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 hommadegraduation 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
Click here for more info on where I get my
invitation card
from. The quality
and low prices are excellent.
Simplest Homemade Graduation Invitation
The simplest way of making homemade graduation invitations I can think of is probably where you make a simple scroll. All you do is print a beautiful verse (or write it calligraphy style) on an A4 sheet of paper (parchment paper is best)
, roll it up and tie with a black ribbon.
Favorite Homemade Graduation Invitation
It just so happens that my favorite homemade graduation invitations are also extremely simple to do and you can make it totally unique by using whatever background paper you desire.
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
Using clipart is such an easy way of making homemade graduation invitations.
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 then click here is access this free
free microsoft clipart site
.
"Design-It" Range at Jostens
If you want to make homemade graduation invitations but still obtain a really professional look then the Grad Kit available at Jostens is perfect for you. It contains all the paper, envelopes, thankyou notes, seals and address labels that you need including clipart and layout samples to help inspire you.
See one of the samples above. Visit
Jostens
if you want to see more.
Tip - navigation isn't very straight forward on this site. Best to go to "site map" at the bottom of the screen and then click on "High School Design-It".
Homemade Place Cards
The Artura range has
blank place cards.
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.
Simple but stylish!
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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