Janna Posted February 16, 2008 Share Posted February 16, 2008 I am so not creative. Just to give you an idea of this, the kids and I were in Hobby Lobby a few days ago. This was a necessary trip, not because I wanted to go there. The kids were as happy as could be that we were actually in the store, where they beg to go so often. I was strolling the aisles, after finding what I went in for, and I was at a complete and total loss. I stood in front of beads, pom-pom-thing-y's, stickers, countless colors and sizes of pipe-cleaners etc and was thinking, "What in the world does a person do with all of this stuff!?" LOL. So that's just a quick background of my lack of creativity and craftiness. I'm expecting a baby in May and would like to attempt to make my own birth announcements. I have a nice, new camera (A digital SLR), Photoshop Elements 5, as well as a new all-in-one printer with a scanner that works great, that I have been playing around with for a few months now. I know that these three items will provide me with a powerful way to make some pretty cool announcements. But I don't know how, exactly. When I was at Hobby Lobby, I was looking at all the scrapbooking supplies, sometimes with an ounce of envy that I wish I could do that well, but mostly with panic because it's so much stuff. But I couldn't help but wonder if there was a way to take some cute paper or vellum or something to make a photo announcement out of. Or maybe there's something even better. I just am not sure in which direction to go to find out. Can someone point me in the right direction of getting ideas and how-to's for this? I would love to be able to see examples and talked to like I am 2 years old, to be honest. Are there certain books from the library? Good websites? I have Googled "making photo birth announcements" but it's too broad or something because it doesn't yield great results. Thanks for any help you can offer! ~Janna Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kdeno Posted February 16, 2008 Share Posted February 16, 2008 I am not much help, do you have a close by friend who scrapbooks that would be willing to give you some ideas? I do have a classic Pooh stamp I made announcements with for my 3rd child. They were not fancy. I stamped them and put a bow at the top. I would be happy to send it to you if you want it. Kari Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CindyPTN Posted February 16, 2008 Share Posted February 16, 2008 Does your Photoshop Elements have sample or fill in the blank type templates? I have Print Shop (old edition 10th or 12th). I've used their premade templates and change the colors or words to our Baby's Information. I plugged in a picture of Asher's foot on one and a picture of him holding his sister for Stephanie's. If you have a good printer, then you could print one and go to the office stores to get copies. Or print them all your own. We've found it cheaper and less stressful on our printer to print one and take it down. Traditional Scrapbooking can be intimidating, but there are also kits available that might be easier for you to start with. You could also look at Digital Scrapbooking templates for a kit that is for Baby Announcements. Just do a "free baby announcement digital scrapbooking templates" or something like that. A lot of amazing women are offering their templates for free! Have fun and don't stress out! It's a happy time. I love creating little cards. We do it for most of our holidays and it does get easier! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doran Posted February 16, 2008 Share Posted February 16, 2008 I'm happy to describe to you what I did for our two and see if that jump starts your creativity at all. I realize this won't be simple in this format, but feel free to PM or email me if you need clarifiation. I started with a black and white photo of the baby. Both were asleep when I took the pictures, so I had plenty of time to take plenty of shots. I like natural lighting best, so when you get ready to do this, put babe in a carrier, or on a blanket in a sunny spot in your home. Not direct sunlight that will create harsh shadows, just night diffused light that will eliminate your need for a flash. With a digital camera or PhotoShop you can choose sepia, B/W or color as you wish. Get decent quality prints (2x3?) made of your favorate image. Cut them apart. Buy 4 x 5 notecards -- not folded, just a simple flat card probably available at a craft store or stationers -- the the color of your choice. Buy a Sharpie marker or paint pen in the color of your choice -- something to coordinate with the card color or ribbon (see below). Buy some satin ribbon (1/2"...the kind with little "loops" on the side is nice) in the color you want. Take your photo and your notecard, and center the photo at the top of the card (just eyeball it!). With a standard hole punch, put two holes in both photo and card, making the holes only about 1/2" apart. Cut a piece of ribbon about 4" long. Thread it through the holes in photo and card. Take each end of the ribbon and thread one end through each hole. So, you've now got a bit of ribbon sticking out the back from both holes. Now, take one end and thread it up through the opposite hole, and do the same with the other. This will "fix" the photo to the card without need for glue, and will give you a nice "bow" on the front of the card. With your paint pen or market, hand write baby's name, centered underneath the photo. On the next line, write his/her date of birth, on the next line write the birth weight/length if you wish. Center your family name on the bottom line. Clear as mud, right? Maybe this site is a better bet. Sorry I can't be more help, Doran Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Lorna Posted February 16, 2008 Share Posted February 16, 2008 Take a really nice black and white photo of your little one, using no flash, but the light of a sunny window. Get a professional printer to print it and glue the photos to a plain cream card (like the ones you get in sets with envelopes in the craft shop). Everyone will keep it, I promise. Spooky! I have just looked up and seen Doran has suggested almost the same thing. Hive mind! