Tutorial – Ribbon ring-bound invitations

As I mentioned in this post, I created the following tutorial for anyone who would like to use the ribbon binding technique that I used for my sister-in-law’s wedding invitations.

The tutorial is also part of my submission for the final round of the Scrap-a-Doodles 2014 Design Team Audition. I thought it would be quite fitting to share this tutorial as my entry for the Something Blue DT as I purchased the paper and envelopes for her invitations from Something Blue.

Closeup of the bow and the binding – the ribbon really creates a ‘spiral bound’ look

Design and dimensions

I designed the invitation to be economical (in terms of printing and paper) and the dimensions used allowed me to print 3 copies on each page of card stock (both the A4 and Letter size papers). The invitation also fits neatly into a DL sized envelope.

The filigree/curl design was incorporated on all pages on exactly the same position for continuity. The pages increase in size to create a staggered effect with 3mm ‘steps’.

I also rounded the bottom 2 corners of each page for a professional finish. You could use the We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper or a similar tool.

Page 1

Color laser printed on A4 Translucent Vellum Paper from Something Blue.
Dimensions: 19cm x 8.6cm

Page 1 – The translucency of the vellum shows just a hint of the photo below. It has great shine.

Page 2

Professional photo print. I used WetINK in Pretoria, but most photo printing shops should be able to do this for you.
Dimensions: 19cm x 8.9cm

Page 2 – The couple dressed in purple for the shoot to compliment the colors of the invitation

Page 3

Color laser printed on 120gsm Letter Petallics Paper in Alpine Aster from Something Blue.
Dimensions: 19cm x 9.2cm

Page 3 – The invitation wording with a special quote

Page 4

Color laser printed on 300gsm A4 Curious Metallic Paper in Galvanized from Something Blue.
Dimensions: 19cm x 9.5cm

Page 4 – Additional details such as accommodation options. This page is printed on 300gsm card stock to create a sturdy backing for the booklet. Just look at the shine!

Holes and ribbon

To punch the holes I used a Manual Comb Binding Machine (the kind used with plastic ring binders). I got some help from my husband to punch the card stock through all 4 layers at once. It definitely is a two-person job – I held the cards aligned and flush with the machine while he pressed down on the handle, punching the holes.

The ribbon used is 6mm organza ribbon with a silver thread on each side, adding just the right amount of glamor. You will need a 41cm long piece for the dimensions of this invitation.

Threading the ribbon

(Click on the photos for a larger version)

1. Clamp punched pages with all holes lined up between two heavy books (in our house you need only look for the nearest auditing or engineering textbook). We will work ‘upside down’ for the threading.
2. Clamp a bamboo skewer to the free hanging edge of the invitation with two metal clips. Pull ribbon through the first hole to the left of the center and clamp in in the right metal clip with a tail of about 11cm.
3. Start threading the loose end of the ribbon through the holes, pulling the ribbon taught (but not too tight) around the skewer.
   
4. When you reach the left clip, the skewer should be fastened enough so that you can remove the clip.
5. Continue threading to the right end of the invite and start threading back again, starting from the second most right hole.
6. When you reach the middle and the ‘tail’, unclip the tail and thread over it.
   
7. To keep the ‘tail’ out of your way, clip it to the right end.
8. Continue threading the the loose end of the ribbon, removing the left clip when you reach it.
9. When you reach the left end of the invite start threading back again, starting from the second most right hole up to the middle. Unclip the ‘tail’.
   
10. Both ends should be about the same length at this stage.
11. Tie a bow with the two ends, fiddling until you are satisfied with the look of the bow. Cut ends into slanted points if desired.
12. Remove the bamboo skewer by sliding it out to one side gently.
    

Remember to tuck in the ends of the bow before closing the envelope.

It seems like a long process, but if you do all your steps in an assembly line fashion, you can quickly make a lot of these – I made 80 (with some help)!

Wedding stationary showcase – Dalene and Richard

When my sister-in-law asked me to help design her wedding invitations I was thrilled! She had been dreaming of her wedding day, knew what she wanted and had lots of ideas. The color scheme was white, silver and all shades of purple and the decor included crystal, fairy lights, wood accents and centerpieces made from sisal plant shoots (Agave americana) locally know as Garingbome (they are from the Karoo).

