Make Your Own
Sandcastle Beach Wedding Invitations

Having a hard time finding sandcastle themed beach wedding invitations? Not to worry. You can easily make your own stylish invitations to fit your beach wedding theme.

You have a few options when it comes to printing out your newly designed invitations.

First, there are wedding invitation kits that you can buy, where the invitations are already cut to size and come with envelopes, response cards, etc. so that everything looks the same.

If you don't want to use a kit, please have a good cutter on hand so you can accurately cut your paper to the correct size and to be sure you have straight edges. You will also need to purchase the right size envelopes.

You can also save your sandcastle beach wedding invitations to CD or a memory chip and take it in to a photocopying depot where they can print (and cut) your invitations for you.

The following invitations were created using a graphics program. Photoshop Elements is a good one to use for most people. When working with a graphics program, you will need to create "layers" for each new element added to the invitation. In that way, if there is a mistake, you can just fix that "layer" and not ruin the whole card.

Sandcastle Wedding Invitation #1

This first sandcastle wedding invitation begins with a peachy-beige colored background measuring 4"x6". I then applied a grain filter to give it a sandy look.

I added a layer of white 1/4" smaller than the colored layer so I'd have a nice border showing all around.

On the third layer, I included a sandcastle clip-art picture (which I had resized to fit properly) to the bottom right of the card.

Finally, one last layer was added and I used this to type the wedding invitation wording.

Same Invitation - Handmade

If you wish to make this by hand, simply cut sand-colored cardstock to 4"x6". Cut a white piece of cardstock to 3 1/2" x 5 1/2". Center and glue to the colored cardstock. This will give you a 1/4" border all around.

Add a sandcastle sticker, die-cut picture, or a printed picture that you have cut out by hand to the bottom corner of the invitation.

You can then either handwrite your wording or type it out on a word processing program and print directly to the cards.

After printing, dab some glue along the colored border and sprinkle with sand. Let dry.

Sandcastle Wedding Invitation #2

This second invitation is also quick to make with a computer graphics program or by hand.

For the computer, just find a sandcastle photo and size it to 4" x 6" or 5" x 7" (whichever you prefer).

Add a layer and fill it in with white (leaving a small border of the photo showing through on the edges). Now, make this white layer slightly opaque.

Create a third layer and type up the wording for your invitation. Print it out on white cardstock and cut your beach wedding invitation to size.

Make It By Hand

To make it by hand, make a copy of your desired sandcastle photo pre-cut 4" x 6" or 5" x 7" white cardstock.

Cut white translucent vellum paper 1/4" smaller on all sides than the print.

Using a word processing program type out your invitation and print it on the vellum sheet (use draft printing mode to keep the ink from smearing).

Using a glue stick (so there won't be globs of glue showing through) gently glue the top edge of the vellum to the photo card.

You can add texture and interest by embellishing any invitation by highlighting simple designs with liquid glue and sprinkling regular or colored sand over the glue, if you wish.