Baby Announcements

Some people choose to design their own birth announcements from scratch at home and then send them to the professional printers to have made into cards. Here is the basic process for uploading your birth announcement design to your printer’s website. Don’t panic it isn’t scary at all.

The first thing you will have to do is actually create the birth announcement and save the file to a compatible format. Depending on the age of your computer and the type of software you use there are a number of different file options out there. It’s best to find out from your online printer which their system is compatible with. Usually they offer several choices to cover every type of program and file suffix.  Remember, even if you have already saved your file, you can hit “save as” and save it in a different way without compromising the integrity of the file.

After saving your self-created birth announcement to a compatible file mode it’s time to choose a birth announcement format. Click on the “upload your own design” link on the printer’s website and select one of the size and format choices. These are blank templates that only provide you with the basic shape and size of your birth announcement. Usually the same options (postcard, fold over etc.) are available even if you upload your own design. Press “select” to open a new page.

A new page will open on the printer’s website asking you to upload your design. After checking your design is of a compatible size, select the file from your computer’s c-drive (you hit the “browse” tab on the printer’s site to redirect you to your own c-drive).  This is the moment when you will be instructed of any size and file type restrictions by the printer. Of course you can find this information out in advance by browsing their website or sending an inquiry e-mail.

Even on the slowest of computers the uploading of your birth announcement file shouldn’t take too long. If it is taking too long refresh the page and try again. Once the file is uploaded it will appear on the printer’s website in the template you chose in the previous step. This is called a preview and gives you the opportunity to check your birth announcement design looks exactly how you want it to look.

Additions to your birth announcement design can be made at this point. If the image you uploaded doesn’t contain text, this is the time to place it within your design using the formatting tools of your online printer. Check the design is exactly how you wish it to be before giving the printer approval to go ahead and create your birth announcements.

Now it’s just a waiting game. A few days or a few weeks later your own personally created birth announcements will arrive in the mail.

As I proofread this blog I worry I’m being too detailed in the instruction but I think if you read this as you actually do the steps on the printer’s site all will be well.

Aaaah computers. Don’t they help make our lives so much easier?

Filed under: birth announcements on July 7th, 2010