Vellum
Birth Announcement
by Rachel Paxton
Making
your own birth announcements can be very easy and
rewarding. By using vellum, you can announce the birth of your
baby while also personalizing the announcements with a picture
of
your new bundle of joy. Here's what you need to make your own
vellum birth announcement:
•
Vellum paper
• Scrapbook paper
• Double-sided tape
• Paper cutter
• Baby photo
• Computer/Printer
• Envelopes
Purchase
vellum paper and scrapbooking paper at your local craft store,
if you don't already have some on hand. Vellum is a translucent
paper that allows you to see what is underneath it. We will use
this paper to print the actual announcement on. You can also purchase
the envelopes at a craft store.
Cut
a piece of scrapbook paper of your choice to the size of an envelope.
Use this as a template for the vellum and your other announcements.
Print
your announcement from your computer directly on to the vellum
paper. In your printer settings on the computer, select "transparency"
as the paper type. This is the closest paper type to the vellum
paper and won't put as much ink on the page. I printed my announcements
in Microsoft Word, fitting four announcements on one page.
Suggested wording:
Zachary
David Paxton
February 27, 2005
7:40 a.m.
6 pounds, 14 ounces
20 inches long
The
proud parents,
David and Rachel
In
our case we were announcing twins! Just use a smaller font to
fit both birth annoucements on one page. I also printed their
photos in Microsoft Word so that I could "paste" them
together and print them side-by-side.
Experiment
with fonts until you find the font you like. To download free
fonts, go to http://www.Google.com and type in "free fonts"
and you will find many free fonts to download.
Using
the paper cutter, cut the vellum paper with the announcements
printed on it to the size of the scrapbook paper.
Trim
your photos to be smaller than the scrapbook paper. The paper
should look like a mat behind the picture.
Using
the double-sided tape, tape the photo to the scrapbook paper.
You
will tape the piece of vellum paper on top of the scrapbook paper
with the photo on it. Use two very small pieces of tape along
the top edge of the scrapbook paper to tape them together. You
don't want the vellum totally taped down because you want to be
able to lift the bottom edge of it to see the photo.
That's
it! Your family and friends will love your personalized birth
announcements.
Photo
of finished birth announcement:
http://www.crafty-moms.com/articles/051205c.shtml
Rachel
Paxton is a freelance writer and mom of four. For scrapbooking,
card making, gift-giving ideas, and more family memory-making
activities, visit http://www.crafty-moms.com.