Printing your own invitations - paper question

[egoldber]

I am considering making the invitations for Sarah's borthday party next month. Since I am calligraphy-challenged, I would like to print them from my computer and then embellish them with stamps and/or stickers. (Thinking that Sarah can help me with this part, so nothing too craxy...)

What is the best type paper to use for this? I have both a laser printer and an inkjet color printer. I'm not looking for wedding quality invites here, but I don't want them to look too crappy.

And does anyone know of a good template for how to do this?

Thanks!

[cinrein]

Beth,
I made Anna's birthday invitations by copying some I saw on Ebay. It wasn't hard and they were cute, if I do say so myself. I got some red cardstock at Micheals and some vellum (I got the 12 X 12 sheets in the scrapbooking section and cut them down with our paper cutter). I printed the invites on the vellum (no problems whatsoever). The vellum was a little smaller than the cardstock. I also got some red gingham paper to put behind the vellum, but that's not necessary. You then line your sheets up, punch 2 holes in the top and tie a cute ribbon on top. I left enough room on the bottom corner of the vellum to attach a cute ladybug sticker. I also stamped ladybugs on my envelopes (something Sarah could do). It sounds much more complicated than it was--I can bring one to show you sometime if you are interested.

Cindy and Anna February 2003

[amp]

I made both DS's birth announcements and birthday invites myself. Both were done on regular cardstock bought at either scrapbooking stores or Michaels/Hobby Lobby/craft stores. You just get an idea what you want it to look like. You can either copy something you see online/in magazine/one you recieved, etc and buy the right supplies.

Our printer is an inkjet, so if you use one of those, be very careful if you print on vellum to let it dry a LONG time before touching it. It can still smear hours later. I let mine sit overnight at least, but that's because I've had trouble with this, so I'm paranoid!

For our announcements I used blue cardstock and white vellum, tied with a thin white ribbon I bought at Hobby Lobby. We scanned a footprint and printed several onto vellum, along with birth info (we made this in photoshop and canvas) and then tied the vellum onto carstock that was just slightly larger than the squares of vellum.

For the birthday invites, I bought prefolded blank cards at Michaels and bought some candle die cuts with adhesive on them. Then I arranged the candles how I wanted them and stuck them to the cards. Then I printed out the birthday info on cardstock and adhered it to some cute tags and adhered those to the card. The envelopes came with the cards.

I can probably take pics if you wanted me to, but I suspect you can easily visualize these.

good luck!

[egoldber]

OK, you guys are assuming I know WAY more than I do.

Vellum? Is this sold in sheets at Michaels? Is it standard printer paper size? Do I have to cut it down to size after I print it?

Same questions for card stock.

I need SIMPLE directions! :)

[amp]

Yes, vellum is the kind of see through paper (like tracing paper almost, but nicer). It comes in 8.5x11 and 12x12 (sizes that most scrapbook albums come in. Then you cut what you need. I prefer a fiskars cutter, but you can use scissors if you need to and can cut straight. This is sometimes sold loose by the sheet, sometimes in a packet.

Cardstock is also sold in regular 8.5x11 and 12x12, but you can also buy it in card sizes, either folded or just single sheet. Some places sell these in packs of 8 or 10, but some stores actually carry them where you can buy them loose and just get however many you need. Either way, they should have envelopes too. If not, you can buy envelopes at the office store (even nicer flecked ones). Also the big sheets can be sold loose or in a packet. Just depends on the store.

The 12x12 paper doesn't fit my printer, so i'd use standard paper size. Or, use 12x12 and cut it down a bit on the sides but leave it long, to fit more on a page.

Obviously, you don't need to use vellum or any other embellishments, but it looks nice. Here is a bad picture of our birth announcement, which used a vellum overlay tied by a ribbon. The second example is of our 1st birthday invite, which used no vellum, but used die cuts and buttons.

http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/user_files/9156.jpg


http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/user_files/9157.jpg


http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/user_files/9158.jpg

[egoldber]

Andrea that is ADORABLE!!! OK, now I have even more ideas, LOL!

Thank you!!!

[amp]

You are very welcome! Glad to help. Let us know how they turn out!

[papal]

Andrea!! The invitations are absolutely precious! Wow, i am SO going to steal this idea from you!!

[amp]

Wow, thanks! I thought they were pretty cute, but then, I made 'em, so i guess I would, right? It's nice to be complimented!

[Jen in Chicago]

You can do it!

I have made all of our cards since Jude was born mostly with stamps or his handprint. I have printed on cardstock, or plain old paper and glued it to cardstock. This place has great ideas. I have posted some of our creations on previous threads.

Have fun!

http://www.impressrubberstamps.com/ideas/ideas.html

Few of my cost cutting tips----
Buy 8.5x 11 cardstock and cut it in 1/2- this will make 2 cards folded that will fit in "invitation" envelopes that you can buy by the box at Walmart - A wallet size picture fits perfectly. My $13 ream of white card stock is going a long way and I glue other colors to it for my projects.

Stamp most things with black ink and then color things in- the black outline always looks good- 20 or so stamp pads later I am realizing this

Keep things in normal sized envelopes b/c the more odd sized you get the more expensive the envelope and the postage (and risk for damage when mailed)

[mommyof5]

Your announcement is beautiful. This is exactly the kind of thing I wanted to do, but couldn't figure out how! I knew I wanted a hand print or foot print, and I wanted it to look more elegant than cutsey, but couldn't seem to get my mind around how to accomplish that. The vellum and ribbon are just the right thing! I'm going to have to go out today and get supplies. I've procrastinated so long that an announcement is going to seem wierd if I don't get it done soon! (But I feel like I really should get them made and sent to our out of the country friends).
-Wendi

[smomom]

wow, Andrea. those are too cute. great job! thanks for posting the pictures. I've bookmarked the link in my "craft" folder. You know, the folder of all of the cute ideas that I never get around to doing......