Eden’s 12th birthday is in just a few weeks and I haven’t even got the invitations out! I set aside today to get the job done.  I really didn’t have a plan, but thought I would do a winter/snowflake invitation because she wants to go sledding. She is only inviting 4 girls, so the job isn’t as overwhelming as some years. I had lots of paper on hand and decided to have her pick colours from what I had. I picked up this package at Target for $1.30 on Christmas clearance. It is wintry, but not really very festive. Eden loved the colours and picked out the paper she wanted and then I just created the invitation by using the paper she picked as my starting point.

Printing the Invitations:

I began by making the actual invitation on the computer. I downloaded a free font called Gingersnaps from www.dafont.com. I love this site and often search for specialized fonts for my projects. I changed the address for the screen shot, but otherwise this is what it looks like.
I added a text box in the background, printed her age and then changed the opacity of the teal to 70%.  I created the invitation as a full-page document. I then displayed the “page thumbnails” of the page I had created and duplicated the page 3 times, so that I had a total of 4 copies of the invitation. 

When I went to print the document, I found “Layout” in the drop down menu on the printing page. I then select “4” under pages per sheet. It takes all four of my pages and scales them all down to fit perfectly on one page of card stock. I then cut the page into 1/4’s and proceed to make my invitations, postcard style, by decorating the opposite side of the card. 

Decorating the Birthday Invitation:

I started by covering the backs of the printed invitations with the paper Eden had chosen. I then gently sanded the edges to reveal some of the white below the dyed surface. I then used a turquoise/teal ink on all of the edges. This is nothing more than dabbing the ink pad along the edges. I used a make-up style brush to get into the grooves that the pad wouldn’t reach. I then cut a strip of coordinating paper (one side with a scalloped edge) and adhered it to the right side of the card with double-sided tape. I also happened to have ribbon on hand that I ran down the straight edge of the paper strip. This became my base card. From here, I began to play with embellishments to see what I could come up with for a finished look.  I ended up using a combination of a few items I had on hand. First, I took a handful of these cheap dollar store snowflakes and tried to kick them up a notch.

On some, I added blue gel pen topped the blue with a clear glitter glue. (Those on the envelopes only have glitter glue.) I also added a little silver dot to the center of the snowflakes I mounted on the card. These are the smallest snowflakes on the invitations, located closest to the bottom of the card. The second snowflake is a made of plain white felt. I found these snowflakes at Target in the same bin as the paper package. The snowflake at the top was made by mounting a snowflake sticker onto teal circles and hand cutting around the outside edge.

I simply staggered the snowflakes when I mounted them and used 3D foam mounting dots to add extra dimension when mounting the smallest snowflake at the bottom. Finally, I stamped “Save the Date!” on that adorable polka dot paper and then stuck it on a white “tag” that I had cut out on my Cricut. I added a little line/dot pattern around the outside edge with a black Sharpie and used red ink on edges of the tag. I curled blue wire around the shaft of pen and then twisted it to create a bit of a whimsical look. Finally, I added a bit of embellishment to the envelopes so they would coordinate with the invitation and then added the girl’s names.

I am so glad to have the invitations done. We will let them dry over night and then deliver them tomorrow. Hopefully all of the girls can make it!

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