Printable Wedding Invitations Guide » Save The Date

Make Your Own Save The Date Cards Using Microsoft Word

Cattie — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 18:05:02 +0000

In today’s tutorial, we’re using Microsoft Word to create Save The Date cards. While you can’t do as much with the illustrations in Word as you can in Illustrator, I do realize that not everyone has access to graphics programs, or have time to learn them for just one project.

For those of you who are interested in continuing to design your own cards and other items, I think Adobe Illustrator is a very worthwhile investment. And if you’re a student (or faculty), you can get it for a really good price ($199 as opposed to $599 for Illustrator CS4). Sometimes you can get a lower price even if you’re just taking an evening course, so definitely check that out.

I’m calling today’s Save The Date card “China Dream” because that’s what the illustration we’re basing it on is called, and here how it all comes together:

1. Download China Dream by Mariannasm here. Read the License & Usage.

2. Unzip the file

3. Open a word document. Go to Insert – Picture – From File and click on the jpg of the unzipped file.

4. Right click on the illustration and go to Format Picture. In the Size tab, uncheck “Lock Aspect Ratio” and put in the dimensions you want (I made mine 4×6). In the Layout tab, select “Behind Text” in the Wrapping Styles. Click OK.

5. Go to Insert – Text Box and drag a text box anywhere on the page (it’s a little bit easier to work with if it’s not right on top of the illustration for right now). Right click on the text box and go to Format Text Box. In the Colors and Lines Tab, select No Fill and No Line.

6. Type in your text. I used Papyrus 14 pt for the text part and Adine Kirnberg Script 32pt for the bridge and groom, all aligned right.

If you don’t like the fonts I used, or the ones you have on your computer, look on the internet – there are tons available for free online (if you need inspiration, check out my “More Font Ideas For Your Wedding Stationery” post). You just need to download the ones you want and add them to your font library. See my “How To Add Fonts To Your Computer” post if you need help with that.

7. Move your textbox over the illustration and position it where you want it. You may have to tweak the size of the type and paragraph spacing a little bit, since we can’t change the illustration in Word. Once you like what you see, you’re done!

You could easily turn these into wedding invitations as well, you just have to change the wording and maybe adjust the font sizes a bit.

Save The Date Postcards – A Step-By-Step Illustrator Guide

Cattie — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 17:35:17 +0000

Making your own Save the Date cards is fun and easy, and once you know the basics of Illustrator, you can let your creativity run wild! I have designed a few different cards with step-by-step instructions for how I did them, so you can just follow along and create the exact same layout on your computer. They really don’t have to match your invitations, but if you want them to, go ahead and make them as well. You can use the same techniques for anything you want – engagement announcements, engagement party invitations, wedding invitations, thank you cards, etc.

This guide assumes that you have a (very) basic knowledge of Illustrator, or have at least played around with it a little bit. Please make sure you read these Illustrator notes/problem solvers first, and you might also want to take a look at the Illustrator Toolbar.

Illustrator uses and creates vector files (which can be resized and warped without losing any sharpness at all). There is tons of free vector art available online, but before downloading anything, read through the licensing rights. It’s usually clearly stated, and while many will let you use their designs for free for your own personal use, not everyone does. And if you plan to do something else with them, make sure you know what the deal is, and play by the rules. You wouldn’t want someone stealing your work that you put all that work and time into.

OK, let’s get started on our first card, which I call Elegant Pink

For this first card, I got my background pattern from createsk8.com. It is by jlwdesign and it’s called the “Elegant Vines Pattern” (you can get it here). Read the License and Usage Info.

1. After you download your design (make sure you select the Adobe Illustrator CS download option), open the ai (Illustrator) document in Illustrator. You might encounter a few error messages: just hit OK and/or CONTINUE and/or OPEN, it doesn’t matter.

2. Select the color block you want with either the selection or the direct selection tool (for this particular design, you want to click on the tiny square you want with the direct selection tool, and while it’s selected, immediately click on the selection tool in the toolbar. This assures that you get the entire square copied, and not just part of it). Copy it by either going to Edit – Copy or by pressing Apple+C (Cntrl+C for PCs).

3. Open a new illustrator document (can be any size, we’ll worry about that later)

4. Paste your selection in your new document (by either going to Edit-Paste or by pressing Apple+V (Cntrl+V on PC)

5. select the rectangle tool (your arrow will turn into a small cross), click anywhere on the page

6. a window will pop up where you fill in the dimensions of your new box (I made mine 6″ wide by 4″ high). Your chosen pattern will automatically fill your new box. After your 4×6 box shows up, make sure you delete the tiny square you copied on the page (by selecting it and hitting Delete).

