My DIY circus themed engagement invitations

I knew exactly what type of invitation I wanted but I just couldn’t seem to find the perfect one in any samples that I was shown.So, I thought I would give it a go of making them myself.

Materials I used:

1. Candy Striped metallic paper – I found mine at an invitation store around the corner from me and I loved being able to actually go in a see the paper first, you could always print this out yourself though.
2. Black 145mm square cards and matching envelopes – These were a great find on eBay for almost half the price that I could see anywhere else.
3. Double sided tape – You can find this at your nearest supermarket for around $4.
4. Plain A4 paper – I just used what was in my daughters craft cupboard.
5. Paper trimmer – I picked mine up from Kmart at the back to school sale so got it for under $10.
6. Scissors – I had these on hand just in case I needed to tidy any of the invites, oh and for the tape.

Method:

1. I designed my invitation using a word document first so that I didn’t waste any of my supplies. I hunted around for free font sites to find the Circus font and then placed the actual text into text boxes so it was aligned perfectly.
2. I then printed out onto the back of my striped paper the guidelines I would need to cut the correct shapes. I can not cut straight even with a paper trimmer so I really need the lines, you may not need to do this.
3. I then cut out every individual piece and applied the double sided tape so it would then just be a matter of sticking the pieces together. Do not remove the pape ron the douyble sided tape until you are ready to stick to the card or what ever you are sticking on to.
4. Next it was a matter of using very calculated judgement to stick everything together evenly. Luckily double sided tape isn’t final so you can lift the page off at least once if you think you have made a mistake, which I did a couple of times.
5. I applied a small piece of the candy striped paper on the front of the pre folded card as well as a large square of it on the inside to carry the theme throughout the entire invitation. You may notice that I used the candy striped paper for the admit one ticket also. This was because the back of the paper had a nice shine, you could always use plain paper if your budget requires.

It only took me a few hours, none of them consecutive because, let’s face it, I have 3 kids but my daughter did come in handy when it came to the double-sided tape, it hated me! She, on the other hand, was able to take the backing off with no issues whatsoever. So I recommend a tiny helper.

My blood, sweat and tears went into these babies and here is the evidence.