Make Designer Birth Announcements at Home (Before the Birth)

by Kim Neyer | More from this Blogger

After you have a baby, your time is monopolized by feeding, burping, diaper changing and trying to catch up on sleep. Who has time for making birth announcements? It's no wonder so many new moms resort to the photo kiosk at their local discount store. There's nothing wrong with click and print announcements, but what if you want something with a little more flair and originality? With a little planning and creativity, you can make the birth announcements you've been dreaming of without cutting into your budget or your time as a new mommy.

1. Find Inspiration Find inspiration from shopping for birth announcements online or from friends' announcements. Designer birth announcements can run for $2 or more each. That can really add up if you have a large mailing list! These designer announcements can be recreated using scrapbooking techniques, however, so find one you like and print it out to take to the craft store.

2. Design a Concept Once you have an idea of what you want your announcement to look like, draw up a sketch with measurements on a sheet of paper. Calculate how many supplies you'll need based on how many announcements you plan to make.

For my announcements, I planned on creating a 4x6 design in Photoshop that I would print at the local photo center. I then created a "scrapbook style" foundation to mount the 4x6 print on with craft clue. I chose scrapbook paper in three complimentary patterns. One would be the background card (brown), measuring 5x7, another was a horizontal stripe (dark iridescent blue) measuring 5x3, and the third was another horizontal stripe (light blue with polka dots) measuring 5x2.5". My plan was to layer the polka dotted stripe over the dark blue stripe, then place that in the center of the brown card stock. The 4x6 print would be layered over the entire piece, completely centered.

3. Build Your Foundation After you have designed your announcement, put everything together except the piece that will feature the vital information. For my announcements, I had everything glued together except the print, which I would have to create after my son was born, obviously. To save time, I went to my local office supply store and had all the paper elements cut to size at once. Since I had already drawn out a plan for my announcements, it was easy to show the clerk what I needed.

4. Address! Address! Address! Have all your envelopes addressed and stamped and ready to go. All you will have to do is slip in the completed announcements and drop them in the mail. In the time that it took to watch a single movie, I addressed and stamped 80 envelopes. That's not so bad!

5. Everything but the Photo, Date & Measurements If you know your baby's name, you can begin designing the digital portion of your announcement and pick out your wording. This gives you plenty of time to decide which font and which color you want to use, an appropriate quote to use (optional), and it gives you an idea of what type of photo you want to take of your newborn. Just for fun, write the whole announcement with your guesses about the birth date and measurements. When your baby is born, see how close you were!

6. Put it all together. If all goes as planned, all you have to do after your baby is born is take a photo, import it into your design, add a little text, and send it to the photo center of your choice. Once the prints are ready, have friends and family help you glue them onto your card stock, stuff them in the envelopes, and get ready for all the phone calls!

See Also:

Making Your Own Birth Announcments

Creating Pregnancy Announcements

Turn Your First Ultrasound into a Pregnancy Announcement

Learn more about Kim Neyer

Kim is a freelance writer, photographer and stay at home mom to her one-year-old son, Micah. She has been married to her husband, Eric, since 2006.

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