{"id":6506,"date":"2011-08-25T08:16:02","date_gmt":"2011-08-25T13:16:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cottagearts.net\/blog\/?p=6506"},"modified":"2011-08-26T14:59:39","modified_gmt":"2011-08-26T19:59:39","slug":"cost-friendly-custom-invites-get-it-printed-no11","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cottagearts.net\/blog\/cost-friendly-custom-invites-get-it-printed-no11\/","title":{"rendered":"Cost-Friendly Custom Invites {get it printed no.11}"},"content":{"rendered":"

ngg_shortcode_0_placeholdermichelle shefveland. simply friendship pak<\/a>, say it again 2 scrap.words (to love)<\/a>, this is life 2 scrap.words (ornate frame)<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Hi all! Just finished designing a custom postcard invite for my mom and dad’s 45th anniversary party and thought I’d share a little tutorial on how you can make your own, too.<\/p>\n

Making a custom design not only allows you to add personality to the invite, but can also be quite economical depending on size\/shape\/print vendor. For example, VistaPrint’s<\/a> standard postcard size (5.5 x 4.2) is just $.19\/each for 100 and their jumbo postcards (8.5 x 5.5) are often priced as low as $.29\/100. I’ve been printing holiday cards with them for years and am very satisfied with their quality. They offer many upgrade options such as paper type\/cardstock to fit any budget. The two things I do not care for are the high shipping costs for anything less than 2 week turn-around-time, as well as all of the cross-selling they present to you during the checkout process. The former can be avoided by signing up to be on their e-promotions list and watching for Free Shipping specials. These seem to occur about once per month and more often around the holidays.<\/p>\n

Here’s how to design a custom invite using Adobe Photoshop Elements (Adobe Photoshop follows similar steps):<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Download Photoshop format (psd) design template for specific size\/product you want to design from your preferred print vendor (almost all have downloadable templates to fit their specifications)<\/li>\n
  2. Unzip design template<\/li>\n
  3. Open design template (File>Open>browse for design template>OK)ngg_shortcode_1_placeholder<\/li>\n
  4. Open paper for background (invite used paper from Simply Friendship Pak)<\/li>\n
  5. Drag paper onto design template. Position and size using Move Tool as desired, as it’s much larger than the template.<\/li>\n
  6. Open photo\/photos desired. Repeat Step 5 for photos.<\/li>\n
  7. Open embellishments\/overlays (most from Simply Friendship Pak). Repeat Step 5 for embellishments.<\/li>\n
  8. Select Type Tool from Toolbar. On invite, draw text box where you want text.<\/li>\n
  9. Choose font, font color, and font size (invite used JohnHancock, size 13-20 pt, color #482f25)<\/li>\n
  10. Type party information. Adjust leading (spacing between lines) as needed. Journaling tutorial and free quick page download on our site here<\/a>.<\/li>\n
  11. If desired, simplify type layer and distress with eraser tool and distressing brushes (Grunge Paints 1, 2, or 3<\/a>)<\/li>\n
  12. Important note: keep all important elements, photos, and type well within safe margins shown by blue guidelines ngg_shortcode_2_placeholder<\/li>\n
  13. Save as layered psd to edit at later time. Save also in preferred format for print vendor, such as pdf, tiff, psd, or jpg. Here are VistaPrint’s<\/a>.<\/li>\n
  14. Choose custom design card type from print vendor. Like this jumbo postcard<\/a> from VistaPrint.ngg_shortcode_3_placeholder<\/li>\n
  15. Upload to print vendor and follow instructions for ordering. Note: VistaPrint normally charges a $5 fee for custom designs.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Another even simpler and more affordable option is to design your invite as a standard 4×6 photo, save as a jpg file, and upload to your favorite image lab. I did this for both Alyssa and Rachel’s grad party invites. Shutterfly allows you to pick-up at a local Target.<\/p>\n

    ngg_shortcode_4_placeholderinvite template available in blanc de noir elements<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

    Our preferred hometown lab also offers 4×6 envelopes at an additional fee. For $.28 per invite plus envelope, we can design a card, upload to our local lab, pick-up within an hour, and mail out the same day. How convenient is that???<\/p>\n

    ngg_shortcode_5_placeholdernature’s garden papers<\/a>, world\u00a0 travels <\/a>(frame,staples), sweet midori <\/a>(mat)
    \n <\/span><\/p>\n

    If your budget allows, 4×8 or 5×7 cards are another beautiful option. VistaPrint, Snapfish, and Shutterfly offer custom design uploads in these sizes (just to name a few). As stated before, I use WHCC for my client printing. Below are a few I designed for recent photo shoots, plus a coordinating 12×12 print to frame for a grad party. So many possibilities with digital printing<\/a>!<\/p>\n

    ngg_shortcode_6_placeholder just sayin’ pak<\/a><\/span>, scrap.templates 20 (modified size to 4×8)<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

    ngg_shortcode_7_placeholderscrap.templates 20<\/a>, <\/span> this is life scrap.words<\/span><\/a>, just sayin’ pak<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

    Happy creating! Michelle<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    michelle shefveland. simply friendship pak, say it again 2 scrap.words (to love), this is life 2 scrap.words (ornate frame) Hi all! Just finished designing a custom postcard invite for my mom and dad’s 45th anniversary party and thought I’d share a little tutorial on how you can make your own, too. Making a custom design not only allows you to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,7,4,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6506","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-printing","category-products","category-team-inspiration","category-tutorials"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cottagearts.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6506","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cottagearts.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cottagearts.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cottagearts.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cottagearts.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6506"}],"version-history":[{"count":98,"href":"https:\/\/www.cottagearts.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6506\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6632,"href":"https:\/\/www.cottagearts.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6506\/revisions\/6632"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cottagearts.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6506"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cottagearts.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6506"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cottagearts.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6506"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}