The Baby Shower Invitation - Part II

Once the collars were all glued to the card fronts, I started to glue on the arm trims (60 scalloped strips folded in half so the scallops meet), the snaps to the crotch pieces (60 small circles) and the three little hearts (90 of them) to the front of the onesie.

This is the card front opened flat.
This is the inside of the card opened flat.

A onesie with the pieces to be glued - the crotch piece, the two snaps, the two arm trims and the three hearts that line up under the collar.
Then it was time to make the pattern for the inside of the invitation. This was to have the date, time, place and RSVP. I wanted to make my own pattern that could be printed so that the onesie could be traced one in each corner of the page to make 4 inserts per page. I had decided to use copy paper for the insert as it would not be as heavy as cardstock and so less weight for postage. It took me 14 tries to set this page up on my computer but finally I managed to get it all lined up and it was done and I printed out 8 sheets.
I traced 30 more onsies from the pattern (I had reduced it a bit so that a border would show around it when it was glued to the inside of the invitation) 4 to a page and then began to cut them out. (That was 30 more onesies to cut.) Each insert was to have 3 little hearts around the neckline so they had been punched and were ready to be added (that was 90 more hearts). :<)

Each insert was also sponged around all of the edges with chocolate brown ink. (30 more onesies to sponge.)

But then, disaster struck!

I had all 30 of the inserts cut out, sponged, hearts added and glued inside the invitations and I noticed that the necklines didn't line up! There was a little border showing on the left as intended but on the right it was right next to the neckline! How had this happened! It wasn't until later that I understood what had happened and learned a dear lesson. I had assumed - you know what is said about people who assume - that the pattern was the same on both sides. It wasn't. It was not a mirror image. After I had reduced the pattern to make it smaller to fit as an insert I had laid it down onto the invitation to make sure it had an even border all around and it had fit perfectly. BUT, when I started to trace the pattern onto the insert pages I HAD TURNED IT OVER without realizing it and because it was not a mirror image, it was a bit off on the one side.

What to do! I just wanted to cry. I had all 30 of them done - had cut out the inserts, sponged all the edges, added the hearts and they were glued inside the invitations. My first instinct was to send them and hope that no one noticed or if they did it wasn't a big deal. But it was a big deal - they were not perfect and they were for my family and they would think I didn't care. But when I thought of ungluing all 30 of the inserts - which would take forever and could destroy the invitation and all of that work - I admit I cried in frustration that I was so tired of not being able to see clearly like I used to!

Well there was nothing else to do. I could not send them this way. I started to tear out the inserts, one at a time, and very slowly.

Of course, there was damage to the insides of the invitations. You cannot have paper glued to paper and expect to just take them apart. This took forever and I thought I would have a heart attack every time the paper stuck and tore.

For those who may not realize how traumatic this was - here are the 30 inserts after I tore them out of the invitations. My poor heart.

This time I printed the new inserts on white cardstock, made sure that my pattern was right side up and traced the 30 onesies one more time. I then cut out the 30 onesies one more time - and sponged all the edges of the 30 onesies with chocolate ink one more time and added the three hearts (90 more) to the onesies 30 more times and then glued the inserts to the inside of the invitations 30 more times - this time making sure they lined up! They did. :<) This is the finished new insert.

The completed baby shower invitation.

I love them - they are so cute! The polka dot paper was heavy with raised dots so it was perfect for the invitations.

Here are all 30 invitations ready to be packed with 30 plus a few extra envelopes and sent to NH. In all of the trauma of the insert disaster I forgot that I intended to also add a scalloped collar to the back of the invitation and when I remembered they were in the mail and it was too late. Sometimes you just can't win and have to go with the flow. :<)

A most time intensive project:

Altogether I traced, cut out and sponged all the edges of 30 onesie invitations and traced, cut out and sponged the edges of 60 onesie inserts. I punched out 30 scalloped ovals for the collars for the onesies and then punched out 30 circles for their necklines. I punched out and sponged the edges of 30 crotch pieces for the onesies. I punched out 60 scalloped strips for the trim on the arms of the onesies, 60 small circles for the snaps on the crotch pieces and 270 small hearts for the outside of the invitation and the two inserts.

Can't forget that I also glued 30 collars, 30 crotch pieces, 60 arm trims, 60 small circles and 270 hearts. I think that's about it. :<)

They arrived in NH and I received an e-mail that they loved them so all is well. :<)

Thank you for stopping by to visit my blog today! The weather here in this part of WI continues to be so strange! It has been 80 degrees for days now. The weatherman said that we are averaging about 39 degrees above normal and if this continues we could have 120 degree weather this summer! That's scary. I do worry that we will have a bad tornado season this year. Maybe not. Wishing you a good Monday!

Barbara Diane