Gettin' Crafty

Alright, ok I'm the first to admit...I'm a sappy kind of gal. I believe in happy endings, love at first sight, fate - the whole ball of wax. Because of my sappy nature, I firmly believe that someone, somewhere was looking down on me and decided -"That girl is destined to work at Kaytee during her winter break." Not being one to tempt fate, I've dutifully accepted my assignment at the bird seed manufacturing/packaging plant with just a teensy weensy bit of complaint.

It wasn't until about a week ago that I realized just why I was called to work in the land of bird seed. (For those of you who don't know...I have a very irrational yet horribly paralyzing fear of birds so this is no easy task for me!) As a newly hired Flex Staff (temporary) employee, I was forced to work on the mind numbingly boring "sock line" in which I, along with two or three other workers, fill tiny mesh bags with Finch food and place them in a box. Very repetive. Very boring. Trust me.

Anyway, after three or four days of sock filling I could literally feel the brain matter (the part that is college educated) turn to mush. I did what any rational human being would do - I struck up a conversation. Turns out I was working with my mom's co-worker's wife (got that?) who had just helped plan and organize both of her daughter's weddings in the last year. This wonderful woman (a.k.a. Jerilyn Fochs) is quite crafty!

As Mark and I have been stressing out over the cost of our impending wedding, I was ready and willing to learn any tricks she'd learned in all that wedding planning. Turns out she had the perfect idea for cost effective and gorgeous wedding invitations! She brought an extra invitation that she had helped her daughter Mandy make for her wedding a few months ago and I absolutely fell in love with the simple, yet beautiful design!

The basic design includes sheer paper over white (which features the wedding information and will be printed on my computer) and is tied together with a pretty ribbon and a beautifully ornate "B" stamp. Since Mandy married a man with the last name "B" she has graciously offered us use of her stamp during the invitation making!

I am so thrilled to have found an economical way to announce our impending nuptuials and cannot thank Jeri enough for the idea and for helping me work through all the details! Since I was already sold on the idea, I decided I might as well venture to Hobby Lobby to get an idea of just how economical this project would prove to be.

So, mom and I went last weekend to price the supplies and found (much to our delight) that Hobby Lobby was having a 50% off sale on all paper goods! FATE! So I purchased all of the materials to make nearly 200 invitations for $20! I found ribbon that closely matches the color of my bridesmaid dresses and bought four packs at Super*Walmart for $3 and Office Max had the fancy envelopes I needed on sale for $4.50 per pack of 50!

I'm very excited to see the finished product and cannot wait to host "invitation craft day" at my apartment in a few months to assemble them. Just goes to show you - sometimes you've gotta let fate take a hand in all you do. Even if what you're doing is endangering your life by working near bird food!