Mountaincow Monthly (February 2004)

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	Lot’s o’ fun When Irish eyes are smiling, it could mean it’s time to throw a St. Patrick’s Day party! A little bottle of green food coloring (to put the food in the mood) and PrintingPress (for the invitations) is all you need. We used a lucky four leaf clover in both the 2.0 and Platinum versions. Play with the size of the shamrock, or cut and paste them a bunch of times to create a pattern. Platinum users can use the clover as a background image and put party details in each leaf. By typing in a text box, you can rotate the text 15 degrees to fit the design. In the Design menu, select Text Box, then Rotate, then By Degree. We chose 15 degrees to the left for all 4 boxes in this project.		(click photo to enlarge)
	What can I bring? A good guest never comes empty handed. An even better guest will ask you beforehand what she can bring to your party. Here’s a way to keep track of what your guests are bringing so you don’t end without a dessert. Once you’ve made your mailing list for your party using PrintingPress, type in the “gift received” field what you requested. This way you can see at a glance what you are still missing from your soiree, and who is left to bring the ice. Child’s birthday party Your intentions may have been to plan ahead, but no one needs to know you only started getting ready for your child’s birthday party a few weeks ago – especially your little birthday boy or girl! With PrintingPress, you won’t need to send out frantic emails or pay rush charges for custom printing. First, decide on the time and place of the party. If you’re short on time, keep it simple. Just serve dessert and juice for kids, coffee for adults, and make sure to set the time of the party to be between meals. If you decide you want to serve a meal, keep it easy and fun like pizza or a 6-foot sub. Once you have an idea of what kind of party you’re having, you can easily whip up an invitation. Use a photo of your child, or import a graphic of whatever television show, princess or hero she or he can’t stop talking about this minute. Put that same image on the birthday cake. Voila – you’ve planned a theme party! Don’t forget to include the time, address and phone number for the RSVP. To print four invitations at once, design an invitation that is 4.25 x 5.5 inches, and select 4 “cards per page.” Print on blank 8½” x 11” card stock and cut the sheet into quarters. Use A2 envelopes to send the invitation or hand deliver, depending on your time crunch. If you’re looking for a variety of sizes or colors to make your invitations, save time by visiting our online store.

	(click photo to enlarge)	A spa shower For the bride who wants to be pampered (what bride wouldn’t want that?), plan her shower at a deluxe spa. Ask all the guests for their preference in treatments, and the hosts can treat the bride to her blissful indulgence. Since this shower is out of the ordinary, it’s extra important for the invitation to be very clear. Guests will want to know what to expect, what they will be paying for and whether they should bring a gift. The hosts will need to have an accurate account of what spa services their guests would like and what they would like for lunch.
	The RSVP is critical, so we made an invitation with a tear-off reply card. By using a perforation blade available at an office supply store, a self-addressed, stamped post-card sized card can be torn off the invitation and sent back to the host in charge. Guests are left with the half of the invitation with all the information they need. We made a 8.5 x 6 inch card with a vertical fold in the center. Instead of scoring the card to make a fold, we perforated it so guests can tear off one side and send it back. The “Outside Back” frame is used for the return address. Platinum users can type an address in a text box and rotate it 90 degrees so it’s parallel to the longest side of the card. Platinum users can print the invitations at this point. For the 2.0 version, the “Outside Back” panel is left blank. We created another card the same exact size and named it “reply address.” This new card is vertical with a horizontal fold. Type the return address in the “Outside Front” box. Print both sides of your invitations. Next, place the printed invitations in the printer with the blank side on the right and the robe and writing on the left side upside-down. Print “reply address” with the paper orientation set to landscape to complete your invitations. You can eliminate this extra step by upgrading to our Platinum edition. Using your rotary perforation blade, perforate the center of the cards and fold them. Add postcard stamps to the “Outside Back” so your guests will be sure to send in their responses. According to the United States Postal Service, a postcard cannot exceed 4.25 x 6 inches. I f you want to make your reply card bigger than that, be sure to put on enough return postage. Double your paper To make folded cards from a letter-sized sheet of paper, follow these directions, or download our sample. First, create a new project and choose card. Use the dimensions 8.5 x 5.5 inches (Platinum users have a pre-selected option, 2.0 users need to type it into as a custom size.) Select “2” under “cards per page.” If your cards have a vertical fold, they will print on top of each other and you can print them portrait. If they have horizontal folds, they will be side by side and you must print them landscape. When you are done, trim them in half using a rotary cutter. These cards will fit perfectly into an A2 envelope.
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