DIY: stationery pt. 3

The stationery saga continues. Sometimes I feel like it will never end. But I was really excited about this part because unlike our invitations, I didn't have to spend 8 months thinking about it!

Early on in the planning process, I happened across photos of wedding stationery which featured the most gorgeous envelopes I'd ever seen. Until that point in the planning, I can't say I'd given the envelopes for our invitations a second thought. Or even a first one for that matter. I just figured we'd go with something simple, more than likely white, with hand written addresses. And then I started seeing more and more photos of wedding stationery that featured gorgeous envelopes like these ones:


{source}

After seeing photos like these, suddenly boring white didn't seem so appealing. I figured if our invitations are going to be amazing (in my totally biased and un-humble opinion) why shouldn't our envelopes be pretty too?

So I started sourcing out envelopes of all shades, hues, textures and shapes. I absolutely fell in love with the envelopes from Paper Source which come in just about every color imaginable. And then I took it one step further and fell in love with their envelope liners too. I soon realized I was in way over my head and falling in love with items well beyond our budget for stationery. To buy enough envelopes and liners in a size that fits out ginormous invitations and to have them shipped to Canada would have cost more than either of us ever wanted to spend. And that's another thing, since when is a 5.5 x 8.5" invitation considered ginormous? I have no idea, but envelopes for them seem to be impossible to find at a decent price. Maybe it's my cheapness, or the difficulty of getting them across the border, but I couldn't seem to find any in a decent color for a decent price.

I was ticked. There was no way I had spent the last 8 months of my life toiling over the invitations to have them exit my hands in ugly envelopes. So I thought maybe I'd settle for white envelopes and try making liners myself. After reading through a few online tutorials, I quickly realized how little I actually cared about envelope liners. Yes, they would be pretty. Yes, they would add something special to our stationery. But they weren't worth the money and they certainly worth the time I would spend stressing about making them. Ultimately, I moved beyond them. For the sake of my sanity (and by extension, that of Mr. FP), I'm glad I did. Because we found a great option that will make our envelopes both pretty and special. Plus, it throws in a little of the DIY and handmade touch we wanted our stationery to have without sending me to the crazy house.

And that option is a blank address stamp. More specifically, the cutest address stamp in the entire world. And let me tell you, it was no easy item to find. There are thousand of sellers on out there who make return address labels, but we didn't need one of those. I wanted a blank address label so we could fill in the names of our guests on the front of our invitations. I did end up finding this one, but Mr. FP wasn't in love with the ice cream cone and there's no lines for the address (a necessity because although I have really neat handwriting, my lines tend to tilt if I don't have a guide).

Finally, I came across Etsy seller narchitoo who carves rubber stamps by hand in some of the cutest designs. I'm so glad I came across her store when I did because she's in the process of liquidating her stock as she won't be carving any more stamps. She still has a few super cute stamps left, including this sewing one which I love:
{click photo for listing}

Thankfully, we got in in time to snatch up her last owl address stamp.


Although $30 (with shipping) is more than I probably would have liked to spend on a rubber stamp, it's so cute and Mr. FP is in love with the owl. Plus, we'll be able to use it after the wedding, which is always a bonus with any wedding expenses.

Of course, as soon as it had arrived in the mail, we rushed (obviously by my choice, not Mr. FP's, he wasn't quite as excited ... he's such a boy) over to Michaels to get some ink pads to try it out. We ended up buying two different colors that coordinate well with our invitations because we (and by we, I mean I) couldn't pick just one.


And after a few really unsuccessful trials, we finally started getting some good results. The biggest issue is finding an ink pad that is large enough to accommodate the entire stamp. It's about an inch too large to fit within the confines of most of the ink pads at Michaels, or at least, the ones that don't cost over $10. So it's slightly more difficult because we have to press it in a few times to ensure that the entire thing is getting covered, but it's worth it.



{click images to enlarge}

One of my favorite things about the handmade stamp (as opposed to most mass marketed stamps) is that the detailing is so clear and the image is a little different each time we stamp it. While the purchase of the stamp is yet another example of settling for something that's a few notches below our ideal stationery situation, the end result is something that's much more cost effective and much more us. Because, honestly, as pretty as Mr. FP thought the envelope liners were, he would have never gotten as excited about them as he did about this (I swear, it's something about the owl). Plus, I think we did our relationship a favor by choosing a project that isn't going to stress us both out for months on end.

So we love it. Regardless of the fact that, by the end of May, our hands will probably be permanently stained with red and blue ink. It's a good thing that owl is so darn cute.