Puzzle Invitations - Solve It and You're Invited!

Make something fun with your wedding invitations:

These invitations may look like usual ones, but when your guests open the flaps they are met with puzzle pieces! To know where and when the wedding is they need to put together the puzzle (shouldn't be too hard as it's only 9 pieces). If you want to drive them nuts you could always put the part with the text of the invitation through a shredder :D

Step 1: You Will Need:

Items:

• 12x12" (30.5x30.5cm) embossed scrapbook papers (you will get 2 invites per paper) Get a couple extra for mistakes
• Purple paper A4 (I used 8 pieces for 30 cards)
• Ribbon (75 cm per card)
• Silver mirror paper
• Crown stamp
• Good quality white paper to stamp on
• Silver/clear inkpad
• Silver embossing powder
• Distress ink or similar
• Clear envelopes (12x17cm)
• Copying paper

Tools:

• Printer
• Paper cutter
• Die cutting machine like cuttlebug (or punches)
• Dies: frame, circles and puzzle pieces (or punches)
• Glue and/or double sided tape
• 3D foam tape
• Heat gun
• Scoring tool or something to score with
• Score board (not necessary, but helps)
• Rounding punch (optional)

+ a couple of days and a lot of patience:)

Step 2: Cut, Score, Fold

TIP: To know which way to cut your paper bend it with the edges meeting. Then rotate it 90 degrees and bend it again. You will feel where the paper bends more easily. Wherever it bends more easily this is where you will want to have your folds so cut the paper along the other way.

When you have your pieces of paper (2 strips per 12x12" paper) it's time to make the folds. Measure so each flap is 5.2cm and the middle panel about 10.5cm (a millimeter or two disappears in the crease). Try a couple of times until you figure it out. I used up a couple of papers to learn from my mistakes.

The folded card should be about 10.5x15cm

Step 3: Prepare the Crowns

Stamp your crown with silver ink on strips of white paper, then sprinkling silver glittery embossing powder immediately. Do this on a strip of paper so you can fit 4-5 crowns before you emboss with a heat gun. Make sure to leave space between the crowns so you can cut out circles without damaging the surrounding crowns.

Do not cut out the circles first and stamp+emboss after. The reason for this is because it's harder to hold the tiny circles still while you heat emboss. It's easier to hold on to a strip of paper with several stamped images.

When cooled cut out the stamped crowns using a circular die or punch. Ink the edges with purple distress ink.

Step 4: Cut Out Circles and Assemble Medallions

Cut out/punch circles in the silver mirror card. They need to be slightly bigger than the circles with the embossed crowns. Glue together the two circular pieces. Repeat and repeat.

(I used scrappy glue here since the mirror card is very slippery.)

Step 5: Prepare the Ribbons

Cut the ribbons to 75cm long pieces. It's easier if you measure up 75cm on a table, mark it up with tape and use that as a reference. Every time saving thing helps and this will make it a lot smoother if you need to cut 30 ribbons...

Step 6: Cut Out Frames for the Inside (optional)

Cut your purple A4 paper to 4 pieces. Cut out frames to add to the inside of the card. I used a frameabilities die from spellbinders (discontinued now I think). Save the pieces that are left from the cutout.

Glue the frames to the inside of the card. (I used a regular gluestick)

Step 7: Add Flaps to Top and Bottom of Inside

To prevent your puzzle pieces from falling out make little flaps. Cut 2x10cm pieces, score along the middle, round the corners with punch or scissors and glue to bottom and top of each card. This will make the corners look neater since opening and closing the card damages the corners of the tiny flaps.

(I used scrappy glue here as it bonds strongly.)

Step 8: Print Out Your Invitations

Make sure the invitation fits into the inside of the frame die. Cut them out and use a puzzle piece die on them to create the puzzle pieces. If you don't have one you can randomly cut each invitation. Just make sure you keep each invitation's pieces together and don't mix with any other's! If your guests are bad with puzzles you can always add numbers at the back of the pieces to show the solution.

Step 9: Tie Ribbon and Add Medallion

Tie the ribbon around the card with a bow at the back. Add a piece of 3D tape on the ribbon in the front and add a medallion on top. Make sure it's centered.

Step 10: Prepare the Address Inserts

Take the negatives from the frame cut outs and glue them on standard printing paper. (I used a regular gluestick)

Cut them to fit the clear envelopes.

Step 11: Repeat, Repeat, Repeat

Do this with all your remaining pieces and soon you will have beautiful invitations that everyone will see and enjoy on the way to your guests.

Hope you liked my idea of a different type of wedding invite. These took me about a week to make (several hours per day), planning not included. It's a total of 30 cards. Let me know what yours look like!

/Katarina a.k.a. kamadesign