Paper_Source_Save_the_DateI got engaged and laid off in the same week…in that order. Rather than being entirely saddened by a job loss (well, a little bit), I thought, “Well, now I’ll have time to make all 200 of our wedding invitations, response cards, rehearsal invitations, and open house cards by hand!” Oh, and I didn’t stop there. I also proceeded to make 200 save the dates, 200 reception place cards, and one gigantic paper sunflower, all through the creative inspiration provided by Paper Source! I actually visited the River North location in Chicago so often that my husband (then fiance, of course) called “paper-sourcing” my new job!

Save the Dates: We stopped at our neighborhood farmer’s market to pick up some fresh flowers, set up a tripod on our roof, and used the camera timer to take our photo with a view of the Chicago skyline in the background. After developing the photos, I attached each one to the front of an A6 folded card in moss, printed the inside message using my home computer, and added a touch of whimsy with the Dandelion Rubber Stamp using a White Chalk Inkpad.

Paper_Source_Shower_Invite

Shower Invites: After seeing how excited I was making our save the dates, my mom asked if she could “order” some handmade shower invites for the sunflower-themed wedding shower that she and my aunt had been planning. Of course I agreed, especially since I had been eying up the Martha Stewart sunflower stickers at PS earlier that week. I bought all that they had left in the store that day! I also picked up a few packs of the 4 bar note cards in khaki, the corresponding wedding shower envelopes in curry, and a spool of satin ribbon in moss. Printed, assembled, and tied them up with a bow!

Wedding Invites:
By this time, I had logged in my PS visiting hours and was ready to take on the biggest of my projects – the wedding invites. Wanting to keep the design simple, I decided to create my own graphic, and printed it along with our wedding day details on A7 note cards in eco-white, with corresponding envelopes in khaki, response cards in moss, rehearsal invitations in sage, and open house cards in chartreuse. My biggest challenge (aside from collecting current addresses for all of the invited guests!) was attempting to print our open house details on the business-sized cards. They were cute, but kept getting jammed in my printer! After a bit of creative thinking (and several attempts to salvage my printer!), I decided to print out stickers on a full 8.5 x 11 sheet, cut them out, and adhere them to the business cards. Problem solved.

Paper_Source_Wedding_SuitePaper_Source_Place_Cards

Place Cards & Paper Sunflower: I love flowers, ESPECIALLY sunflowers, so there was no way I was going to pass up adhering the Martha Stewart sunflower stickers to a mix of moss and chartreuse folded place cards for our reception. Our guests loved them! I rounded out the sunflower theme by attaching a gigantic paper sunflower to our card/gift box, which was created by wrapping a cardboard box with <>chartreuse wrapping paper and then gluing on the sunflower from the Sunflower Kit. The kit comes with enough materials to make three big sunflowers, but I think I’ll save the remaining two for another day.

I need a nap.

–Carol Schultz – Chicago, PS customer
PS colors: chartreuse, khaki & fuchsia
Latest fave: Rubber Stamps and Envelope Liner Template Kit

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12 Responses

  1. Sandy says:

    And she did all that on no income. I am amazed…..I am tired just reading all she did….wow….

    S

  2. Highland Park Paper Source says:

    What a GREAT job you did for your wedding suite!!!! The River North team is so much fun to work with, aren’t they?

    Save the sunflowers and make them for your first anniversary — the theme of which is PAPER!

  3. ps lover says:

    really great! i love the colors. any advice on time managing these projects?

  4. Sarah Coats says:

    Wow…I am amazed at how gorgeous they are…Great job!

  5. Megan says:

    I attended Carol and Tim’s wedding and it was a delight. So fresh and pretty with all of the great hand-made paper touches. Also, the venue didn’t have air-conditioning and carol used PS paper to make fans for each guest that had the program on them. So clever and cute!

  6. Janet Hoff says:

    WOW!!! This may be the start of a new career for you, Carol!!!

  7. Shelly says:

    I am proud to call this creative gal my sister-in-law! Everything looked absolutely beautiful and I loved all the papers and paper colors she picked out. Now…I just wish that I lived closer to a Paper Source store so I can stock up for my scrapbooking! Come to Northwest Arkansas!

  8. Pam Anderson says:

    What a great description of all the paper projects for yours and Tim’s wedding. Everything looked fantastic – from the invitation in the mail to the wedding day! And everything was made even more special because these added touches were homemade! And, of course, I can boast that Carol is my new daughter in law!!

  9. Carol Schultz Anderson says:

    Thank you for all the compliments! I thoroughly enjoyed working on each of the projects, and it certainly helped living two miles away from a Paper Source location!

    As far as time management, I broke each project into manageable batches, and alternated printing invites with cutting ribbon, stuffing envelopes, etc. to keep the creativity flowing. I also spread the projects out over our 14-month engagement, and just kept building from there.

    In fact, I haven’t stopped… I’m currently working on handmade Halloween cards, of course with materials from Paper Source!

  10. Julie says:

    OMG! I know the feeling! I was laid off 3 months after getting engaged! At least I had time to prepare for the wedding! I used all Paper Source products for the wedding invites and save-the-dates, by the way. Check out my designs on my Philadelphia-based blog, http://www.misopocky.com.

  11. Wendy says:

    How neat is this, Carol!! I must say that I was completely impressed with all of your creations. The wedding was beautiful and all of those handmade touches made it extra special. I think you should do this as a career!!

  12. Laura says:

    Wow Carol!! I am really impressed with all you did!! I am getting married in May and was planning on ordering my invitations from PS. I made my own save the dates with their coordinating stamps. I was laid off last month… maybe now I will have time to make the invites also!! Thanks for the inspiration!!

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