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These Wood Slice Save the Date Magnets are a great way to add a rustic and personal touch to your wedding.
UPDATE PLEASE READ: Some readers have shared with me their (awful) post office experience and were told their envelopes would be treated as “parcels” due to the thickness and size meaning they cost around $2 each to send, yikes! We wound up going to the post office after hours and used the self stamp machine where it weights the item. So I had entered that it was a square envelope and based on the weight they cost us $0.66 each. We printed the stamps out from the machine and sent them off with no issues, but I have since done some research and it sounds like we were just lucky. Oops.
The Smallest Square Envelope Size you can mail is 5×5 so be sure to get the right size envelope and be prepared to pay extra depending on the weight and thickness of your envelope. Square envelopes cost extra to send so you could also just use a standard envelope size, but still want to cut your slices thing and use the thinnest magnets you can find, the kind that comes in strips – of course, you want to make sure they are strong enough so you may have to use a couple of strips. If you plan to personally hand out your save the dates then this may still be a great option.
How to make wood slice Save the Date magnets
Eric and my dad sliced the tree rounds from a fallen tree branch with a compound miter saw. I then baked them for about 30 minutes {15 minutes on each side) in the oven at “warm”, our lowest setting. Most wood takes years to fully dry out, so I read that you could place small pieces of wood in the oven to speed up the process. I can’t remember where I read about doing this but they had mentioned baking them under 170 degrees. If you don’t have a saw you could always purchase wood slices at craft stores, and if you use a 50% of coupon you could score a pretty good deal.
I was having issues finding a free {yes I’m cheap frugal a bride on a budget} 4×4 petal envelope so I decided to make my own in illustrator, which you can download a free 30 day trial here. I bought a pack of 70lb kraft paper online so that I could print the envelope template and address directly onto it. Again, this free 4×4 petal envelope is not the right size for sending via the post office. 5×5 is the smallest square envelope size you can mail so unless you are personally handing these out make sure to get the right size or place the 4×4 petal envelope inside a larger envelope accepted by the post office.
My handwriting is terrible so my goal was to print out the addresses in a pretty font, and then go over it with a pen to give it that handmade look. I played around with several fonts before deciding on Admiration Pains for the names and Lazy Day for the address {both free from dafont.com}. I created the swashes out of the “N” letter from Admiration Pains and added the arrow heads and heart so that the bottom of the address would tie back in with the names and give it a more cohesive design. You can download it by clicking the image below or at the bottom of this post if you want to use it as well. Just remember it’s for personal use only.
I then printed my template onto the kraft paper and went over the printed font with a black gel-ink pen {after testing out various markers and pens, this was my favorite option}. I then scored the petal envelope using a ruler and the flat end of a nail, which actually seemed to work pretty well.
Once my petal envelope was ready, which you will see in a minute, I worked on my vellum envelopes. I wanted these to hold our wood slice save the date magnets, and figured it would break up the brown of the kraft paper and the wood.
Since our save the date magnets are small and pretty vague I wanted to include our wedding website on the vellum envelope. I purchased a pack of vellum paper online from PaperandMore.com and then printed our wedding website onto it. I was able to get 2 envelopes from one piece of paper since each vellum envelope is just under 3.75″ x 3.75″ when folded. I rotated the text so that it could be larger and a little easier to read. I also made sure to leave enough space for the lacy sides, which you will see in the next couple steps.
Alright, so after testing out craft glue, tacky glue, Loctite and the glue gun to see what would hold the vellum envelope together best – the glue gun won. So I glued the side edges together with the glue gun – it may not have looked the prettiest, but I didn’t mind since the lace would cover that up. I then used the craft bond glue to attach the lace along the sides of the envelope.
Here is one of the wood pieces after being sanded and stamped with a personalized stamper I ordered online. You could also “stamp” them yourself using the wood transfer technique seen here. I then glued a magnet onto it using loctite, and once it was dry I placed it into my adorable lacy, vellum envelope. It would be sooooo much easier just to add the self adhesive magnets.
And here is what our rustic chic wood slice save the date magnets look like all put together:
They may not be perfect, but I am so proud of the way they turned out and think they are so cute. Not to mention they go perfectly with our whole rustic wedding theme. So what do you think of the Wood Slice Save the Date Magnets?
