DIY - Five Down!

The programs are finished!  Woo-hoo!  I can cross that one off my big long to-do list!  So, here's a quick little lesson on how I did them.

I downloaded the template from Aylee Bits.  At first I downloaded the bigger one, but after playing around with it, I could not get it to print right.  So I went back and downloaded the smaller one, and that one worked better.  I still had to play around with it a bit, but eventually got it to work.  I honestly couldn't tell you exactly what I did.  I just played until it worked.  Anyway, once I got it to the point where it all printed right, I started playing around with the ceremony wording.  I finally got it situated so that I liked the way it was laid out - cover, then the ceremony on 2 blades, then the VIPs on the next 2 blades, and the last blade has our thank you and the Apache Wedding blessing, which I have always loved.  

I ordered the paper from http://www.paperandmore.com/.  I highly recommend this website for all your wedding paper needs.  They are easy to work with, and have a huge selection.  You can order samples before you make your actual purchase, too, so you know you're getting exactly what you want.  And shipping is super quick!  Aylee Bits calls for 100# cardstock, but it didn't run through my printer well.  Plus, I liked the look of the 80# one better.  So it worked out.  I ended up getting the 80# Linen cardstock in Natural Cream.  

I printed (and printed....and printed....) about 10 fans at a time so as not to totally overwhelm myself.  Matt didn't really help too much with these, but I didn't really want him to - I had a whole system set up for myself and just felt I could handle it best myself.  So here are all the supplies I used:

Self-healing cutting mat, exacto knife, eyelet setter, rotary trimmer, and eyelets (I used the 3/16" size).  First step - cut the straight edges with the rotary trimmer:

Next step, use the Exacto knife and the cutting mat (it doesn't have to be a self-healing one, but they're pretty cool!) to cut the rounded top and bottom edges:

And finally, use the eyelet setter to punch the hole and then set the eyelet.  Finished product?

Sorry for the white-out, but...well, you know.  Anyway, I really like the way they turned out.  Since I started making them, I've seen some pictures of fans with opposing colored blades, and I kind of wish I had done that.  But Matt likes them the way they are, so that's good enough for me.

*all personal photos