photoshop classes.) I used the print part of the giraffe page to use as a border to my interior.

My mom suggested I get those photo corners at a scrap-booking store so that Cole's interior picture could become a keepsake for his relatives. We only invited his endearing aunt's, uncle's and grandparents to his small bash. Brandon became my charm wielding, raffia-tying man and saved my life again. Have I mentioned I love this guy? He saves me whenever there's something to be tied! I'm a crafter and he ties a bow better than me.

With the aid of a printer, a cricut mini paper/ruler/graphing instrument (do those have a name?), some good old fashioned glue, double sided photo tabs and a professional tier, I had invitations. We had some perfect invitations.

Supplies: (All obtainable at a craft store: Ben Franklin Crafts, Michael's, JoAnn's, ect)

Raffia Twine
Scrapbook Paper (with border + print)
Brown/Cream Cardstock
Photo Corners (optional)
Animal Buttons or Charms
Photo Print (optional)
Scissors or Graph Scrapbooking Cutter
Printer or Pens
Stamp + Ink Pad (optional)
Gluestick or Double Sided Photo Tabs

Note: I'm not calling myself a creative genius or anything, but I will get a little upset if you use my little invite poetry without at least crediting me for it orally to those asking or in your blog, if applicable. Thanks. :)