This is for personal use only and cannot be re-sold or re-distributed.
What did you use to seal the brown envelope?
Hi Maegen! Funny that I never noticed I didn’t mention it in the post, although you can kinda tell from the photo. I used some blue scotch tape, followed by large white labels and then kraft stickers on top. You could probably just use a few strips of washi tape though 🙂
Thank you!! Been trying to decide today on what stamp I want to use!
Amazing and sweet but seems like it can be a lot of work lol but what is the biggest size envelope you can send before they charge you? and i love the fonts btw
Thanks Kaitlyn! I’m not sure about the biggest size, I think for these guys it was more about the thickness. I found the info below when I just googled it, but you should always verify with your post office first to make sure the info is accurate 🙂
http://savepostage.com/bulkmail101/flats.html
Info below is from the link above:
” Very simply, for sorting purposes, a letter is ANY piece of mail shaped like a rectangle or square and ALL of the following are true:
Its height is at least 3 1/2 inches and no more than 6 1/8 inches; AND,
Its width is at least 5 inches and no more than 11 1/2 inches; AND,
Its thickness is at least 0.007 inches and no more than 1/4 inch.”
These are so cute! What size magnets did you get and where did you get them?
Thanks Holly! I can’t remember if I bought the magnets from Michael’s or Walmart but the ones I went with were probably the size of nickels. You could also try smaller or thinner ones, or the kind that come in strips since those are much thinner. 🙂
How did you do the arrow and heart?
Hi Trista, I actually just made a heart in illustrator and made the arrows using some swashes from the admirations font 🙂
Hi Katie,
When the diy save the dates were on upcycledtreasures.com you had a link for the 4×4 envelop. I dont know if I just am not seeing it or if you have it posted somewhere else. If you could please let me know or send me the link that would be awesome.
Thanks all the way from Hawaii,
Karis
Hi Karis,
Sorry, I thought I had linked to the template in this post, but must not have {thanks for letting me know!} Remember, that this 4×4 size isn’t appropriate for the post office, so unless you are hand delivering them, or placing them inside larger envelopes it’s not recommended.
http://ahandcraftedwedding.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/4×4-square-petal-envelope-template-ahandcraftedwedding.pdf
Thanks!
~Katie
I downloaded the font admiration pains and it doesn’t work. I have tried using it in several programs and it doesn’t work in any of them. It just shows up as a very plain font. Any idea why?
Hi Amanda, I have never had that issue but a reader had emailed me with a similar question. He ended up contacting Apple {he was on a Mac} and here is the thread to that:
http://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/129703/font-rendering-issue-with-word-2011-and-3rd-party-font-admiration-pains
I’m not sure if you will need to do anything different if you are on a PC, but hopefully this helps 🙂
~Katie
Hello,
These are super adorable! Did you just use a stamp and regular ink in order to put the details on the wood slice?
Also, what type of glue did you use to attach the magnet to the wood?
Thanks Brittany! The stamp I purchased came with it’s own ink pad and that’s what I used to stamp our info onto the slices. You could also use the wood transfer technique, but it would take more time. I used Loctite glue but honestly you could just buy the self adhesive magnets and that would be so much easier. I have since made wood slice magnets with those and they work just as well. I think you can get a 30 pack at Walmart for about $3 or you could buy the kind that comes in strips.
Hi- What kind of Stamp did you use?
I ordered a personalized custom stamp through a deal I had found on Living Social, but you can order personal stamps through Etsy or just google “Personalized stamp save the date” or something along those lines 🙂
~Katie
Hi there!! First of all, these save the dates are super cute! I’m doing both these and your adorable rustic invites- they’re exactly what we’re going for and want with our vintage/rustic wedding theme! So I download the font, restarted my computer (which is a MacBook Pro, incase any future followers of yours would like to know), and it works perfectly- I love the font! Right now I’m using PicMonkey (www.picmonkey.com) to create the wording for the outside of the envelope and am curious as to how you used the swooshes from the “N” in the admiration pains font without using the complete letter “N”… Maybe you used a different program to create the wording for your envelopes?
