Day: September 4, 2015

I always make my own invitations for birthday parties and special occasions (along with some for family and friends), and even though the timeline is short, my baby girl’s Christening would be no exception! I decided to go with a sweet butterfly theme and I designed a butterfly invitation SVG file so my Silhouette can help with the cutting! If you’re looking to make your own, I’ll walk you through how I made these DIY butterfly invitations step by step.

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Design & Prep:

I set to work in Illustrator (my preferred software for designing SVG files) to sketch out the elements of the design the way I envisioned them for my Christening invite. I sketched the top butterfly layer with antennae, and the bottom butterfly layer without.

Being a Christening, I thought a cross “charm” dangling from the ribbon would be a nice touch, so I sketched a simple cross and added a little “eye” at the top for the ribbon.

I also wanted the scroll part to be a little more fancy, so I created a lacey butterfly border along the top and bottom edges. Then, I added the information and details to the scroll.

Finally, I formatted everything as cut files ready for my cutting machine (Silhouette Cameo). You can find the DIY Butterfly Invitation SVG File which includes a printable PDF version of this tutorial over in my Creatables shop.

I decided to go with 2 different colors for the top and bottom butterflies. I just love the way that turquoise looks with my little lady’s flame-red hair, so of course that had to be one of the colors. I paired it with a soft baby pink just because I think they look so sweet together. I think Swiss dot paper is perfectly previous for all things baby, so I went with Bazzill Dotted Swiss in Julep – of course, you can choose whatever colors and textures you want!

Here’s What You’ll Need:

After getting all my supplies together, I was ready to start cutting! (Of course you can use whatever materials, tools, colors, etc you like – this is just what I used)

• Your favorite craft cutting machine – here I used my Silhouette Cameo
• Butterfly Invitation SVG Cutting Files
• Cardstock (I used Bazzill Dotted Swiss in Julep and a non-textured light pink cardstock from Recollections)
• Plain white copy paper – Letter size: 8.5” x 11” (for the scrolls)
• Adhesive – here I used Elmer’s Craft Bond tape runner
• Glue Dots
• Ribbon – I used ⅛” satin ribbon from Michaels
• Fabric Scissors
• Scoring and Cutting Paper Trimmer – the one I used is from Fiskars
• Envelopes: 6 1/2 x 6 1/2 Square Invitation Envelopes w/Peel & Press – Candy Pink by LUX paper (found on Amazon)

Scrolls – Print and Cut

The scroll is 8.5” wide by approx. 4.8” tall – placed 1 to a page as a Print and Cut file. I used plain white copy paper for the scrolls. I also used a brand new Silhouette light hold mat.

Here are the Cameo cut settings that worked best for me (you may need to play around with your settings to get the best cut for your machine, blade, paper etc.):

• Graphtec CB09 45 degree angle blade set to approx. 1
  • Thickness: 6
  • Speed: 2
  • Double Cut

Butterflies – Cut File

Each finished butterfly shape is 5 ½” wide by 6” tall – butterflies & crosses placed 4 to a 12 x 12 page as a regular SVG cut file. Here are the cut settings I used for the butterflies on the cardstock:

• Textured Cardstock / Heavyweight cardstock blade set to approx. 4
  • Speed: 3
  • Thickness: 25
  • Double Cut

With all my pieces cut, I was ready to start assembling. If you’re making a lot like I did, you might find it easier to do each step in bulk. If you’ve got happy helpers on hand, you could even get an assembly line going!

Assembly Instructions:

1. Using the scoring blade of the paper trimmer, score the top layer butterfly on both sides of the body.

2. Fold the wings upward along the score lines.

3. Apply double-sided adhesive along center of bottom butterfly.

4. Position top butterfly over bottom butterfly with wings lined up, and press down to secure them together.

5. Cut ribbon approx 20″ – 22” long. (Don’t forget to cut your ribbon ends at an angle to prevent fraying!).

6. Fold ribbon in half and apply a single glue dot to the center of the ribbon. Attach ribbon horizontally to the center of the top butterfly.

7. Roll the paper invite into a scroll. (I rolled from right to left, so the text would be revealed left to right as the reader unrolls it.)

I also placed a glue dot to keep the paper rolled tight. (I dabbed the glue dot with my finger a few times to reduce the stickiness so the paper wouldn’t rip when being unrolled).

 

8. Place the scroll vertically over the center of the top butterfly and wrap the ribbon around the scroll, tying a pretty bow to secure it in place.

9. Feed one end of the ribbon through the top hole in the cross charm. Double or triple knot the end of the ribbon to prevent the cross from sliding off.

All done! Admire your work and snap a few pics. Then carefully insert invite into pre-addressed/labeled envelopes and send to your guests!

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and find it helpful to make your own beautiful butterfly invitations! I used these invites for my baby girl’s Christening, but they would also make invitations for a butterfly themed Wedding, Birthday, Communion, or any other butterfly-filled celebration! If you have any questions, just shoot me an email!

Happy Crafting,