Make Your Own Surprise Party Invitations

I made these surprise party invitations with the help of one of my newest and most fun crafty toys. The Cricut Expression! The letters at the top of my invite were cut from the plantin schoolbook font which many of the Cricut machines come with.

This invitation is actually super easy to make. The base of the card is 8" x 8" textured cardstock. I cut the letters from a plain colored card stock and used some party themed decorative paper to create a belly band.

handmade surprise party invitations Materials used to make these surprise party invitations:
8 x 8 card stock by Die Cuts With A View color Robin #2
letters are hot pink card stock
12 x 12 American Traditional Designs paper Celebrate Icons PA-0413
3/16" green ribbon
craft glue and xyron glue runner

The base of this card is made by simply folding the 8" by 8" card stock in half. For my invitations I created an insert with my wording printed onto frosted vellum. A unique twist would be to glue a smaller envelope into the middle of the invitation marked "Top Secret" with the invitation details tucked neatly inside.
To print my wording onto the vellum I simply created a word document sized at 4" by 8" long. I bought a pack of vellum and got several sheets cut to size at a local print shop for around $5.00. I then printed my invitation wording onto the vellum and secured it in place on the inside of the invitations using a glue runner with some permanent adhesive.

Next I loaded some hot pink paper into my Cricut Expression personal cutting machine. I used up about 3-4 sheets of hot pink 12 by 12 card stock to create the letters for these surprise party invitations. Using the Plantin Schoolbook font cartridge I first cut many letter S's from a sheet at 1" in size. I had to make 50 invites so I cut 55 just in case I made some mistakes. I did the same to cut the 1" H's, 105 3/4" h's, and 55 5/8" h's. Using a craft glue in a bottle with a fine tip I adhered the letters to the front top of the invitations.

Next I created a small belly band to fit around the middle of these invitations to add a little extra decoration. To make these belly bands I simply cut some 12 by 12 decrative card stock into strips. First I cut 1 two inch strip off of the end making the paper 12 by 10 inches. I then turned the paper and continued cutting 2" by 10" strips out of the paper. I wrapped the strips around the invitations and secured them in place using a strip of glue applied using a glue adhesive runner. For the final touch I tied a small ribbon around the band and into a bow. I snipped the ends off diagonally to give it a finished look.

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