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crissy Posted February 17, 2008 Share Posted February 17, 2008 Here is one site to look at for ideas. You may also want to try googling Birth Announcement Templates, Photo Card Templates, or something like that. If you want some help, send me an email. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crissy Posted February 17, 2008 Share Posted February 17, 2008 Moving this up for you, Janna. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janna Posted February 17, 2008 Author Share Posted February 17, 2008 Here is one site to look at for ideas.You may also want to try googling Birth Announcement Templates, Photo Card Templates, or something like that. If you want some help, send me an email. Moving this up for you, Janna. That was so sweet, not to mention thoughtful of you, to move this up. Thank you for the link and the Googling help. I did find a site that had some ideas I liked. Now I just have to see if I can figure it out on my own, LOL. I have some time yet and I'm getting better with Elements, thankfully. I'm just glad to be able to have a head start. Thank you also, Crissy, for your offer to help me. If I find something, or come up with something on my own, I might send it over for you to look at. I know you're very talented in this area. But I would want your honest opinion. Don't count on it anytime soon though. I'm just playing around right now. Thanks again. I wish there was a way I could repay your kindness to me! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janna Posted February 17, 2008 Author Share Posted February 17, 2008 I'm happy to describe to you what I did for our two and see if that jump starts your creativity at all. I realize this won't be simple in this format, but feel free to PM or email me if you need clarifiation. I started with a black and white photo of the baby. Both were asleep when I took the pictures, so I had plenty of time to take plenty of shots. I like natural lighting best, so when you get ready to do this, put babe in a carrier, or on a blanket in a sunny spot in your home. Not direct sunlight that will create harsh shadows, just night diffused light that will eliminate your need for a flash. With a digital camera or PhotoShop you can choose sepia, B/W or color as you wish. Get decent quality prints (2x3?) made of your favorate image. Cut them apart. Buy 4 x 5 notecards -- not folded, just a simple flat card probably available at a craft store or stationers -- the the color of your choice. Buy a Sharpie marker or paint pen in the color of your choice -- something to coordinate with the card color or ribbon (see below). Buy some satin ribbon (1/2"...the kind with little "loops" on the side is nice) in the color you want. Take your photo and your notecard, and center the photo at the top of the card (just eyeball it!). With a standard hole punch, put two holes in both photo and card, making the holes only about 1/2" apart. Cut a piece of ribbon about 4" long. Thread it through the holes in photo and card. Take each end of the ribbon and thread one end through each hole. So, you've now got a bit of ribbon sticking out the back from both holes. Now, take one end and thread it up through the opposite hole, and do the same with the other. This will "fix" the photo to the card without need for glue, and will give you a nice "bow" on the front of the card. With your paint pen or market, hand write baby's name, centered underneath the photo. On the next line, write his/her date of birth, on the next line write the birth weight/length if you wish. Center your family name on the bottom line. Clear as mud, right? Maybe this site is a better bet. Sorry I can't be more help, Doran Take a really nice black and white photo of your little one, using no flash, but the light of a sunny window. Get a professional printer to print it and glue the photos to a plain cream card (like the ones you get in sets with envelopes in the craft shop). Everyone will keep it, I promise. Spooky! I have just looked up and seen Doran has suggested almost the same thing. Hive mind! Thank you both for these ideas. They are similar to what I was looking at in Hobby Lobby, but all of the pieces were separated and therefore I couldn't quite get the finished image in my mind. Thanks for helping with that! Your ideas are very useful! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janna Posted February 17, 2008 Author Share Posted February 17, 2008 I am not much help, do you have a close by friend who scrapbooks that would be willing to give you some ideas? I do have a classic Pooh stamp I made announcements with for my 3rd child. They were not fancy. I stamped them and put a bow at the top. I would be happy to send it to you if you want it. Kari I do know a few people who are avid scrapbookers. However, with the exception of one friend, the others' scrapbooks aren't that creative. It's mainly for their kids to have and cherish. I do have a good friend who is so creative and artsy it's not even funny. Truly gifted. But she lives 7 states away, LOL. We talk via the phone every once in a while, but I need someone to show me what to do, I think, LOL. Thanks your your kind reply! