A Cowgirl Invitation....Dave Ramsey Style

Here are the invitations (about 10 months longer than it usually takes me....yes, I usually start planning showers before you people start planning babies) for my friend Carla's Baby Shower (Co-Ed, with kids) at the end of this month. Expect to see lots more details to come (Threat? or Promise?, you decide...) in the next few weeks. I actually have not taken very many pictures of things like wedding flowers, cakes, and showers, (case in point-I have zero pictures from the first baby shower I threw for Carla (John Ross), and three pictures from her wedding shower, the year before that) and so over the last few years, I've tried to document them better, but by the start of the event (and the end of the planning), I'm so tired, I don't even care about anything but having a good time, so...I'm going to be more careful documenting the process from now on so I can 'remember' for future plans.
As far as these invitations go: I'm on a budget-it makes life very boring, but I can proudly say I made 22 invitations for 7 bucks using the brains in my head, the scissors on my desk, and the hours between midnight and 6 am. I bought three different papers from Hobby Lobby, and cut them into the following shapes. It's very mathematical....I cut the largest piece to the size of my envelopes, and the rest a 'little smaller.' (4.5 inches for the pocket, 4 inches for the pink, etc) I took a brown ink pad and rubbed it along the edges of the brown paper to make it look a little weathered (already done in this photo)....it was VERY scientific. All these curriculum ready lessons, I should have had my students do this....

Then I used my sewing machine (thanks again, 10th grade Home Ec class) to sew down the 'pockets.' I wavered with the idea of using a fancy stitch, or even making a fun pocket design, but then I remember that half of these invites were going to boys (no offense, I'm sure they will love this pink slip of loveliness), and the other half are going to people that would toss them in the garbage the day after the shower-which means 100 percent of these have a life span of exactly 1 month, and I just did a 'regular' stitch. Whatever that means. (By the way, I save invitations-they inspire me.)


I trimmed the edges, and then...
I printed the wording on vellum. I printed 4 per sheet, and cut, cut, cut. I rubbed my ink pad along these edges too b/c...they just looked a little too 'new' for my weathered invitation. I won't post this picture b/c the address is on the vellum, and I don't have time to photoshop, and I don't have money to feed anyone random that wanted to show up, plus, there is that whole "...it's a public blog, things could get a little scary if you start throwing real addresses out there" thing.
Hole punch. Tie Ribbon. Insert in Pocket. Address. Send. Hope for lots of RSVP savvy guest.
The old me (who I really like a whole lot better than the new me, but....such is life) would have (and has) sent a bag of trailmix in a little bandanna and a rope tie with invitations attached, or a real blue jean pocket, or a dangling horseshoe charm on the ribbon at the very least along with these invitations, but the new me is on a budget. She's really quite boring. My friends-the old ones, and the new ones....they are OK with any invitation I send, but....there is a part of me that feels a little disappointed that I didn't need to take out a loan to send out these invites. I'm really working on developing a frugal me that can be impressed with the money saved. In the end, I'm OK with these, I'll be able to pay my electricity bill this month, but it would have been a lot more exciting to send those little trail mix packages. OK....and the me that will always be me is ready to start slapping rhinestones on those pockets, so I better get the envelopes sealed, and stamped so there is no 'going back.' You can't trust the rhinestone cowgirl....she's almost as scary as button girl, who I also turn into with any craft.