Halloween Creature Survival Kit Invites

Really cute Halloween themed survival kits.

Step 1: Getting Ready

I have to give credit where it is due. I got this idea from this website.

http://www.brooklynlimestone.com/2009/10/halloween...

I love Halloween and wanted to do something a little different for the invites. So I found this site and change some of the ideas to fit my style better.

I first ordered these small mailer boxes from AM Shipping. They were pretty cheap they are called "special mailers" and were .37 a piece. http://www.amshippingsupplies.com/-c-21.html#Speci...

It takes a couple of weeks so you want to order them well in advance of when you need them

At this time I also made the brown leather like paper to put the kit items on in the box.

I basically cut out a strip of the brown craft paper then I crumpled the paper , ironed it out and then painted the paper with the amber stain, I let it dry...then brushed a very light darker brown stain over it and let it dry. I then cut out pieces to fit inside the mailer boxes

Step 2: Stuff You Need

Here is a list of the items that I used for this project

Special mailer boxes

Large decorative stamp

Brown craft paper (roll)

Stiff foam board (brown)

Items for the kit ( whittled wood stakes, silver bullets, small glass bottles with water and sealed with wax, small mirrors, kitchen safety matches,

Amber and brown wood stain

Brown filler paper (the shredded kind for packing)

Hot glue

Jute string

Sealing wax

Quill and ink

Step 3: Get or Make the Items Needed for the Kit

The Items inside the kit are

wooden stake - I used a small stick (aspen) and whittled it to a point

small glass vial filled with regular water, corked and sealed with hot wax

(i got them here http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004ZXW4MK/ref=oh...)

plastic bullets I spray painted silver ( got the bullets from amazon, spray paint from walmart)

bullets were here http://www.amazon.com/Military-Bullet-Belt-Bandole...

small mirrors I got at hobby lobby

and 3 large kitchen safety matches (3 each for each kit) ( if you are not comfortable with real matches use some wood sticks painted with red and yellow on the end.)

I then hot glued all the items to the brown stained crumpled paper

Step 4: The Booklet Invite

Now that I did the kit items , glued them to the paper , I'm ready to work on the book.

I went online and found an old full book cover image I liked,

I found mine here

https://www.google.com/search?q=old+book+covers&rl...

I found a vintage tag and altered the text to say creature kit then superimposed it over the image in word.

I then worked in "word" and set up one page that was the full book jacket, the next page I inserted an image of old parchment paper

got it here

https://www.google.com/search?q=images+of+parchmen...

On top of this image in word I type my intro poem, and the creature kit contents, I also did a full other page with just blank parchment paper and some Halloween images. The actual size of the book is only 5"x7". You want to keep the image pretty small so it doesn't look too fuzzy. When I printed out my little book I printed front and back. So it was the front book cover folded, then you open it up ,on the left (1st page was the kit info) the next page was my poem, the next was the actual invite, then turn the page it was a blank page then a page with images, turn the page and it was the back cover. Once I got done with all my image work I printed the pages out and folded them into the book. A hint ... print out one first before you print a bunch so you don't waste a bunch of ink and paper(like I did). After I printed the booklets out I folded them to make the book and I took a section of foam board cut it in strips about 1.5 inches by 5" to make the spine of the book.

Step 5: Packing It Up

So you now have your kit assembled, the book made and its time to pack the boxes.

I put some brown shredded packing paper in the bottom of the small box , I then put the kit items glued onthe brown crumpled paper on top and sealed the box.

I took a decorative stamp and stamped the outside of the box and wrote in
"Creature Survival Kit". with my handy dandy Harry Potter Quill and Ink set I just got at Harry Potter World. It worked so much better then a regular quill... not... but it was more fun for sure.

I then took the jute string and tied across the box, and put melted wax in the center.

I then wrapped the boxes with the brow craft paper and they are ready to send.