Homemade Graduation Invitations

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Thinking of making homemade graduation invitations?

Maybe you’d love to make your own homemeade graduation invitations but are just unsure how to proceed. You may decide that a pre-printed invitation chosen from a selection of ready made ones is simply not right for you. Maybe you’d like the opportunity to show your creativeness and style. Whatever the reason I hope this page will give you lots of information and inspiration to make homemade graduation invitations that you are truly proud of.

Pros and Cons of Homemade Graduation Invitations

If you’re still not sure about making graduation invitations then here is a little list of the advantages that this option can bring:

• You have total control over everything from size, color and type of font and paper, whether to include a photo or clipart, the wording which could be a verse, poem or even quote.

• If you need extra invitations there is no need to go back to the store for costly re-prints, just print them off yourself as required.

• You could do a “mail merge” and pre-populate all your guests names on the homemade graduation invitations.

• They let the graduate express their own individuality and style.

• The result will be completely unique.

• Your not locked into anything once the proof is approved.

• You have total control over the timeliness of your order.

• Homemade graduation invitations are a lot less expensive.

• You can get a great deal of satisfaction out of making homemade graduation invitations yourself.

• There is something nice about receiving homemade graduation invitations as opposed to a shop bought one - it's kind of like when a child makes you a card and it's treasured far more than any others.

Now for the not so positive points. Well it's quite hard actually to come up with any disadvantages of homemade graduation invitations. The only thing I can think of is that they can be a lot of work and very time consuming so you need to allow enough time to make them or else it could become quite stressful. A “lot of work” is not a problem if you like doing this sort of thing but if your heart is not in it and maybe you’re only making homemade graduation invitations to save some money then I think the result could reflect that.

The Basics for Computer Generated Homemade Graduation Invitations

All you really need is the following:

• a computer
• a good printer
• photo editing software.

The photo editing software could be “Paint” which comes as standard on most computers. This will allow you to extract a specific part from a picture i.e. extract a picture of the graduate from a group photo.
Microsoft Picture Manager is also something that is part of the Microsoft Office suite of tools. This will let you resize your picture. Basically there are tools on the net that you can buy but it’s worth having a look around your computer first.

Most of today’s personal printers are fully capable of creating great invitations. However if it is not up to the job then you could always put your design onto a disc and take it to your local office supply store and use their card stock and their excellent color laser printers. Sometimes it can even be less expensive using this equipment.

Paper Crafting Equipment for Homemade Graduation Invitations

If you want to forget about computers and printers then you can create some really impressive and imaginative homemade graduation invitations using some of the ideas listed below.

Fancy Edged Scissors – These are simply scissors with a decorative edge so that when paper is cut a fancy edge is created. These are great for cutting borders or jazzing up edges on your homemade graduation invitations.

Border Punches – There are several Fiskars border punches with all sorts of designs. These can punch more elaborate designs down one complete side of your invitation. The effect is really impressive if you have a contrasting paper attached to the back of the punched paper.

Circle Punch – This could be used to cut an aperture in your paper. You could then stick a photo on the back. I like to used the 3 inch circular punch from Giga Craft Punch Shapes.
You could also cut some small holes at the bottom of your homemade graduation invitations or down the side just using a regular hole puncher and then thread some lovely ribbon in and out the holes.

Flat Backed Jewels – These can really jazz up your homemade graduation invitations. They come in a variety of colours and shapes and can be stuck on at random or to frame a photo of the graduate. Here is an example of a homemade graduation invitations that I made using jewels and a border punch.

Beads – Thread some colourful and sparkly beads onto some silver thread. If you have a folded invitation you could tie the thread around the fold so that the beads are on the outside and the thread is tied in a bow on the inside of the fold.

Glitter Spray – This is another great idea. Just gently spray your homemade graduation invitations with some silver or gold glitter spray to give it that extra wow factor!

PVA Glue – This is transparent when dry and excellent for paper sticking. Use a cocktail stick for delicate work. Can make the paper soggy and wrinkles if you apply too much.

Glue Stick – Tube of solid glue. Good for applying an even coat of adhesive that won’t make the paper soggy.

Superglue – Good for long lasting and very secure adhesion. Use for sticking beads to paper so that they don’t fall off during transit in the mail.

Double Sided Adhesive tape – These are great for mounting photos behind apertures.

Adhesive Foam Pads – These are small foam pads that are sticky on both sides. They are excellent for raising whatever is stuck to it away from the surface to give a 3 dimensional effect.

Craft knives – You can use a craft knife with a metal ruler for cutting long straight edges.

Cutting Mat – You must use a cutting mat along with a craft knife to protect the surface you are working on. There are some amazing self healing ones available where the edges actually come together again or heal. Not so with curved cuts though which will gouge out parts.

Paper trimmers – Paper trimmers or guillotines come in a variety of sizes and price ranges. They are not essential but can save you a lot of time and effort.

