Custom Wedding Invitations

I love designing and  making custom wedding invitations for people.  Taking their thoughts and ideas and putting them together to create the perfect reflection of them and their special day.

My latest 'Bride to be' came to me with a color scheme of red and turquoise, and a damask pattern that she wanted to incorporate into the wedding.

Trying to find a damask patterned card stock in red was difficult and led me to investigate digital papers that I had seen Etsy.  It was amazing all of the patterns and colors available in digital paper, and it didn't take long for me to find the perfect pattern for the invitations.

The bonus of using a digital paper is that you get to print as many or few copies as you need. The added bonus was that a local printers had a special offer of 25 cents per copy for all printing in February, so I took advantage of that great deal and stocked up on plenty of copies to make all the stationery from.

After making up a couple of different styles, one design was chosen, and then the task of reproducing it 75 times, along with RSVP cards, thank you cards, place cards and cupcake toppers!

For some fun we incorporated a little cupcake image onto each of the invitations and also on the outer envelopes to tie in the theme of 'Love is Sweet'

I found the perfect rubber stamp, and so set to work stamping the image onto each of the invitations and envelopes.  I like to work in a production line format, and so in the end my desk was covered in invitations, which added up to a whopping 450 cupcakes on my work desk!

The contrast between the red damask pattern and the turquoise card looked great and really went well together.

I believe that the wedding invitations set the scene for the wedding itself and give the guests a clue as to what the wedding will be like.  Its also important to have elements of the design run through all of the other items for the wedding stationery, and so the color combination is being used in the table place cards, thank you cards, cupcake toppers and a special banner for the candy buffet table!

I always hand write the addresses on the outer envelopes, and used a red calligraphy pen to coordinate with the font chosen by the bride.  With a little work on word I managed to create some fun return address labels using the same damask pattern and fonts as the invitations.  This helped to tie everything together perfectly.  The finishing touch was getting some great stamps from the post office that matched the whole theme.

Card Challenge Days 28, 29 & 30 - It sucks being sick!

I guess with the crazy temperature changes this past week it's not suprising that I have caught a cold!  I hate feeling ill and I'm not sure whats worse, the symptoms of my sore throat and throbbing head or the side affects of the cold medication that make me feel like I'm high!

With feeling sick, I've just not had the energy or motivation to make any cards for a couple of days, but today I dragged myself into the craft room and got creating, and before I knew it I had made up two new cards and felt alot happier.

It's the last day of my 31 day challenge tomorrow and I hope to get some more cards made and posted, and then reflect on the past 31 days and all of the cards I've made.  Its also the last day of my giveaway too, so for all of those that have 'liked' my Liz Felgate Crafts facebook page or made a purchase from my Etsy store, I'll be drawing a name to win 10 of my beautiful cards!

March Madness Day 20 - Easy Rider theme cards

On another beautiful sunny day the roads are full of motorcycles out enjoying the great riding weather.  There's nothing like the feeling of riding on the open road on a motorbike, I just love it. I got my licence back in 2008 and have my own bike too.

My cards today are inspired by motorbikes, and I love the metal look with the Harley color theme of black and orange.

Get on your helmet and go for a ride!

March Madness Day 19 - Baby Girls First Teddy Bear

Today has been a beautiful day and I started it off by taking a new yoga class in town. The class was called 'Rock your core' and it certainly did that!  Feeling refresed and ready to make the most of the beautiful day ahead I picked up my gardening tools and headed outside to work on the front garden.

While doing some weeding, I noticed something move by my foot, and when I looked it turned out to be a snake!  It was only a rat snake, about 12 inches long, but it sure made me careful of where I put my hands after that!

Now I'm back indoors, starting to feel the effects of the yoga and  four hours of gardening, so have sat down to make some cards and come up with this one.

March Madness Day 16 - Time for some Easter Bunnies!

It's about a month until Easter and the shops are bursting with everything spring and Easter themed so I thought it about time I made some Easter cards.

Back in the UK the shelves of stores will be filled to the brim with all sizes of chocolate eggs from the chocolate manufacturers all doing their part to help the dentists! Oh I do miss a nice bit of Cadbury's chocolate!!

So here is my Easter card creation, made with some spring patterned cardstock and a bunny stamped on the front. I think I'll make up afew more ready to send out to friends and family too.

March Madness Day 15 - Wedding Invitations

I was so excited after I met with the bride to be last night that I spent the following couple of hours in my craft room creating three invitation sets as samples for her. I love the black, pink and silver colors, and I think they look completely different in just changing out which color goes where.

The sets include a gate fold A7 size invitation, an A2 flat RSVP card, an A2 folded thank you card and a place card. I'm now going to work on the printing side and make up some samples of the text layouts for each, so hopefully by the end of the week I'll have them all finished to present to the bride.

March Madness Day 13 - Black & White Cards & Yoga

Today I'm feeling super relaxed after my yoga class this morning. I haven't been to a class in a long time so was a little nervous at first, but I really enjoyed it and hope to make it a regular thing.

While my husband is watching England beat Scotland in Rugby I've been creating some more beautiful cards. I wanted to use some black and white patterned card and paper and then just add one pop of color to each. I love the high contrast between the colors. I ended up making eight cards altogther, 2 of each design as I liked them so much.

I think they would make a great wedding card or even invitations for a glam wedding or party. Let me know what you think.

March Madness Day 12 - Music and Weddings

What a lovely day it was today, still a little chilly first thing but so nice to see the sun and blue skies again after all that rain.

Today I made two new cards, one for a family occassion, the other from a suggestion fro Jodye. One of my neices back in England will be getting married in May and I just got the beautiful invitation in the mail this week, so taking my inspiration from that I made her a lovely card for her wedding day. Her color scheme is a deep purple color, so with that in mind I kept it simple and elegant, with a little bit of bling too.

