It's halfway through January and time for another birthday party!
My Little Man is turning three and requested a pirate themed celebration. I happen to adore pirates, so I'm really excited for this party, but I'm a little nervous about the cake. I let Little Man scroll through Pinterest with me and he saw a cake in the shape of a pirate ship that he is dead-set on having. I can't turn down his request, "Peease, peease, peease pirate ship cake birthday Mommy????" So I'm going to make it happen....somehow...😁
But for now, read on to see how I put together these invitations for my little buccaneer:
Materials
For this project I used scrapbooking paper, stickers, a sharpie, scissors and a lighter. Since I already owned everything pictured here, these invitations were completely free to create. That is my favorite 😁
Step 1: Trim
I chose this paper from my scrapbooking stash because I wanted a older, antique-y looking paper. The burgundy and golden swirl border wasn't working though, so I trimmed it off.
Step 2: Cut
Once my paper was trimmed up, I cut the sheets into thirds. I like to take into consideration the size of the envelope that I'll be using before cutting 😉
Step 3: Burn
This was probably the most enjoyable step - setting the invitations on fire 😄
I wanted the invitations to look old, tattered and worn as though they had been hidden away by a fearsome pirate ages ago. This was easy to do with the help of a lighter; just run a flame along the paper until it begins to curl up and blacken.
Be careful though, as paper can catch the flame quite quickly. Also, I recommend doing this outside. Even if the paper doesn't hold an actual flame, there is still quite a bit of smoke that is given off.
Step 4: Add Wording
I used hot glue to attach my wording to the tattered background paper and intentionally placed the wording sheets on a slight diagonal. I didn't want things looking too neat or proper 😉
After combing through Pinterest I ended up taking five different invitation examples and combining them to create my own wording.
In case you can't see it in the photos, here it is typed out:
Ahoy there matey, ye be invited to a swashbuckling party!
-captain (child's name here) is turning 3-
Join us for adventure on the high seas when our ship sets sail:
(date & time)
Meet the crew in (child's name here)'s quarters for lunch and dessert.
Come if ye dare!
Step 5: Decorate
As I was making these (and thinking about treasure maps) I ended up grabbing a red marker to make an 'X' on each of the invitations. Add a few hash marks in black and you have a symbol for buried treasure.
Step 6: Embellish
Lastly, I added a pirate sticker and colored the eyes in red. And there you have it, invitations perfect for a seafaring soiree 😄
I hope you enjoyed this how-to post. There will be lots more to come as we raise the sails and set off for our newest adventure, thanks for stopping by!
This was probably the most enjoyable step - setting the invitations on fire 😄
I wanted the invitations to look old, tattered and worn as though they had been hidden away by a fearsome pirate ages ago. This was easy to do with the help of a lighter; just run a flame along the paper until it begins to curl up and blacken.
Be careful though, as paper can catch the flame quite quickly. Also, I recommend doing this outside. Even if the paper doesn't hold an actual flame, there is still quite a bit of smoke that is given off.
I used hot glue to attach my wording to the tattered background paper and intentionally placed the wording sheets on a slight diagonal. I didn't want things looking too neat or proper 😉
After combing through Pinterest I ended up taking five different invitation examples and combining them to create my own wording.
In case you can't see it in the photos, here it is typed out:
Ahoy there matey, ye be invited to a swashbuckling party!
-captain (child's name here) is turning 3-
Join us for adventure on the high seas when our ship sets sail:
(date & time)
Meet the crew in (child's name here)'s quarters for lunch and dessert.
Come if ye dare!
As I was making these (and thinking about treasure maps) I ended up grabbing a red marker to make an 'X' on each of the invitations. Add a few hash marks in black and you have a symbol for buried treasure.
Lastly, I added a pirate sticker and colored the eyes in red. And there you have it, invitations perfect for a seafaring soiree 😄
I hope you enjoyed this how-to post. There will be lots more to come as we raise the sails and set off for our newest adventure, thanks for stopping by!
-Jennifer
© Jennifer Adams Flowers 2017
