dance party invitation

When I suddenly realized I needed to move my daughter's dance party up a week, I had to come up with invitations quickly.  Had to scratch some original ideas and find something I could put together in a day with what I had on-hand.  I came up with a faux CD invite when I remembered I had a bunch of leftover CD jewel cases in the garage.

So last night minutes before the sun was setting, I had her run outside in front of the garage and "dance" for me.  I might mention it was below freezing with snow and ice out.  But you gotta do what you gotta do for a cute invite, right?  I'll spare her the more embarrassing outtakes and skip to the photo we ended up using:

I purposely left a lot of "white space" on the left to add text.  I was originally going to try to edit out the grid lines from the garage, but I think they actually add a little pattern that I liked.  So that's what I told myself anyway to cut time =).

Next I formatted a super simple CD front in Microsoft Publisher.  (Do they even make that anymore?  Mine is the '98 version.  Yep, it's all ultra-modern in the Storms household!)  And when I say simple, I just added a CD "title" using a font called Multistrokes I downloaded free online.  I added "volume 9" just to subtly add her age in there.  I added a circle the size of a CD I measured and the center cut-out.  I made the outside line a little wider and the interior hole a little smaller than the finished product since I planned on cutting with shape templates instead of cutting on the actual lines.  These are just my guidelines to center against.  I printed them out two on a page using photo paper I had to give it a nicer "CD" quality.

I used Fiskars' Ultra ShapeXpress with the Super Sized Circles template for the outer ring.  I printed out the party info in a circle onto white cardstock and cut out the same.  After glueing the two pieces together, back-to-back, I cut out out the interior ring with a smaller circle I found on the Bubbles template that happened to be the exact size for my cases.  But you could, obviously, cut with scissors, craft knife, digital cutter, or circle cutter.  I just need quickness!

We weren't concerned about mailing since my daughter is handing them out in person, but I would suggest a small CD mailer (obviously) or small padded envelope.  This is just a fun way to set the stage for a dance (or any musical) birthday party.  I'll be sharing more ideas from this party as we go along =).

Comments

[Sarah]

"Volume 9"...perfect! We want outtakes! jk :) Thanks for being specific about how you made these...I'm creatively challenged but feel like I could easily follow your instructions.

[Erin]

Totally awesome!! I love her dance pose and the fonts you chose!

[lala]

Wow! You did a great job, as usual, and so clever! Did you ever find a disco ball?

[Lisa]

I did track down a disco ball locally at Spencer's Gifts ... they, apparently, have plenty in stock :P

[Fran Tynan]

Hi - I LOVE your stuff - love your school lunch ideas!!
I was actually after some info - and it may sound strange if it doesn't apply to you!LOL. Did you make an apple out of bookpages that was in Scrapbooks Etc magazine?
My email is brfstynan at bigpond dot com and I was just wanting to ask your 'copyright' views on it if you had any (and if this is the right Lisa Storms!LOL). Could you email me if you made the afore-said card - thanks.

Fran xx

[Ces]

Such a wonderful idea!