As you may or may not know, I’m always taking orders for custom designs…this is one of my favorite things about my job! I love creating the perfect invitation for someone’s special event!
I wanted to share with you today some of the custom orders I’ve been working on. Maybe one of them will spark some of your creativity and give you the perfect idea for your next invitation! Or, if you think you may want to place a custom order, click here to send me a message!
{ Custom Bridal Shower Order }
{ 1st Birthday Custom Order }
{ Wedding Invitation & Stationary Custom Order }
{ 1st Communion Custom Order }
{ Custom 1st Birthday Invitations Order }
{ Sweet 16 Custom Order }
And, as always…. so many orders for the 1st Birthday {One Candle} invitation! …..
{ 1st Birthday Custom Order }
If you would like to place an order for custom invitations, please click here to let me know what you’re looking for or visit my Etsy shop here for some designs I have to offer…..
Have a terrific day!
Lindsay
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Okay, so I know this isn’t an invitation, but sometimes I just feel really crafty and want to do something else. I spotted a super cute ruffle dress on Pinterest and tracked down the original post from Sumo’s Sweet Stuff. They had a great tutorial on how to make the dress. I loved it, but actually figured out an easier way to make it too!
Follow my tutorial below and your daughter will love what you create!! I decided that Gracie will wear hers for Easter….I only spent $10 on the supplies for the dress, so that’s an awesome savings compared to the normal $50 I would normally spend on her Easter dress!! Woohoo!!
While reading this tutorial, keep in mind that I am NOT a seamstress!! I’m sure all you seamstress’s that may be reading this are going to think I’m completely crazy, but I just make things in a way that works easiest and best for me :-)
To begin, I went to Hobby Lobby (my favorite store!) and found this great tank dress for $8.99 (and I had a coupon, so I only spent $6!!). I then picked out 4 different styles of fabric and bought 8″ of each (this was the smallest amount they’d sell me). Each piece was only $1 since it was on sale too!!
{ Suppies & Gracie }
If you buy a tank dress, you will need to decide how wide your ruffle strips will be and how far down the dress they will go. I just eyeballed mine and it turned out good 
You could also just buy a tank top and create your own “skirt” to attach to the tank. I didn’t want to do this because it would have cost more for the fabric and I just didn’t want to take the time to make the “skirt”.
I cut each fabric down to a size of 4-1/4″ in length. They actually gave me 8-1/2″ of each, so I just cut it in half and now I can make a dress for my older daughter too! This gave me 4 layers of ruffles.
{ Strip of fabric }
Next, iron and hem a 1/2″ of the one length of the fabric. Then set your sewing machine to the longest stitch length and sew a line on the other length of the fabric. Do not backstitch. After you’ve sewn it, pull one of the threads to gather the fabric. Sew the two ends together to create the ruffle “circle”.
{ Gather the fabric }
Now, you need to decide where you will start your ruffles. I just kind of thought chest height was good, so that’s what I did. You’ll notice that there is a strip of white dress still hanging out at the bottom (which I didn’t think I’d like) but I’m okay with that….I think it looks cute! If you don’t want that hanging out, then measure yours exactly to figure out where to start your top ruffle.
Put the ruffle on the dress and flip it so the ruffle is upside down, so you sew on the backside of the ruffle against the front side of the dress (this is not at all the right wording a seamstress would use, but remember I’m not a seamstress!)
{ Sew on your ruffles }
Look closely at the picture and you’ll laugh….I couldn’t find my pins, so guess what I used…. TAPE!! Crazy, I know, but it actually worked! Try it sometime if you’re in a pinch :-)
{ Top stitch the ruffle }
After you’ve sewn on the ruffles on the under side of the ruffle, turn it over and top stitch it.
{ Getting there }
Lookin’ pretty good so far! Gracie really wants to wear it right now!
Finished, but something’s missing…
A flower rosette!
