These are the invitations I did this year for our Halloween Party. They are the first thing people saw to introduce the purple/black witch theme for this year's party.
This is what I started with...paper mache boxes.
These invitations had been in the planning for a few months. I had found a foldable "card" online that would have a small drawer. I couldn't ever get it to be heavy enough so this spell book invitiation is now officially Plan B. I wish we could invite ALL of our friends to our halloween party but, our house isn't THAT big. We have invited the same people almost every year. My husband and I have met couples as we have moved throughout our marriage. We love that once a year we get to have all of these couples over to have such a fun party.
I found these awesome bottles at Michaels for really inexpensive and bought a few extra for game prizes for the halloween party.
The idea of the paper mache' faux books is that they have a hollow space inside instead of real pages so you can fill it with something. I chose a potion bottle.
I first painted all of the outsides of the spell books black.
Then I paited in faux pages with light ivory craft paint. I also added in a little mud brown paint to create dimension and added authenticity.
I love how the lines didn't have to be perfect. Old Spell Books wouldn't have perfect pages so I tried to make them a little wavy.
My studio table got a little busy while making the invitations and party prizes. I had vinyl to apply to the potion bottles, covers and spines of the spell books. Moss to glue inside with the spell. Ribbon to tie around the bottles and ribbon to tie the covers together.
Finding purple candy ended up being harder than first expected. I ended up finding purple nerds and purple mike and ike's. They both looked great. The vinyl labels I had custom made and cut by a local vinyl artist. I also tied ribbon around the neck of the potion bottle.
My studio table got pretty messy before it was all done. I did each step in an assembly line. I would apply the vinyl to one bottle then do the next until they were all done then start on the next step.
I tore the edges of the "spell" and inked it with purple distress inks. I also crumpled the entire peices of paper then straightened it back out to create the worn book page effect.
I added some glimmer to the spell page. It added some shine and glitter.
I love how it looks wrinkled and glittery. Perfect for a spell book. Some of my favorite lines that I came up with said, "Little witches and wizards may need a sitter so they don't fly off on their brooms while ye are away" and " Dress in full costume so ye don't scare the neighbors showing up as your true self." I thought that was pretty clever.
The outsides of the spell book were painted in acrylic paint and so I sprayed them with satin clear finish to create the smooth finish on the outside of the book.
The front of the spell book showcased the custom vinyl I had designed. The same local vinyl artist cut these for me. She did a great job bringing my idea to vinyl. I also added some "bling" (stars) to the detail above and below the book's title.
This is the "bling" I used.
The inside of the spell book was SCREAMING for something really cool. I found this glitter moss and knew it would be perfect for the inside of the spell book. Too COOL!!!!
I had to pull the glitter moss apart a little bit and then glue it to the inside of the spell book. If I added too much moss the potion bottle couldn't fit inside the book and still close. So, I had to add a little less moss than what I wanted but, I did want the book to close so I adapted.
The back of the spell book needed some detail so I added a felt skull and cross bones.
I distressed the skulls with purple distress ink to keep with the purple/black witch theme.
I printed the "Hocus Pocus Printing" with a stamp and light ivory craft paint.
I added ribbon to the edge of the books so the book couldn't open on accident and drop the potion bottle out to break. I used hot glue to attatch the ribbon and the glittered moss.
This is the glittered moss. It looks even better in person. The picture doesn't do this moss justice...it's just SO cool.
This is what it looks like with the potion bottle by the moss. Too cool !!
You can see the ribbon attatched to the covers. This makes sure the potion bottle doesn't fall out and break.
I added silver paint to the spine of the books. Some had raised edges and some didn't so I painted in the edges so they all would look similar.
I added the vinyl to the spine of the book. It says "Witch's Book of Spells", just like the title of the book. I also added a little crystal purple star to tie in with the cover of the book.
The invitations now can be a halloween decoration after the party.
The spine of the spell book.
The ribbon tie.
The back cover of the spell book.
Close-up of the stamping and skull and cross bones.
View of the front and back of the book.
The spines of the books. Not all identical but, similar.
The ribbon ties on the spell books.
So, this was my halloween party invitations. I am really excited how the witch's spell books turned out. After they were all done they turned out better than I even imagined. All of the couples loved the invitations. It set up the anticipation for a really great party.
The inside of the Witch's Spell Book.
A great invitation sets the stage for a great party!!
