Save the Dates.....save some money :)

I love the idea of a Save the Date ( I refuse to use the initials it says STD...really for a wedding ha ha) Jerm and I are having a Summer wedding and I was afraid that many people would be going on family vacations and such.  I sent these out MONTHS ago but I wanted to post my DIY Save the Dates, I have NO experience with making cards, unless you count the countless ones I made with my preschool students?  I wanted them to look pretty and well thought out, but not professional, I want everyone to know this is a DIY wedding, so things wont be perfect, but they will be original and ours!

Supplies:

• Blank Cards with Envelopes, bought mine on sale at Michael's....closest Hobby Lobby is in Louisville :(
• Photo corners (clear)
• pack of magnetic sheets, got mine at Wal Mart for under a dollar a pack, I bought two but only needed one.
• rubber stamps of your choice ( I got these at Michael's also....on sale!) Clear stamps would have worked better, but they weren't on sale and I couldn't find any that I really liked!

• Stamp ink in your choice of colors, Our wedding colors are black, white and Tiffany blue, but Tiffany blue is a trademarked color so I just buy the color that is closest to it, unfortunately it is different names for different companies, but I have my trusty swatch of fabric that I carry with me!)

Optional:

I have this X-acto paper cutter, but you can just use scissors if you don't have one, or I bought mine for like $10 a long time ago from Wal Mart, it works well and I use it for a lot of things!

Save the Date:

 My friend Emily took some really beautiful engagement photos for us, then she used photo shop and created this save the date card for us, ( I wrote down what I wanted it to say) put it on a jump drive, and I took it down to Wal Mart and made as many copies as I needed! Thank you Emily!!

Making the Save the Dates:

I used my Xacto to cut the magnetic sheets into the size that I wanted, I realized that a medium sized magnet in the middle of the card would hold it just fine.

The magnetic sheets have an adhesive side to them so you just simply peel back the paper and stick it to them :)

I then stamped the card on the front side, at first I was really picky about how much ink was on it, and that it matched up perfectly, but I kinda like how the ink was lighter in some areas, still obsessed with how they lined up though!
*When stamping I used a blank piece of paper under my cards so no excess ink would get on my work table!

I then slipped the clear photo corners on each corner of the Save the Date, and just simply placed it where I wanted it to go.  I guess you could put the clear photo corners down then slip the Save the Date in them, but I thought that way gave too much room for error!

Using only a part of one of the rubber stamps I stamped the corners of the front of each envelope, this was actually very easy to get just right and soon I was flying though them.

After stamping all of the envelope's front sides, I then repeated the process on the back of each envelope ( I wanted to allow them time to dry so no ink smeared, I moved from oldest stamped to newest) I also added that beautiful detailed key stamp to the center of each envelope, the keys play another part in our wedding (tale to come later) This one is crooked, I had extras, so I didn't send this one, its a good idea to allow for some mistakes and make a few extras!

There you go the finished product! They may not be perfect or identical but it's not like people will be showing them to each other to compare them.......right?  Plus they are homemade and are perfect for me in design sweet, simple and classy.  Well at least I think so :)

A big thanks goes out to Emily for creating the beautiful Save the Date, Cheryl for all your design input and help, and Shawnna for helping me stamp and put all these Save the Dates together!!!!

Oh and by the way, after total costs, each Save the Date cost me about $0.38....I love saving money!! I might have been able to get them made cheaper somewhere else, but I am in love with these things and so proud of them!!