There are many types of origami, as well as techniques and materials, which you can use. In addition, when it comes to shapes there also various types you can come up with, whether it is to tie it up with your wedding theme, with the traditional ones being flowers, or even just something the bride and groom cherish and want to use as their wedding theme.  In this edition of DIY Wedding Invitations, we have looked into a few ways types and shapes of origami you can use for your DIY wedding invitation base that you can acquire. Let us look at what you can do.

1. Cranes

Cranes are considered lucky, and for you to feature a crane on the front facing of your DIY wedding invite would be quite lucky too. Cranes are also one of the popular origami shapes and is considered somewhat easy to implement, once you have gotten the hang of it. Make a few samples before you embark on the final one.

2. Butterflies

Butterflies, whether they are real, photographs or even illustrations, they are all beautiful. For you to come up with something as like an origami butterfly is so unique and unusual that could amaze your invitee trying to figure out how you did it. You can find yourself creating simple yet beautiful butterflies with patterned paper, or intricate complex ones as well.

3. Lotus

Lotus flowers are beautiful and are quite intricate depending on the type of origami you choose. No matter which one you choose, your outcome of a beautiful lotus flower will be quite spectacular. You can opt to use one large intricate lotus or many to form a design on your DIY wedding invite. The choice is up to you.

4. Roses

Roses have always held a place in weddings and even in origami; you will find these beauteous flowers. Decked in red, white or whichever colour you have chosen and with different folding types for a larger bloom or even bud, you can arrive at a beautiful design for the invite.

5. Hearts

A heart origami is quite appropriate for a wedding, don’t you think? In addition, it can be quite intricate. This carefully folded heart could very well be the centrepiece of your design or even make up a design of its own using various heart origami pieces.

6. Other Shapes

Other shapes that you can make with origami for your DIY wedding invites include the likes of a windmill, fish, peacock, wreath, seashells, horses, elephants, doves, swans, stars and many more. Start discovering now!

There are many types of pencil art out there, from charcoal to chalk, lead art, doodles and even colour pencil art, which are beautiful when the final output comes out.  When it comes down to what the art is all about, there are many items you can feature on your wedding invitation. From a pencil art portrait of the couple, to details of the couple’s attire, such as the wedding dress sketch, or even illustrations of the wedding venue and various decor elements, that is the focal element of your special day. Usually, you find your wedding theme around a colour or an inspiration from a certain element. It could be the altar you plan on getting married at and the details around it, to the wedding cake topper, which can be anything from the traditional bride and groom, to lovebirds, these elements can be found all across your wedding design, and therefore also featured on your wedding invitations and other wedding stationery.

When you are planning on doing up DIY wedding invitations, all you will need to acquire from your wedding invitations vendor would be the DIY wedding invite kits, and from thereon, put artistry to the test. If you are artist in question, then it is up to you to do up some great sketches and designs. If not you can also hire someone who is gifted with creative skill of pencil art, and have them create a masterpiece for you. If that artist in question is also gifted in calligraphy, then you are crossing out two items on your to-do list, the illustrations and design, as well as the text that needs to be done on your DIY wedding invitations.

For those couples who are getting married at great landmarks in Australia, your DIY wedding invitations can feature them so that everyone will know where you are getting married from the moment they have your wedding invite in hand. If you are planning to have your ceremony at the Sydney Harbour, then by all means, feature the beauty of architecture of this great landmark as your focal element on your wedding invite using pencil art. Like so, there are so many ways you can do up your DIY wedding invitations and stationery. Think of the great possibilities, and try them out through samples before committing to it and clear all doubt.

]]> http://www.diyinvitations.com.au/2012/01/pencil-art-diy-wedding-invitations/feed/ 0 http://www.diyinvitations.com.au/2012/01/watercolours-stamps-and-stencils-for-diy-wedding-invitations/ http://www.diyinvitations.com.au/2012/01/watercolours-stamps-and-stencils-for-diy-wedding-invitations/#comments Wed, 18 Jan 2012 06:24:45 +0000 Isabella http://www.diyinvitations.com.au/?p=640 In a world where arts & crafts play a big role in families and homes alike, weddings are also taking a whirl of the DIY trend. That is why more and more brides are taking to their inner creativity for a DIY wedding. Find out how you can be creative to come up with DIY wedding invitation using the likes of watercolours, stamps and stencils.

