Oh So Beautiful Paper

Spring has arrived and we couldn’t be happier! It’s always a refreshing and inspiring sight to see all of the little buds form on branches, knowing that soon they will burst into a gorgeous show of flowers. With this save the date design, we wanted to capture this brief moment in time and create something fresh and beautiful. – Bailey and Emma of Antiquaria

Step One: One of the key elements to this save the date is the border card on which you will print your stamp. To start, print out the border card file onto heavy card stock (as heavy as your printer will allow) and trim to size. If you would like to use this spring blossom border design, email us for the free printable download! Other borders can be found on Graphics Fairy.

Step Two: Now that you have your cards printed and cut, you will want to print your stamp (we used our Calligraphy Save the Date Stamp, No.2). Set your card on a firm, hard surface. Ink your stamp well and center it over the card. Press down firmly, making certain that you apply even pressure to all areas of the stamp. Lift the stamp off and set the card aside to dry. For more information about this process, please watch this video.

Step Three: We’ve dressed up the save the date card with a gorgeous sage gray ribbon. Simply cut a length of ribbon and tie it into a bow. Trim the ends with sharp scissors so that they are even and do not hang off of the edges.

Step Four: Next, you will want to stamp your return address (we used our Calligraphy Return Address Stamp) on the back flap of your envelope. Follow the same printing instructions from step two.

Step Five: Now all that’s left to do is to address the envelopes, add postage (we used vintage postage from Verde Studio) and send them on their way! This design is sure to bring a fresh dose of spring to every single guests mail box.

Materials:

Calligraphy Save the Date Stamp, No.2

Calligraphy Return Address Stamp

Stamp Pads (in Wicked Black & Seattle Grey)

8.5×11 Cover Stock (needs to be able to run through your home printer) in Eco White

Free Border Card Download (Please email us for the file)

Scissors (or an X-acto Knife & Self Sealing Mat)

A7 Envelopes-in Sage

Hug Snug Rayon Seam Binding in Khaki #503  (it’s actually a sage-grey color)

Verde Studio Vintage Postage

Anti­quaria is a mem­ber of the Designer Rolodex – you can see more of their beau­ti­ful work right here or visit the real wedding invitations gallery for more wedding invitation ideas!

Photo Credits: Antiquaria

We’ve always had a love affair with indigo – in fact, the wedding quilt that Emma’s mother created for her is made from scraps of vintage Japanese indigo fabrics. With its recent rise in popularity we decided that indigo would make the perfect inspiration for an invitation suite. The deep blue and white color scheme, mixed with floral elements and classic typography, makes it a design suitable for any season! – Bailey and Emma of Antiquaria

Tie the square invitation and enclosure pieces together with indigo dyed twine and your guests will feel like they’re opening a gift!

Step One: Lay a  5.5″ square card down on a firm surface. Ink your stamp (we used our Sophisticate Invitation Stamp) thoroughly and center it over your card. Once it is positioned correctly, press down to make a print. Use both hands to ensure even pressure. Lift off and let the print dry. For more information on this process go here.

Step Two: You will repeat the printing technique from Step 1 for your reply card (we used our Sophisticate Reply Card Stamp) on a 4bar (3.5″x4.75″) card.  This time, instead of centering the stamp, you will print it toward the bottom of the card. This leaves space to print the floral pattern (we used our Daisy Pattern & Small Leaves Pattern Stamps) at the top. It’s best to start with the larger pattern stamp and then fill in with the smaller leaf stamp.

Step three: We love to incorporate patterns in to our invitation suites, whether it’s an envelope liner, backer or belly band…it adds so much style and personality to the design. We created this indigo pattern by randomly stamping pattern stamps (we used our Camellia Pattern, Daisy Pattern and Small Leaves Pattern Stamps) in frost white ink on 8.5″ x 11″ card stock. The effect that it creates is so lovely!

Step Four: To make the accommodations card, you will need to cut the 8.5″ x 11″ patterned paper into 5″ squares (you will get 2 per sheet). Next, ink and stamp your accommodations information (we used our Calligraphy Accent Accommodations Stamp) on the front of the navy blue card.

Step Five: Using the same printing technique as above, you will print your return address and reply address (we used our Wildflowers Return Address Stamp) on the outer and reply envelopes. Now all that’s left is to tie everything together, address your envelopes, add postage (we used awesome blue vintage postage from Verde Studio) and send them on their way!

