Make Tea Party Invitations

I made these tea party invitations using a blank invitation as the base of the card. The blank invitations are actually completely blank cards intended for cardmaking. They are simply cut to size and scored for the fold. You can buy these at any arts and crafts supply. They usually even come with envelopes to match. To make these invites you will also need to shop for several papers. Choose two to three decorative papers to make the tea pot shapes. Also choose three colored papers (or card stock) for the background of the invitation and also for the decorative flower shapes across the top and bottom of the card. It is best to get all of the papers and materials for making these tea party invitations ready first and then put them together all at once in an assembly line of sorts.

Materials needed to make these tea party invitations
Blank cards
(or 8 1/2 by 11" card stock)
2-3 decorative papers
2-3 colored papers or card stock (to match the decorative paper)
flower shaped paper punch
thin string or packing string (or ribbon)
glue stick
craft glue
or glue runner

The best way to start making these tea party invitations is to get the invitations words printed on paper. I took the easy way out when I made these invites by using some blank cards to make them. Of course You could take the same route I did but I will also tell you how to make them from scratch using ordinary card stock.
To print onto blank cards you can easily set up the text for these invitations using a word processing program. Measure the cards dimensions when it is fully open (before folding). When you open the word processing document choose File > document setup (or page setup). For the page size either enter the dimensions of the card or choose "custom" as the page dimension and then enter the dimensions. Make sure the page is also set to "landscape" or "wide". Go to where it says margins and enter all margins as .5 (half inch) except the left hand margin. Enter the left hand margin as half the length of the card plus half an inch. So if the card is 10 inches long (as mine is) then you will enter this margin as 5.5 . Enter the text for the invitation. Pick a font to match the theme of your tea party invitations. Highlight the entire text and then center it.
If you can't find blank cards or just prefer to start from scratch...
Here's how to make the invitations with card stock. If you want to keep it really simple then just treat the entire 8 1/2" by 11" page as your blank invitation. But otherwise you can make two invitations out of one page (2-up invitations format) by printing two invites onto the page. You can do this by using the same instructions I used above with a word processor. Just space them apart one above the other. You can also do this using desktop publishing software. You could also make it extremely easy on yourself by visiting my custom invitations text page and put in an order for me to create a custom printable file just for you.
If you choose to use card stock to make these tea party invitations then your next step would be to cut the two up invitations in half to create two separate invitations. Also you will need to fold the card stock in half to make a card.

Before starting these tea party invitations you should have chose several matching papers. To start you will need to cut the paper chosen for the background of the invitation to the right size. measure the width of the invitation while folded. Measure the card from top to bottom as well and take away one inch. This will be the dimensions of your background paper. For example, the tea party invitations I made measured 5" width and 7 inches length wise. So I cut my background paper to 5" by 6".
Next use your flower shaped paper punch to make two separate piles of flowers in two colors different from the background paper.
Now for the hardest part... Making tea pot stencils. You could easily go out and find yourself a tea pot stencil but here's what I did to make my own. I went onto the internet and did a search for tea pot images. You could do tea cups as well or anything you like. I printed this image onto a thick card stock and then very carefully cut it out with some scissors. Now use this cut out as a stencil. Take your decorative paper and turn it over. Use the stencil to trace out the shape onto the back of the decorative paper. Cut the shapes out with some small craft scissors. Repeat this making tea pots in as many different decorative papers as you like.
Next cut your string (or ribbon whatever you choose) and cut it into small lengths about 4 - 5 inches or whichever suits the length of your card. You will also need to cut the materials to make the tea steeper ornament to hang over the top of the card. I did this by printing the word "Tea Party!" several times onto a page. You can also choose to download a file I created which has this already done for you with outlines of where to cut the squares. click here to download the printable tea steeper file for $1.00
Once you have the "Tea Party!" text printed onto card stock all you need do is cut the text out so that it is centered as best you can get it onto little squares of paper. I made mine at 3/4" by 1" which is the dimensions of those in the printable file. You can stop here and attach these to the card just as they are. Or you can go a little further such as I have and attach a little decorative paper to the back of these. I cut small pieces of decorative paper out of scraps to glue to the back of the tea party "steepers". Cut these pieces to be just a tad bit smaller than the "tea party steepers" themselves.

OK, that's about it for materials. Now on to the assembly!

Start by attaching the background colored paper to the front of the tea party invitations. Apply a thin layer of glue stick to the back of this paper. Take one of the lengths of string and apply a small amount of craft glue to one end by dipping it into the glue. Attach the string about an inch in from the left side of the card at the top, with most of the length hanging over the edge. Place the card to attach it to the front of the invitation. It should be aligned perfectly from left to right and then centered as best as possible from top to bottom.
Next apply glue stick to the back of a decorative tea pot shape and attach it to the front of the card. According to the size of these shapes is how you will decide where to place them. I would experiment with this a little before hand without glue. Attach two to three shapes with different papers. Then attach some of the paper punch shapes to border the top and bottom of the card. To make sure that they appear perfectly aligned start by attaching from the outsides and working your way in.
Now for the tea steeper ornament. Take the string that is hanging off the top of the card and dip the very end of it into some craft glue. Place it onto the back of the "tea party!" card stock piece. Now apply some glue stick to the back of a small piece of decorative paper and place it over the end of string to kind of sandwich it together. I actually went one step further and used some glue stick to add a paper punch piece to the back of the steeper as well.
Once everything is dry your tea party invitations are complete!

* (optional step) - I had some left over tea pot shapes in different decorative papers so I used them to decorate the inside of the card as well. I simply used a glue stick to apply the extra decoration to the left of the inside of the invitation.

More tips and ideas to make these tea party invitations...

* Mix it up a bit by making stencils in shapes like tea cups and doilies to add to the front of the card.

* You can even add an extra decorative touch to the tea party invitations by attaching an actual paper doily to the front or inside of the card. Cut it in half so that it just comes to the edge of the card.

* Place your "tea steeper" so that it hangs from a tea cup shape instead of out of the top of the card.

* Planning a tea party? Learn all there is to know about planning a tea party at plan-an-elegant-tea-party.com

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