Amanda Hawkins

DIY Wedding Invitations

I love weddings. I got married last year and so did my sister, both weddings were amazing and most importantly – totally DIY. A few months ago one of my best friends announced that she was getting married the end of June outside of Chicago! I built them a wedsite and this weekend I finished their invitations, so fun!

The design, paper and everything came together so well I wanted to share – in case anyone else is looking for a simple, affordable solution for an invitation/rsvp!

I used blue 12×12 scrapbooking paper cut in half (12 x 6) – this image is of the front and back:

The bottom section is a detachable post card that people can personalize and mail back – made easily with a scoring attachment for my cutter bee (super cheap, especially if you have 40% off coupon). Then it just folds up, closes with a clear seal and it’s read to mail!

Download the template:

ILLUSTRATOR: DIY Wedding Invitations ()
PDF: DIY Wedding Invitation PDF (513.79 KB)

Here’s a short timelapse of the whole process!

Unfortunately, the clouds were too messy and didn’t make the cut… I still love the way they turned out and will definitely be using them on future projects! Oh, and thanks to my husband Sam for all the help – you’re amazing!

Free WordPress Theme, Paper.1

I’ve been using Wordpress for a year or two now and finally decided to create a free theme! It’s fun and simple, one that artists and craftsters might enjoy.

Circa*Organizing

A few years ago I was completely obsessed with D*I*Y Planner. I spent hours going through templates and putting together the PERFECT planner.
And then I never used it.

I’m still fascinated by David Allen’s ‘Getting Things Done’, Franklyn Covey & the numerous other techniques/products designed to increase your productivity but I realized that as an artistic person I would never be able to schedule my life with so much structure. And in the short time that I was trying, it was having the opposite effect — I was spending so much time trying to figure out how to ‘plan’ everyday it was cutting into my ‘doing’ time.

Fall of ‘07 I was watching a livejournal community where people (mostly young women) would post pictures of their planners filled with doodles about boys, poetry, school schedules, homework, to-do lists and magazine collages. It was all very stream of conscious and the complete opposite of what D*I*Y Planner seemed to represent. They were combining their planner, journal & sketchbook all in one and sharing it as art. I loved it and started creating templates that followed their example.

Templates

First, I drew a set of 4 x 6 planner templates by hand. [View Downloads]

I designed the dates and months to be filled by the user — I know that no matter how much I love my planner, there are going to be days (maybe months) that I don’t touch it. This way I’m not wasting paper and printing templates I’ll never use. There aren’t very many notebooks and supplies made for 4×6 notecards either. For a gift for my brother ‘n’ law I ripped apart a cheap 3×5 notebook and put it back together as a 4×6 notebook. (photos – I’ve been thinking of writing a tutorial on this, if anyone is interested?)

While my brother ‘n’ law (and many others) have super-itty-bitty writing (and reading) abilities, I do not. So, as I was working on a planner for my sister I redesigned the pages in an 8.5 x 11 format. [View Downloads]

This format is my favorite, by far. You can buy a three ring binder in wonderful colors and any divider/folder you could want at your local office supply store to go inside. Plus there’s so much room and flexibility!

2009

The whole point of this post though… is to introduce my new 2009 templates!


They’re 8.5 x 11 and the most minimal so far, to leave tons of room for personalization. The funnest feature for me is the dashed month in the top left, ready for outlining and coloring in. The Download includes a 2009 year-at-a-glance, 12 months and a blank notes page. [DOWNLOAD]

Merry Christmas Mixes

Hello, I just finished my Merry Christmas, ‘08 Mix and thought I’d share! I’m not going to post tracklists though, you’ll just have to take a chance! I promise they’re all good…

[ download ] Merry Christmas Mix, ‘08
[ download ] Merry Christmas Mix, ‘07
[ download ] Merry Christmas Mix, ‘06