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janna Posted February 17, 2008 Author Share Posted February 17, 2008 Hi Cindy, Yes, there are some templates. I just don't want to do anything that is so standard, you know? I really like to try and be unusual, but in a classy way if that makes sense. If Elements has templates, and so many people have or use Elements, than I'm not going to be too unusual because people will be used to seeing those templates. It's like Christmas cards. The same style photo card comes over and over again. Maybe the background is different, or the script style. But the wording and pictures are in the same place, you know? Maybe there's a way I can figure out how to re-configure the templates. Thanks for your help! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sassenach Posted February 17, 2008 Share Posted February 17, 2008 Here's what I did- I took a great black and white picture of our dd, and then photoshopped in her birth stats. I printed off a bunch of 4 x 6's and bought pink envelopes. That's it. I know people who have put together gorgeous, elaborate home made announcements, complete with card stock, ribbon and velum, but that is a lot of work. Especially if you are not crafty to begin with. Especially with a newborn. I felt like our announcement was beautiful and simple. I'll try to post it for you. hth, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peek a Boo Posted February 17, 2008 Share Posted February 17, 2008 I am sooo not into "standard" lol! here's what i've done w/ all 5 of mine. It came from an idea a friend showed me that she received a bazillion years ago. The announcement is on a 3x5 piece of blue or pink cardstock. It was designed to fit onto a regular envelope. We decorated the envelopes w/ stamps using pink or blue ink. i even turned the kids loose w/ decorating the back side of the envelopes w/ a pattern of their choice. On one side i put a definition of "baby" that i found years ago, and added a clipart of a stork w/ baby. It was printed on a shade lighter of blue or pink paper and i used spray adhesive so it glued on smoothly. BABY: Handy way of disposing of unwanted cash and filling up free time while cutting down on unnecessary sleep, curtailing a demanding social life, and curing a neurotic obsession with personal hygiene. On the back, there was a "pocket" made out of tissue paper --I folded a tissue paper "diaper" and used special zig-zag scissors to cut "leg holes" so it looked like the ruffled edge of a diaper. i added a gold safety pin for authenticity :-) Into this diaper pocket slid the actual paper announcement. The paper announcement was a long 8" slip of cardstock folded in half [top to bottom]. It was about 4 inches long and 2 inches wide when folded. If you are a whiz at manipulating your printer you can get everything printed correctly. This announcement included a front page, inside top page, inside bottom page, and back page. The front page said the [last name] Production Company presents The 2006 [last name] “Baby†model #5 Designer and Chief Engineer: [dad here] Production Manager: [mom here] Underpaid Child Labor: [siblings here] everything was lined up nicely though, lol ------------- inside top page: featuring: -Two Lung Power- -Scream Line Body- -Double Bawl Bearing- -Economical Fuel- -Changeable Seat Covers- -Ozone-Friendly Emissions- -Water-Cooled Exhaust- -Low Fuel Warning Alarm- and Heavy Duty Gas-Charged Rear Shock Absorbers [--insert pic here–] Final Assembly Point: Keller, TX [uSA] hee hee-- i got the last "feature" and "final assembly point" directly off the paper we got w/ our Dodge Ram, lol =============== inside bottom half: He’s here! [Full Name Here] was born at home on -day of the week here- -month date , 2006- - time here- -weight here- -length here *Management assures the public there will be no more new models released this year. ========================== on the back page, i added a note and "company" PS: yeah, yeah, yeah.....Amy knows that the abbreviation for “pounds†is really “lbsâ€, but she also knows that nobody says “libras†anymore. Consider it a small bit of rebellion against the abbreviation establishment. Cheapskate Greetings, Inc. ==================== These really do take a looong time to make, but they were soooo worth it!! Caution: a lot of people did NOT "get" that they were s'posed to slide the announcement OUT of the diaper pocket. I had to add "remove announcement" [just above the announcement, on the back] w/ little arrows pointing UP by the time I got to kid #3, hee hee. I'll try to get one scanned in so you can see what it looks like finished. Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tami Posted February 18, 2008 Share Posted February 18, 2008 has some ideas at their website. If you have a store near you, they have space to work, supplies, and are very helpful. Congrats! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janna Posted February 18, 2008 Author Share Posted February 18, 2008 Oh, thank you for this! This is perfect! I do have 2 stores in the area (that I'm aware of anyway) and I keep meaning to go with my dd who loves crafty things and wants to scrapbook badly, but I always forget! Thank you for the unintentional reminder! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shannon in MO Posted February 18, 2008 Share Posted February 18, 2008 I was starting to think about these as well :0) Shannon in MO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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