Cut a 3″ strip, fold it in half width wise, iron it and sew it using a long stitch. Pull the thread (like you did with the ruffles) and it basically forms like a flower. Hand stitch it together, add a cute button or bead and hand stitch it onto the dress. Voila!
Now let the girl that has been pulling on your leg for the last couple of hours finally try it on!!
Love it!!
Believe me, if I can make this, then ANYONE can! Enjoy!
~Lindsay
I’m a part of a great online community for women who have a passion to be creative. It’s called Martha Stewart’s Dreamers Into Doers. I’ve met (talked to online, anyway) some of the most talented girls I know through this online community.
This week I had an amazing opportunity to finally meet many of those girls that I now call great friends, in New York City! Eighty of us gathered for 3 wonderful days to attend the Martha Stewart show and be a part of some great conferences and workshops with Martha’s awesome staff.
I was so excited to get to post the pictures I took of the event! We had a blast and I can’t believe it’s already over! :(
Pictured: top right…Valerie, Greyson Design; Brooke, Little Retreats; Shana, Pinwhirls; me; Brandi, Alexis June Creative … lower right: Tony and I … middle left: Debbie, Party Patisserie, me
I was lucky enough to be able to take my husband, Tony, along with me! I don’t think he could see sending me to New York City by myself (and it gave him a great excuse to go on vacation too!)
Our hotel was in Times Square, which was in one word “amazing”!!! I’ve never been to New York, so this was all new to me. I’ve been to Chicago several times and thought New York was probably similar….boy was I wrong!! New York seems to be about 5 times bigger and probably 5 times crazier (in a good way!) :)
Times Square is so lit up at night that it’s like the middle of the day! Very cool.
We arrived on Monday afternoon and headed to our first stop of the trip, which was to “Meet & Mingle” with the girls at Broadway 49 Bar & Lounge. It was a beautiful restaurant and we had a great time (well I did…Tony kind of felt out of place, so he went to the bar down the street) :) Thanks so much to Gigi Page for arranging the Meet & Mingle! It was a lot of fun!
pictured: top right… Nikki, Nikki In Stitches; Brandi, Alexis June Creative; Carrie, Caroline G. Bows
As I mentioned, part of the trip was attending a taping of the Martha Stewart show! It was so much fun!
She had lots of guests, but my favorite was Top Chef winner, Stephanie Izard. She cooked a delicious looking pasta and artichoke meal…the entire studio smelled so good!
The best part was that we even got a copy of her brand new cookbook, Girl in the Kitchen! I can’t wait to try out some of the recipes!
Moving on to the Martha Stewart offices, we had an amazing lunch, snacks and desserts waiting for us. How could they not be amazing, this is Martha Stewart afterall, right??!
Everything was always decorated perfectly. All the tables were covered in white linens and beautiful yellow rose centerpieces…absolutely beautiful!
We had a great guest speaker, Terri, from the Deluxe Corporation. She gave us some great advice and tips on being moms, entrepreneurs and women!
Our other guest speakers were the guys behind Big Gay Ice Cream. They had a great story to tell of how their business came about and how to stay successful.
pictured: top left… me; Valerie, Greyson Design… bottom left… Shana, Pinwhirls; me; Wendy, Green Beansie Ink
The next day, of course, was just as good as the first! We were treated again to a delicious breakfast and some great guest speakers.
This time we listened to the stories, tips and advice from the editor-in-chief’s of Martha Stewart’s magazines. That was a great experience!
Next came day two’s lunch. Again…amazing!! I think that MSLO tries to constantly outdo themselves…and they succeed! Just look at that lunch!
pictured: top right… Nikki, Nikki In Stitches; Sarah, Dreamers Joy ; me … bottom right: Nikki, me … bottom left: Wendy, Shana, me
The next and final part of our trip was the afternoon of day 2. We had workshops set up with more of Martha’s staff and editor’s. One was the editor of Foods and the other was the craft editor. Both of them were amazing women!
