Graduation Invitiations for 2012 Using Gimp

Last night, I created my sister’s graduation invitation using Gimp, and using a special service online we were able to mail out all of the letters directly from the printer.  My sister didn’t have to lick a single stamp!  I wanted to let you guys know exactly what I did, just in case you happen to be the proud parent of a graduating child and are looking to create high-quality graduation invitations.

The white area on the right side is where all of the invitation information went.

Gimp Tutorials You Should Watch First

Gimp Tutorial – Layer Modes
Gimp Tutorial – Layer Masks
Gimp Tutorial – Layers

Setting Up

When setting up to print anything using Gimp, the generally accepted settings are whatever your photo size is with a resolution of 300 ppi.  Don’t panic, setting this up in Gimp is really easy.  The image above is for a 5×7 post card, so we are going to tell Gimp to create a new file that is 5 inches wide, 7 inches tall, and 300 ppi.

To do this, click file>>>new

A window will pop up.  This window is where you tell Gimp how big your canvas is for editing.  Take note of what I highlighted below.

I went through and highlighted everything that I changed in this box.

Notice that the X resolution and the Y resolution are set to 300 pixels/in.  This is your PPI value mentioned earlier.  All you need to do once your PPI is set to 300 is set the image size to inches, and then type in what size you wish to use.

Once you have this, you are ready to create your image.  Be creative, have fun, and don’t be afraid of using fun rust textures and layer modes to create grunge effects!

Printing Your Cards

To print your cards, save your finished image as a .jpg.  Assuming that you’re running Gimp 2.8, this is done by clicking file>>>export.  In this dialog, simply name your file and type .jpg after the file name.

Visit Cardstore’s website. Select “blank photo cards” under the “photo cards” menu.  Follow the steps shown on their website.  Once you get to the end, you can actually tell Cardstore the addresses that you want to send the cards to!  They will handle the rest!

Last night, I created my sister’s graduation invitation using Gimp, and using a special service online we were able to mail out all of the letters directly from the printer. ...