Invite the Monkeys

One of my favorite things to do is make handmade invitations and cards.  I know this is old fashioned - especially in this age of social media as our main form of communication.  However, there are lots of occasions that I think should be celebrated with a little more effort than a Facebook Invite.  Baby Showers are one of those occasions - especially if it is the first baby for one of your best frineds.  I will admit that these invitations are a few years old, but I thought they turned out great.  They are super cute and easy to make - so they need to be shared.  I even managed to make them from stuff we already had in our scrapbooking supplies - which is always a good way to explain why you need all that stuff when your husband rolls his eyes at all the boxes.

I decided to make this a pocket invitation, mostly because they are my favorite.  I love to make all the different cards, and it really works well for giving out lots of information.  I made one with the party information and one for all the little guys information (ex. height, weight and so on) since we were having the party after he was born.  The card itself was pretty basic - all you need is a 3 1/2" x 5" card, a 2" x 9" strip of coordinating paper and an 8" ribbon.  Using double sided tape attach the strip of paper to the card on the bottom and the sides only, this will create your pockets.  The attach the ribbon.  You can embellish the rest however you would like - leave it simple or get creative - that is the fun part of making your own invitations!



 The monkey face was pretty simple to make once I figured out how to make the pieces.  I used three different circle punches, 1 3/4", 1 3/8" & 1", for the different parts.  For the brown background I made one 1 3/4" and two 1" circles, and for the cream sections I made one 1 3/8" and one 1" circle.  The next thing I did was make a set of stencils for the shape of the face and head.  Once I figured out the right shape, these made it way easier to duplicate the monkey.  To create the inside of the ears I took the 1" cream circle and cut it into a rough oval and then cut that in half.  Once everything was cut out, I used double-sided tape and put it all together.  The last step is to take a marker and outline all of the pieces with dashes or dots, and create eyes and a nose.  None of the faces were the same - but again - that is what makes them so fun and special!

I used no special tools or expensive items so anyone can make these for about as much as you would spend buying invitations at most stores.  Really...I swear! 

Here is a breakdown of what I used:

4 colors of coordinating cardstock

Ribbon

Scissors

Double sided tape

Brown marker

Other tools I used and how to get around buying them:

Circle cutter - but it would be just as easy to cut out the circles using a template you create.

Stamps and Ink - You can buy a cute stamp or two to go with what you are making or just use markers and create your own images directly on the invites.

I hope this inspires someone to create their own invitations the next time they want to

throw a party for someone special!