Two years ago I was blessed with the task of creating invitations for
our family reunion. Six generations of my mom’s family were going to
gather at the homestead that my great-grandfather built in 1898. Talk
about pressure! I was honored to accept the task. There were so many
elements that I wanted to include in the invitation to ensure that the
recipients would be filled with nostalgia and be excited to attend.
Here is the finished product. You can easily create the same type of
invitation, and you probably already have all of the supplies that
you’ll need.
Supplies:
Two different colors of cardstock, brads, brown ink (or any dark
color that coordinates with the cardstock you’re using,) hole punch (for
the brads,) corner-rounder
I used a two-column word doc to create the photo and wording of the
invitation, and then I printed them onto Very Vanilla cardstock. The
photo I used is an actual photo of my great-grandparents, great aunts
and uncles, and grandfather in front of the house that my
great-grandfather built (and where we had the reunion.) I’ll bet when
they posed for this photo they had NO IDEA that it would one day end up
on the worldwide web. (By the way, that’s a baby goat in the photo.)
Try to gather a photo that includes as many generations as possible. I think it adds a nice touch.
Here’s the wording I used and you can use, too, since most family
reunions include the same type of stuff, right? Food, music, fun, and
games!
Now, to create a vintage look, there are three things you can do.
First, before you attach the two pieces of cardstock together with the
brads, scrape the sides of the cardstock directly against the ink pad.
This will put ink along all of the edges. Then take the ink pad and
randomly and lightly blot some ink directly onto the paper.
Second, add the brads to fasten the two pieces of cardstock
together. After you add the brads, use a hammer and bang them
flat. Finally, rub the sides of the cardstock against a metal edge
(like a metal ruler or a pair of scissors,) to make the sides wrinkly.
Don’t worry if you make some little tears; it looks better that way!
That’s all there is to it! The only difficult part of this project
was creating the word doc. I always go crazy when I have to center
things in columns, etc.
Have fun making the invitations for your family reunion. 😉
