Going Green

Well, it's T-6 days until my sister's wedding... and, just in the nick of time, I've finished my biggest DIY project for her: the escort cards. As I mentioned before, we had previously bought up the entire stock of Martha Stewart's evergreen cardstock from Micheal's for the project. However, we hadn't planned on going green originally.

She had found this picture on the Knot (from the wedding of Andrea & Geoff in St. Paul, Minnesota) and thought it would be perfect for her clover green wedding:



However, I was a little skeptical. I had no idea how we would ever find pre-scored cards in just the right color. I'd seen the all white, easy to print on, pre-scored sheets at Michael's and figured that would be the only possible way, outside of hiring some fancy stationary place to do them. So, we resigned ourselves to this design instead.



However, then I read Mrs. Snow Pea's post about the Making Memories Kit, which includes a scoring tool that makes perfect folds. Problem solved! (Thanks Mrs. Snow Pea!)

So instead we worked up this design:


So how'd we do it? Simple!

First I cut the evergreen paper. This was a bit of a pain because it's 18 in. by 18 in. which means it doesn't fit into my handy dandy paper cutter. So I borrowed an extra-long scoring mat and a yard stick from my FMIL. Once I split the paper in half, I could slip it into my paper cutter. Each of the green pieces got cut into 3.5" by 4.5" rectangles, which means I got 16 cards from each big sheet of cardstock.

Next, I scored each of the rectangles. I wouldn't recommend scoring the paper right down the exact center because you'll end up with that little overhang when you're done. Instead, offset the score by an eighth of an inch or so. You might be able to tell that my scorer is wrapped in masking tape. That was because the area to grip the scorer is made of little metal bumps and it was starting to hurt my hands, so watch out for that!
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Next, I waited until my sister sent over her seating chart. When that was ready, I set up a template in InDesign. If you're setting escort cards up in InDesign, QuarkXPress, or something similar, create a master page first with all your guides set up. It'll save a lot of time and energy. I'd also recommend setting up all the names in Excel and alphabetizing them by last name. Many reception venues require the cards to be in alphabetical order when you bring them in. This is a screen shot of my InDesign file:


Each of the white spots on the escort cards measured 3" by 4", which would ultimately leave a quarter inch border of green on each card. I used 40 pt. Bickham Script Pro for the names and 10 pt. Cambria for the table numbers.

Next, I took my files over to Office Max. They'll print black and white really inexpensively there. They'll also cut your paper if you want them to (although it can get a little costly and it isn't always precise). I had already picked up a pack of white cardstock from Hobby Lobby when it was 50% off, so I just took that with me, which made it even cheaper. Altogether I got 28 pages printed (18 pages of escort cards and 10 pages of menus) and it cost me $2.52! Be warned, though, printing in color is MUCH more expensive at a place like Office Max or Kinko's than printing in black.

The next step was to chop up all these sheets of names. Unfortunately, I had worked a lot of random borders in (like a quarter inch in between each card) that made it a lot harder to cut. Luckily I assigned Mr. Chickadee the task of cutting, because he is far more precise and diligent than I.


When he had each card cut, I punched them with our pretty little Martha Stewart Floral Lace Punch. In order to make sure each punch was perfectly centered, I measured out the size of the card on the puncher and made little marks. That way I had some guides to go by.



After that, I stuck each card to the green backing. I started out with a more liquid craft glue with a pointy tip. It was really easy to apply, not messy at all, and awfully forgiving as it dried slowly. However, buckling and bubbles are a lot more common when using this type of adhesive so I quickly switched over to using an Elmers craft bond glue stick. If you're messy like me, make sure to put down some scrap paper, as you're sure to get glue everywhere.


Several hours, and many many sticky glued up fingers later, we had finished escort cards!

(Ok, I'm not good at straight lines, but you get the idea!)