How to make broken mirror save the dates for your Halloween wedding (or even just parties)

Halloween 2013 means it's a great year for superstition-themed parties! A save-the-date is a great way to establish the mood of your party, and since we're going with superstitions, what is more superstitious than a broken mirror?

Creating these was fairly easy, but not very cost-effective if you're making a ton. I only gave out about 10 total, so I don't mind going overboard. After all, it's Halloween.

To make up for the expense of each invite, you can use these for invitations and the party favors — if you go light on the adhesive — people could peel away your broken mirror overlay and use them as an actual mirror after the party.

Here's how to make them yourself…

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What you need:

• A hand mirror
• The image printed onto a transparency paper
• Scissors
• Clear nail polish (or some kind of clear-drying glue)
• A marker
• A piece of paper to create a template

A note about creating the image:

I had the info printed off on to transparencies at my local copy shop. I created my artwork to look like the words were floating over a cracked surface.

Buy your mirrors first, then measure the inside mirror surface to create the right template in your photo editing program of choice. I know my words had to fit inside a certain space, and I made sure the broken glass image expanded beyond that to give me some wiggle room.

There are sticker pages that say they are clear, and you might be tempted to buy them, but they aren't clear. I promise. This effect doesn't work if you have cloudy paper sitting inside a mirror frame. Save yourself the extra cost and just have them printed on transparency.

How to create the invitations:

To cut the transparency paper I simply traced a page inside of the mirror and used that as a template. I was able to tuck my excess into the inside frame of my mirror, but your mirror may be different.

I used the clear nail polish in the corners to give it an extra hold, and the aforementioned tucking of the edges of my transparency into the frame of the mirror made it extra secure.

To finish off the look, I added a velvet ribbon and a little tag with a glittery “13” on it.

To give these out, I wanted to create a nice gift bag. I bought these 8×10 canvas bags, and ironed on a t-shirt transfer.

Bonus tip: Spray the bags with some kind of fall scent — I like to indulge all of the senses with my invitations!

I continued to play on the theme of superstitions with my the final invitations, which were written on the inside of black umbrellas with a tag that reads: “Don't open me inside!”

Guest Post By: Natalie Wood

http://neverwood.me

I am a writer, photographer, and designer living near Portland, OR with my husband and some gigantic Muppets who pretend to be cats. My stories are often fictional thrillers that skew toward the darkness inside us. My photography centers around cemeteries and the ways we honor those who have left us.