7. Make sure your new box is selected (you’ll know it is if you see tiny white squares in the corners and on the sides of the box) and set the opacity to 40

8. Add a new layer and lock the bottom layer (with your vine design box in it).

9. With the rectangle tool selected, click anywhere on your second layer to make the photo box (I made mine 2.5×2.5″)

10. To make the frame pink, make sure your new box is selected (it will probably be filled with the vine pattern, don’t worry about that), go to the color palette and make sure you’re coloring the stroke, not the fill Type in the values for the color you want (I used R 216, G 178, B 173 If your color palette is displaying something different than RGB (CMYK for example), go to the fly out menu and select RGB I used a 1 pt stroke for the width of the frame. If you want it thinner or thicker than that, go to the Stroke menu and type in the value you want To fill it with white (I find it helpful while working on the design), make sure the “fill” box is in front on the color palette and click on the little white box in the lower right hand corner

11. Create another layer and lock the others

12. Select the rectangle box again to make the pink “ribbon”. Like before, click anywhere on the page and type in the dimensions (I used 2×4″)

13. Fill with same pink as frame ((R 216, G 177, B 173)

14. Set opacity to 65

15. If you want to move it on top of the background box at this point, double check so that the layer with the background box is locked, select the ribbon (with the Selection tool) and pull it on top of the box (by pressing down your right mouse button and dragging).

16. Make a new layer and lock the others.

17. Select the Type tool and click anywhere on the page (if you want to type on top of the ribbon to see what it looks like, make sure that layer is locked)

18. Type your text (I used Myriad Pro, 14pt, bold)

19. Unlock all layers

20. Select background box and ribbon box and align them on top (“vertical align top”)

21. To add your photo, create a new layer, right underneath the frame layer and lock all others

22. In your new layer, go to File – Place and select your photo

23. Resize it by pulling the handles (hold down the shift key while dragging in one of the corners – this will keep it proportional) or by left clicking on your mouse and selecting Transform – Scale and type in a smaller value. If you know the exact size you want it to be (which we do here, since it needs to fit right underneath the frame, make sure you’re photo is selected, and up top, just beneath the File, Edit etc. headings, you will see two windows with an W and H in front. Just type in your dimensions here (2.5×2.5″).

24. Unlock the layer with the photo box

25. Select both the box and the photo and align them

26. Make the box transparent There’s your photo in the frame! Tip: to keep the photo and frame together so you don’t accidentally move one without the other, select them both (the easiest way to do this is to make sure all other layers except these 2 are locked and with the Selection Tool, pull and drag around the boxes until both are selected) and go to Object – Group (or you can left click and select Group).

This may seem like a lot of steps, but once you know it, you can put a card together in a few minutes. If, after going through the step-by-step instructions you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.

Printable Wedding Invitations Adds Style To Your Wedding

Cattie — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 16:16:24 +0000

Printing your own wedding invitations is a great, fun, way to add personality to your invites AND save money (and who doesn’t need that with all the other expenses of a wedding). There are so many options available, and all you need is a computer with a program like word or Illustrator and a printer.

If you decide to print your own invites, it’s a good idea to start way ahead of time (like the week after you set a date) since these sort of things always end up taking longer than one thinks, and invitations should go out six to eight weeks before the wedding, maybe even earlier if your guests will have to travel far.

I think Save-the-date cards are a fabulous idea too, people get so booked up and this way they can block off your wedding in their calendar before anything else shows up (especially important if you are planning a destination wedding or are getting married during the summer). Save-the-date cards should go out about six months before the wedding, and I love the ones that come with a detachable sticker so that people can put it in their calendar. Another fun option is to print them on magnetic paper (available at Paper Source) and cut it into smaller shapes, allowing your guests to just stick them on the refrigerator.

Once you’ve settled on the look and paper you want, go ahead and order it and quite a few extras. There will always be mishaps (paper gets stuck, ink smears, ink runs out and prints come out faded), and you don’t want to run out of supplies in the middle of everything. Also make sure to order extra ink for your printer. AND keep a close eye on it once you start printing all your invitations. It’s so easy to start a print job of 100 invites, then get distracted by something else and not check them until they’re done, only to find that half of them are printed crooked because the paper wasn’t pulled into the printer straight. What a nightmare. So stay close to the printer, and try printing in smaller batches, 10-15 at a time, that way you can stop it before it turns into a huge disaster.