bridesmaid newsletter: extra foo-foo

This went in the mail this morning, and they won't receive it until Monday, or something absurd like that, but I couldn't wait to share this DIY with you all.

Bridesmaids,
if you want to be surprised at all
STOP READING

....






....

last chance

...





.....





okay then, your choice!

I was inspired by all the bridesmaid newsletters out there. You can find some amazing looks here, here and here. And any excuse to make something wedding related with paper, ink and stamps is a great excuse for me. That being said, these are completely unnecessary and not a important to-do by any means, but damn - are they fun.

I first decided on the style. I only wanted a one pager, printed on both sides. I decided to go with my wedding colours, which made printing a snap. I also made all the images black and white so it would be easier and cheaper on my home printer.

I had to decide what to put on there. As I do have a blog that most of my girls read, they already read the bridal party introductions, and knew the wedding party as much as they could. I left out wedding colours, intros and basic information and put more pressing matters in there. On the first page I talked about me and the wedding, on the second page I talked about them and the wedding.

**I won't be posting any text of the newsletter until my bridesmaids have received them, just to keep some suspense alive.

So I ordered 8.5x11 pure white text paper and #10 string & button black envelopes from the Paper Source. Easy to do, shipped within a day, arrived within a week. The paper itself is thicker than normal everyday printer paper, and the envelopes are adorable!

I printed the newsletter out, double sided, and it look perfect. Make sure you do a test run. I found out after one normal sheet that I was low on black ink and that delayed everything. Once I replaced it and did another test run, everything was fine. Voila. Printed.

I like the look of wrap around mailing labels (the green envelope!) and my aunt had given me some basic full sheet sticker paper for Christmas, so I thought: why not?

I created a return address image on Adobe Photoshop Elements 6.0. I used Brock Script and Garamond. This is all done with the text button and layers. Very easy to do.
In Word, I opened a new blank page and created a table. I was mailing this to eight women so I made a 2x8 table for the whole page. I inserted the image on the left hand side of the table. I added their mailing addresses to the right hand side. I used Brock Script for their names, and put their addresses in Garamond as well. I adjusted settings and size until everything fit on one page.

I also changed the border of the table to a light grey dotted line. That way, it could give me guidelines on the cut.

Printed it all out, cut them out, stuck them on the envelope:
I wanted to give my women contact information, but I didn't want to stick it in the newsletter (took up to much space). I decided to make an insert. I filled out another table with their addresses, prettied it up and stuck it into a blank adobe image. The end result is that I had a 8x3 image which I inserted onto a blank Word document, adjusted to be a landscape view.
I could fit two address sheets on every page so I printed off these babies on a basic cardstock. I was going to use normal printer paper, but I wanted to use my wedding cardstock for a backing, and the normal printer paper wasn't thick enough. The lettering of the wedding cardstock showed through. So white cardstock it is.
I cut out all the tags, using a basic 12" trimmer (can get at any scrapbook/craft store). I used a basic glue runner to tape down the tags. The glue runner is $3.48 at your local Wal-Mart section in the scrapbooking aisle (past the Martha Stewart stuff) and refills are 2 for $3.48. It's amazing stuff.
Since I could fit four tags to a 12" paper, I used one black side and one white side. Cut them out. Make sure your blade is sharp or else there will be ragged edges. The end result was a sturdy insert they could post on their fridge or keep in their daily planners. I really love how they turned out.
Here is the whole package together. The envelope all ready to be stuffed, the newsletter, the insert.
One final detail: I had a damask stamp and some silver paint dabber (both can be found at scrapbook/craft stores) and wanted to seal the envelope. Just to throw some damask on the envelope, which didn't have anything.
The first attempt, over the string, was horrible (sorry Mom!) so I stuck it in the middle instead. I think it still looked okay.
Here they are, drying. It will only take a few minutes for them to dry completely. You don't need a lot of paint.
I'll be doing this again, for sure. It was such fun. I'm also going to be sending out a groomsman version in the middle of spring.

The stamps are your basic Canadian stamp. The new ones will be coming out around the fifteenth, so next time, I'm going to get basic white and black ones, just to keep the unity alive.

Cost breakdown:

$14.75 - Paper, Envelopes, Shipping (package of 10 each)
$5.20 - Stamps (pack of 10)
$20.70 - HP Ink, Black #21

$40.65 - TOTAL

But taking away the cost of ink, the newsletters themselves cost $1.99 each to make. That's pretty cheap, if you ask me.