We had two demonstrations…One showed us how to use freezer paper to create fabric paint stencils and the other was a look at the new Martha Stewart organization line available at Staples. I’d love to have everything included in that set-up!
{ Dreamers Into Doers 2012 }
There’s the whole group….so many creative and inspiring women in one room!
One of the best parts of the trip was when we got our gift bags! Before the trip, we were all given the chance to make and send something to be included in the gift bags that all of us girls and 20 of Martha’s staff would receive. Here is my loot! (minus the cookies that I already ate *very yummy* and a very cute notebook that I’m already using) :)
So…… to sum up, we had the trip of a lifetime! Great friends, great food and great times!! Can’t wait to do it again (hopefully!) :)
~Lindsay
Just wanted to share with you what I’ve been working on recently….
Isn’t this a cute 1st Birthday invitation? It’s a custom order for a client. She wanted bright pink and a turquoise blue and this is the design I came up with!
I think it turned out super cute!
Remember, you can contact me for a custom order for yourself! I love creating custom designs!
I’ll be posting some new tutorials soon! I’ve been so busy with custom orders recently that I just haven’t really had a chance to post any!
You can also see other invitations I’ve been making by visiting my facebook page! Be sure to ‘like’ it to get daily updates with what’s happening at Easy Made Invitations!
I’m leaving for New York for the Martha Stewart “Dreamers Into Doers” conferences and show on Monday so be prepared for me to post lots of great pics from the trip next week!!
Until next time…..
~Lindsay
Sorry about the lag in posting recently! I’ve been super busy filling orders…
1st birthday, Bat Mitzvah, Sweet 16, 5th birthday…..lovin’ it!
Just thought I’d pop in to say hi and I’m still here! I’ll be posting regularly again as soon as I finish up these orders!
I’m also working on 100 business cards/invitations to send off to be included in the Swag Bags for the Martha Stewart event I’m attending in a week and a half! Here’s a sneak peek of the invitations I’m sending…. pretty cool, if I do say so myself :)
They’re that fun scratch off technique that I showed you before! To see the scratch off tutorial click here.
Here are a couple other things I’ve been working on………
I’ll be getting back on track adding more posts within the next week…just got to tie up a few loose ends!
Remember that if you’d like me to create custom invitations for you, contact me for pricing and design options! I’d love to create the perfect invitation just for your special event!!
~Lindsay
I’m not super big on decorating for Valentine’s day, but with what I do decorate, I like to keep it simple and not fussy! (Afterall, I just spent two weeks a couple months ago decorating for Christmas…I just can’t handle that every other month!)
I’ve seen some ideas like this floating around Pinterest and I thought I’d give it a try!
This just may be one of my favorite designs yet! A birthday scratch-off invitation…how cool is that??
What kid wouldn’t want to get this fun invitation in the mail? I definitely know mine would! They looovveee the surprise of revealing a scratch-off card!
I’ve combined the fun and surprise of a scratch-off ticket into a super cool invitation!
What child (or adult for that matter) doesn’t like the anticipation and surprise of a scratch-off??
This year for my daughter’s class valentines, we decided to do something different…make scratch-offs! Now she can put her little valentine’s in everyone else’s boxes and there will be a little surprise when they find hers.
Sometimes it’s difficult to think of little boy’s birthday invitation designs, but after thinking what fun you could have with a cowboy themed party, I designed the perfect invitation to go along with it!
I just love anything sparkly around Valentine’s Day, so I know I’d love receiving this glittery invitation for a Valentine’s party!
This homemade Valentine’s invitation is not only beautiful, but easy to make too!
Hi, I'm Lindsay ... thanks for visiting my blog! I'm a mom of 3, a wife and I have a passion for invitation design. I've been creating homemade invitations for all occasions for a long time now and I want to share them with you! Browse through my site to get ideas and inspirations for your own creations. Let me know if you like something, or share ideas of invitations that you've made too! We can all learn great things from each other!
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