Our Casual Autumn Wedding…

Cut Card Stock celebrates creativity and this month they’re showcasing their invitations.  I’ve been so excited to show you how I used their Brown Bag products, and most importantly their Brown Bag Paper Petal Invitations, to create my own wedding invitations.  We chose 11-11-11 for our special day for the obvious reason and because autumn is one of my favorite seasons.  We’re all about a casual, comfortable style and we wanted the invitations to reflect that.

I wanted to do something a little different with the petal invite, so I chose the A7 size because I knew it would hold a 5″ x 7″ flat invitation nicely, along with the other ancillary cards like our response card and directions to the venue.  I began by cutting a 5″ x 7″ piece of Flame Stardream Metallic cardstock as the invitation’s base.  This paper is thick and luxurious and the color is perfect for bringing a little sparkle and warmth to the autumn theme of the invitation.  Next I cut a 4.75″ x 6.75″ piece of Neenah Classic Crest in Solar White, the MOST perfect paper for coloring with Copic markers, and printed the text of my invitation on my InkJet printer.  I then stamped the leafy vine and blue birds (Memory Box’s love birds) with Memento ink and colored them with Copic markers.  You may think blue birds an odd choice for a fall theme, but I’ve always been partial to the idea of the “Blue Bird of Happiness”.  They’ll show up in other ways at the wedding reception.  All these high quality papers layered together create a wonderful flat invitation with just enough color to please the eye and make you feel the flutter of the leaves soon to come.

To add a bit more interest to the Petal Invites, I chose not to fold and mail, but put blue eyelets into two of the sides and tied them up with natural jute twine.  The entire invitation then gets put into hand tinted blueberry envelopes, also from the Brown Bag line.  There is a half-circle notch in the flap of the envelope and I plan to add a seal or medallion there when mailing…maybe a monogram along with some fall leaves.

I used the same techniques for the response card by cutting the Flame cardstock to 4.875″ x 3.5″ and the Neenah to 4.625″ x 3.25″, running the Neenah through the printer, then stamping and coloring to suit.  I edged both the invite and response card with Distress Ink in Antique Linen and then a touch more on the corners with Tea Dye.  The response card will be returned in an A1 Brown Bag envelope.  A card for directions will also be added, again employing the same techniques used on the response card.  No envelope will be needed.

Copic colors used

These simple invitations can easily be modified for any occasion.  All invitations are on sale at Cut Card Stock, so why not give them a try!