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| This is what Mr. Babe was saying to his high school buddy in response
to him breaking up with his girlfriend. Meanwhile I'm jumping up
and down in the background! Not because I'm anti-love- here's the
story.
This couple started dating after we sent our wedding invitations and
said buddy got a 1-line response card. Buddy called Mr.
Babe to TELL him he was bring her. He didn't ASK if he could
bring this un-invited girlfriend guest, he TOLD. Then Mr. Babe
and I had a fight about it and in the end I conceeded to un-invited
girlfriend. (As an aside, a few days after this incident Mr.
Babe's step-cousin called and ASKED if he could bring an un-invited
girlfriend guest and Mr. Babe told him NO... at least he learned a
lesson). Anyhow, now that they've broken up, it saves us
$78!!! Buddy also got an "I told you so" from Mr. Babe.
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| I has hoping to get a start on the table cards this week since the
"courtesy" of our guests' response were "requested" by Wednesday.
However, apparently courtesy and request aren't strong enough words-
out of the 157 people we invited, we got 101 responses- that means
there's 56 people who haven't responded! That's 29 phone calls to
make!
I digress. Since our reception is being held at a yacht club, I decided to make the Martha Stewart paper boats
as name cards. She suggests they're only for kids, but hey- who
doesn't want a cute paper good? They also have lifesaver mints
attached, so it's useful as well. Here's Martha's version:
I have no idea where she purchased her blue and white "twine". I
searched all over for some and ended up twisting some blue and white
embroidery floss together. Because it took so long to twist the
floss together we decided on only 1 lifesaver per boat. The total
cost of these guys was about $10 for 100 of them. We had the
bamboo skewers and paper left over from bbq's and invitations.
Here's my finished product.
I will make the font more legible and have a picture of the meal choice (fish, cow, chicken, mushroom- from my invitation response cards)
on the back. I'm also thinking of color-coding the paper to the
meal choice. Now if only I can get those darn RSVP's in!!!
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| 
Throwing Rice
"Rice grows abundantly and quickly, therefore it is a symbol for
fertility. Guests would throw rice at the couple to ensure prosperity
and fertility." (From wedthemes.com)
Mr. Babe and I are really looking forward to having babies some day, but not until I'm in my 30s. Hopefully we won't run into any problems, but you never can tell. We know that fertility treatments are quite expensive, so this thrifty couple is going the superstitious route and getting little pellets of starch chucked at us! We've been told that it hurts and gets in your hair, dress, etc, which is why we'll have people throw it as we leave the reception- about ready to rip
our clothes off anyway. The alternatives (birdseed, flower petals, confetti, bubbles, etc.) are
nice too (and have less potential to leave welts) but they just don't
have the tradition rice does! Mr. Babe's parents got rice thrown at them and they had three boys- one when they were in their 40s!
I know, I know, you saw the Simpson's episode that said rice makes birds explode, but that's totally false.
Anyway, in order to make everything pretty on the most pretty day of my life, I wasn't going to have a bunch of boxes of Uncle Ben's sitting out- so I devised my plan. I purchased glassine bags from Michael's (with a 40% off coupon) for $6.42. See the picture on the bag with the candies? That was my inspiration for this project.
I had TONS of ribbon sent from one of the Bridesmaid's mom's who has hook-ups at a ribbon factory, so that was free. Throw in a little slave labor help from bridesmaid and future mother in law (while the men folk were watching the Tour):
And out comes these pretties (carefully guarded by our "best dog" who also appears to be watching the tour):
Each pouch contains 1/4 cup of rice. We filled the bag, folded the top down and taped with scotch tape. Then we wrapped the pouch with ribbon and tied a little bow-just like a little present. We did 100 of them, even though I'm positive they won't all get used. I can foresee someone (like Mr. Babe's mom who wants grandkids really bad) bringing their own 20lb sack of rice and just pouring it on us. That would be cool too.
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| (See part 1- DIY pocketfolds)
The following is for 90 invitations which fit into 6"x6" envelopes
Hardware:
Sea Shell Embossing Plate
Embossing tool/light
Cardboard for templates
Fiskars Paper Cutter
Corner Rounding Punch
Paper:
90 Pocketfolds (if you don't want to make your own like I did, they're available various places online at a higher price)
100 6"x6" Vellum Envelopes
100 Mohawk Superfine "Euro Flap" 3-5/8 x 5-1/8" (4B) Envelopes
50 Sheets of 8.5"x11" Vellum
50 Sheets of 9"x12" Watercolor Paper
Linnen weave Cardstock
Adhesives:
~1 box Zots Glue Dots
Tombo Mono Tape Runner and Refills (about 2 refills, I think)
Misc:
Adobe Photoshop
Laser black & white printer
Watercolor Paint
Fonts: (Belphebe and Optimus Princeps from dafont.com)
Yield:
90 invitations (not including stamps which were $0.58+$0.41=$0.99 each)
Procedure:
Decorative Paper
1. Cut each seet of watercolor paper into one strip which is
5.5"x12". With the remnants, cut half into and one strip which is
2"x12" and the other half into one strip which is 1.5"x12".
NOTE: If you're not as picky as I am you can choose a decorative
scrapbooking paper from JoAnns or Micael's and skip step 2 below.
2. Using watercolor paint, paint nearly parallel lines the length
of the 5.5"x12" and 2"x12" paper. This is time-consuming but I
think it gave a very hand-made/personal look to the invites.
3. Cut the larger strips of painted paper into two 5x5"x5.5"
squares and the smaller pieces into five 2"x2" squares (you usually
have to discard the part where the paper is glued into the notebook
because it either has glue remnants on it or you tare it). Round
corners on all paper.
