Sex and the City project - SPOILER ALERT

 If you haven't watched the first Sex and the City movie, but plan to watch it, you may want to skip this entry....here be spoilers:


Ashley guessed from my teaser photo this morning that I was working on a Sex and the City project - specifically a bag, which is an awesome idea!  Might make that happen :)  But, I was actually brainstorming ideas for making invitations for a girls' day to see S&TC2, which opens today.  We briefly talked about going next weekend, and even though everyone knows that we're going to see it Sunday, I wanted to whip up some cute invites with the date and time details.

A few months ago, I saw these beautiful keychains, with 'Love' in cursive, and they immediately reminded me of the climax of the first Sex and the City movie, where Carrie is finally ready to figure out if Big has tried to reach her since he left her at the altar, but she can't figure out the password to the email folder where her assistant has been hiding his emails.  She fumbles around and drops a stack of mail while looking for the phone to call said assistant.  When the mail hits the floor, she hears that 'clink' noise that I love (!!) and sees this keychain.  She knows, through the magic of film, that the password has to be Love and it (of course) works, and she sees all the love letters he's sent over the last few months. 

Here's a pic of Jennifer Hudson (who played the assistant) with the keychain:

I knew, even though it was months ago and the movie had even finished shooting yet, that I would use these somehow to celebrate the opening of the sequel!  Of course they only had 2, so I had to go to another Old Navy later to get enough for my invites.

I had to figure out a way to use the keychain in the invite, but still include an invite, so I thought to myself: "Self, how about you make an invite, reinforce it somehow, and hang it from the keychain, or hang the keychain from it, whatevs..."  Wow, that's smart, self.  But how do I reinforce paper so it's strong enough to carry around this keychain?  I don't want it to break as soon as someone pulls it out of the envelope, because that would be a really trashy way to invite someone to go to a movie with you!

Then Dave executed a redux of an old April Fool's joke that works every time in his office.  He made signs with a Coke or Pepsi logo, each with a message that says if you swipe your badge, that gives you access to the building, in front of the cash slot on the vending machine, the cost of the drink will be deducted from your paycheck automagically!  Brilliant.  Of course it worked, but I was more interested in how he made the signs.  He picked up these lamination sheets, and just stuck his home-made signs on the back of the lamination sheet.  Looks pretty good (and real), eh?

He also made his boss' office look like a crime scene.  Meh.

So, I totally copied him.  Except I found laminating pouches that have a front and back, so the sides seal themselves instead of having to fold the edges around to the back, which he didn't like so much.  I knew the thick, rigid lamination sheets would provide the weight I need to hold the keychain.  Score!

Here's how I made them:  I cut my background paper - a pink, polka dot pattern - to a little less than 4x6, which is the size of the laminating sheets.  Then I printed the movie day details on white cardstock and mounted the white piece onto the patterned piece.  The white piece is probably 2x3, but I just eyeballed it. 

Then I put a little piece of tape on the back of each paper invite, and mounted it onto the non-sticky side of the lamination sheet.  I just did this to make sure it wouldn't move while I was sealing it.  The backs of the invites might not be very pretty, but who looks at the back?  Once the paper was mounted, I laid that part flat on the desk, and slowly pulled away the protector on the sticky side.  I used a book to make sure the sticky side was laying flat as I rolled it out. 

Once it's rolled out all the way, I sealed all sides with my finger, and voila!

Then I punched a hole in the top right corner for the keychain.  I slowly threaded the keychain through the hole, being careful not to rip the paper or lamination sheet.

Repeat times 5, and we're done!  Here's the finished product!