When it comes to these three main materials, which can be used for DIY wedding invitations, the initial thing you have to do is figure out a colour or a colour theme, or even a theme for that matter, to jump start you in the right direction.  Once that is done, and you know what you want to do, you need to acquire the base for your creation, which would be the DIY wedding invitation paper or even DIY wedding invitation kits.

Stamps, and by stamps I mean the ones which are associated with Stampin’ involves various illustrations already etched into rubber or wood that only requires some ink to convert the object on the paper, and presto, you have yourself a beautiful illustration on your DIY wedding invite. Most couple opt for this type of tool when they want something intricate, which cannot easily be drawn by hand, but that does not mean you cannot use it for larger more simple designs as well. The use of such stamps saves you the times of replicating your illustration and gives you a more natural feel as opposed to having it printed, as it looks more authentic. With such as DIY tool you can also use various method of colouring them too, from coloured pencils and pens, to crayons and watercolours too.

Stencils on the other hand, though similar to stamps, they are best used for creating patterns and coloured using the same options too. Stencils are great when you have to keep it neat, tidy and precise. This way you are assured that a certain design is replicated throughout the wedding invitation pack.

When it comes to watercolours, though it can be used with stamps and stencils both, watercolours can be used on its own, because the picture you draw can be done in a way that you wish. Its best to opt for this if you are an artist, because getting the same illustration right every single time can be quite difficult, and that is why stencils and stamps were introduced, to make life and wedding tasks easier. Therefore, find out which method suits you best and go with it. Carry out some samples and then choose which one is the easiest and the best looking, and then you will have your DIY wedding invite winner.

Brighter and Bolder

More and more people are opening up to more colour in their lives, and with the colour being forecasted for 2012 being a bold choice of Tangerine Tango, you can mix and match your favourite colours to suit your theme or vision for the wedding.

Detailing & Personalise it Your Whim

When you want to make something personal all the little details matter, especially if you go about making sure that these little details go into your wedding in the first place. Provided you do this, you can go about adding personal bits and bobs to your wedding decor and even wedding invitations. For the wedding stationery, you could add the likes of a motif or a monogram, or even a picture, and so much more. The little things matter, do not forget.

Pocket Wedding Invitations

Pocket wedding invitations are always so convenient, when it comes down to organising all the wedding invitation accessories and ensuring all the necessary information and stationery are sent across to the invitees. This great option will continue on to the new year as well.

Be Eco-Friendly

As most of the populace of the globe is going green or becoming eco-friendly and it is about time lots of other folk got on board too. Opt for recycled paper, and other recyclables for use in your DIY wedding decor or even DIY wedding invitations.

Watercolours

There is something truly beautiful about using watercolours, where it entwines various colours together. In addition, this is a great way to also personalise your wedding day, in terms of your wedding invitations and stationery. You can feature a key design element, be it from the venue, a flower from the bouquet or even just something the bride and groom hold dear to their hearts.

Heritage, Vintage & Classics

History means a lot to many people, whether it is your roots, your past or just the past in general, there are so many things that you look back on which you can be inspirited to decorate your special day with elements that are sentimental to you.

There are many fruits out there for you to choose from, which could be your favourite fruits. Some couples like making it personal, so if you have a certain fruit that you both have a certain kinship with, then that could very well be your choice. If there are two types of fruits, one which you enjoy and the other which your fiancé enjoys, then putting that pair together would be a cute and dear thing to you both. However, you could have an inside joke and feature a particular fruit that brought you to together, maybe an apple, much like how Isaac Newton found gravity. Like so, your inspiration can be from anything. There is however, another way you can pick which fruit you would like featured. It could be colour coordinated. If you like a certain shade from your colour palette, you can choose fruits that are in that range, such as if you choose red, then apples, strawberries and cherries would be ideal for that hue, whilst if you choose orange or yellow, bananas, oranges and cantaloupes would be perfect. Like so, the choice of colour can be your starting point of inspirations and discovery.

The way you can go about using them in your wedding invitation design, would be to choose the DIY wedding invitation paper depending on the colour and according to the layout you wish. Then you may proceed with having the guest names printed by the wedding invite retailer such as DreamDay Invitation who undertakes that responsibility. Following that, you can either hire an artist if you want a professional job done, or do them yourself, or even purchase some stamps so that all you will need to do is colour them in. The types of illustrations you can use can be the likes of individual fruits, bunches of fruits, fruits on trees, fruits with leaves, many varieties of fruits together and so much more. Decide on what you would like featured and then go with the flow of creativity.