Rubber Stamping – Stamps come in all shapes and sizes. They have a design cut into a layer of rubber which is then mounted onto a wooden block. I particularly like the outline stamps which print only the outline of the image, leaving a blank area that can be coloured in.
You can either use an ink pad or dual-tip pens with a rubber stamp. The pens have a fine tip and one end and a brush tip at the other. The advantage of the pens is that you can apply several colours to one stamp.
To ink and print you need to hold the stamp in one hand, design uppermost and take the inkpad in the other hand and dab it over the design. Don’t rock the stamp on the paper as this will cause the image to smudge.

Embossed Rubber Stamping – This will give you a raised glossy finish on your homemade graduation invitations – very impressive looking. You will need the following:
- embossing or pigment ink pad.
- wooden cloths peg for holding the paper when using the heat gun
- embossing powders
- embossing heat gun.

What you do is firstly ink your stamp and then print it onto paper. Now sprinkle the embossing powder over the inked image and shake off the excess. A paint brush can help you get rid of any remaining specs. Now hold the paper in one hand with a wooden cloths peg and with the other hand, direct the heat onto the image holding the gun 15 - 20cms from the paper. Watch it melt into a semi-liquid form, now remove the heat gun and switch off. NB. If over heated it won’t be glossy.

I get most of my paper crafting materials from Joann.com.

Get Help from Family and Friends

Family and friends can be a great help initially when you need some inspiration for your design. Ask them things like how they chose their homemade graduation invitations and what’s the most creative ones that they have seen. Co workers are also a good source of inspiration and help.

When it comes to actually making homemade graduation invitations I like asking family and fiends over to help and each person can perform a specific task so it's a bit like a production line. It’s a great way to get everyone together and have a laugh and be productive at the same time.

Choose Good Quality Paper

Alternatively you may have a local store that specialises in invitation paper.

Simplest Homemade Graduation Invitation

Favorite Homemade Graduation Invitation

Background page - I've used clipart expanded here to cover the whole page and I then printed it on flat card This could be any picture, design, exotic paper from www.papermojo.com or even a photo.
Front page – this is vellum and a lovely verse is printed on it with all the party details. It is cut to the same size as the background page.
Attach them – now use a hole puncher to punch 2 holes at the top of both the pages and attach them both together using beautiful coordinating ribbon. Check this link out for inspiration on how to tie ribbon on homemade graduation invitations.

Invitations using Clipart

I've found a microsoft website that has a fantastic array of free clipart. While on this site if you just type "graduation" in the blank "search" box and then click on "GO" you find approximately 25 pages of great and free clipart. If you see anything you like simply click on the arrow next to the picture, select copy, enter your word processing package where you are composing your invite and select "Ctrl" key & then the "V" key (keep holding Ctrl while you press "V"). NB. Don't worry about the ActivX control you'll be asked to download in order to use this website - it's harmless and takes no time at all.

Within your word processing package click on the picture and resize it by placing your mouse over the little squares until arrows appear and then click and drag your mouse until the picture is the desired size.

So if your interested in having a look at the graduation clip art page. There is a great range of clip art, instructions on how to use it and also lots of project ideas.

Homemade Graduation Invitations - Accessories

Homemade Graduation Invitations - Jigsaws

Another way of completing graduation invitations is to buy blank jigsaw puzzles. You can write on your invite details, break up the puzzle, insert it in a bag and mail the invites. This is a highly unique way of sending out graduation party invitations.

Homemade Graduation Invitations - More Ideas

You could consider handing out invitations that look like diplomas. If you have a printer with good quality ink that will not run when wet, you can make your invitations look like real parchment:

• Just print up the invitations in a fancy font of your choosing
• You can then tea-stain them to make them look antiqued
• Steep one or two teabags in boiling water and then pour the water into a tub large enough for dipping paper
• Add cool water to the tea until it is a slight tan color
• Dip the printed invitations
• Lay them out to dry
• When they are done, you have a rustic but fancy way to ask people to your party
• You can tie the dyed invitations with a ribbon before handing them out for a special touch.
  

Another affordable but high-quality way to make homemade graduation invitations is to get a stamp embossing set and some cardstock:

• Dip the stamps you want to use in embossing solution
• Stamp the paper
• Pour the embossing powder over the resulting image on the cardstock
• Heat the image to emboss it
• You can print out the information for the party and simply glue that page inside the card to save some labor.
  

This method allows a lot of hand-made personalization for those who like nice details.

Homemade Place Cards

First, find blank place cards that you like. Once you have the card all you do is:

• Punch a whole in the top left hand corner with a whole puncher and thread some beautiful ribbon through it and tie in a bow.
• Write the name on the card using a silver, gold or calligraphy pen. You can enhance the presentation of your homemade graduation invitations by using calligraphy. There are many great Calligraphy Kits to get your started.

Great Site with Card Making Projects

This is an absolutely amazing site with all the craft and card making materials you could ever want for making graduation invitations including a great source of creative inspiration - Joann.com.


Good Luck with your homemade graduation invitations. I think homemade graduation invitations are a great chance to be creative and make something very personal.

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