Materials:

Sophisticate Invitation Stamp

Sophisticate Reply Card Stamp

Calligraphy Accent Accommodations Stamp

Pattern Stamps – Camellia, Daisy, Small Leaves

Wildflowers Return Address Stamp

Stamp Pad – Frost White, Midnight

5.5″ Cards in Luxe Cream

5.75″ Envelope in Night

4bar Flat Card in Luxe Cream

4bar Envelope in Night

8.5″x11″ Cardstock in Night

Vintage Postage Verde Studio

String or twine

Anti­quaria is a mem­ber of the Designer Rolodex – you can see more of their beau­ti­ful work right here or visit the real wedding invitations gallery for more wedding invitation ideas!

Photo Credits: Antiquaria

Neon has been the “in” thing for a while…but using it as inspiration for your wedding is definitely not for the faint of heart. We put together a fun and punchy neon save the date design that is perfect for spring. By mixing in kraft paper and black, we were able to tame the neon and make it quite modern. – Bailey and Emma of Antiquaria

Step One: For this save the date, we are using a circular card. It may be a bit trickier to eyeball the placement of the stamp, so measuring out center is a good idea. First you’ll want to trace the circle card on a piece of scrap paper and then mark the center. Mark perpendicular lines through the center. Next you will measure and mark center of stamp and line it up on the circle template guide.

Step Two: We were so excited to find this awesome neon pink embossing powder! Place your circular card on a stable and firm surface. Ink your save the date stamp (we used our Mod Wreath Save the Date stamp) and center the stamp over your card. When ready, press the stamp down with moderate pressure to make the print. Lift the stamp off and quickly move on to adding your embossing powder. For more information about inking your stamp or making prints, please watch this video that shows the process in more detail.

Once you’ve made your print, immediately cover it with embossing powder by sprinkling it across the paper. Shift the powder around until you have covered the entire image. Now, you will pour the excess powder off of the card onto a scrap piece of paper so that you can reuse it for future prints. Heat set the print, using an Embossing Heat Tool. You will be able to see the powder melt into an opaque and solid color when it’s done.

Note: One key thing about embossing is that it is wise to try to closely match your ink color with your powder color. By doing this, you will get much more crisp and opaque results.

Step Three: Adding a liner is one fun way that you can add some pattern to your save the date. For this liner, we just stamped our Small Leaves pattern stamp in black on a kraft paper liner. To make the liner, trace the template onto your kraft paper and cut it out with scissors. To install, simply use stick glue or double sided tape to adhere them into your envelope.

Step Four: It’s wise to include a website card with your save the dates so that guests can access all of the travel information and wedding details that they will need in order to make plans to attend your nuptials. For this card, we simply stamped our (Art Deco Website Card stamp) on a cream business card in black, diagonally.

Step Five: Putting it all together: First, we embossed a return address stamp (we used our Mod Banner Return Address stamp) on the back flap of our outer envelope to coordinate with the save the date design. We also embossed our Cross My Heart Initials monogram stamp on the back flap of an adorable polka dot craft envelope that will hold the website card.

Now all that’s left is to address the save the dates, adhere postage (we used Verde Studio’s vintage stamps), add some fun neon washi tape and send them on their way!

Materials

Mod Wreath Save the Date stamp (circular option)

Art Deco Website Card stamp

Small Leaves Pattern stamp

Mod Banner Return Address stamp

Cross my Heart Initials Monogram stamp

5 1/2 Circular Card in Luxe Cream

5 3/4 Square Envelope in Luxe Cream

Business Card in Luxe Cream

Small Polka Dot Kraft Envelope from Martha Stewart

Stamp Pad in black and peony

Embossing Powder

Embossing Heat Tool

Envelope Liner Template

Kraft Paper (text weight)

Double sided tape

Scissors

Pencil

Postage Stamps from Verde Studio

Photo Credits: Antiquaria

This save the date project has been brewing in our brains for a while now. After we found out how wonderful it was to stamp on wood in this tutorial, we’ve been biting at the bit to use it again. For this save the date, we used spray paint to create the “frame” effect on the wood piece before stamping the text. We couldn’t be happier with the finished project! –Bailey and Emma of Antiquaria

The subtle wood grain adds such a nice texture to the design.

Step One: Since the wood veneer that we used in the project comes in large square sheets, we first had to cut out our A2 (5.5″ x 4.25″) cards from the sheet.

