How to Create Your Own Wedding Invitations by Scrapbooking
Scrapbooking involves layering paper underneath pictures and other mementos to commemorate events and preserve memories. These concepts can also be used to create your own wedding invitations from the same decorative papers and ribbons; but instead of framing a photograph, the focal point will be your wedding announcement. Making your own invitations allows you to have complete control over the final product and can also save you a lot of money.
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Things You'll Need
- Cardstock and paper
- Paper cutter
- Quick-drying, acid-free craft glue
- Computer and printer, or calligraphy pens
- Ribbon, stamps or vellum (optional)
Instructions
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Decide how you want your invitation to look. The base of your invitation should be a thick cardstock, which can frame the invitation on its own, or you can layer it with more sheets of paper to create several borders around the text of your invitation. You can put a layer of vellum (a translucent paper often used in scrapbooking) over the text for a romantic finish. Think about your color scheme and how many layers you want before you head to the store.
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Buy your materials at your local scrapbooking store. Choose a thick cardstock for the base of the invitation before choosing decorative papers for layering, then choose a plain paper for the text of the invitation, along with any vellum or ribbon you may want to add.
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Design your text block before proceeding with the rest of the invitation. Print your text from a computer or hand write the invitations with calligraphy pens; the former is the easier option, especially if you are not experienced with calligraphy.
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Using your text, which will be the top layer of paper on your invitation, work backward to find the dimensions of the other sheets of paper. For example, if your design is a text sheet framed by a decorative sheet framed by cardstock, you will want the decorative paper to be a few centimeters bigger on each side than the text block, and the cardstock will be a few centimeters bigger than the decorative paper. Once you have decided on the dimensions, measure the size of each sheet of paper carefully so you can quickly reproduce the sheets using your paper cutter.
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Use your paper cutter to cut as many sheets of each paper as you need. It will be easier and faster if you mark the size you need on one large sheet, and then use your paper cutter to cut five or ten sheets at a time.
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After you have cut the right number of each sheet, lay each stack in an assembly line. Use your craft glue to assemble the invitations from bottom to top, being sure to place each piece of paper squarely on top of the layer before it. Continue assembly until all the invitations are finished. Add stamps, ribbon or vellum after the glue has fully dried.
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Tips & Warnings
Make a prototype invitation before you make the whole batch. This will give you a better idea of exactly how much paper and other materials you need and will also let you preview the final copy and make adjustments before you finish the whole group. Choose your envelopes before you make final decisions on the dimensions of the invitation so you don't end up with 200 invitations you can't find envelopes for.
Watch your fingers when using the paper cutter. The blades are quite sharp, and it can be easy to get distracted when making sure your paper is straight.
