DIY Belly Bands

In lieu of inner envelopes, I decided to use belly bands to hold our pocketfold invitations closed. As you can see from the picture to the left, the belly band adds a really nice finishing touch. This is one (of several) areas where the final product differs from our mock-up in that the mock-up used a green ribbon and a star (not a starfish). I switched from green ribbon to ivory organza because I could not find the green in the width or price range that I wanted. The star used in the mock-up was one my mother had on hand, and I always had the intention of replacing it with a starfish stamp. Now that I've completed 80 belly bands I can report that they are easy to make, but it quickly becomes repetitive. I did mine in groups of 20, which was about all that I could stand in one sitting.

The first thing I did was make the starfish squares. This is where many people put their monogram, but I was trying to avoid using the monogram until after the wedding. I use the term "was" because Tom and I purchased a wax sealer for our envelopes, but I digress. Anyways, I cut 80  1.5"x1.5" squares out of ivory cardstock. I used scraps from all of my invitation inserts. I used a paper cutter to do this, but scissors and a ruler will get the job done. Once all my ivory squares were cut, I stamped them with starfish in purple ink. Then I let the ivory squares dry while I cut the green squares, which are 2"x2".


Then I simply used glue stick (the same kind you use for scrapbooking) to attach the ivory square to the green square.

Once all the squares are assembled and the glue is dry, you are ready to make belly bands.

You will need:

• Ribbon  (I used 1" wide organza ribbon)
• Squares (assembled above)
• Scissors
• An assembled pocketfold invitation (with all inserts)
• Glue dots

1. Wrap your ribbon around your invitation. You want about an inch of overlap, you also want to wrap the invitation somewhat loosely so that guests will be able to easily slide the belly band off. Once you are able to figure out the length you need, cut the ribbon and use that length as a template to cut the rest of your ribbon. 
2. Take a piece of cut ribbon and wrap it around an invitation, secure in place with two glue dots. Note how my invitation remains slightly open after the ribbon is wrapped and secured, this is how you want yours to look. 
3. Attach the square over the glue dots used to secure the ribbon with two additional glue dots. 
4. Place the invitation square side down, and repeat for each additional invitation. I found that the weight of the invitations being stacked was enough to crease the ribbon at the sides and hold the invitations closed. Some people also like to stack all the invitations and put a weight on top for 24-hours.