Friday, June 27, 2008

The unmentionable invites, continued....

I thought these buggers would never be finished. I thought they existed merely to torture me, to drive me insane and render me incapable of any speech other than the constant and continuous muttering under my breath of swear words and sentiments like "If we call off the wedding we won't need invitations...'

But they are done and the have flown the nest (and not via the living room window), well most of them have, there are a few stubborn ones that just won't leave but I will deliver them by hand if I have to...



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They are 5x5inch squares of recycled watercolour paper backed with Cabbages and Roses Cerise Hately fabric, which I am indecently in love with. I want to cover our house in it. The Boy isn't too keen on my penchant for floral fabric, but he likes this one. It's the perfect blend of romantic and modern.


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We got silk ribbon dyed to match the fabric (anal much?) by Cam Creations who are based in the US and were unbelievably helpful. Even with postage this was a sixth of the price of any in the UK. I love the internet. And ribbon.


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The print on the fabric was spaced out so much that it was impossible to get the same amount of print on each invite without wasting a tonne of fabric, so some have very little at all, but I like the variety.

The fabric is expensive so I bought it on ebay. And was sent a really bad fake. Which Cabbages and Roses replaced for me free of charge. Nice people, Cabbages and Roses.


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The little cards give the details of our wedding website where all of the usual 'invitation' information is. They were printed on recycled card and backed with white linen. Like our save the date cards.



The RSVP cards were finally, finally finished....


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So there you are, the finished article. For all of you who are making your own invitations, keep the faith - you will finish them one day. Even if you think you will go mad trying. You might, but that's a small price to pay for the overwhelming satisfaction of putting them in the post box. And saying goodbye to them and hoping upon hope that you will never have to do it again. Even though you now know you can.


Oh and I still don't like glue.

23 comments:

  1. omg they are GORGEOUS! so worth the pain and suffering (i had the same dramas!) i love the texture, the colour, the design and the vintage loveliness

    can i come to your wedding? its gonna be so besutiful

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  2. ok so I'm not just saying this but what little beauties! I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the colour! Gorgeous. I too wish one was flying through my letter box! Lucky guests! P.S. Make sure you save a really nice one for a keep sake

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  3. They are just as beautiful as I expected from you :)

    I love the colour, love how you dyed the ribbon, love how they're all slightly different, love Cabbages and Roses... and love my wonderful colleague who is doing all this hard work for us :)

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  4. Beautiful! Clean and fresh! V pretty!

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  5. Holy crow those are amazing, Cara

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  6. LOVE the fabric and the finished piece! i'm just about to start designing our invitations, (it takes some mental preparation, you know?), so thanks for the inspiration and words of encouragement! and the invitations are just one of the endless diy projects i must get to in the next 4 months... eek.

    love you blog. beautiful.

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  7. your invitations are so pretty, I love your blog :)

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  8. I like that they are a little uncoventional, but they are the kind of thing that your grandma and your uncle and your niece can all appreciate at the same time. You must have some kind of magic dust in your fingers, everything you touch ends up coming out so beautiful.

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  9. THANK YOU so much for giving me HOPE!

    I'm currently doing the muttering, stomach-achy, panicking that comes along with designing your own invites. I needed that tidbit of inspiration.

    AND THEY TURNED OUT BEAUTIFUL. :)

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  10. I really like that they are written as a letter, and I also love how the fabric turned out different for each!! Just lovely.

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  11. Beautiful unmentionables!
    Great job!

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  12. Stunning! I know it was misery...but so much beauty in the end. (And if we just nudged that little card over a tiny bit, we'd be able to find out the boy's name. Tricky girl!)

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  13. Thank you girlies!

    Kat, doesn't DIY take its toll on your blood pressure! Thank you, I hope it is beautiful!

    Zoe, I didn't make any extra! It was really silly of me but I just couldn't face making one more damn invite!

    GS, lucky lady! I wish we could have talked someone else into doing it instead!

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  14. Kim, thank you!

    Flutter, you're so sweet!

    Lovelymorning, thank you and welcome to Peonies and Polaroids! It really does take some mental preparation to gear up to the big DIY fight! You can do it!

    Melissa, thank you and welcome to P+P too!

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  15. Jenna, what a lovely thing to say, you make me blush! Honestly most of the time I can't see past the mistakes and what could be done to make it 'better', but every day that gets further away from the pain of making them they start to look pretty good!

    Kate, you're welcome. You can do it too! Don't panic!

    Meg, I just couldn't imagine sending out an invitation that wasn't written like a letter, it seemed so impersonal to me. And the fact that they're all a little bit different is my favourite bit!

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  16. Rochambeau, thank you!

    FF, ahh, I thought that one through! Must protect the innocent!

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  17. Peonies, they rock. And I love love love that they're all different!

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  18. beautiful, stunning, gorgeous, etc etc etc. :)

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  19. Your commentary is killing me! I've been ready to throw my computer out the window for over a month now. It's causing me to procrastinate on ALL of my projects.

    Your work is stunning! BRAVO. So unique.

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  20. Your invites are so pretty. I adore this fabric and the concept.

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  21. Thank you Ami and East Side!

    Tina, oh I know that feeling well! Take a deep breath, step away from the computer and grab yourself a swift drink before tackling it again!

    Thank you Lobster and Swan, and welcome to my blog!

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  22. these are lovely.
    -bahareh

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  23. these are beautiful! i realize this posting is old, but am hoping you can give me some wise words about picking out a fabric/adhesive. i am actually looking to doing something pretty similar, and would really love some advice. thanks!

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play nice.