Let me start this post out by saying, no, I’m not pregnant. My best friend Rachel is. And by the way, my name is Rachael which is SO different from Rachel. And no, we are not sisters. And yes, someone actually asked us that once. Seriously??
Anyway, Rachel has pretty much been a member of the family since we met back in 1994. We bonded over Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Sim City and glasses of milk filled with mini Snackwell’s cookies which were eaten with a spoon. Don’t knock it till you try it. Rachel has her first mini-me due July 3rd and my Mom and I jumped on the opportunity to throw her a shower. As per usual, we took something simple and are spending countless hours on the Internet finding ways to make it as complicated as possible. Damn you Pinterest, you truly are a time warp. It didn’t take us long to settle on a Dr. Seuss theme and of course I had to channel my inner Martha Stewart and create my own invitations.
First, I borrowed many ideas of Seuss themed invites I found on the Internet and combined them using GIMP. This is a totally free, open source Photoshop-like program. I used Photoshop for years until I switched to a Mac and was too cheap to get new software. GIMP is almost as good as the real thing, and did I mention it is free?? Many thanks for whoever was creative enough to come up with the wording of the poem. No one in my immediate family was blessed with original creativity. The fonts are Sketch Block Bold and Lauren Script. These were then printed two up on nice heavy card stock. Paper slicers truly are one of the world’s great inventions and allowed me to achieve straight lines when cutting these babies down.
Next, I used a paper punch from the Martha Stewart craft collection to add some decorative holes on the top and bottom edge of the card. Sorry for the ugly blur on the photo but I didn’t want the entire world knowing our addresses!
I attached these to slightly large pre-cut blue cards which came with matching envelopes. Not wanting to mess around with liquid glue I gave Elmer’s Glue Dots a whirl and they truly are a miracle dot. You attach them just like white out and press them down and voila! Instant, non-messy, non-wrinkly glue!
Don’t worry, I didn’t stop there. I decided I had to cut tissue paper to line the inside flap of the envelope. Again, I attached this with the miracle dots.
Here is what the finished product looks like. I have to admit, I am pretty damn impressed with myself. Can’t say we really saved any money over buying invites off the Internet. These averaged about $1 each including all supplies and envelopes. I already had the paper slicer, but the hole punch was new. Everything was purchased from Michaels.
Have no fear. There are many more Seuss themed posts to come!
Ramblings by Rach 