A bridal shower is a time for fun and happiness. It is an opportunity for the bride-to-be to share in the company of her friends and family, while being "showered" by gifts of love and affection. To add to the personal feel of the shower and to create an intimate touch, it can be a great idea to create do-it-yourself bridal shower invitations. Your guests will certainly appreciate the time it takes you to create these invitations. In addition, creating your own invitations can often help you save money in the long run and will ensure that your cards fit perfectly within your bridal shower theme.



Add the Personal Touch

There are many ways you can personalize your handmade bridal shower invitations. One is to add a picture of yourself and your fiancè(c) to the invitation. Programs such as Macromedia Fireworks and Adobe Photoshop are great for manipulating photographs and adding special effects. With such programs, you can create a textured look, add borders, or make a cameo-style oval shape of the photo.

Choose the Right Design

If you don't want to add a picture to your invitation, you should still add some sort of clip art or design. Take your time to look around on the Internet for different images that might work for your invitations. There are many free clip-art images available, and you might be able to find one that will fit your theme beautifully.

Make or Select the Right Paper

Making your own paper for your handmade bridal shower invitations can truly add a special touch. If you cannot make your own paper, be sure to choose the highest quality paper you can manage. The paper quality will have a far greater impact on the final look and feel of your handmade bridal shower invitations than you may realize.

Choose the Right Font

If you are going to print your handmade shower invitations, be sure to take the time to select the right font color, style, and size. The lettering on your invitation can make a great impact on setting the mood for your bridal shower.

Do a Few Trial Runs

After you have come up with what you think is the perfect font and design for your do-it-yourself shower invitations, print one off with regular printer paper. This will help you make sure it has the look you are really after, without wasting your more expensive, high quality paper. After you are sure your invitation is just perfect, go ahead and print them all off.

Try Something New

Making your own bridal shower invitations is a great time to try something new. Embossing your own bridal shower invitations can make them look classy and unique. In addition, your guests will appreciate the time and effort it takes to create these cards. To emboss your do-it-yourself bridal shower invitations, you will need to obtain an embossing heat tool, which will cost approximately $35 at a craft store. This is a worthwhile investment because you will be able to use it for many different special occasions, including creating thank you notes, programs, and invitations. You can also use an embossing heat tool with the hobby of scrapbooking (maybe you can put one together after the wedding!).

You will also need embossing powder, which costs about $5 per bottle, in the colors you need. An embossing inkpad, costing about $5, and stamps, which cost about $5-10 each, will also need to be purchased.

The stamp will serve as the image you will use on your do-it-yourself bridal shower invitations. Therefore, you should pick out a couple that seem to fit within the theme of the shower or, if you wish, the theme of the wedding. You may also simply choose a design or image that represents love, such as two intertwined hearts or a tulip design. These stamps can also be used over and over and can go beyond just your bridal shower invitations. In fact, you might choose to emboss the design or picture on the program at your wedding or on the menu cards at your reception.

The colored embossing powder you will use to create your invitations will actually go a long way. Therefore, you might want to just stick to one or two colors in order to keep the cost down. One or two bottles should be plenty to create all the cards you need.

The actual process of embossing is quite simple. First, stamp the inkpad with the stamp you selected for your do-it-yourself bridal shower invitations. Then, sprinkle some of your embossing powder over the stamped area. Tap off the excess powder and let it fall onto another piece of plain paper. The excess powder can be returned to its container by creasing the plain paper and using it as a funnel to pour the powder back in. After the excess embossing powder has been removed, apply heat to the area by holding your embossing heat tool near to, but not directly on, the area. Continue applying heat for several seconds until the embossing powder is melted into the image or design you desire.

After you get good at this process, you can use different colors within the same design. Or, you can choose to use a couple different designs. The best part is that no two invitations will be exactly the same - making each one a truly unique gift to each of your guests!