Mystery Invitation Element: REVEALED!

Last week I mentioned that although my jewelry making is slightly slurred now since we are packing up everything we own to move to Kansas City, I am still craftin' away. My husband is a pastor and will be getting ordained next month... which basically means a bunch of bishops will put their hands on his head and deem him a pastor. While that part doesn't necessarily thrill me, the task of making invitations to the event is what gets my blood pumpin! I am the kind of gal who likes to get elemental with my cards/invitations... our wedding invitations had brads, ribbons, and stamps! For this round of paper goods, I immediately knew what I wanted to use: can you guess what is it (hint: it smells)?

The answers I received from y'all were great and made me smile: braided hemp; lavender/dried flower; seaweed; and even old boot straps! I can see how this random item could be any of the above items... here is what it actually it:

FISHNET!

I searched and searched online to find some sort of small/thin net that I could use on these fishy invitations (made in such a way because many parables and events of Jesus' time involved fish/fishing, etc). I was totally overwhelmed with the choices online (you try looking for fishnet online and see what you come up with!), but also the limited large quantities in which I would have to purchase it! I finally looked at Michael's on a whim and voila! They had it -- and even better, I got to use a 50% off coupon, so I bought over 5 yards of this stuff for less than $5!


Next was figuring how out to get the fishnet on the actual card stock. I tried sewing it. Too time consuming and messy. So I tried gluesticks. Yeah right, too soft. I bought a stitching bug little thing and didn't even open the packing and admitted defeat preemptively. Finally someone mentioned a glue gun, and thankfully I hadn't yet packed up my long lost gluing friend and she and I went to work! Cutting the net was the most time consuming, as I had to form it to fit each card and trim it over and over again. This stuff not only comes with an authentic smell (not sure if that's a good thing...?), but it is also very dirty and really browned up a new pair of rubber-gripped scissors I just bought. Oh, the things a girl will do for her husband. 

While the husband cut the fish (which I designed and printed using my Mac, 120lb cardstock, and a color printer), I cut the net and glued it on. But we weren't done there -- we needed corresponding envelopes and return address labels! I found the brilliant blue envelopes at Action Envelope and accidentally ordered a size too small for the invitations, but figured I would just fold the invites in half and not make it any more complicated than it needed to be. After searching Etsy over and over for some kind of cute fish stamps/stickers for the return address sticker, I finally came across this super cute little stamp. I asked the seller, Butterflystamps, if I could possibly order the stamp in a 1/2" size and also in a 3" size. She was super great in getting back to me and custom making the stamps for me and within my timeline. I highly recommend her! (I will be using the 3" for the Ordination programs, which I will of course blog about when the time comes!). I bought some small blank return address labels from Staples and printed our new Kansas City address up on our printer and added a little accent of the fishy stamp to each one:

After buying some silver Sharpies, I went to town and labeled over 200 of these things!

Even my dog Ping wanted to join in. At first I thought it was cute:

Then I realized that she gave me no use of my arms and I couldn't get any work done!

But I wouldn't have it any other way! 

So, there you have it! Mystery revealed! That said, I might be a little MIA over the next week -- we are moving in a few days and are driving to the midwest, so who knows when I will have internet access again! See you on the other side - ah!