DIY Pocketfolds Finished!!!
April 27th, 2007 @ 1:21 pm by Mrs. Hibiscus
Here is the fruit of my many hours of labor: My completed Pocketfold invites. Basically, I thought I couldn’t afford them. I had given up on the idea. Even if I got a basic Pocketfold with only one or two ink colors, I would be running at $6.00 an invite, minimum. Then, I found Cards and Pockets which helped make my invitation dream a reality. I didn’t get all my supplies from them, but they got the ball rolling and made me believe it was possible to have Pocketfold invites at a reasonable cost. Here, they are complete with rhinestones in my flower art.
The outside:
The inside at first glance:
A close up of my Invitation:
Zooming in on my rhinestones!! I love them!:
The breakdown for 100 invitations:
**Font for names and inserts: Scriptina
Cards and Pockets: Everything was pre-cut so it was less of a headache
Signature pocketfolder (5×7): $1.00 each
Invitation Mat: $0.45 each
RSVP cards: $0.20 each
Envelopes: $0.15 each
RSVP envelopes: $0.15 each
Shipping and handling: $21.25–just for math’s sake-$0.21 per invite
Paper and More:
Linen Cardstock (for invitation): $0.16 per sheet in a 100 pack (plus $5 cutting fee)-so $0.21 per sheet
Linen Cardstock (for inserts and front monogram): $0.16 per sheet (did not precut this 2nd set of 100)
Shipping and Handling: $6.67–$0.07 per invite
Kinkos:
Cutting for inserts per specifications on Cards and Pockets (2 different sizes):
$1.25 per cut (they charged me $12)-$0.12 per invite
Can be purchased on ebay:
Ribbon: $14 for 50 yards-$0.14 per invite
Rhinestones: $3.54 per 144 (bought 3 packs so there were extra for other projects)-$0.11 per invite
Printing:
On my home printer-no one believes me! 
(ink jet): didn’t need a refill on cartridges so FREE
TOTAL COST (per invite): $2.97
~~~
I was able to do everything exactly how I wanted it. I designed everything myself on Adobe Illustrator, even the flower. I love them! They’re the best invites I’ve seen for less than $3.00 an invite.
In retrospect, I actually could have done it cheaper if I had done all the cutting at Kinkos and just purchased the paper. Cards and Pockets has one of the cheapest folders though and a large variety of colors. I would definitely buy my folder from them again, but I would have bought the paper and cut it myself if I could do it over to cut costs even more. I wanted to not have to cut anything myself at all, but since I did some of the inserts on my own anyway (because I wanted the linen paper from Paper and More), I might as well have done all the cutting. I don’t think I could have gotten the ribbon and rhinestones any cheaper, and I was happy with my purchases.
Overall, I’m very very happy with how they turned out. No one believes I printed them myself at home and designed everything. They look like $10 invitations. Everyone is impressed and I’ve gotten so many compliments. So, although it’s definitely more of a headache than just paying the price for premade invites, I think you’ll be happy with the result–an invitation no one else has and freedom to do whatever you want with them.
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37 Responses to “DIY Pocketfolds Finished!!!”
those are so great! and at such an awesome price!
Beautiful!
These are beautiful!! I hope we can do something that comes out looking so professional. I love that font too!
quick question: for the outside of the invite where the ribbon is, how does it close? is it just easy open? do you have a sticker or a sticky to keep it closed? (i’m asking because i have this dilemma with my invites).
You did an amazing job!!!!
SO amazing!!!! I’m totally jealous! I haven’t even considered a DIY turning out this gorgeous!! You should hire yourself to do the Adobe Illustrator for other brides - I know I would hire you!!
100 invites on one ink cartridge?! Madness.
The rhinestones are a neat touch. I’ve got a bunch leftover from centerpieces (75-cent candle plus 10-cent rhinestones equals not having to pay for floral arrangements!) but never thought to add them to paper goods. Fortunately it’s not too late to make them part of the place cards or table numbers. Thanks for the idea!
You’ll be seeing those brown folders on every dashboard in the parking lot on your wedding day! Could be a cool photo.
awesome!
Pretty! Love the color combo. Well done, Miss H.!
thanks for the heads up!
your invites look Beautiful!! -
and the pricepoints for the invites are the cherry on the top!!
awesome! looks great. i like the wording on the invite and rhinestone especially. very cool.
