Foil Border Invitation

This striking invitation is made from a foil border bifold greeting card with the back cut off, a piece of inkjet vellum for the overlay that contains the text, and is tied together with sheer white iridescent ribbon and a piece of gold curling ribbon for accent. The foil edge card stock has a photo printed on it. The vellum overlay uses the same Curling Ribbon and Gold Foil Heart clipart we used on our Wedding Heart Rice bag. You can learn how to make your own clipart or copy ours in our Tips and Tricks section. The foil border card stock is available in our Products section under Greeting Cards and comes in gold, green, red, silver embossed and a pale teal embossed. Any recipient of this gorgeous invitation will be amazed when you tell them you made them yourself! (And if you'd rather have someone else do all the work, see our Custom Work section!)

MATERIALS

Foil edged bifold card stock

Inkjet vellum (see our Fun Papers section)

Sheer ribbon (approximately 20" of 1 1/2" wide ribbon for each card)

NOTE: Wired ribbon is not recommended for this project as it can tear the vellum when you thread it through the holes.

Curling ribbon

Single hole punch

Scissors or paper trimmer

INSTRUCTIONS

1) Photocopy a few copies of the front of the greeting card to have some test pages available. This will allow you to print tests of the photo for sizing within the foil border without ruining any of the card stock.

2) Measure the section on the front of the card inside the foil edging so you know how large to size your photograph. Open a blank half fold greeting card in your graphics program.

3) Size your photo or clipart so that it is the same size as the measurements you took and center it on the front of the card. Some graphics software may make it necessary to nudge the picture slightly to the right to allow for that 1/2" unprintable margin. This is why it is a good idea to have those photocopies on hand for test printing.

4) Print the picture out on one of the photocopied test pages to make sure your photo doesn't run over the edges of the foil border or that it's not too small. In many cases, if a tiny bit of the picture runs onto the foil border you can simply wipe the ink off with your fingertip or a piece of tissue. Just be careful not to smear any of the ink onto the white card stock! Once you are satisfied with the placement of the picture you can print it on the card stock. Make sure you save your file!

5) Open a blank page in landscape orientation. Using the same measurements you made for the picture, draw a rectangle with no fill and a light gray outline. Place whatever text and clipart you desire in this rectangle. Group the whole thing and move it to the left side of the page. Center it vertically. Copy and paste the grouped rectangle and move this copy to the right side of the page holding down the control key as you drag to keep the rectangles at the same level (or simply move it and then center it vertically.) This will make your job easier when it comes to cutting out the vellum overlays. Save the file.

6) Print the overlays on the inkjet vellum. Cut them out with the paper trimmer or scissors.

7) Cut the back off your foil greeting card.

8) Place a vellum overlay on top of the photo and position it within the foil border. Using the single hole punch, punch two holes about a half inch from each other approximately 3/4" from the top of the card stock.

9) Thread one end of the sheer ribbon through one hole and the other end of the ribbon through the second hole. Make sure that the ribbon is the same length on both ends. Gently tie the ribbon into a bow and trim the ends if necessary.

10) Curl a piece of foil curling ribbon over the edge of a scissors blade. Thread this through the holes the same way you did with the sheer ribbon but don't tie it. Simply loop it around the sheer ribbon to serve as an accent.

That's all there is to it! A marvelously professional looking invitation that will have your friends asking "How'd you do that?"

Foil Border Invitation Instructions

For a print friendly version, click on this link.