invitations: another thing to hold things

Like 90% of the brides I've followed around the internet, I fell in love with pocket folder invitations. They're so neatly packaged! I hate spilling the contents of an envelope all over my lap, it ruins the presentation. If you could get away with just the invitation and the response card, I guess it wouldn't be so bad. But most of us have directions and hotel cards and who knows what else. The options seem to be ribbon, belly bands, or folders.

My original plan was to buy pocket folders from Paper Source. Not the cheapest option, but easy and matchy. It wasn't until I dragged DJ to the store with me that I realized I had misunderstood the very clear photo on their website. Durr. The front flap of their folder is about 1" shorter than the pocket side; ideal for stacking all the components in the pocket, but not what I had in mind.

I wanted equal panels on the left and right flaps, so that the invitation could be attached on the left and the card stack could sit in the pocket on the right. Like so:

The salesgirl saw my dithering and suggested an alternative - I could buy large sheets of cardstock and make my own folders. This would be labor intensive, but with a few benefits. One, I could have exactly what I had in mind. Two, the cost per folder decreased 75%.

So I ordered cardstock, which arrived the next day. (Paper Source has extremely fast shipping, at least if you're near Chicago. Good for those of us with instant gratification issues.) Then I spent the next few weekends with a self-healing mat, ruler, and craft knife.

Tip: change blades often. A dull blade rips at the paper fibers and creates an imprecise edge. I probably used ten blades for 90 folders. I wanted 5" x 7" folders with a 2" vertical pocket, so my cutting dimensions were 7" x 12".

After cutting, I used a bonefolder and ruler to score at 5" and 10" longways on each, erring on the generous side for the front flap. This might have been easier to do with a scoring blade on a rotary cutter, but the bonefolder worked just fine. Then I ran a thin bead of glue along the pocket upper and lower edges, using a weight to set the glue. This is the finished stack, for no reason other than that it makes me happy. You may recognize the header graphic?It took a while. I've been enjoying the long engagement because I haven't yet had to make decisions based on available time - but your mileage may vary, and I wouldn't say it's worth it just from a cost perspective. After all, at the end of this I have plain aqua folders - not the most exciting thing in the world, although exactly what I wanted.