DIY My Little Pony Invitations

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There wasn't alot of inspiration on the old inter web for this project. I guess most people just buy a pack at the party store or photo shop something, but we decided ours HAD TO be a pop up. Since Roo's favorite is Rainbow Dash we decided she should be flying by a rainbow. Mike used an old soda box and cut cardboard templates for the card, rainbow, clouds and tabs. When I can get my scanner working correctly I'll upload our templates for anyone who is interested in them. Once you have the templates it's just a lot of cutting and assembling.

Also, I searched for stickers with the right ponies in the right poses and got frustrated quickly. So, I found images online and then to make cutting them out easier I added a bleed around the edges in paint shop. I don't know where Rainbow Dash came from in the end, but I was able to download Pinkie Pie by Lisosaurus and Fluttershy by Sticer555 as vectors from Deviant Art.

I used my good old paper cutter to cut out the cards on pink and purple cardstock. We started by measuring an A4 invitation envelope. After last years' multiple envelope issues I knew to start with that. I had ivory colored envelopes left over from another project. Once I had the cards cut out I traced the boxes from the template and labeled them with the corresponding letters.

We made one cloud template and then flipped it over to make pairs for either side of the rainbow. I didn't have white cardstock when I started these so I cut the clouds out of blue. Then I sponge painted them white and added silver glitter! I LOVE the way they turned out. I bought a pack of white card stock for the rainbows (and that was the only thing I bought for these invites Yay, resourcefulness!).

After I traced the rainbow template I hand colored them with colored pencils. It felt more authentic to the theme plus I like kids invitations to look home made. Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo and Violet then repeat!

I wanted to keep the wording super simple so it didn't overcrowd the pop up images. I downloaded a font called Equestria from font freak and choose some My Little Pony colors. I just made a table in Microsoft Word and typed my message in the first box. Once I was happy with it I copied it into each cell on the table. It says "Hey EveryPony! Fly by or gallop on over, Pinkie Pie is throwing Riley A Party, To celebrate being another year older." I followed that with a brief when, where and RSVP email. Honestly I don't think anyone really uses the RSVPs on paper invites anymore. I always send an email or Evite to all the grownups before I sent the handmade invites to kiddos and they generally RSVP there.

For the front I typed the word party in the Equestia font in rainbow colors and cut it out with edging scissors. Then I added Pinkie Pie. Once the rainbow, clouds and Rainbow Dash where in place I added the words. I just folded the edge over the back of the card so they would pop up too. When I was done with that I realized we had an empty spot on the left so I went looking for another pony.

I found the perfect Fluttershy for that spot and if you like her click the link in the first paragraph because that artist has an image for most of the other ponies in party hats too. Unfortunately, my yellow ink freaked out when I printed her so I had to break out the colored pencils again. Don't forget to add a bleed in paint shop to help yourself out. The little curl at the end of her tail was a real challenge!

Here you have it! All done. It required much more prep work then invitations I've done in the past, but over all was very simple to assemble. I loved painting clouds and coloring rainbows by hand (it's how I unwind), but you can always print yours out on card stock to save time if you want a more polished look. I adore these, I don't think we could have done a cuter invitation.

Coming soon: I'll add our templates to this post

Bow Tastic

So, my beautiful Minnie's Bowtique invitations have all been delivered by hand or post at this point. They went winging out into the world each with either a bow tie or a hair bow attached in Minnie Mouse's favorite color/pattern combo.

Shortly after getting them all out I realized what a jerk I was. Addressing pretty handmade bows to children in late July and asking that they wear them to a party in early September. What was I thinking? At my house I had extra bows made up so I gave Riley one to wear until the party and saved one for the big day. Here kids! Aren't this great? Now give them to your mommies and forget they exist so they don't get lost or damaged. Sorry.

Opps! I assumed I'd be a hero for addressing/handing each invite to the little one themselves because when do they ever get their own mail? In reality, I just made (to borrow Riley's expression) llama drama. Speaking of addresses and drama, unlike I insinuated (and initially believed)in the post about making the invitations they could not be mailed in regular envelopes.

Apparently, because the wired ribbon and barrette backs/safety pins wouldn't fit neatly through the postal machines meant for flat things they're considered Special Handling. They had to go in bubble mailers luckily they had polka dot bubble mailers at the post office. I was pretty thrilled. I also added Minnie stickers to the front of each and addressed them with hot pink Sharpie. See what I mean about making everything appealing and then the mom's having to "put them away for later." Sigh. So, after all the re-addressing and re-using of stamps, etc I found one still in my bag the next day. I was especially bummed. Thankfully, I was able to drop that one off, phew.

I can't wait to see all the hair bows and bow ties at the party. I'm so glad I went with bows instead of ears. I think it's going to be a great group. Especially if everyone comes. I have a great start on the planning already. Not that it's a challenge this theme has so much room for creativity. Yay! Although, Riley seems far more concerned with when Halloween is than her birthday. We might have to do a Halloween themed birthday next year. It's always been her favorite holiday, but it's all she talks about lately.

