I really want to spell it stationary but apparently it’s spelled with an E. This has been your grammar lesson for the day. Anywho, here is my promised stationEry post!  First I need to take a second to tell you about my wonderful Aunt, Aunty Gwyn. Aunts are such a wonderful thing. Especially Aunts that are the sister of your mom because then she fully understands that a) your mother is crazy and b) are also a lot like your mother. Thus they get away with telling you mom-advice and get away with it eye-roll free.

Both of my parents are South African and so a lot of our family is still overseas, but when my mom came over for college Aunty Gwyn was already in the states because she had married a handsome American, my Uncle Rog (Roger).

Christmas 2008

Since before I was born, holidays and summer vacations were always spent with them in Kentucky. We have become incredibly close over the years, they were even in my wedding:

So, when my dearest Aunty asked me to make her some Cheetah stationary I was all over it! I’ve also documented how I did it so you can make your own version for yourself or as a unique gift.

First, start with a background image. It is okay to use a google image if you are not selling this design to anyone. Personal stationary is fun that way! However, make sure you can find one that is really really large so it prints clearly, preferably 300 DPI. You can learn more about DPI tips from my DIY design tips post.

After you’ve got a background you’ll want to crop it to the size of the FLAT card. So if you want a 4×6 horizontal card, you’d make the width 6 inches and the height 8 inches. That way you can print it out, trim, and simply fold it over. If you want the back white, you’ll need to cover half of the image with a white box once you place it in your program. It will print out even better if you make the image .125 larger on all sizes and then trim it down after you print so you don’t have white trim on the edges – that would seem ameteurish and we don’t want that!

For this design, once you put the background image in your program you’ll want to put a colored bar on top. I made mine brown to match the cheetah print.

Then you’ll create your text in a fun font and place it over the colored bar. Remember to choose a cool font that is not overused or cheap looking. More on that here.

Make sure your printer is set up for the right paper, in this case cardstock, at 100 lb, or else you might get lines when printing the solid color. For some printers it might work better to use a white bar and colored text instead. One idea to make your stationery feel unique is to use fun envelopes. Since I’d already chosen cool clear envelopes from HobLob, I left the back white because so she can write on the back and have it peep through. As usual lately, please excuse the 5am dark photos. =)

Lastly, to add some umph, I added gold to the card. Nothing says fancy or custom like metallic ink! I used a Sharpie paint pen. I thought since it was Sharpie brand it might be somehow different from the paint pens I used in middle school but alas, all paint pens remain the same.

I used a ruler and made a straight line, but it didn’t feel quite right with the cheetah print, so I thickened the line up and made it imperfect. (This image below is an example of the lines in the solid brown, I changed my print settings before I printed the rest!)

I forgot to snap a pic of a stack of finished cards but you get the idea. They turned out great and I know I’ll use this set up again with different backgrounds, colors, fonts and metallic ink. I hope you will too!

Aunty Gwyn I hope you enjoy using these! I love you!