Lingerie shower invites...oh, how I wished for a Cricut.

Sorry all my blogging buddies for not being around much last week. It was a very busy week for us and I had some extra jobs I took on that took up my idle time.  I worked on some shower invitations which I will share with you all here and began more tutus for Bean and some of her cousins.  I didn't get as much done on those as I would have liked but I guess that's what this week is for, huh?

A few weeks ago I shared a gift I made for a cousin's wedding shower.  Now this cousin is being thrown a lingerie shower and I was asked to make some cute invitations for it.  I hope that everyone likes them because they are not likely to be reproduced any time soon.   My hands are still sore from all the cutting I did.

I scoured the internet for a cute corset digital image to use as a template but had a hard time finding anything that would work.  I finally found a picture and printed it out to use as my cutting guide. Now, this is the old-school way to do this, you know.  Really dedicated and fortunate cardsters have die-cut machines like a Silhouette or a Cricut to do this manual labor for them.  I am not that fortunate yet.   It is on my wish list for Santa though.  So far, "Santa" hasn't laughed in my face when I shared this want with him so maybe there's a chance.

Corset template.

After I printed out the party information on the pretty card stock I picked out, I traced the shape of the corset around the printed area.  I traced the image on the back of the card stock after holding it up to the light and trying to center it.  This was a little tricky and some of the cards are a little off-center but...it was the best I could do.  Then I started cutting...and cutting...and cutting.  Once the fronts were all traced and cut out, I took each one and went back and traced them onto the cardstock I picked out for the back of the invite.  The cutting continued.  Ugh.  My hands became one with my scissors. I had to pry my fingers off when the whole lot was done.

All the details printed on the pretty card stock.

Tracing out the corset on the back of the printed card stock for the front of the invitation.

Cutting out the front.

Isn't it pretty?

Using the front to trace out the back for a better fit.

Once the fronts and backs were all done, I matched them up and trimmed off any excess here and there. Then I took the backs of each invite and added a scalloped trim I punched out using a Martha Stewart punch I won awhile back. This was a little tricky and I had to piece these parts together since the bottom of the corset was curved. I could have used some ribbon but decided to go with the punched paper instead to give it a lacey look around the bottom.

Lace around the bottom.

 

Then I glued the front and back together and went around the whole thing again trimming off any excess.

Almost done.

Once everything was all put together, I added a little pearl and ribbon embellishment to finish it off.

Corset lingerie shower invitation.

 I think they turned out nice.  I truly hope the hostess and the bride like them and that it turns out to be a great party. 

I'm going to link this post up with a few crafty blog parties this week.