Ahoy Matey! Ye be invited to a pirate party!

My son T just turned 3 a few weeks ago.  He announced that he would like a pirate party.  Then he was obsessed about a pirate "ship" and talked about it for weeks. The only problem there is that his "p's" sound like "t's" so we'd have a little giggle each time he said it.  

I admit I LOVE planning my kids parties but the problem with starting big is that you feel like you have to top yourself with each one.  My best friend Dawn had a pirate party for her son this summer and I was intimidated trying to even come close to her fabulousness. She really needs to start a blog of her own =)  

I "borrowed" some of her ideas and scoured pinterest.  Are you all as obsessed with that site as I am?!  I love that I'm not filling my bookmarks any longer.  Check it out but be warned it'll keep you busy for hours.  

My friend Dawn made invitations very similar for her party and I just made a few changes to her design.  The teal in the patterned paper she found adds a fun twist to the normal black and red.

What you'll need
-Black strip of cardstock 4 1/4 inches x 9 1/4 inches 

-Patterned paper strip cut 4/14 inches x 1 inch
-Sold strip 4 1/4 inches x 1 1/4 inches (I used red cardstock)
-20 inch piece of twine
-Invite printed and cut to 3 1/4 inches x 4 3/4 inches
-Cardstock (I used teal) cut about 3 1/2 inches x 5 inches to layer invite paper over
-about 1 inch size circle
-Wax and wax seal
-Pirate stamp set, I used this pirate boy stamp set
-White ink stamp pad

1. Scour a line at 5 1/4 inches long. I recently bought this Martha Stewart scoring board and it really helped get a good solid line.

2. Use a boning tool to smooth out your bend.

3. Take your stamps and randomly stamp your design on the pocket section of the cardstock.  Be careful not to smear the white ink and let it dry for some time before working with them again.  Here's the pirate stamp set I borrowed from my friend.

*Make sure to stamp off the edges of your card.  It looks more natural this way.  I love clear stamps, they really help you see where you are placing your design.  

 4. Glue patterned paper strip on the center of the red strip.

 5. Place a little glue on the sides of the smaller section of black cardstock to form your pocket.

6. Glue the red / patterned paper strips to your card at the top of the pocket.  

7. I found some black twine and wrapped it around the card.  

 8. Now I thought a fun element would be to use a wax letter seal.  Michael's carries both the wax and the seals.  I didn't follow the directions to use 3 layers of wax so I could get my wax to stretch further.  I melted the wax on the circle, and then pressed.  I thought this would be fun to use as the tab to pull the invitation out of the pocket.

9. I created the invites in word and printed on white cardstock to make them sturdier.  I glued the cut out invites to the teal cardstock.  If you'd like the template email me and I'll email it out to you.  I used the font benegraphic.

You can stamp the envelope for a little more whimsy.

 Another fun idea I found was to do a message in a bottle for an invitation.  There are just too many fun ideas for a pirate party.

 I have LOTS of projects to share from this pirate party so be on the lookout for posts on a party decor, ship's mast, party food, a pirate ship cake, pirate cake pops, and more!