DIY Embroidered wedding invitation

Commitment: 30-45 minutes per wedding invitation

Cost: $32 per 50, $ 0.64

Supplies:

crane lettra 110 lb cardstock in fluorescent white, 8 ½ '' by 11''

eggplant coloured cardstock, 8 ½ '' by 11''

paper cutter
rubber stamp

dye-based ink pad to match or coordinate with your floss color

piece of thick cardboard or a self-healing cutting mat

paper piercing tool

embroidery floss to coordinate with coloured cardstock

embroidery needle

scissors

single sided tape

double-sided tape

 

Directions:

1. start this project off by cutting the cardstocks to size. With you paper cutter, trim the white cardstock to 5'' by 7'' and the eggplant cardstock to 5 ½ '' by 7 ¼''
2. print your invitation wording on the white cardstock, leaving a 3'' margin on the bottom of the page. This blank area will be where the embroidery goes later on. Note: if your rubber stamp is smaller or larger than 3''. you will need top adjust your bottom margin accordingly. To set up your invitation for printing, open WORD and from the Page Setup Menu, select Custom Page Size from the Settings options. Set the custom page size for 5'' wide by 7''. Set the margin spacing to 0.25'' for the left and right margins. For the top, set the margin spacing to 0.25. For the bottom, set the spacing to 3''
3. enter your invitation wording and print it on the crane lettra cardstock.
4. In this step you will be adding a rubber-stamp image onto the invitation to serve as a template for your embroidery. To ink a rubber stamp, gently tap it several times on the surface of the ink pad to get the entire rubber image evenly inked. Firmly press the stamp onto the invitation where you'd like the image to go. Don't twist or move the stamp when press down; you will smudge the image. Lift the stamp straight off the paper.
5. Next step is to create holes for the embroidery with the paper piercing tool. Place the stamp invitation on top of the thick piece cardboard or self-healing cutting mat. You are creating some elevation so that the needle of the piercing tool has space to go all the way through the cardstock. Working your way around the entire outline of the stamp image, poke holes about ¼ ''. make sure not to get closer than 1/8 ''to the edges of the cardstock; you will risk ripping the paper if you do.
6. Next, thread your embroidery needle. Embroidery floss comes in long bundles of 6 strands that are twisted together, called skeins. Unwind 2 long strands of embroidery floss from the skein and thread them through the embroidery needle. Knot the ends as you would a regular needle and thread. You are ready to get embroidering.
7. Start by picking an area to concentrate on like starting from the bottom left and working upward and outward in small sections. Begin by passing the threaded needle from underside through one of the holes. Next, thread the needle down through the whole next to it. Pass the needle back up through the first hole. What you are doing is called the backstitch. It creates a solid line of stitching. Move through the remaining holes, using the backstitch technique until you run out of floss or finish an area of the design. At the points where you need to stop and rethread or move to another section, push the needle through a hole so that it's on the bottom side of the card. Snip the floss and use a bit of clear tape to hold the cut floss in place. Rethread your needle and start where you left off.
8. The back side of the invitation will be a little bit messy so we will be creating a mat so the back side is concealed. Apply strips of double-sided tape to the back of the invitation and firmly press the invitation onto the eggplant-colored cardstock, centering it from top to bottom and