Jaye’s 1st Birthday: Mississippi River Invitation

Jaye’s first birthday party is going to have a Mississippi River theme in honor of her middle name. The first birthday is really my best chance at choosing an awesome theme that I like without the input of a toddler or kid. You can check out the Mississippi River themed party mood board here. But the first step to an awesome party is inviting the guests! So I used photoshop to make some Mississippi River invitations.

I started with this picture that I’d found online somewhere. I googled all kinds of related key words: riverboat, steamboat, Mississippi River, etc. As soon as I saw this one, I knew it would be perfect for the invitation. I loved the elaborate font and the awesome steamboat in the center. I opened the above image in Photoshop Elements and used the magnetic lasso to trace around just the steamboat picture in the center. Then I selected the inverse (everything but the steamboat) and deleted it.

Then I hunted around online for the perfect font. I used Ornamental Versals, TrashBarusa, and Sevillana which I downloaded from dafont.com. I also used Modern No. 20 which was already on my computer. I typed out the party information, using steamboat words like “embarking,” “departure time” and “reserve your ticket” to help make the theme super clear. I printed them out onto cardstock from our printer. One sheet of card stock held two cards. They are about 5 x 7.

I lined the envelopes with a cool blue paper from Joann’s. The vintage, cracked look was perfect both because my theme has an old-fashioned vibe and because it reminds me of water!

Address and stamp and in the mail! What do you think of my Mississippi River invitations? Has anyone else made any Photoshop creations lately? Any other parties being planned?

You can check out the rest of the Mississippi River party projects here!