She wanted to have ring-bound ‘booklets’ for the invitations, but even the smallest ring-binders would have been too thick to mail easily and with only 4 pages in the invitation would have been quite over powering. We toyed around with many other binding options, but couldn’t really find any commercial options that suited our needs.

My DIY solution: ring-binding with organza ribbon! It worked out perfectly and suited the classic theme and colors well. And the bride loved it (always the most important part). I have created a tutorial on the process and specifically on the ribbon binding.

I purchased all the paper and the envelopes from Something Blue in Irene and laser printed the designs.

Matching Violet Petallics DL envelope with silver filigree peel-off. Only the names were printed on the labels for hand delivered invitations, full address for the mailed ones.

Other than the invitations, I also helped to create the following paper based projects for the wedding:

Match boxes that formed part of the guest favors – Got to love the bride’s caption: “Perfect Match”

Menus with 3D die-cut butterflies, using metallic vellum paper

Small cones for the lavender confetti

Large cones used to serve the pre-reception appetizers along with the delightful purple cocktails

It was such an honor to help with the wedding preparations and be part of their special day.

Me and the beautiful bride – we had the greatest time bonding over all the long distance arrangements!

Technique tip – Cutting and embossing dies

I was shown this technique by Magda Hanekom in my monthly card-making class at Country Crafts.

When using dies that are ‘cutting and embossing’ dies, you will see that the dies have open areas that are used to emboss certain areas with your rubber embossing mat after cutting. These open areas can be used as a stencil to ink the raised areas only, thus emphasizing the embossing and enhancing its appearance.

I used this technique on the feathers in my Distressed Diamond Card Tutorial.

A small foam applicator make getting into the small areas easier

Tutorial – Distressed Diamond Card

It is my mom’s birthday today (Happy birthday Ma!) and I made this card for her on the weekend. She loves soft colors, vintage touches and all things with birds, so I decided to match some watercolor inking with feathers in shades of sea-green, dirty pink and added accents of gold.

The tutorial is also part of my submission for the final round of the Scrap-a-Doodles 2014 Design Team Audition.

The tutorial shows that the diamond fold used in this card might look complicated, but it is actually straight forward to do and it has great impact. The card can also easily stand on its own when opened.

Creating the card base

Step 1:

Cut card base from Core’dinations Kraft Core card stock to 10 x 30 cm (you can make 3 diamond cards from one 12×12 sheet).

With the wrong side of the card facing up, score the card stock at 5cm and 25 cm on your scoring board. Flip card stock over.

Step 2:

With the right side of the card stock facing up, mark the 15cm mark with a pencil at the top and bottom.

Step 3:

Score the diagonal lines (45 degrees) by matching the pencil marks with the end of each of the first scorelines. I use a ruler to hold down the card stock and keep the points aligned. Repeat for all 4 diagonal lines.

Here the line to be scored is aligned with the right side of the ruler with the pencil mark at the top and the first score-line at the bottom

Erase pencil marks once all lines are scored.

Fold each scoreline and crease well.

Step 4:

Placing the card stock face down, bring the 5cm scoreline towards the center of the diamond, matching the top and bottom points of the diamond. You might need to ‘encourage’ the 2 side triangle pieces to fold inward using your fingers while bringing in the 5cm scoreline. Fold down and crease well. Repeat on the other side, lining up the 2 rectangles. From the back you will now have a square.

Click on the animation to see a larger version

Creating the watercolor paper

Cut 1 A5 piece of watercolor paper in half, creating 2 A6 pieces. Rub Distress Inks onto craft sheet in area large enough to cover watercolor paper (see colors used below). Spray with water until droplets form. ‘Smoosh’ card stock into inked area moving it around slightly. Dry using heat tool. Return dry watercolor paper to craft sheet, this time ‘pounce’ into remaining ink droplets. Dry again. Repeat pouncing if desired or add more ink and repeat if it seems too light after drying.

