How to make invitations

Invitations are easy to make at home. Personalised invitations are great for people to receive and can really brighten up someone's day. This article has a look at how to make your own invitations for a special event.

Using the computer

The amount of supplies you will need can be as little as card and printer ink but you can use other arts supplies to create invitations. If you want something simple then, purchase some A4 card. You can get this in different colours or pattern effects from High-Street shops or office and from art supply retailers. Printers and Programmes Make sure that your printer is able for the thickness of the card. Don’t choose something too heavy that will strain your printer mechanisms. Make sure that you have plenty of ink and then you are ready to start designing. You can use Microsoft Word or Publisher. Publisher will have ready made templates to use but Word gives you more freedom to develop your own invitation. If using Word, you will be able to fit in two good size invitations per page. What is your theme? Decide on the theme of your invitation. Is it for a birthday party, wedding or christening? Start by choosing a border. You can use the text box function for this if you wish. Add in your invitation text. Make it appropriate for the event or party. Change fonts and colours to make it impressive. You can add people's names in by hand later or use a handwriting style font for something different. Next you’ll want to add in a graphic. You can use photo images you have stored on your computer, clipart or search the net for something appropriate when you make your own cards.

Something more arty

If you feel like making something more creative, you can use arts supplies like cloth, foam shapes, tassels and sprinkles to liven up your card. Create borders from pieces of lace or glue sequins and glitter around the edges for a dazzling effect. Cool text Write in your text using different pens. A calligraphy pen will give a great old world lettering. You can also use gold and silver pens for maximum impact. A little something extra You can glue images on directly. This means that you can use photos or cloth shapes. Cloth bootees for a christening, felt balloons for a party or lace hearts for a wedding are good ideas. These will give your card a hand-crafted feel as well as an added texture making an invitation people will be delighted to receive.