How you can carry this theme forward would be with the use of your theme design element featured on table numbers, the menus, table placement sheet, name cards, and service orders, and of course not forgetting the items in your wedding invitation packet, such as the reply card, the accommodations and directions card and so on. Even your thank you card will have this fruity detail featured on it. It may sound quirky, but really, it’s quite unique to use such a fruit related design element for your wedding day. There’s nothing wrong with fruits and adding a little fruity touch can carry your personalities, yours and your fiancé’s, forward and let every invitee know that a lot of thought has gone into designing your wedding invitation for your big day, telling everyone how special it really is.

If you already have a colour scheme selected, then all you will need to do is figure out the texture of the DIY invitation paper and the inspiration to decorate it in a way that blends well with your wedding theme. Now, if you are using DreamDay Invitations and their DIY wedding invitations kits, you have the ease of having your entire guest list printed as well as the invitation wording and such.  When selecting your DIY invites, make sure you have some idea of the layout because it will be delivered to you so that they will be ready to have other wedding invitations and accessories attached to it. Now, onto the matter of what you can use to decorate these DIY wedding invitations, we have a few ideas in mind. Let us find out more about them, shall we?

Material Inspirations for Your DIY Wedding Invitations

Beaded bouquets are cute and dainty, and definitely different from any wedding bouquet you have seen. They can be considered a little sparse, but you can accessorise with more beads or accompanying materials. Like so, you can add beads or beaded strings, to blend well with your bouquet, ensuring that the colour scheme is the same.  There is also the option of handmade wedding invitations from scratch, which involves adding beaded buckles with lace or ribbons. That is just one option you can take.

Another unique bouquet you can use is twigs as the main attraction. Add a rustic touch to your DIY wedding invitation with this accessory.

Brooches are lovely additions to weddings, but you can break the mould by opting for a bouquet of brooches and make it truly beautiful. Your DIY wedding invitation would be a brooch too, giving your invitees a wedding keepsake with your invite as well.

Fan Shaped Bouquet is something that is unheard of but entirely possible. So, shape your wedding bouquet in that manner and decorate your wedding invite to resemble a handheld antique fan as well.

Feathers are lovely to behold and the colours are truly spectacular. You can add a single feather or numerous ones to accessorise your DIY wedding invitation.

Buttons, similar to brooches can be ornate and beautiful. So find yourself admiring the beauty of your bouquet and your wedding invite when you opt for this accessory.

Wires are similar to twigs but can be shaped to your liking. Deck your bouquet with some lovely designs and use that as inspiration for your design on the DIY wedding invites.

Fruits and Vegetables are great additions to your decor and using them for your bouquet is quite creative. Use inspiration from the fruits and vegetables, from the colours or shapes and use it in the decor and design of truly unique wedding invites.

Fabric Bouquets as also great options, and are cost efficient. When making your fabric flowers, have a few more made for your DIY wedding invites, and use it as the highlights of the floral invitation and blend your wedding elements together.

Layout, Patterns and Invitation Designs

Chevron is usually accompanied with one white chevron patterned line and then a coloured one, and depending on the colour you choose, you can match it with your wedding theme. The way you can go about with your wedding invitation design and the use of the pattern, is with the layout. Ways in which you can put the layout and the pattern to use include the likes of;

-          Background either as bold and arrow design, or rolling pattern)

-          Bisection of the wedding invitation given to the pattern with the opposite side being a solid colour, preferably of the wedding colour theme, or even something contrasting

-          Border chevron design, with a bold lining and a white inner for the text area

-          Watermark chevron design, so that the pattern is easy on the eye and is a nice surprise when you notice it.

-          Emboss or engrave the design on the border area or even the area, which is not used for the wedding invitation wording.

-          Line the inner area of your wedding invitation envelope with a chevron pattern, therefore when the invitee open the envelope you can clearly see what the theme of the wedding would be, that is, chevron.

Draw, Paint or Paste

Ways in which you can use DIY wedding invitation cards and then go about decorating them is with the use of the right materials, some inspiration and a vision.  You can draw, paint or even cut out a chevron design or strips of paper to paste onto the paper for an artsy look and feel.  You can even use lace as material to create the pattern on your DIY wedding invitation paper. Contrast is key, so keep to that effect.

