Latest project:  my sister’s wedding invitations.  I’ve been busy working on them over the past three weeks and finally finished the last 55 of 175 invitations today.  What a relief that was!  The wedding is about a month away so you can see how important it was for me to get them done… like  right now, haha.  I didn’t have very much notice.  My sister got engaged earlier this year and the search for a date and venue for an early Fall wedding started early Summer.  Once it was confirmed I jumped on creating a mass production worksite on my small dining room table.  My kitties were much kinder to me this time by not interfering with the work process too much.  Seung was even helpful.  I offered to make her invitations since I was feeling a little creative.  Plus, I knew my sister would need A LOT of help and I could save her money without sacrificing  too much in design and creativity.  I wore those shoes before so any help I can offer to any bride is my pleasure.  Well maybe just the lucky ones =).  I came up with a few mock designs below.  There was only one clear winner in which my sister, her fiance, my mom and I loved the most.And the winner goes to…

Every part of the invitation was made from scratch.  The pouch was probably the most frustrating part.   Actually, I take that back. Kinkos was the most frustrating part.  They messed up on 100 of the cards since some of their staff are idiots and can’t operate the cutting machine.  They weren’t the cheapest cardstock paper either.  I can’t believe how many times I had to tell one of the guys how to cut my paper and he still did it wrong and on top of it did it very poorly.  It was disappointing since I thought I found the only Kinkos in town that actually does a great job with it too.  After a few venting sessions to random crafty people they told me never to go to Kinkos to get my cuttings done and recommended me to Office Max instead.  I have to say that I’m very impressed with Office Max’s Impress services.  They’re cheaper than Kinkos too.  Anyway, all of the supplies for the invitations came from Paper Zone.  The beautiful French ribbons were from Packaging Specialties for $84 a roll (call me crazy??!).  I needed two rolls *ouch*.  I don’t really know why anything labeled as “French” is so expensive.  We totally could’ve used the simpler solid ribbon for about $7 a roll.  What can I say?  The best way for me to justify paying $84 for a roll of ribbons is that it was similar to finding that perfect ”dress” except in this case ribbons, hehe.  Next project:  brainstorm ideas for ceremony programs, placement name cards and reception menus.  I’m swinging towards something simple since the invitations drained all the energy out of me.  We’ll just see…