Texture is subtle but boy does it make a huge impact! When we found some paper clay at the art store a while back, we knew it would make a great DIY but we weren’t quite sure what to do with it. After obsessing over textured clay pottery now for ages, we decided that a “pottery” save the date was in order. The natural off-white color of the paper clay comes alive when paired with a mix of floral patterns and a unique lilac, eggplant, and ochre color palette! – Bailey and Emma of Antiquaria

Step One: Gather your paper clay supplies: bag of clay, wooden cutting board (you don’t want any texture in your rolling surface – unless it’s the look you’re going for), clear plastic wrap, and a rolling pen. Break your paper clay into approximately 2 oz pieces. There will be scraps that you can re-roll together.

Step Two: Squish the paper clay into a small rectangle with your fingers (this doesn’t need to be precise). Place it in the middle of your plastic wrap and fold the other end of the wrap over the top. Now, you’ll start rolling! It’s basically like rolling out a pie crust or cookies – just keep the thickness even and it will be good. We suggest a thickness of around â…›” or maybe a little less. Remember: it does need to fit in an envelope!

Step Three: Once it’s rolled out thin and even (and approximately the size of your stamp mount, you’re ready to print the design. With an un-inked stamp (we used our Vintage Label Save the Date stamp) center it over the clay and carefully set it down. With your fingertips, press each section of the design evenly to make the print. This printing method feels different than printing paper so it may take some extra time to get the hang of it! Not to worry though, you can just re-roll the clay so there is no waste in the practice process!

Once you get a good print, trim the clay around the design with a kitchen knife (we used the mount size as a guide). Carefully flip the clay over in your palm and transfer it to a plastic lined tray or baking sheet. Let dry 1 – 3 days or until firm.

Step Four: Now that your clay save the dates are complete, you can move on the the rest of the pieces that you’ll need for the design. Cut patterned card stock (we used our Annabelle Violet Paper) into A2 sized cards (4.25″ x 5.5″) with a craft knife and ruler on a self healing mat. You will get four cards out of one 8.5″ x 11″ sheet.

Step Five: Stamp your accommodations and website information on the back of your patterned card. We used our Calligraphy Accent Accommodations and Calligraphy Accent Website stamps for this design. You can watch our step-by-step video tutorial about the stamp printing process here.

Step Six: A coordinating liner really dresses up an envelope, don’t you think? For this design, we used our daisy paper. The process is simple! Trace the template with a pencil and cut out the pattern. Use double sided tape or stick glue to adhere the liner into the envelope just below the gumming.

Step Seven: Now we’ll switch our focus to the outside of the envelope! We stamped our Scripted Return Address  stamp in eggplant on the back flap. To coordinate, we addressed the front in an eggplant colored ink as well and used (our favorite) seed packet postage to finish it all off!

Materials

Vintage Label Save the Date Stamp

Calligraphy Accent Accommodations Stamp

Calligraphy Accent Website Card Stamp

Scripted Return Address Stamp

Annabelle Violet Patterned Paper

Daisy Patterned Paper

Paper Clay

Cutting board, plastic wrap, rolling pen and knife

Trays or baking sheets for air drying

Self healing mat, kraft knife and metal ruler

Envelope liner templates

Pencil and Scissors

Stamp Pads in Ochre and Eggplant

A2 Envelopes in Luxe Blush

Calligraphy Ink for addressing in Red Violet

Grecian Pink Tailors Ribbon to tie the suite together

USPS Postage

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

Photo Credits: Antiquaria for Oh So Beautiful Paper