Want a creepy invitation? Check out our PrintingPress Platinum 6.0 design. We added a tombstone as a background image to a White A7 card. We added a black skull & crossbones image directly into the main text area at the top of the tombstone. We typed “R.I.P.” (to indicate our Really Important Party!) in white using the Benjamin Shadow font from Fonts & Graphics for Weddings. We used a floating text box to make it appear that someone scrawled the message “Be there… or you’re dead!” using the Colin font from Fonts & Graphics 2. Since the tombstone runs to the edge of the card, we used our printer’s borderless printing feature to print the card and then used scissors to cut out the outline of the tombstone. We lined the Mandarin Orange envelopes in Black and added coordinating Custom Image StationeryStamps.

Our PrintingPress Extreme 6.0 features a chilling scene right out of a horror movie. We started by adding an image of a haunted house as a background image to a White A7 card. We added speech bubbles as floating images on either side of the creepy witch weather vane. We used the Selective Color feature to erase the outside of the speech bubbles while leaving the interior opaque white. For tips on using this technique, see this month’s Extreme Tip. Next, we used floating text boxes to add the terrorized cautions against opening the door using the Impact font that is included with Windows. For an extra fun 3-D effect we printed the door onto an openable White place card. The door invitation features a “KEEP OUT” sign tacked to the door with a bloody chef’s knife. Open the door and you see the details for the “SPOOKTACULAR” party. We set the Text Shape for several of the floating text boxes to Random Jitter for additional spookiness. Because the design on the backing card goes all the way to the edge, we used our printer’s borderless feature. We lined the Mandarin Orange envelopes in Black and added a witch’s cat alongside the return address at the bottom of the back of the envelope.  The final touch:  coordinating Custom Image StationeryStamps.

A fall feast
Now that the summer is officially behind us we’ve been reconnecting with our school-year friends. Why not throw an autumn dinner party to welcome the change of seasons with style? Our designs include menus and place cards will make you the talk of the town without breaking the bank.

For a fun invitation with a retro twist, check out our PrintingPress Platinum 6.0 design. We started by adding a groovy background image to a White A7 card, which we printed using our printer’s borderless printing feature. Next, we created 3 x 3 inch invitations and added the invitation text using the Trebuchet font in the same grey, blue and green used on the backing card. We used floating text boxes for a few of the words to nestle the text together. Next, we printed the invitations onto White 6 x 6 inch custom cut cards using the 4-up feature and separated them using a rotary trimmer. We used a corner punch to round the corners of the invitation card and used a double-stick tape gun to mount it onto a 3.25 x 3.25 inch custom cut Black card, also with rounded corners. We adhered the set to the bottom right corner of the backing card to complete the invitation. We added a border image using the groovy pattern to the White Menu Card and printed it using our printer’s borderless printing feature. We added a groovy starburst to a White Place Card and added the guest’s name below it in blue. We used the corner punch to round the corners of both the menu and place cards. We added the same starburst flowing from the front to the back of the White envelope, which we lined in Black. We added coordinating Custom Image StationeryStamps to complete the look.

Our PrintingPress Extreme 6.0 design is perfect for an elegant evening. We started by adding a 4 pt custom border to a White 4 x 6 inch custom cut card. We set the border’s shape to Line (Top) and set the Line Type to Double Line. We added the words “Come on over for dinner” above the line border in black and saffron using the Palatino Linotype font. We wrote the word “dinner” in all caps in saffron but wrote the letter “i” in black using lowercase letters with the Italic style. We set the Skew to 20 to straighten the italic letter to better fit alongside the capital letters. We added the rest of the invitation text in black using the Palatino font in a combination of italic and uppercase text. We used our printer’s borderless printing feature to print the invitation and used a double-stick tape gun to stick the card to a Black 4.25 x 6.25 inch custom cut card. Next, we mounted the pair to a Metallic Saffron A7 card. We repeated a similar design on the White Menu and Place Card and used our printer’s borderless printing feature to print both cards. We used the Alternate Font feature to write the guests’ names in the same style as the word “dinner” by setting the Alternate Font Options to Capital Letters. Then we added the guest names to the Guest List using all capital letters but the one that should be italic black. We used the name “AnDREW” in the example shown in our photograph. We lined the Metallic Saffron envelopes in Black and added coordinating Custom Image StationeryStamps.

Cut it out
PrintingPress Extreme 6.0’s Make White Transparent feature lets you make any white in an image transparent so that other design elements can be seen through the image. But what if you want some of the white to remain white? The answer:  PrintingPress Extreme 6.0’s Selective Color feature. When we first added the speech bubbles to the invitation backing in this month’s Extreme Halloween Party project, it looked like this:

If we use the Make White Transparent feature, then the speech bubbles look like this, which is not what we want:

What we want is for the area outside of the speech bubbles to become transparent, but for the area inside the speech bubble to remain white. To achieve this, we used the Eraser tool available in the Selective Color feature in the Adjust palette.

Click on the image that you want to change and then click on the Selective Color button in the Adjust palette. Make sure that the Contiguous setting is enabled and then click on the Eraser tool. When the Contiguous setting is enabled, the Eraser tool will only erase all areas of the same color that are immediately touching the area beneath the cursor. The cursor will change to an eraser and wherever you click in the image will be erased. Below you can see the eraser cursor.

And here you can see the image once the Eraser tool has been applied to the image.

Repeat for the remaining areas that you want to erase, and you’re all set.

Check out tips on downloading projects, borderless printing and more in our Newsletter Notes section.

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