Invitations and R.S.V.P's - Wizard of Oz themed party!

The first thing to consider when planning the party were the invitations as they set the theme.

I figured I could go in either of 2 directions - a bright happy theme representing Dorothy and her companions or a dark and mysterious theme representing the Wicked Witch. I decided the brighter theme would set a happier tone for the party and decided to create an invite from the man himself, the Wizard of Oz.

I started to look at a number of different types of invitations and took inspirations from designs such as those below: (all links to these photos are at the end of this post)

Design 1

Design 2

Design 3

Design 4

Taking inspiration from the few Wizard of Oz themed invitations out there I decided to work with three main colours/patterns; red (Dorothy's glittery shoes), yellow (the yellow brick road) and blue gingham (Dorothy's dress). I wanted to incorporate as much as I could from the Wizard of Oz into the invitations, from the text to the envelope. Here's the final invitation:

Wizard of Oz invitation 1

Wizard of Oz invitation 2 

The Text:
As I said before I wanted the invitation to be from the Wizard himself hence why it reads 'The Wonderful Wizard of Oz has requested your presence'. It would make sense that the party would be held at the Emerald City (with it relocating to the address of the party). 'Somewhere over the rainbow' was an absolute must and I added the 'Sorry no munchkins allowed' at the bottom as we didn't want any kids at the party. 

Other thoughts:
I managed to incorporate a lot of things from the movie: The rainbow, poppies at the bottom of the invitation along with a little Toto silhouette hiding behind them, the red glitter of Dorothy's shoes, blue gingham ribbon from Dorothy's dress and the yellow brick road background. It can be a little difficult to see but the yellow card is actually embossed with a brick design (see further down for a better photo).

R.S.V.P's:
I wanted the R.S.V.P to stand out from the invitation, I made it smaller and used green glitter card (to represent the Emerald City). It was simply slotted in an envelope at the back of the invitation itself. Check out the cute Wizard of Oz lion stamp I used in the corner - stamped with green ink and dusted with green glitter whilst it was still wet. I teamed this with green ink too!

The back of the Invitation with the R.S.V.P in the envelope

I wanted the R.S.V.P to be a bit of fun - not just a simple Yes or No. This was the perfect opportunity to incorporate some of the main characters: Dorothy, Scarecrow, Tin Man, Lion and the Wicked Witch. I wanted to create a response based on each characters personalities/phrases whilst keeping it comical and light-hearted. Each character's answer was represented with a picture.
The responses were divided into 3 categories: Those who could come (both willingly and reluctantly), those who couldn't come and those who always say they will come but never turn up - there's always one!

R.S.V.P

One big issue with R.S.V.P's is that people send them back without a name on them and as I liked the design and didn't want to have to put a space for names I numbered each R.S.V.P on the back in invisible ink. Those numbers corresponded with names on an invitation list. So, when an R.S.V.P was returned I could light up the ink and see who had sent it!

So how were they created?
The process itself was very simple. I used an XCut Big Shot Die Cutting Machine and various nesting dies to cut the shapes and a Docrafts Papermania Embossing folder to get the brick effect.

XCut Big Shot

Nesting Dies

Embossing Folder

The Big Shot is my favourite crafting tool, I always get clean, professional results and it's much more practical then cutting by hand when you're making over 20 identical invitations and R.S.V.P's!

All of the invitations assembled

The card was then assembled using (lots of) small foam squares to add more dimension to the invitations and R.S.V.P's. I punched holes in either side of the invitation on the yellow card and threaded gingham ribbon through.

The layers of the invitation

Needless to say the invitations were a big hit! Everyone loved them and loved the comical responses of the R.S.V.P!

Wizard of Oz invitation pictures:
Design 1: http://www.artfire.com/ext/shop/studio/MommiesInk
Design 2: http://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/GwynnWassonDesigns
Design 3: http://www.loveitsomuch.com/stores/wizard-of-oz-ruby-slippers-handmade,403516.html
Design 4: http://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/venspaperie

If you would like to use any of my photo's please link to my blog and let me know - thanks!

Weeeee'rrrrreeeee off to see the Wizard! - Wizard of Oz themed party!

It was my mums 40th Birthday recently and she wanted a big party, luckily she asked me to create a theme and handle all decorations.

I toyed with a lot of ideas: masquerade, vintage, 70s etc but in the end I HAD to go with her favourite movie - The Wizard of OZ. Why? Because not only would it be a really fun theme to incorporate, but also because it's so different, I knew she'd love it!

The verdict? - Of course she loved it! Check out the main table:

The main table

I have to say this was the most enjoyable thing I've done (whilst stressful at times). I managed to find so many ways to add a 'Wizard of Oz flare' to things.

Birthday messages book - tutorial to follow

Stay tuned for tutorials and reveals of the birthday messages book (above), invitations (both real and prank), incorporating Dorothy's 3 companions, little important details and more!

Pages:
Invitations and R.S.V.P's: http://inthehedgerows.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/invitations-and-rsvps-wizard-of-oz.html
Rainbow Pinata: http://inthehedgerows.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/rainbow-pinata-wizard-of-oz-themed-party.html