dinner party

I made some really awesome and truly one-of-a-kind dinner party invitations last weekend! They were so fun to create and of course I'd always MUCH rather make something myself than buy it (especially if I already have the supplies on hand!)

I created 12 invites and they were all unique! The top and middle layers of paper were consistent through all of them, but they were each mounted on various "fall-ish" shades of colored paper and each of the little buntings slightly varied.

I hand-crafted these miniature little bunting banners by using triangles I cut from scrapbook paper and some twine, then just wove them together and into the middle (black) layer of paper on the invites. My secret tool in accomplishing this delicate task is my awl - a surgical and dangerous-looking tool from my bookmaking class in college!

Though I cut the invites to fit in a standard envelope, I wanted something a little more exciting than just a plain white envelope. So, off to Michael's I went, and much to my dismay, I was unable to find any "standard" sized envelopes - at all! I really wanted a nice warm craft paper look for the envelopes so I stood there stumped as to what I could do. Hmmm....bags? Paper bags? I headed over to the gift wrap aisle to try and find some flat gift bags in that warm color I was becoming more and more obsessed with finding. All of the bags they had were NOT flat, so I knew whatever I did I would have to improvise. The gift bags they had were not the right size. Hanging my head in defeat, I looked down on the very bottom shelf to find the most perfect-in-every-way bags that turned out to be COFFEE bags! SWEET! Even better!! They were the perfect size and immediately ideas started rushing through my head. 

I needed to keep the bags flat like an envelope, so I found some fun "duck tape" to wrap around and tape down the bottom part of the bag so they wouldn't "inflate" in the mail and, as a result, be squished. This added a really fun detail to the bags and held them together quite nicely :)

The next thing I needed was a little flair. Lo and behold in the $1 bins I found this AMAZING stamp of an old vintage big wheel bicycle! I just loved it! They had lots of fun little stamps but this one was just perfect, so I added it to the front of my "envelopes", and with the printed tape on the left side, created a little kind of "framed in" area for the addresses. 

All I had left to do was fill my envelopes and the BEST PART was sealing them off by bending the top down with the metal bag closures! I put a sticker on the back over the bent-down flap to secure it and popped them in the mail! I love them so much!

What I love about them is that they are incredibly unique and so much better than anything I could have purchased!! The bags were only .30 a piece and I had a coupon for the duck tape, and the stamp only $1. I only spent about $6 total to create these!


What kinds of fun DIYs have you done that turned out amazing??