Em's Life in Craft: Unicorn Birthday Party Invitations

Unicorn Birthday Party invitations - a shot of all of the color scheme combinations that I made using my Cricut Expression

Here is a close-up view of one of the invitations - this one was made with the Pretty As A Peacock stack

This was my daughter's favorite (her favorite color is purple) - it was made with the Pretty As A Peacock stack

My younger daughter recently turned 5, and she decided she wanted a unicorn theme to her birthday party invitations and decor. I wanted something lovely that fit her wishes, but wasn't overly cutesy. So these are the invitations I made using the following tools and equipment; learn more after the jump:

Materials:
- Tim Holtz Distress Ink - Tea Dye
- Recollections Glitter Cardstock
- Provo Craft 12x24 Cardstock - White
- DCWV Glitter Cardstock Matstack
- Recollections "Pretty As A Peacock" stack
- DCWV "The Blossom Song" stack
- Scotch foam adhesive

Equipment:
- Cricut Expression
- Gypsy
- Once Upon a Princess Cricut cartridge
- Elegant Edges Cricut cartridge
- Paper trimmer
- Scissors
- Xyron 9" Creative Station with permanent adhesive

One of my invitations using The Blossom Song Stack

I had to make 23 cards, so I went through the two patterned paper stacks, Pretty As A Peacock and The Blossom Song, to figure out my different color schemes. I knew that I would need different papers/patterns for the card base, each of the two different borders, the unicorn shadow, the unicorn base, the unicorn body, and the unicorn wing and horn. Based on the amount of paper I had, I was able to make anywhere between 2-4 invitations in the same color scheme.

Steps:
- Use the trimmer to cut 2 5x7 rectangles from the paper chosen for the card base; adhere together back-to-back using the Xyron.
- Use the trimmer to cut 2 4x6 (roughly; I may have actually cut them more like 4-1/2x6-1/2, but I didn't write it down and now I don't remember!) rectangles from the white cardstock; ink the edges.
- Print the party details on one of the rectangles of white cardstock, but leave the other rectangle blank. Use the Xyron to adhere each white rectangle to the front and back of the card.
- Using the Elegant Edges cartridge and the Gypsy, cut <Border> <Shift> <Eyelet1> at 1/2" high and 7" wide, and cut <Border> <Shift> <Hearts1> at 0.3" high and 7" wide. Use the Xyron to layer and adhere the two borders on the blank side of the card.
- Using the Once Upon A Princess card and the Gypsy, cut <Unicorn> with all layers and its shadow at 3" (except for the eye; that was so tiny, it wasn't worth messing with). Depending on the color scheme, I varied the unicorn shadow and unicorn base among the different invitations, but with ALL invitations, I cut the unicorn body using this really pretty white Recollections cardstock that had these beautiful silver glittery swirls all over it. For the wing and horn and depending on that particular unicorn's color scheme, I chose a coordinating shade from the DCWV Glitter Cardstock Matstack. Use the Xyron to assemble the unicorn.
- Attach the assembled unicorn to the card using foam adhesive.

In general I found that I ended up liking the ones from The Blossom Song stack the best. The paper was a really nice heavy weight with beautiful colors. The paper from Pretty As A Peacock was also lovely, but was not quite as thick, and therefore tore a LOT when using my Cricut, especially around the more intricate whorls and swirls of the unicorn's mane, tail, and hooves. You'll notice with one of the cards that I had also cut a phrase saying "Time 2 Party" (from Once Upon A Princess), but it gave me so much trouble tearing, that I think I only made two invitations with it, and then gave up on that :) .