Be Colour Coordinate, Go Monochrome or Technicolor

A great way of making your chevron wedding invitations stand out when you are opting to DIY it, is to use colour to create a lovely finished product. The choice of colour you use, especially if its monochrome is limited but gives off a eye catching effect. If you have a few colours in your colour scheme, you can alternate between them. If however, Technicolor is your thing, then colour away. A rainbow-wedding theme would be ideal for that choice of colour design and DIY wedding invitation.

Envision what you want for your DIY wedding invitation and use chevron for a beautiful execution and result!

A great way of coming up with beautiful DIY wedding invitations, is to personalise it, in a way that is more than doing up a wedding invitation yourself. Using inspiration from whatever wedding element you put to use, or even inspiration from the venue itself, you can make your DIY wedding invite beautiful, sentimental and trendy. What is this trend? As the title says, hand drawing or hand painting is the focal wedding element on your DIY wedding invitations.

Focal Theme Elements

Most couples enjoy using a focal element to make their wedding stand out. This is usually in line with the theme they are planning on using. What is meant by focal themes is that it takes a specific item or element from the overall inspiration and design and is used thorough varying areas of the wedding, from the wedding invitations to the stationery and decor as well. You can opt to use the likes of any of the below mentioned.

Floral

Floral weddings and inspirations drawn from the floral accents and elements of the big day is quite common, but do not let that bit of information let you down because how you go about doing is where the uniqueness lies. Whether you are choosing roses or cherry blossoms, how you draw or paint it on your DIY wedding invite is true to yours and yours alone. An example of a floral illustrated floral wedding invitation would be Rose Watercolour.

Fruits

Along the same lines of how you paint a picture of a flower, you can do so with fruits. Weddings nowadays, you tend to find fruits used in the decor itself, from apples, pears, to grapes and pomegranate. Put a twist into your wedding with a fruity theme.

Foliage

Foliage can be considered floral, but when it has come to decor and taking inspiration from it, you tend to lean towards these beautiful scenes of creeping ivy or beautiful leaves you would find in various times of the year.

Fauna

Fauna can be anything from a cute bunny rabbit to lovebirds. A popular trend would be using lovebirds and cages in the wedding decor, where if you are using a birdcage for the centrepieces you can tie it in with lovebirds on your DIY wedding invitations.

Portrait or Silhouettes

Portraits are quite lovely if done by a talented artist, in a beautiful and romantic setting and set in your wedding invitations at the very bottom, setting of a lovely balance between art and etiquette. If you want to a little chic, then opt for silhouettes of you and your fiancé that will be featured on the very top.

Motif or Monogram

Similar to the silhouette setting, you can include a motif such as the family crest, a theme element or a monogram of your initials entwined together.

Venue and Location

A beautiful way of featuring your venue would be to have it drawn or painted on your wedding invitation. This way you will not only be infusing the place you are getting married at forever in your minds but also making it a unique way of giving away the location of your venue to your guests. Even if they have a map and directions card in hand, instantly recognising the venue from your wedding invitation would be a lovely gesture.

Design or Pattern

Many do designs or patterns, whether it is as a border or as a specific area of the wedding invite. Some couples opt to choose a dark colour for the design or pattern on a white base, but nowadays an inverted effect is quite popular. Any of the above mentioned focal elements can be used to create a design, and if not there are way ways in which a pattern can be used, from various inspirations from damask to chevron and much more.

Borders

Borders are lovely ways to add a distinctive appeal to your wedding invite and you can draw inspiration from your dress itself. If there is a pattern or a lace design on your beautiful wedding dress that you have chosen, you can put it to use by mimicking the design and drawing it out on your DIY wedding invitations.

Theme Illustrations

Theme illustration is considered a great trend that is customisable to couples, you could even tell your love story in the form of an illustration. From a simple drawing of the couple to the setting of the wedding, there are so many ways in portraying things with the use of illustrations if you let your imagination soar.

1. Start with the Stationery: Some might think that the best place to start is with an inspiration board, which really is the best place to embark on your DIY wedding invitation adventure. However, that is at a conceptual level. When it comes to the visual level, you can actually visualise your concept coming together when you find the paper you need, therefore the best place to start is with the stationery. Wedding Invitations and the Right Choice of Paper focuses on the options, which are available to you in the invitations market.