THose invites are beautiful. You really did a great job. It looks like they took a long time to make. How long did they take?
i love them! i just sent your post to a friend of mine so that she can get some ideas for an affordable, but beautiful invites!! =)
I think my DIY invites were about the same price actually I think when I did the total it was like $3.00 but another great place to get paper cut is costco. They charge like a $1 a cut!
how did you stick the rhinestones on?
My fiance and I have had many discussions about this. I really want to DIY, but he says that I’ll drive myself crazy if the cards aren’t perfectly straight and it will take massive amounts of time. How long did it take you to make these?
Those are beautiful!!! Great work Miss Hibiscus!!! Your guests are going to love them!
Thanks for the sweet words everyone! They were definitely worth all the trouble. I’ll post next week about how I did the maps–been getting a lot of comments on that as well from guests. Sorry i didn’t post a pic here.
To answer all your questions:
LINDA–>I just used double sided tape to tape the ribbon to the ribbon and to tape the monogram to the ribbon. You have to slide it off.
KAREN/KENY–>I had a lot of fun designing them. That part I could do all day. I think it took me about four hours minus surfing the net time. The cutting and printing was spread over a span of weeks so I’m not sure. If I had to estimate it would be 6 hours. And putting it together–the gluing and taping took about 4 hours with the help of my bridesmaids. So, yeah….a lot of work. BUT so worth it!! Even though I wanted to pull my hair out at times.
ALISON–>plain old Elmers glue, my fiend used a tweezer. Very fun for her! haha
lovely! i’m DIYing our pocketfold invites too, so thanks for the tips!!!
Thank you, thank you, thank you! I thought I had read every blog, bio, and webpage for pocketfolds. I couldn’t find one that was affordable with the pocket on the bottom–only the ones on the side. Woohoo!
i’ve been anxiously awaiting your next post about these! gorgeous!
These look so nice! My question - how did you glue the cardstock on to the mat? -Laura
luv it!! and for a great price!! and i luv the colors. had i had a fall wedding, i would have chosen these!
your invites are dazzling! i have a question! how did you glue the seal with the ribbon? i’m leaning towards ordering pocketfolds, and also using ribbons, and we’re going to make our own seals…but i dont know how i could put the seal our the ribbon without using glue or anything sticky.
please advise!!!
Omg…this is SO great! I’ve been contemplating on doing my own too, but I have to get inspired. Question– did you need the Xyron machine to adhere the backing metallic green to the gatefold or can you just buy an adhesive to allevite the Xyron?
What I’d like to know is what printer do you have?!
I have an HP C6180. it’s just an ink jet and everyone asks if i got them professionally printed or if i have an expensive laser color printer.
I can see why they ask. Thank you for sharing so much info. Great looking invites. Congrats!
You invites look great! Would you be willing to share your templates? If so, could you please email them to sheila_michele@yahoo.com thank you!
What type of adhesive did you use?
I too, would love it if you would share your template for your beautiful invitations. Thank you!
nascarluvers24@yahoo.com
Hi. I love these… How did you make the label on the front? Did you print it? Did you use a glue gun to add it on?
I don’t know if you still check this, but I too would love if you would share the template for your beautiful invitations! I wish I had your skill to do them myself. Thank you!
arcleven@iupui.edu
Hi! I love your invitations. We are on such a tight budget. Our wedding theme is island/asian inspired. Did you draw the flowers yourself? How did you do that. I would like to kind of copy your invitation but maybe different flowers. I do have the adobe illustrator at home so I’m going to follow your steps. Thanks so much!
Suzie
Thanks for your help. We, my daughter and I, are trying not to spend big $$$$$’s on her wedding but want it beautiful. She really wanted to make these invitations but I thought making the pocketfolder was going to be hard. Because of you we don’t have to make them. Yeah!!! You’re an angel.
[...] Nick is pretty amazing because they’re all quite cute! We’ve decided to forgo the adorable pocketfolds (le sigh) and the accordion because of cost. But I’m still pretty pleased with how I think [...]
Mrs. Hibiscus, Orange County
Age and Occupation in 06: 25, Eyebal Doc
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 27, Commerical Underwriter
Engagement Date: September 26, 2004
Wedding Date: July 7, 2007
Venue: Laguna Beach on the beach, reception on a yacht in Newport Beach
About Me: I'm an eyeball doc. Normal is boring. I'm a hat person and a cat person. I'm in love (so very very in love). I'm a dreamer. I want to change the world. Superheroes are my friends. Kindness is contagious. Music is in my heart. Carpe diem.
LOVELY! and very inspiring. As I see more and more DIY invites I think that I’ll want to jump on this bandwagon too. Great Job!