My second card is a music themed one, suggested by Jodye, and I like the way it turned out. I love the old feel of the music sheet patterned card, with the simple mini card on the front. I wish I could make cards with sound, as this one would be singing 'Happy Birthday' for sure.

Don't forget to put your clocks forward tonight before you go to bed! maybe this means that Spring is officially here and the weather will start to act that way!

March Madness Day 7 - Hearts and Monkeys!

So today I'm feeling extra inspired and have made two new cards, that are completely different! The first one is a floating hearts card that is very simple, but took a while to make. Punching out all the hearts from different papers, then carefully folding them in half and sticking them on the card, in just the right place! but I'm pleased with how it turned out.

I may even frame this card in a white shadow box frame and hang it on the wall, as its like a little piece of art!

The second card was fun to make and I'd been wanting to use the great leaf patterned paper for ages, and the little monkey stamp went perfectly for the jungle theme. I dug about in my ribbon box and found the giraffe ribbon and also some foam leaves and flowers to add the finishing touch. It's always hard to know where to stop with the decorations or you could end up with something looking like a Mardi Gras float!

Hope you like them, and have enjoyed following my challenge, 1 week down, 3 more to go.

March Madness Day 6 - Inspiration cards!

What a wet and horrible day it is today, I'm glad I'll be staying indoors doing some work on cards and website. I was up really early this morning (too early for a Sunday), and after a wet walk with the hounds I set to work on some new cards.

Today my inspiration was inspiration itself. A friend had asked if I could create some inspiration cards that she could give to her staff at work, and had given me some of her favourite quotes to work with.

Digging through my stacks of paper I found some great paper that I brought years ago, which has the image of Mount Washington and the Statue of Liberty on, in an old sepia/old photograph kind of way. I thought it would be perfect for the one quote by President Roosevelt.

I printed out the quotes onto plain paper, and then printed out the extra verse onto vellum and overlayed them on the front of the card. Some grosgrain ribbon finished them off along with some little brass brads.

March Madness - Day 5 - An Elephant never forgets!

So here we are on day five of my card making challenge and today I've been up early as I've got a lot to do today. I had a look through my rubber stamp collection and chose a stamp that I brought a while ago but hadn't got around to using yet (much like some items in my closet!!).

I paired the cute stamp with an elepahnt on it with some chinzy floral paper and cardstock in pink and blue, and just love the red ribbon and bow!

Today I'm off to the Frederick basket Company in downtown Frederick, MD which is a fabulous little store that sells amazing items that are assembled into beautiful gift baskets. They also sell my cards there. Today is a special unvieling of a new mural for the store and so all the local artists that are featured in the store are invited to come in. Would be great to see you there if you can make it!

Here's my creation for today! hope you like it!

March Madness - Day 4 -Woodland Trust Inspired card

Hooray, I got my first request for a card for my challenge. The suggestion came from Kerry who had the wonderful idea to make a card inspired by the Woodland Trust about saving the woodlands in the UK.

What a great reason to make a card! With this in mind I scoured my crafting supplies for everything 'woodsy' and came up with this beautiful card. As a thank you to Kerry I'll be mailing her the card.

The Woodland Trust has a fabulous website with tons of information on how you can help do your bit to save woodlands, and today March 4th is acyually 'Wear your Wellies' day. A fun event held by the trust. Check it out here

Send me your suggestions for a card and I'll send you the card!

March Madness - Day 3 - Glamour Girl Card

Day 3 of the challenge and today I decided to make a card inspired by watching the Oscars over the weekend. Seeing all of Hollywood turned out in their most glamorous outfits!

What glamour girl doesn't like a bit of sparkle, so for this card I used some sparkle card, cut into a frame around the fancy stickers. I added some extra bling with more crytals and a filgeree stamp inside and on the envelope.

Hope you like it! Let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions for a card you'd like me to make. If I make a card from your idea, I'll send it to you!

March Madness - Day 2

I'm having fun making these new cards. I find my heads full of idea's as I go to bed so when I get up in the morning I have to go and create a new card! When I start getting up in the middle of the night to make them, I'll get worried.

So todays card is a special one for my Mum. She loves to garden and I have inherited my green thumb from her and also love to spend time in the garden. For this card I pulled out my embossing tools and lightbox which I haven't used in a while and also used a flower punch and some silk flowers.

I'm not sure if I can wait until Mothers day in the UK on April 3rd to send this card to my Mum!

Do you have any suggestions for cards that you'd like me to make? Send me your ideas and if I choose to make a card using them, I'll send you the card! Time to get your thinking caps on!

So here's my special card for my special Mum!

Love is in the air!

You wouldn't believe its only 14 days until Valentine's day as the stores have been filled with hearts and fluffy teddybears since before Christmas! If you're looking for something better than a heart shaped box of Russel Stover chocolates and a Hallmark card, then feast your eyes on this selection of fine handmade goods.

The Gifts Inn Boonsboro has a beautiful selection of items all created by local artists including fine jewelry, paintings, pottery, glassware, furniture, and my lovely handmade greetings cards. They are holding a Champagne Chocolate Reception on February 10th from 6-8pm so why not drop by and see what they have to offer. The jewelry exhibit will be on from Feb 5th-28th, so plenty of time before and after Valentines day to stop by.

I've designed some new cards for Valentines day that are available for purchase at my Etsy Store aswell as at the Gifts Inn Boonsboro. On Etsy you will find all kinds of marvolous handmade creations for almost any budget and style.

I'm proud to be a member of the Etsy Greetings Team who are a bunch of very talented people all sharing my passion for making beautiful handmade cards. Check out some of their special creations for their special Valentines Day promotion.