I designed a simple layout using Pages on my macbook, in such a way that each program would only use up half of a standard letter size sheet of paper. When I was happy with the layout, I sent it over to Staples to be printed. I love love love printing at Staples. Did I mention that I love printing at staples? I used them a lot for all my DIY wedding paper projects. Their printers lend your work a professional look that your home printer simply can't achieve even if you have a laser printer at home. It is also more cost effective to print with them then print large amounts of paper on your own. Of course I still had a few issues with Staples making a few errors such as printing on the wrong paper, but they were always more than happy to reprint at no cost to me. I chose to have these programs printed on linen paper because the weight and texture of it looked more wedding appropriate than plain copy paper. As I mentioned earlier the programs printed out in such a way that each sheet of paper had two programs, so I had to cut it in half. Staples offered to cut it for me but I felt it wasn't worth what they wanted to charge me so I pulled out my fiskars paper cutter and did it myself. Tedious!
Once I had cut all the programs to size, now came the fun part; the rubber stamping. I did a lot of rubber stamping for my wedding. I guess you could call me a rubber stamping addict? I just love the way a simple rubber stamp and the right ink can transform a plain piece of paper into a work of art. I also love that using the same set of rubber stamps on different projects, ties everything together by creating a uniform signature look. The first project I used rubber stamping on, was my invitation suite and it wasn't as easy as I thought it would be, and I'll be posting about that in more detail soon. But by the time my invitations were mailed I was a certified rubber stamping expert, so I decided to use it on several other projects.
Since the back of programs were blank I decided to use two rubber stamps to decorate them. Firstly a large stamp for the center of the page, and then a really small 'signature' row of hearts stamp for the corner. I used the same hearts stamp for the escort cards later on. I came across the large "wedding words" stamp shown below and i just knew I had to have it.
It was such a simple stamp and yet spoke volumes to me. I knew that with the right ink, on the right paper, this stamp would come to life! I decided to use the same gold pigment ink I had used for my invitations and this is how it turned out!
Many people asked me how I was able to get the stamp to be so perfectly aligned in the center of every single program, I really wanted to say; it's because I'm just that amazing, and I just happen to have the steadiest hand in the universe... but that would not be true. Instead I found this product called the Stamp-a-ma-jig. Yeah I know, ridiculous name, but it really works. It's a two piece alignment tool that enables you to get the perfectly placed stamp everytime.
I then used the overlapping hearts stamp on the top left corner and bottom right corner of the page. I did this so that when I rolled the paper into a scroll, the hearts would show on the edge of the paper, no matter which way I rolled it.
My awesome parents helped by cutting lots of pink and brown ribbon to size and sealing the ends with a liquid sealant to prevent it from fraying. So once I was ready to roll up the programs I had the perfect cuts of ribbon to hold the scrolls in place, and voila the finished product!
