DIY Network

Office Supply Invitations Make your invites stand out with retro office supplies. From "B. Original" episode DBOR-303

Michele Beschen used these invites for a recent B. Original shinding.

Our work lives have become so electronic – centered around computers and faxes, e-mails and cell phones – that traditional, paper office supplies have started to seem retro. Michele Beschen shows how to B. Original with these pre-electronic artifacts, creating fun invitations with timecards, tags and rubber stamps.

Invitations sent by fax or e-mail may be the easiest to send, but they’re also easy to forget. When people open up these beauties, they’ll be there or be square!

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Office Supply Invitations

Materials:

time cards
simple tags with strings attached
rubber stamps and ink pads
date stamp
envelopes
glue stick
hole punch
standard envelopes
paper stencils
markers and/or paints
computer and printer

	Figure A
	Figure B
	Figure C

• Start with some time cards (figure A) They come in a variety of sizes; browse the office supply store until you find some you like.

• Design a printout of the party essentials (time, date and so on) on the computer; the printed information will need to fit on the time card.

• Print out your information and hand-tear it to fit on the time card (figure B). Adhere the printout to the card with glue, double-sided tape or a glue stick.

• Stamp the party’s date across the card with a rubber date stamper. Use other stamps with appropriate words like "Urgent" or "Past Due" as well. (After all, fun is an urgent matter – and it’s always past time to have a party.)

• Put driving instructions and other information – such as what to wear or bring – on small tags with strings. As with the timecards, print out the lettering from the computer, hand-tear it to fit and glue it to the small tags.

• Punch a hole in the top of the time card. Tie the smaller tag or tags to the timecard through the hole.

• Dress up the envelope to match the invitation: Tape paper stencils together to create a word like "Urgent," "Party" or your last name. Use markers or paints to stencil the word or words onto the envelopes.

• Stuff, seal, address and send your invitations. The RSVPs should come flooding in.