Minnie's Bow-tique Invitations

They are fiiiiiiinnnnnniiisssshhhhed! Hooray! We have Riley's Minne's Bow-tique invites ready for distribution. A million thanks to my amazing Mother-in-law for the idea inspiration!

Materials

• Polka dotted ribbon
• Hot glue gun
• Barrette backs/Safety pins
• Card stock
• Walt Disney font
• Thin ribbon
• Scissors
• Glue stick

As anyone who checks the blog regularly knows, I adore making my own invitations. I was showcasing my failures at making a paper bow earlier in the week. Well, my mother-in-law happened to see the fail pile and comment that a child would probably be delighted to receive a big puffy Minnie bow as an invitation and ask if I'd considered getting some wired ribbon and making real bows. I was sold! Perfect. Wearable invitations that perfectly fit the theme.

First I twisted the ribbon into the approximate shape I wanted to measure the length I needed. Then I cut the number of pieces I'd need. Twelve invitations took me just over 8yds.

The first one I made I just keep wrapping and folding the same length of ribbon. I realized after the first one I needed to cut off a piece to be the knot part. If you don't it makes it super uneven on one side. Once I'd trimmed the end, I folded what was left in half. Then I folded each side toward the middle and down. You should have a shape similar to a heart. Then I hot glued each piece down.

Once your heart shape is glued down turn the bow over and cut a V shape in the middle of the back.

Then fold or trim the pieces hanging down. Put a dot of hot glue on the back and attach the excess you cut off at the beginning to it.

Then wrap it around the middle "knot" section. Make sure to fold over any excess so that it's glued in the back.

Then add a line of hot glue and attach a barrette for girls or a safety pin for boys. For the barrette it's pretty straight forward. For your "bow ties" glue the pin a layer below and feed the fabric in and back around to help it stay in position.

The hard part's done! You've got your bows and bow ties now to make the "price tag" and give all the important information to your guests. I downloaded the Walter font from fontfreak.com and selected hot pick. Ours have a cute little rhyme about Miss Roo turning 3.

Make a table in your word processing program so you can print two rows per page. Then cut out the invitation wording and use the glue stick to attach it to card stock. Cut it out and then use an edger or scissors to round the corners. I like mine fat because boutique tags are quirky. Feel free to get fancy with your tags though. Embellish to your liking. I added felt cupcakes, Miss Roo LOVED those. Then punch a hole and feed your thinner ribbon through to attach it to a bow.

Pokie-Dots!

Yesterday, I took a shopping trip alone to have a break from kids. I had a list as long as my arm to accomplish, but I made it to one, yes uno, store. I got the birthday gifts I was after and a hand full of other items. When I got home I realized I'd only purchased one thing for myself: a Hello Kitty shirt that says "Adorkable". Sigh.

One of the things I picked up was this freaking adorable romper for Miss Roo. I've had Minnie Mouse on the brain between Riley's recent obsession with polka dots and Minnie Mouse birthday invitation designs kicking around in my head. I almost didn't buy it because it's not easy to potty in, but I'm glad I went for it. We've totally hit the one-piece clothing level of potty training abilities, Go Team!

She looks good in everything. I don't know what happened, I used to enjoy shopping for myself. I second guess everything I look at now. I put back everything I pick out and come home with stuff for Riley instead. I feel old, but too tiny for grown up clothes. After, I got back home from my shopping trip I pondered invitations. Apparently, everyone who ever in the history of the world had a Minnie Mouse themed party used an invitation something like this:

I (of course) wanted to do something different than the countless examples of this floating around in cyberspace. At Riley's request we're doing the modern pink Minnie not classic red. Mike and I agreed Minnie's Bow-tique gave us a lot more to work with and a broader color palette. So, I decided I wanted the whole invitation to be one of Minnie's bows that opens to reveal the invite info. I knew the outside would be hot pink with glittery white polka dots, but not how the construction would work.

Here are my failed experiments (I couldn't find any examples of a bow shaped cards):

Here's my inspiration, in the wrong color. It's a very distinct bow and I wanted it to be recognizable.

This was my first try. Obviously to make this work I should have cut it at the top of the page so it would fold the way I wanted. It looks bad. It more closely resembles a bikini top than a Minnie bow.

This was a suggestion from Mike. The whole paper is folded into an ugly, angular bow. So masculine. Boo! Plus everyone would say "that's neat" and then unfold it and never get it back in that shape like an old road map.

Now, this is where I started to get excited. This one looks like Minnie's bow, finally. The problem is that it doesn't offer a lot of writing room. It also doesn't hide the writing well.

I think this is what we'll go with. It's puffy, feminine bow with room for concealed writing. Mike thinks a tab and slot like the top of a cereal box for a closure at the knot will work. It's still a work in progress. I'll post my final design.

Also, on the note of clothes for myself, polka dots and Riley's party I really want this dress to wear to her party (and in general), but it no longer exists (damn you old pins!).

Isn't it great? Man, I wish I was a costume designer! One of my friends in college could have whipped this up no problem. No worries, I'm on the case and I have some time.