Under Construction: Graphic design

One of my friends who reads this blog is a real graphic designer. And a good one too. Hi, Lisa. I'm not any good at it but I like to dabble with little projects. Party invitations are always fun. Below are the front and back of the flat card invitations to Biscuit's fourth birthday party. Folded cards might have been better but I didn't have enough cardstock on hand.

As I've probably mentioned, Biscuit is set on having a princess party. I'm trying to aim more "Medieval Times with a castle" and less "Jasmine, Aurora and Ariel." If the invitations are any indication, so far so good. (Funny aside: Biscuit calls Jasmine "Jazz Man" which I find hilarious.) I really love the castle drawing Biscuit did just for the party. It's complete with a tall, bodiless, strong shouldered princess. There's also a doorknob in the lower left and the lines along the roof are the lights. It was fun to create the invite incorporating her work and she was pleased with the result so, phew.

If you want to get a complex about the lameness of your kid's birthday party invitations, theme, decor or overall "look," check out this blog from two former editors for Martha Stewart. Intimidating but full of good ideas (just like everything Martha Stewart).

In hindsight, I wish I had searched out a bit more design inspiration before whipping up this invite to my parents' anniversary party.

Definitely bland. But serviceable. And completed in advance which is unusual for me! The inside is even MORE boring.

I had the anniversary invites printed through VistaPrint. Their emails are way too frequent but they send a lot of deals so it worked out to less than $1 each which included the cards, envelopes, all the fees and shipping. For the birthday invites I only needed a few so I printed them on the trusty inkjet on my desk making them basically free.

Now I just need to buy more stamps. (Have you seen the cool king and queen playing card style USPS stamps? Perfect for the birthday invites).