Our STD's....

Due to above pictured ice storm, my Christmas day was super productive since I couldn't leave my parent's house! I started and finished our STD's.
I had posted previously about the concept here and the design didn't really change at all before we were finished - just a few font modifications and the design was slightly elongated to fit the envelopes.

Supplies :
3 Sheets 30x42 4-Ply Museum Board ~ $15ea.
Gocco Ink - Red, Black, White ~ $5ea. (but there is tons leftover)
Navy Envelopes ~$30 for 100 (including shipping)
7 Sheets Computer Paper
1.5 Rolls of Permenant Adhesvive for the 1.5" Xyron ~ $10ish
Roll of Magnet Strip ~ $6

Equipment :
Designed in Illustrator
Laser Cutter w/ AutoCAD template
Gocco Machine
Printer & Photocopier
1.5" Xyron Machine

After creating the design in Illustrator I created a template in AutoCAD to maximize the number of cards I could get from one 15"x21" sheet (4 small sheets per large sheet to fit on the laser cutter bed). I decided to cut the anchor out as well - so I vectorized an image in Illustrator, and exported it as an .eps to import into AutoCAD.

I cut down the large sizes of Museum Board to fit the bed and watched the laser cutter do it's magic! Unfortunately I decided to do this during my lunch break and did not have my camera with me.... but this is generally what is going on -


And then I had almost 80 of these : (we cut the mirror image to ensure if there was any burning it would be on the reverse side).

The next thing to happen was to burn the images onto gocco screens. I burned two screens, each with two items to be printed, for a total of 4 prints per invite (my parents thought I was crazy). After the invites were printed (on a ink-jet printer) I photocopied them (necessary since its carbon that burns the screens).

Screen #1: "the remove and remember" on the side actually got printed on the back of the invite - I used the 'Ink Blocker' to prevent any ink from seeping into the other section.

Screen#2: This screen is basically split in half, the left half was printed first and the right second on top of it.
After the first round of printing -


I forgot to take a pic of the print for the light gray compass rose before I printed the next layer on - The 3rd and 4th rounds of printing got quite messy - I ended up cutting the gocco screens so the ink from the first round of printing would not print again.


Almost done! I added a piece of magnet to the back of each for fridge hanging.


Mess of Gocco Screens and little anchors -


The envelopes I ordered from Envelope Mall - Carnival 4-1/8 x 9-1/2", (No 10 Policy) in Deep Blue. They have a small flap that opens on the end -


I made 1.5" labels in Illustrator with everyone's addresses, and cut them with my paper cutter... I also added a small rope graphic which wraps the label. I ran these through the Xyron and stuck them on a la Martha style!


Et Voila! The completed STD :

and en masse ready to be mailed! Bonus - they weighed exactly 1oz. meaning I didn't need a special stamp!
What do you think!?