You're Invited Notecards

During the Victorian era, the personal invitation note was an essential part of etiquette. These notes were hand-written with one's best penmanship. Often a card bearing the sender's name and formal title were enclosed along with a separate note to RSVP.

While we still use personal invitations for events such as weddings, showers and parties, sending personal notes and cards has largely been replaced with Instant messaging, texting, and e-mail because it is cost effective and let's face it - FASTER.

But according to church growth specialists, personal invitations are one of the best ways to invite people to participate in your church e vents, whether by the new techie tools, word of mouth or hand written notes.

It's the personal touch that counts - that a person took the time to actually pick up the phone and call or to send the personal note.

For our Mother and Daughter banquet this year, we are going with a Victorian decorating scheme and have created some vintage looking invitations to hand out to those "special" people we want to invite.

for our invitations we took cream v=colored card stock - 1/2 sheet of 8 1/2 x 11 inches so we get 2 invitations per sheet of cardstock. The front panel consists of a contrasting purple cardstock sheet cut into 4" x5 1/4" pieces (4 per sheet).

I separated and tea dyed paper lace doilies (found in the cake decorating section of the craft store). When dry, I glued one of these doilies on each purple rectangle

The message: You're Invited" may be stamped or printed on vellum paper then I use my Xyron so it self adheres to a small piece of cardstock in light purple that is slightly larger than the writing. I used 26 point in a script-type font to print the message on my computer.

These messages are fastened to the card with2 minibrads. Then the lace covered purple sheet is glued onto the cream colored card base.

The lace embellishment is a 6" piece of lace made into a circle with a running stitch along one edge. strings of pearls and ribbon bows are glued on with mini silk flowers. On the back, we put pins so the embellishments can be removed from the card and worn if desired. I "glued" the embellishments to the card with a ZOT so it can be removed.

Inside I printed up information about the event. These hand made notes are being given out now in preparation for our event on May 3rd. It's shaping up to be a fun time! Wait till you see what we have planned to follow up with those who attend!