creating your own wedding invitations with metallic paper

I love how metallic scrapbooking paper looks & feels - it's silky and still has enough weight to hold up to all sort of embellishments... Which of course is why I used it when I designed these invitations.

There are a few things to remember when you're going to use metallic paper or vellum.

1. Use a permanent stamp ink (I like Staz-On - it's what I used to create the sample cards)
2. Let the paper dry for at least 20 minutes (or longer if it's humid outside) before touching or even stacking the paper.
3. Make a few test cards before you create 200 cards and discover that the ink you chose doesn't show up!
4. If you're using an ink-jet printer to print on the vellum or metallic paper, it's very important to just print one sheet at a time. The same rules apply for printing that apply to stamping - let it dry thoroughly!

I used a 6" by 12" sheet of metallic paper, folded in half to make the top card. I cut a 2" square out of the centre (using a gridded quilting ruler makes it easy!). The liner is a 5" by 10" piece of vellum, folded in half. I used a small dab of glue in the centre fold of the card to anchor the vellum. I used a hole punch to cut two small holes in the centre fold - approximately 2" apart. I used a scrapbooking punch to create the holes. I threaded a 6" length of sheer 5/8" wide ribbon through the holes and tied a knot. I trimmed the edges of the ribbon at an angle, but you could also cut little dove tails in as well. I used a butterfly stamp and black ink to stamp the butterfly.
This card is just a single 4" X 11" sheet of metallic paper. I stamped directly onto the metallic paper (remember to let it dry!) The top layer is a 3.5" X 10" sheet of vellum. I used the same hole punch to punch the holes, approximately 1" apart. To make this bow, thread both ends of the ribbon from the right side to the wrong side of the card (they should be even on the back) You'll have an even, flat loop of ribbon on the right side. Turn the card over and thread both ends of the ribbon to the right side, out the opposite hole they were threaded into. Trim the ends, and presto, you're done!

Of course, you still need to put all those pesky details like place, time...