Watercolor paper with distress inks. Left piece – Tea dye and Victorian Velvet. Right piece – Antique Linen, Broken China and Scattered Straw

Try to match your pattern papers’ colors – the pattern paper I used comes from Home Stuff in Randburg – there was no indication of the brand (they were sold in unmarked clear plastic sachets)

Cut matting pieces

You will need to cut the following pieces to cover each section of the card:

Piece A – 9cm x 4cm rectangle (cut 2 from pattern paper)

Piece B – 6 x 6 cm square (cut 1 from pattern paper)

Piece C – 6 x 6 cm square (cut 1 from pattern paper and cut in half on the diagonal to create 2 triangles)

Piece D – 5.7 x 5.7 cm square (cut 2 from your watercolor paper, 1 from each color. Cut each square in half on the diagonal to form 4 triangles and cut each triangle in half again to form 8 small triangles, 4 of each color.

Here is the basic layout of cut pieces before any distressing:

Preparing the feathers

Joy!Crafts Cutting and Embossing Dies – 6002/0292 (left) and 6002/0293 (right)

The feathers are cut using Joy!Crafts Cutting and Embossing Dies 6002/0292 and 6002/0293.

Die cut 2 of the feathers (one large and one small) on each of your watercolor papers. If you work very sparingly with the die-cutting (and the matting pieces) you should be able to make 2 cards from your 2 pieces of watercolor paper.

Because these are cutting AND embossing dies, leave the die-cut in the die once cut and pass through your machine again using the embossing rubber mat, this gives great detail to the feathers. You can add more detail by using this technique.

Ink edges of the feathers using Gathered Twigs distress ink.

For more dimension, shape the 2 big feathers with a large ended embossing stylus (about 8mm) on an embossing mat, curving them slightly from the back. Use a small (2mm) embossing stylus to accentuate the vein of the feather (also from the back).

Shaping the feathers – before (right) and after (left)

Distressing, inking, sanding and stamping

Distress you card base using a paper distresser tool and some sandpaper. The craft core shows distressing very well. Ink the edges lightly (unevenly) using Gathered Twigs distress ink.

Distress all the matting pieces with the paper distresser and ink edges with co-coordinating distress ink (I used Gathered Twigs, Tea Dye and Scattered Straw).

Stamp sentiment on middle matting piece (after distressing) using Walnut Stain distress ink. I used the lowercase typewriter stamp set from Typo.

Here is the basic layout after distressing, inking and stamping:

Assembling the card

Adhere the middle matting piece and all the triangle pieces to the card base (not the 2 rectangular side panels yet), keeping the spacing equal in each section. to ensure that the small points of the triangles stay flat onto the card base, I adhered everything with liquid glue (I like Tombow Multi Liquid Glue).

Adhere the 2 large feathers onto the front of the card, lifting the tops with dimensional foam adhesive.

Creating space for your message

Due to the open nature of this card, there is not a lot of space to write your personal message. To add space for a message punch the 2 side pieces using the We R Memory Keepers – Envelope Punch Board, aligning the edge of the piece with the 1 inch mark. Distress and ink the punched areas (as in above image).

Adhere the pieces to the card base using dimensional foam adhesive on 3 sides leaving the outermost side open for your little note. Fold your note small enough to fit into the pocket you just created.

Do the same for the left hand side. You can include a second note or just a little tag like I did (the stamp was custom made for our wedding, I love adding it onto cards that are for our friends and family).

Adhere the small feathers onto the side panels.

Adding details

Make a bow using 3 strands of gold twine. Glue the center of the bow with liquid glue and allow to dry. Once dry, adhere bow onto front of card.

Create a ‘shadow’ on the stamped sentiment and for the small feathers using a gold gel pen.

Envelope

Create envelope using the We R Memory Keepers – Envelope Punch Board using matching pattern paper that is cut down to 17.5 x 17.5cm.

Using the remnants from die-cutting the feathers as a stencil, ink a small feather onto the envelope with a small foam applicator using Tea Dye distress ink.

Assemble the envelope with double sided tape.

The card will be quite thick, but will still fit into the envelope.

A long post, but if you have all your supplies ready, you could make this card in an evening.

The final product

We visited my parents yesterday and my mom was delighted with the card! It found a lovely spot on the piano in the dining room.

Round 2!

I am super excited to be selected as a finalist for the Scrap-a-Doodles 2014 Design Team (see my audition post here). I am actually a finalist for the Something Blue DT (Something Blue is Scrap-a-Doodles’ sister company specifically focussing on wedding & occasion stationery) – so thrilled!

Keep an eye out – I will be posting my step-by-step tutorials in the coming week. And hold thumbs!