Thanks in advance!! 🙂
Hi Ashley,
I actually used illustrator to create it, but have added it to the post if you want to use it. You can click on the image in the post or click here,
http://ahandcraftedwedding.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/arrows-and-heart-ahandcraftedwedding.png
Hope that helps 🙂
~Katie
I just made the prototype of these using the wood transfer technique with regular printer ink. They are exactly the look I envisioned–very rustic! Now I’m onto creating the envelopes. I was wondering how you were able to print the addresses onto the envelope template. Did you need a special printer that can print larger sizes? The template I have for a 5×5 envelope doesn’t fit onto letter size. I have adobe illustrator 30-day tutorial as well, but can’t seem to figure it out. Any tips?
Hi Erica,
I actually used a 4×4 template but it’s not large enough to send through the post office and we apparently just lucked out {as mentioned in the post}. So the 4×4 template I used fit on normal paper, but I only recommend using it if you are hand delivering the templates. Otherwise you will need to get a 5×5 template printed on large paper. Hope that makes sense.
~Katie
Hi!
I’m not super tech savvy, especially when it comes to this things. I’m having the hardest time figuring out how to type the website onto the vellum paper! Did you use Microsoft Word for this? If so, how do section the paper off?
Thanks!
Hi Brianna,
I’m so sorry but I just saw your comment. I think I used adobe illustrator for mine, but you could definitely use a program like word. I believe I did a few test prints to figure out where I wanted the site to show up but had created a box on the page first {basically the envelope template} so that I could cut around the lines and had added the text on top of the box. I’m not sure if that makes sense but hopefully you got it figured out. If not let me know and I’ll see if I can help more.
~Katie
Hi
I have just got my dad to cut a branch and I’ve put the slices in the oven as stated in your post but the day after the slices have started to curl and are no longer flat on one side.
Just wondering if this happened at all with you?
Thanks.
Hi Tracey,
I’ve noticed that will happen if you have the temperature too high, or if you leave the wood slices in there for too long. Although I’ve never had it happen the next day, I was able to tell right away if the wood slices were beginning to bend. How long did you have them in the oven?
~Katie
Hi there!
The magnets that you used – were they strong enough to hold the wood slice up on a fridge? I feel like its so difficult to find strong magnets!
Thanks,
Nina
Hi Nina,
Yup, in fact we’ve had one displayed on our fridge since I made them – over a year now 🙂
I bought my magnets at Walmart – I think it was a pack of 50 for a few bucks.
Hope that helps 🙂
~Katie
How did you cut out the envelopes? By hand, xacto knife, or?? I’m driving myself crazy trying to figure out a way to get these cut perfectly. Maybe my hands are just shaky?
Mine were far from perfect but I had cut the vellum using a paper trimmer and the envelopes just using smaller craft scissors. I did have to take breaks because my hand started to cramp up after a while. I’m not so good with the exacto knife but you could try that. Or if you have a cutting machine like the Silhouette you could use that.
To be honest, this project was done over 3 years ago but you can find petal envelopes more easily these days and at a better price point too. You may want to hit up your local Michael’s or Hobby Lobby if you don’t feel like doing all the cutting, or check Amazon or an online paper store like Paper and More. I enjoy paper crafts like this, but there are times when buying is better than DIYing, so that’s something to consider 🙂
Hope that helps!
Katie
Hi Katie, thanks! I’m finally to the point of putting these in the envelopes. Did you have a problem with the envelopes staying sealed? Mine keep wanting to pop open.
Hi
I’m wanting to stamp my own save the date wooden magnets, found some mdf or birch shapes that I want but I’m so worried about the ink bleeding… did you use any particular ink that you remember?
Thank you 🙂
I had purchased a custom stamp online, and we haven’t had any issues with the ink bleeding. In fact, we have one of the magnets on our fridge, some 4 years later 🙂 I’ve also created Christmas ornaments from wood slices with using the printer/transfer method and haven’t had issues with those either:
https://mountainmodernlife.com/cabin-inspired-christmas-ornaments/
I would think as long as you let the ink dry overnight before moving or touching them they should be good to go.
Katie
This is such a clever idea. Thanks for posting the inspo!