{diy: paper trial #1}

I've been playing around with Microsoft Publisher and designed a trial run of our STDs (Save the Dates - not cooties), Invitation, and RSVP card. This is what I have so far.

The picture that I used for my mock-up is one of the professional photos that we took for our two year anniversary. Funny fact - we have now been dating for more than twice the time that we were when that photo was taken. Whatever photo we do choose will get either the sepia treatment or something similar to vintage-it-up.

Just as a reminder, these babies will someday become postcards so we can get the word out while keepin' the budget in line.

The subtle blue box that is on the lower end actually hosts the address of our wedding venue but I couldn't provide that because of the whole privacy/safety junk. Ya'know, try not to invite stalker/murders to our wedding and whatnot. Oh, and our last names are not "last" and "name." Or... maybe they are. Ha.

The digital scrapbook paper and quatrefoil cutout were available for free for download from this brilliant lady. Seriously, it took me forever to design what I did simply because Rita has so many gorgeous papers and designs available. I wish I had half of the talent that lady does. I'm hoping to bust out two invitations per one sheet of paper.

I carried the same basic shape (although stretched a little different) and paper over to the RSVPs to create a cohesive suite. These, too, have a future in the postcard-world. 

What is the next step for our invitation suite? Well, I plan to add some kraft paper backing, lace or burlap as belly bands, include a tag directing guests to our personal wedding website (not this one), and some twine to hold all the pieces together. Maybe even some pretty corner punches. I'm excited to show these to Stamper-mom and her stampin' friends and see what extra scrapbookin' goodness they can suggest to up the wow factor.

Overall, there is a lot that I need to fix. Even as I was posting this, I kept bringing the file up to tweak one thing or another. Oh, and don't even bring up spelling/grammar. Apparently today is not my day because I found out that on one version I made, I actually misspelled my own name. Yep. I have to remember too that over the next 542 days, I'm sure these will be tweaked a couple hundred more times if not completely thrown out of the window.

Right now, however, I'm lovin' the design. We'll see what D says when he comes home. :)

Any suggestions, guys? Anyone else DIY their own invitations and have any good words of wisdom? I can take whatever wisdom people can give these days.