Step Two: Once you have all of your cards cut to size, you’ll now need to prep them for painting. To mask the center and make the frame shape in the wood, we double stick taped an oval scallop flat card to the center of each wood card. We then used acrylic spray paint over the entire card to complete the frame image. **You really only need one pack of oval scallop cards to complete the project. You can reuse them after the paint is completely dry.** Once everything is dry, peel off the oval scallop card and set aside. Repeat the process until all of your cards are complete.

Step Three: You’ll now want to print your save the date. Place one of the cards on a hard surface. Ink your stamp (we used our Floral Calligraphy Save the Date stamp) and center it over the oval portion of the card. Once centered, press down firmly, using both hand to make the print. Please watch this video for more information on inking and stamping an oversized stamp.

Step Four: Since many out of town guests need to make travel and accommodation arrangements prior to receiving your wedding invitation, it is wise to include an accommodations card or website card with your save the date. This way, they have all of the information they’ll need to make it to your wedding! Print this standard business sized card (2″ x 3.5″) using the stamp printing technique described in step three. To coordinate with our save the date, we used our (Floral Calligraphy Accommodations stamp).

Step Five: Now all that’s left is to stamp your return address (we used our Floral Calligraphy Return Address stamp), address them, add postage and send them to all of your guests!

Materials

Floral Calligraphy Save the Date Stamp

Floral Calligraphy Accommodations Stamp-custom sized to fit tag

Floral Calligraphy Return Address Stamp

Stamp Pad in Chestnut

Wood Veneer cut down to A2 (5.5″ x 4.25″) cards, we bought ours locally at an art store

Oval Scallop Cards

A2 Envelopes

Double sided tape

Spray Paint in Liberty

Suminagashi Tags

 

Photo Credits: Antiquaria

A few years ago, we participated in a gorgeous vintage plum & gold inspiration shoot. Besides contributing our Gold Leaf Collection place settings to the shoot, we were also asked to provide a calligraphy menu and all of the place cards for the table. To this day, we still inquiries for save the dates or invitations that reference the menu from that shoot because the combination of the fig paper with gold calligraphy is so incredibly striking. – Bailey and Emma of Antiquaria

By embossing these stamps with gold powder it really creates a high end, custom looking save the date!

Step One: Place your A2 card on a stable and firm surface. Ink your save the date stamp (we used our Calligraphy Save the Date, No.2 stamp) and center the stamp over your card. When ready, press the stamp down with moderate pressure to make the print. Lift the stamp off and quickly move on to step number two. For more information about inking your stamp or making prints, please watch this video that shows the process in more detail.

Step Two: Once you’ve made your print, immediately cover it with embossing powder by sprinkling it across the paper. Shift the powder around until you have covered the entire image. Now, you will pour the excess powder off of the card onto a scrap piece of paper so that you can reuse it for future prints. Heat set the print, using an Embossing Heat Tool. You will be able to see the powder melt into a smooth and shiny gold when it’s done.

Note: One key thing about embossing is that it is wise to try to closely match your ink color with your powder color. By doing this, you will get much more crisp and opaque results. Since we are wanting a lovely and shiny gold print, we used both a gold stamp pad and gold embossing powder.

Step Three: You will now just repeat this inking and embossing process for your remaining pieces (we used our Floral Calligraphy Return Address stamp and our Floral Calligraphy Accommodations stamp) that will coordinate with your save the date. For the accommodations card, you will use a standard business sized card.

Step Four: To add a little extra personality to the suite, we added an envelope liner made from some awesome kraft and gold polka dot gift wrapping paper. It really helps tie the whole thing together! Trace the template onto your paper and cut it out with scissors. To install, simply use stick glue or double sided tape to adhere them into your envelope.

Finally, address the invitations, add postage, and send them off to delight your guests! You can also accent the suite with sparkly gold washi tape if you like!

Materials:

Calligraphy Save the Date Stamp, No.2

Floral Calligraphy Return Address Stamp

Floral Calligraphy Accommodations Card

Stamp Pad

Embossing Powder

Heat Gun

A2 Cards in Fig

A2 Envelopes in Antique Gold

Business Cards for the Accommodations piece, in Antique Gold

Gift Wrap to be used as an envelope liner, ours was purchased locally from Urbanic

Envelope liner templates

Pencil

Scissors

Glitter Washi Tape

Photo Credits: Antiquaria