Avie is turning 2! So we’re having a polka dot party! Here’s a quick little sneak peek at what I’ve been working on!
I made her inviations (with the help of daddy designing the wording portion). At first, I had a compass like cutter to make the circles. On my goodness. Not an easy task. Take my advice and wait until Hobby Lobby has a sale on punches. After making a majority of these by hand, I finally made it to Hobby Lobby and planned to use my 40% coupon only to find that all punches were on sale 40% off. So I bought 3 different sizes (the ones I thought to be most useful.)
Meet Huey, Dewey and Louis. 3/4″, 1″ and 1.5″ circle punches. I altered my design slightly and they worked perfectly for my second round of invitations. I ordered the prints of Avie at Walmart, with the help of Ansen. He put 2 3×3″ photos on one 4×6″ sized card so we could print 2 to a print, which cut the cost in half. The rest was just cutting and positioning.
But then… I needed envelopes. Any idea how much 4×6 envelopes are? Well, they’re about 4 times the cost of regular security envelopes and I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. So I opted for making my own and came up with a pretty awesome template that I fully anticipate using over and over again.
I started with 2 4-inch circles and 2 6″ circles (no thanks to my compass cutter). Then I arranged them so that the 4″ circles were exactly half and the 6″ circles were exactly 4 inches apart. The middle part is a 4×6 rectangle (or slightly larger to account for a thicker card).
Then I used some thick cardstock like paper (from a shirt box, actually) to cut a template.
Using the paper of your choice, cut out the shape and fold in each circle. At first, I was a little concerned that it would be difficult to make sure that the folds were exact, but honestly, once you start, it’s not too hard. Pull the smaller circle toward the middle until it’s right on the corner on both sides and then crease. Do the second smaller circle, then the bottom and then the top. You can practice on scrap paper first, if you want.
Lastly, using a glue stick on the small circles only (in an arch like motion) glue the bottom to the sides. Once the envelope has been stuffed, you can do the same to the top flap too.
I made mine out of wrapping paper. Just a pro-tip, if you have very curly paper, like off a wrapping paper roll, use a warm iron to smooth it out! You can use scrapbook paper or rolls of paper, or whatever you prefer! It’s pretty fun to make your own cards and envelopes. The possibilities are endless!