4. Cut the 1.5"x12" paper into 1.5"x1.5" squares. Round
corners. On each square, emboss your shell design. See PlumariaPal's Bio for tips on embossing
Text Pieces:
1. After designing all components with Adobe Photoshop, print the
invitation text onto vellum paper using a laser printer. Two
invites fit per sheet. I put little tick marks at the corners so I knew
where to cut without risk of seeing the lines (since the corners were
rounded off). Cut to size and round corners.
2. Print inserts with a laser printer onto cardstock paper.
This required using the special feed tray on the printer because the
paper was so thick. Cut to size and round corners. 
Clockwise from top left: Directions, Response card (each invitation had
either 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 lines on the response card, depending on the
number of people invited), Reply envelope, Invitation text, Reception
card, Map (my personal favorite)
Assembly:
1. Using a cardboard template, line up the small square of
painted paper in the center of the front of the pocketfold.
Attach with tape runner. Line up the embossed shell (eyeballing)
in the center of that square and attach with tape runner.
2. Using the tape runner again, glue the large square of painted
paper to the right side of the pocket-fold, eyeballing to center.
With four glue dots, one in each corner, attach the vellum invitation
text to the center of the painted paper. I used the back of
a spoon to go over all things attached with the tape runner to make
sure they were secure (the tape doesn't work very well on textured
paper like I had).
3. (After addressing and stamping rsvp return envelope) Line up
inserts and insert in pocket. Note: When placing the stamp on
your rsvp envelope, make sure it's slightly below the top of the
envelope so that you won't see it when everything is stacked up.
You're ready to seal and send! (after stamping and addressing, of
course)
Notes:
1. When addressign the vellum envelopes I had a lined template
that I first inserted into the envelope. I used an extra-fine
permenant calligraphy pen to do the writing.
2. The tape runner didn't work as well as I would like- the glue
dots were much better but a little thicker- so it was a trade
off. Maybe I should have invested in a better tape runner.
Final Product:
We decided not to use the rafia tie because it made the envelope too puffy and Mr. Babe's dad "didn't get it"
Cost:
The following is for 90 invitations. I had some left-over of things, especially card stock which came in 500 sheets.
Pocketfolds: $33.43 (DIY-includes tape/glue dots to make them)
Card Stock: $29.94 from Kelly Paper
Watercolor Paper: $8.17 from Michael's
Adhesives: $17.89 from Michael's
Watercolor Paint: $3.86 from Michael's
Envelopes (incl. rsvp): $41.35
Vellum: 10.73
Total: 145.37; $1.62/invite
Notes:
I had a LOT (like 300 sheets) of cardstock left over for other projects like programs, thank-you cards
I had to re-glue the pocketfolds with glue dots after I realized the tape runner didn't stick, so some was wasted.
I had 50 sheets of vellum left over for other projects like wrapped votives.
I didn't include the cost of the embossing plate because it can be used
for other projects (it was about $3 though). I also didn't
include the cost of the paper cutter but I think it was about $20.
Estimated Time: 45 minutes/invite
This took a LOT longer than expected- especially with having to re-glue
the pocketfolds, painting the watercolor paper, and embossing the
shells. If I had more money I would buy the pocketfolds already
made and if I wasn't so picky (or if I had more money) I wouldn't
hand-paint the paper. I do like the embossed shells and the
design aspects, even though they took a long time.
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| When I was 8 years old I was playing on a frozen puddle next to a slide
on the school play ground. I was there with my sister and our
friend Amy. Then a tragic accident occurred: I slipped on the ice
(duh!) and fell, hitting the slide with my front tooth (the #7 for all
those dentists reading my blog). My tooth chipped I bled a
lot. I think part of it actually got embedded in my upper lip
because I still have a tiny bump. Anyway, first the tooth was
fixed with a cap, then I needed a root canal and a crown.
Fast
forward 18 years. I want to bleach my teeth because they're
yellow (I drank a LOT of sugary iced tea growing up). Then I
learn that crowns are impervious to bleach, so if I don't want a single
yellow tooth, I'll have to replace the crown. It wasn't too bad
of an idea because the crown really didn't look that good, especially
near the gum line where my gums had receded about 1mm (crowns typically
have to be replaced every 15 years or so anyway).
First I tried crest white strips. You can kind of
see how the snaggletooth is a little darker than the rest, but I was
not satisfied with the results. As far as the product goes, I
give it a 4 (out of 10). This picture is after about 2 boxes of
white strips (about $40 total) and it's a real pain to remember to use
them for 30 minutes at a time, twice a day. Plus they only cover
the front teeth.
Then crest night effects. Sorry, no pictures but also no luck
either. This stuff seemed promising (I bought it off ebay for
about $10) but was really hard to use, felt weird on your teeth and you
had to use it overnight. Seriously- less helpful than the white
strips- I give it a 2.
Then
I go for the big guns! I had my dentist make a set of bleach trays and I
bought the Opalescence bleach kit from the dentist (also available online). I think I had the 20% but they have higher concentrations available:
For both it was
$125. Well worth it to me- and maybe the reason I was more
consistent with these than I was with the crest stuff. I used
them for 2 1/2 weeks- almost twice a day- about 30 applications and
my teeth became the "whitest shade of natural" possible, according to
my dentist. I could have made them whiter, but knowing that
whatever color I chose would be the color of my crown and I would have
to maintain the color of the other teeth with periodic bleaching, I
didn't want to go TOO white. I also didn't want the obviously
bleached teeth. I give this stuff a 9- only because my teeth and
gums got sensitive the first week. Final result:
I guess it's difficult to
compare because of the different lighting. Luckily I was able to
use my crown as the "before" and I could see the difference was
obvious. I had the crown replaced though, so YOU can't
tell- you can hardly tell which tooth was replaced! I  my dentist.
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