WEDDING WEDNESDAY AND GET CRAFTY: HOMEMADE BRIDESMAID CARDS

First, I must apologize for my lack of posts this past week! I was away in Austin, TX visiting my fiancé for a few days and chose to go without my laptop to take a true mini break.

That said, I am back with my promised Wedding Wednesday post, which is also very affordable! :)

Anywho, as I mentioned last week that I would be showing you how I created some homemade bridesmaid cards and so here I am with just that step by step in what I refer to as a"Get Crafty" post.

Now, since I live away from those who will be a direct part of my wedding, I decided to ask each of them through the mail in some good, old fashioned cards that I created in my head and then put to paper.

STEP 1:

Go to a craft store near you and pick up card stock, cards, envelops and pens in the colors of your choice. You might even find some inspiration, as I did, while you are there!

I made a quick trip to my local Michael's craft store to pick up my supplies, which included some card stock paper, pearlized cards and metallic markers.

Bridesmaid card making supplies.

Close-up on one of the metallic markers from Michael's.

Pearlized gold blank cards I used from Michael's.

Pearlized gold blank cards from Michael's info in case you want to get them.

While wondering around Michael's I found this little box for $2, which is what helped inspire my soft, romantic, "blush & bashful" color scheme.

STEP 2:

Take out the cards you purchased and create a black document, set at the width and height of your card, and type what you would like it to say inside with a font and color of your choice.

I chose the "Champagne" font style for Mac OS X using Photoshop in a brown that matched and wrote, "Will you be my bridesmaid?"

Then, print it out on your home printer making sure you set the paper style to heavy weight or something similar since you are printing on card stock, which is thinker than regular printer paper.

Blank card as purchased at Michael's.

Inside after placing the blank card in my printer.

The inside reads: "Will you be my bridesmaid?"

STEP 3:

Cut card stock to the size you wish in order to layer it on the front of the card. Think of it as choosing one color as a border for the other.

Pink and chocolate brown textured card stock cut to size to layer on front of each card.

STEP 4:

I went online and found an illustration of what looked like a bridesmaid and then selected it and filled the area with black to create a silhouette of the image.

Next I printed it on card stock paper, which is heavier paper, and cut it out in order to create my own stencil.

Picture I found online of a bridesmaid illustration printed on plain paper.

(image)

Same bridesmaid illustration printed on card stock paper after I created a silhouette of it using Photoshop.

Card stock stencil of bridesmaid illustration silhouette after I cut it out.

STEP 5:

Take the stencil and place it on top of the card stock paper you have chosen to be the bridesmaid dress color for the purpose of the card itself. Trace the stencil a couple times using a pencil, in case you make a mistake, and in order to insure you can see it.

Align all of the pieces and center then on the front of you card to be sure they all fit as you would like them and make any final changes as need be.

Bridesmaid stencil placed on brown card stock to trace.

Bridesmaid after traced on brown card stock ready to be cut out.

Pink card stock in place and ready to be glued to pearlized card.

Bridesmaid cut out of brown card stock and ready to be glued in place.

STEP 6:

Glue the first card stock paper in place in order to create a border with what shows from the pearlized card itself.

Take a gold metallic pen and trace that piece of paper to create yet another border in the form of a very thin line. This just frames everything and ties it together, which makes it look cleaner.

Glue the bridesmaid cut out on top of your layers to the upper center of the card, as seen below, and add a little triangular piece to glue in by the arm, which is too small to cut out with scissors and much easier, to complete the completed card.

Before gluing bridesmaid in place I traced a gold metallic border around the pink card stock.

Card pieces all in place and glued together, including little triangle piece to create the arm.

STEP 7:

Repeat the above steps in order to create the total number of cards you need for each of the bridesmaids you are going to ask to be a part of your wedding.

Remember you can change what the inside says depending on what you are asking or how you would like to phrase it.

For example: Three of my cards say, "Will you be my birdesmaid?" and the other two say, "Will you be my matron of honor?" However you could have it say, "Will you be my maid of honor," or "Will you be my flower girl," etc. as well.

All five bridesmaid cards sized, traced, cut out, glued and ready to add a personal message inside.

STEP 8:

Pick out some envelopes to match, you can buy them at Michael's to match the pearlized cards purchased or at most craft stores, but I chose to use some I had leftover from another project I worked on, which I had purchased at Papyrus years prior.

Personalize a message to each of the people you are asking to be a part of your special day, which I did hand written in order to make it more personal, using the same gold metallic marker I used to border each card on the front.

Finally get them ready to drop in the mail! Address them, seal each with love, add a sticker or two if you choose and don't forget to put a stamp on it! :)

Left over envelopes I had from a previous project I worked on from Papyrus that I liked for the look.

Card and envelope ready to be stuffed, sealed, addressed and sent to each of my bridesmaids.

Cards ready to be mailed with a sticker added to the front and gold Hallmark crown seals that I had to the back.

Hopefully these steps will help you to create these bridesmaid cards yourself or simply offer some inspiration to create something similar.

I'm happy to report that each of my bridesmaids and matron of honors really liked that they were handmade and gladly accepted their role in my wedding, which made my day! So, "Thank You" to each of them! :)

There you have it! Also, please feel free to share how you asked your friends and/or sisters to be a part of your wedding day or show us some of your creative ideas below!