{invites} wax seal

last night, i finished up my invites and they are ready to be hand cancelled (a must when using wax seals) and sent out the door! to be honest, i'm worried about the little guys..i've worked so hard on them and it's tough to see them go out into the world..

but i digress.

i had some trouble figuring out the whole wax seal thing and wanted to share with you my tips and tricks if you plan on doing them yourself..

1st, using my glue stick, i touched a dab of glue on just the end of the flap. i only used it on the end because i did not want my guests to have to tear open the envelope, thus tearing the beautiful liner i worked so hard on. this also helped to keep the envelope flap in place as i used the wax:

2nd, i used wax that can be put in a glue gun, however, i have a mini glue gun, so the huge wax sticks would not fit into mine. boo. i was not about to admit defeat! so i used a lighter to heat the wax/glue. tips for using the lighter: don't place the stick directly in the flame. it will catch on fire. it will also turn your wax/glue black, which you don't really want, otherwise you would have ordered black wax..right? turn the stick back and forth constantly..you will know it's ready by looking at it..it looks soft and gooey..

sorry for the bad pic..but you get the idea, right?

once the wax is soft, pretend it's a crayon and draw a little circle on the flap of the envelope where you want it to seal. for me, the first coat wasn't thick enough:

so i repeated this step. the first time i drew clockwise circles, and the second time, counter-clockwise. just to be sure to get an even coating of the wax. make sure your seal is nearby and facing the way you want when you go to grab it. i use my right hand to "color" the wax and then moved it to my left as i grabbed the seal. you will need to do this somewhat quickly, and make sure you don't have a window open or a fan going as it will dry the wax quicker. then simply press your seal into the wax and hold it there for about 5 seconds:


and voila! they didn't all turn out perfect, and yours probably won't either. it's okay. i don't think they are supposed to be perfect. it took me about 10 envelopes before i really started to get the hang of it. so definitely practice. it took me less than 2 sticks to do 90 envelopes..oh and my thumb hates me today (from using the lighter).

happy waxing!