DIY BBQ INVitation

Okay, so I ran out of 3 letter acronyms. I tried. It's the thought that counts, right?

When it came time to send out invitations for our BBQ gathering, I headed over to one of my favorite stationary shops--Inviting Affairs. The wonderful ladies that work there made our save the dates and invitations for our wedding, so I've grown to be very fond of them. They had some blank BBQesque invitations ready to go, so I bought the 30 I needed and drove home expecting to send them through my printer to customize the date/time/location.

Little did I know I totally forgot that my printer isn't very fond of thick card stock and makes awful beeping noises at me whenever I try and send thick paper through. So, I returned the invitations and made some from scratch. For some reason, I thought it would be quicker to just buy some pre-made ones, but in the end I'm thankful that I made them myself. Not only is it more fun and nearly free, but it really takes no time at all. I've used Photoshop to save a buck & just for the fun of it many times in the past for projects like my recipe art, custom iPhone case, wedding program fans, etc.

As usual, I have zero original ideas, but with a few clicks of the mouse I found this cute invitation from Zazzle and thought I'd turn it into a non-baby shower version of my own :)

First up in Photoshop, make a page full of red horizontal stripes. I did them one-by one by drawing a box and filling it in with red. I've found this to be easier than using the shape tool if you ever need things to be a precise size. I used the ruler to gauge, and made each of them 1/4".

Next, I set their opacity at 50%.

Repeat, but with vertical stripes.

Because I wanted to make 2 invitations per page, I colored half of the page with grey so I knew how much space I had to work with per invite. I added a white rectangle on top of my gingham pattern to create a space to write on.

Next, I added semi-circles to the top and bottom of the rectangle.

Then, I outlined the rectangle and two semi-circles.

Lastly, I added the details (using two fonts from dafont.com: Tartler's End and Hoedown). The teal shapes were just some space fillers I made that sort of resembled the original invitation's decorations.

When it was time to print, I removed the grey on the right side, and used some card stock that's just barely thicker than regular paper but thinner than regular card stock so my printer wouldn't have a melt down, and voila!

Hint: we don't actually live at 123 Main street.

Pretty easy, right? What have you made in Photoshop that saved you some $$? It was awesome to return the failed invitations and get $30 back, plus I got to have fun making these (and am currently shamelessly displaying one on our fridge).