#BAND IN A BOX 2017 TUTORIAL HOW TO#

I chose to make my belly band 1.5″ (38 mm) tall to accommodate a calligraphed message! If you’re working on a similar project, you’ll want to cut a belly band that is at most 10″ (254 mm) long - otherwise, it will wrap around your stack of photos twice, which will look odd. These photos are 4″ x 6″ (102 mm x 152 mm). You don’t have to relegate paper belly bands to formal invitations you can also use them in casual correspondence! In this case, I am sending these five (arguably cheesy, I know) photos to a relative, and I want to present them in a beautiful and compelling but simple way. The ensemble looks so cohesive and professional, and that’s due in no small part to the belly band! In this case, I used a little square illustration of the family boat, which had also been glued to card stock. Paper belly bands are pretty enough to leave plain, but sometimes it’s nice to glue a fun element in the center. Once the strip was glued, I flipped the invitation over and was able to slide in the information card! Next, I dabbed some glue on one end of the strip to affix both ends of the belly band together. When you’re doing this type of project, you’ll want to try to make sure the paper folds around the invitation tightly! … Then I turned the invitation over and folded the other side of the paper belly band around the invitation.

I hugged that first fold around the right side of the invitation … To make an individual belly band, I folded one end of the strip in about 3″ (76.2 mm). You can make easy work of this by using a paper cutter (I use the Dahle Vantage 18E), but scissors are perfectly acceptable as well. Next, I cut the card stock into 1″ (25.5 mm) strips. The answer? Paper belly bands! It’s always a good idea to echo a color from your invitations, so I purchased several 12″ x 12″ (305 mm x 305 mm) squares of blue card stock to fashion the paper belly bands from.

#BAND IN A BOX 2017 TUTORIAL HOW TO#

Once the invitations were created, the question became how to visually and literally tie everything together. The printed invitations were then glued onto the card stock, which gave them a sturdy feel. Once the invitations were printed, I hand-cut pieces of orange card stock a little larger than the invitations. We had the invitation printed off using thermography (basically, that means the letters have a 3D feel to them), but if you’re working on a similar project, you could absolutely do digital printing instead. So, we collaborated on a simple invitation design utilizing an illustration of the family boat.

She wanted a 5″ x 7″ (127 mm x 179 mm) invitation and 3.5″ x 5″ (89 mm x 127 mm) information card pair that was gender-neutral and nautical. Two summers ago, Beth was gearing up to host a rehearsal dinner at a marina for her son and his fiancée. This is a real-life example of a commissioned project with paper belly bands, one that I’m sure that client Beth (the inspiration behind Beth Style calligraphy!) doesn’t mind me sharing with you. That assessment, happily, was correct: belly bands are not difficult to make at all, they can elevate your paper project endeavors to incredible heights, and you can use them for many different applications! In today’s blog post, we’ll go through three quick paper belly band tutorials to add a little somethin’ somethin’ to a variety of different projects. One element I was consistently drawn to in other wedding invitations - and dually proposed to the client - was paper belly bands! Not only did they look incredibly elegant, but it also seemed like they wouldn’t be too tough to make. When I received my first wedding invitation commission a few years ago, I found myself scouring the internet for techniques to ensure that it was perfect.

Band in a box 2017 tutorial