Envelop(e) me in love, frustration, and acceptance

Our invitations are currently being printed and assembled and I am absolutely itching to get them into my pasty little hands.  I was a bit slow off the mark with actually finalizing our design and wording, so my original goal of getting the invitations out by Memorial Day is now a distant memory.  This self-created delay originally caused be a decent amount of stress; however, I've been working tirelessly on our invitation envelopes so when the invites themselves actually arrive, they'll have beauteous homes to carry them to their final destination.  The saga of our envelopes has been a little emotional for me, so let me walk you through it...

Love

Image via Natalie Dee

Once I got a more accurate timeline for the production and delivery of our invitations, I decided to order the envelopes separately so that I could address them while the invitations were being created, to expedite the entire turnaround time once I had the invitations myself.  After ordering some samples from Cards & Pockets, we settled on a color, placed our order through Envelope Mall, and got to business.  I was really nervous to try printing addresses on the envelopes because of the paper's metallic finish - I'd heard that ink never really adheres and dries on this paper, resulting in text that was always vulnerable to moisture, smearing, and smudging.  Fortunately, we managed to sidestep that issue entirely by buying a simple laser printer which worked wonders.  After I formatted all of the addresses, I just plopped down with my computer and my new bff printer and manually fed all 150 envelopes through twice - once for the return address on the back and once for the guest address on the front.  AND I LOVED THE FINISHED RESULT.  It is just so... pretty.  If I could hug paper, I would in this instance.  I was/am over the moon and so excited to get the invitation train a-chugging.

Frustration

Image via MotiFake

But having kick-ass envelopes on the outside just wasn't good enough.  They needed some pizazz on the inside, too!  Namely, envelope liners.  During my months of blog-stalking, I'd become enamored with these little scraps of paper.  I loved how they added a dose of formality to an otherwise simple mailing.  When you open an envelope and it's lined, you know it's legit.  Or, at least, I do.  So I embarked upon phase two of my magical envelope journey and started to work on envelope liners.  After about 5 templates, a handful of wasted sheets of paper, and lots of lots of muffled cursing under my breath, it finally got crossed off my to-do list... because I just gave it the axe.  I could not for the life of me get the angles and lines to look right, the paper I was working with cheapened the overall look, the adhesive wasn't working to my liking, and I was just too dedicated to our precious envelope exteriors to do anything that could potentially bruise them.  So, with both a heavy heart and a great deal of relief, I kissed the idea of envelope liners good-bye.


Acceptance

Image via Seeds of Acceptance

Sure, I wasn't exactly over the moon to admit defeat in a seemingly manageable DIY project.  How hard can it realistically be to cut out a couple dozen oddly-shaped pieces of paper and glue them into an envelope?! After sleeping on the decision, I've come to realize that it was 100% the right one.  My apartment has about 2 square inches of workable flat surfaces, making cutting and gluing a nightmare.  The paper wasn't working out, and I wasn't interested in making another shot in the dark online order, waiting for it to arrive, and facing the same uphill battle all over again.  Plus, like I mentioned, our invitations on a whole are a little on the tardy side; they're (hopefully) going to arrive next week, and I simply cannot stomach the idea of delaying their ultimate delivery to our guests because I'm waging war with the glue stick gods.  It's not like the invitations are being co-delivered with a Howler to let our guests know that I had previously intended to line the envelopes but just couldn't pass muster.

 Image via OMG Harry Potter / Credit: WB

I am rationalizing to myself that no one will notice that the envelopes are unlined, in the exact same way that next to no one would notice if the envelopes were lined.  The way I see it, I have gifted myself more time and less stress by cutting out a completely unnecessary detail that would be overlooked by 99% of people it came in contact with.

What DIY projects got the axe for you?  How did you find acceptance in this change of plans?