diy fridays: making a belly band for your invitations

As a request by Camille, here's a diy about making a belly band for your invites.

Making a belly band for your invitations can be as simple as having the right paper and a paper cutter. Really. Depending on the size of your invitation, an 8.5 x 11 is usually okay. You can also use a 12x12 cardstock/scrapbook paper like this.

An even easier option is using a wide ribbon like this, and attaching your monogram or wedding label. 

source

To custom make your belly band like this one, here's a step by step using Word. 

source

1. Open your Word Document. Choose Landscape orientation from Page Setup under File

2. Using your Object tool, make a rectangle like I have done below. Change the Fill setting to none and Line setting to 0.5 and change the colour to light gray -- Just enough so you can see the line. These will be your guideline for cutting.

I've highlighted the text box tool and Object tool for your reference.

3. Now, using the text box tool, add your desired text. You can also add an image on the sides to make your belly band more interesting as shown in the above picture.

4. When you're finished with your design, choose Select All, and Copy your design to the rest of the page. You may be able to fit 5 or 6 in a page depending on the width of your belly band.
5. Now, you see those lines on the side that complete your rectangle? Sometimes, you don't want that to appear on your printing. What you can do is replace the rectangles with the Line Tool to make your straight lines like what I've done with this next picture.

6. For printing, you can use Vellum sheets like what I've done with this invite.

Here are the separate pieces to see them more closely. As you see, I used a picture of an acorn all around my belly band and used paper glue to connect them. I also used a ribbon on top of my belly band.

Here are more invite samples with belly bands

source

source

source

source