2. Let Your DIY Wedding Invitations Be the Story: Your wedding invitation should tell a story, the story that leads to you and your fiancé tying the knot. However, the invite design in itself should do so too, and give away hints to what the big day will include. From the shape, the style, the treatment and accessories, your DIY invitation will let your invitees know what decor you might be using, the colours you have chosen, to the theme. Drawing inspirations from elements, gives you a good idea on where to go with it and how you run with it is what will show in the end.

3. Uphold Wedding Invitations Etiquette: Whether it is how it has been addressed to the name of the invitees and when listing out the names of the people hosting the wedding, you need to ensure that due respect is given to invitation etiquette. There are many ways on how you can go about it, but it is always best to read up on Wedding Invitations Etiquette.

4. Detailing Makes the Difference: Adding your personal flair to the DIY wedding invitations makes it so much better. Put in your thoughts and time into getting those done nicely. If it involves the design or accessories to be added to the invitation or even whether you are opting to have the invitations company print, have a calligrapher write it or handwrite it yourself, all these little things matter when the final output is laid out there in front of your invitee. A little extra, something goes a long way, and like so your wedding day will be an absolute hit!

]]> http://www.diyinvitations.com.au/2011/11/diy-wedding-invitations-where-to-start/feed/ 0 http://www.diyinvitations.com.au/2011/11/cool-diy-wedding-invitations-ideas/ http://www.diyinvitations.com.au/2011/11/cool-diy-wedding-invitations-ideas/#comments Wed, 23 Nov 2011 04:19:46 +0000 Isabella http://www.diyinvitations.com.au/?p=587 There are so many great ways to come up with cool DIY wedding invitations, and such ideas are always buzzing in everyone’s heads but we rarely get a chance to see them. Unless you have been invited to a wedding you have been a guest or a recipient of a cool DIY wedding invite, you might still be wondering how you can make one for yourself. This installation of DIY Invitations, we bring to you some materials you can use to create an awesome DIY wedding invitation.

Accessories

-          String can be used either as a decorative border, or as centre point of the design. It can be looped around the base paper, which the invitation wording is printed on, whereby that paper will sit on a different sheet of paper, that either contrasts to it or has a distinct patter or design that compliments the theme in question. The type of string used can be thin or thick, of varying texture or colour, depending on the kind of look you want to achieve. If it is a rustic theme then you could opt for burlap thread or something similar. In addition, you can add little tokens to the string, such as buttons or buckles, by looping through them, or you could add little trinkets such as a miniature key, a flower or something that is in line with your overall wedding look.

-          Lace comes in different sizes, designs, colours, textures and opacity, and depending on that, it can serve many purposes. Either as a decorative detail, a background design element, to something that adds a touch of art to the wedding invitation, much like the use of string, any option can be used.

-          Ribbons are quite similar to string and lace both; however, the texture of the string can also play a part in how the look of the wedding invitations comes together. The can also be looped through various accessories such as buttons, buckles and through punched paper holes creating a weaved look on the wedding invitation itself.

Paper

-          Shimmery textured paper is great as the focal paper that the wedding invitation wording will be printed or written on, or even as the background paper if you want to set a form of contrast to it. This type of paper brings out a touch of elegant glamour to the wedding invite. Although, usually it can be found in tones of ivory or white, darker shades of paper can be used for a velvet appeal.

-          Patterns depending on a style and design of inspiration can also add a great look to the wedding invite. The paper with the pattern can be laid below the paper containing the wedding invitation text or even as the background for a one sided wedding invite, it can be a good idea to use it for an added surprise.

Other Methods of Adding

-          Stampin’ stamps which are either generic but relate to your wedding theme or even custom made are great when you want something unique. Having purchased your DIY wedding invitations kits, you can simply acquire the ink necessary and the stamps, and keep on stampin’.

-          Calligraphy plays a great role in how the look of the wedding invite will turn out if you opt out of getting it printed with professionals, and can set the tone in a great way and be well done.

-          Hand drawn illustrations are great to add a unique touch to your invites by drawing or illustrating a focal element in your wedding theme, and having it create a personal touch.

With the above-mentioned possibilities, you can deliver on cool DIY wedding invitations with your own inspirations and visions on how the result will look like. All you need is to get your DIY wedding invitations kits and get the other materials you need to create a masterpiece with arts and crafts.