Cheryl's Sunflower Quinceañera Pocketfold Invitation

Recently, Cheryl Gill of Newburgh, New York sent me photos of her sunflower-themed Quinceañera invitation and last week, we talked about how she designed it.

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Here is a transcript of the interview:

Let’s go ahead and get started and let’s talk about your invitation. I guess first I’m wondering if you are a designer and what is your connection to the young lady who you made the card for?

Well, I never really thought of myself as a designer because I spent over 27 years in corporate America, and after being downsized a few years ago, I started dabbling in rubber stamping and cardmaking which eventually led me into making invitations and favors, which is really where my heart is. I get a lot of gratification from making invitations.

I was contacted by a friend who wanted to know if I could do a Quinceañera invitation for a friend of hers—her daughter—whose birthday was coming up this coming May. She told me she was looking for a yellow and black color theme and she also wanted sunflowers which she thought wasn’t very interesting, you know? And immediately I said to her, “Oh my goodness! That’s easy and it’s going to be so pretty.” Because I immediately started visualizing Crocum and Ebenum. I immediately started visualizing those two colors together. I spotted those colors on your web site a couple of weeks prior and I immediately fell in love with them and I said, “Oh my goodness! I wish I had a project that I could use those for.” And sure enough, two weeks later the opportunity arrived, so I was very happy with it.

A sunflower is a little bit more orange, so you adapted your design to the Crocum pocketfold?

Yes I did. You’re right about the sunflowers because I played around with a lot of different sunflowers ‘til I found the right one with the right shade of yellow. What I really liked about that particular design was the black line art around the edge of the sunflower.

Yeah, me too.

Because I thought it worked very well with the play of the two colors together. It really popped.

It does, yeah.

And it was just a matter of getting the right layout for that particular sunflower.

And if folks are just listening to this and they haven’t taken a look at this invitation, please go to talk.lcipaper.com and do look at this beautiful invitation that Cheryl’s telling you about.

Thank you.

Yeah, it is so bold, the yellow and the black.

Yes it is.

I’m looking at the top flap. Can you tell me about the seal that you made and also the way you attached it?

I layered it with the Crocum and the Ebenum. I reversed the paper to show the smooth side for the tag on the front of the invitation. And then I used a magnetic strip for the enclosure under the tag or under the flap.

And is there another magnetic piece under the bottom panel of the pocketfold?

Yes there is. And it lays flat that way too. Probably a lot of people use velcro. I didn’t like the idea of using velcro because I find it a little bulky.

I love this idea of a magnet. It’s the first time I’ve seen it. How neat. Wow.

Thank you.

Yeah! What did you print on—your beautiful sunflower design and your text—what paper is that?

Well that’s a paper that’s manufactured by Domtar and it’s called Cougar DigitalChoice. It’s their Super Smooth white cover stock. And it comes in three different weights. I used an 80 pound weight—for all of my invitations. And I used the same weight to print the sunflower on the tag as well.

It’s a digital paper, so what kind of printer did you use?

I really want a laser printer but right now I have an inkjet.

But it prints fine on the digital stuff?

Oh absolutely. It’s gorgeous. It’s very smooth.

Ok. Is there some kind of texture to that invitation layer?

No, but you know what I did do? On the bookfold invitation, I did use a different paper. I was experimenting. I used a linen paper which looks really quite nice and that prints very nicely as well on the inkjet. And I used a text weight linen paper for the bookfold invitation.

What did the young lady think of this? Has she seen it?

Oh they loved it.

Ok.

They loved it. As a matter of fact, they’re trying to decide which layout they like best between the pocketfold and the book fold. They went away for the holidays so they’re going to make up their mind after the holidays.

I think folks know what a pocketfold is. It’s sort of a tri-fold card with a pocket down on the bottom portion so that you can add your RSVP card, a driving direction card... And then you attach the invitation card into the middle panel. Now tell folks about your alternate design with the bookfold you were mentioning.

Well I always like to give customers two choices when they come to me and they don’t really have a firm idea as to what it is that they’re looking for. So I like to give everyone a couple of choices and I always make two sample layouts for a client.

Had you worked with the Vice Versa stock before?

No, this is my first time and it will not be my last. That paper is absolutely gorgeous. I love the vibrant colors and the texture. And I think the weight of the paper really makes the texture pop out a little bit.

That’s true. Your sunflower design is really bold and then I guess the weight of the paper and that ribbed texture is bold as well.

Right. And it just makes it really stand out.

How did you make the favor boxes?

I have an AccuCut die machine so I use that for my favor boxes as well as for some of my layouts.

Can you describe that machine?

Well, it’s a commercial die machine. I guess it’s about 3 feet by 1 ½ feet wide and a lot of the craft stores have this. They create a lot of die shapes, letters for customers... And I decided to buy one a couple of years ago when I started playing around with the wedding invitations. Because, although I had a paper cutter, my cuts weren’t coming out as straight as I would like them to have been. So I get a much straighter cut with my AccuCut die machine. The end result is a lot more professional.

Tell me the name of your business, and where are you based?

Well I’m based in Newburgh, New York and the name of my business is Paper Flourishes. My e-mail is paperflourish@aol.com.

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I want to thank Cheryl for sending photos of her sunflower design and for taking the time to talk to me about the design process. I hope her story inspires you to be creative. If you like what you heard and have something to say, visit our blog and post a comment. And if you’d like to submit photos of your invitation, visit our Share Your Creativity page.

Joshua Birch