Making a personalized invitation on your computer can be a very simple process. This particular technique is one that I’ve used over and over and over. The idea here is that you use a photograph — a digital image — that already has visual space for text. Here is the process I usually follow in creating a simple (and quick) invitation or announcement.

1. Take pictures with intentional space. Frame your subject so they’re off to the side or up or down or in the corner or whatever. Just leave a lot of space in your frame and just keep snapping.

Tip: It’s ideal for your background to be solid or subtle. Keep in mind that text will go in that area (your background). And it’s really hard to read text on a busy or bold pattern.

In taking a few pictures of our friend Kylie for her upcoming birthday, I had her brother and my Porter hold this textured blanket behind her a few feet back. You don’t have to use a blanket or sheet. Depending on your angle, you may have a simple background that already exists in your environment — a wall, the sky, or something else.

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2. Choose the one. You’ll know which one. It’s the picture that has just the right expression.

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3. Edit the image. Whatever you normally do for photo-editing … do that. My favorite everyday/quick editing happens right in iPhoto, which is where we have our digital pictures stored and organized on our Mac. I brought up the exposure, and saturation, color-boosted a couple notches, and increased the sharpness. This is typical of what I do to most of my photos.

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4. Add text. I add text using Adobe Photoshop. Many of you have Elements or some other software you like. Just click on the Text tool and start typing. Adjust your fonts and sizes according to your needs.

Fonts: For Kylie’s birthday invite I used one of my favorite new fonts — SNF Goody. And the flower is from the DB Floral Infusion collection. Both of these and 3 others of my recent favorites can be found HERE. I hand-picked these 5 fonts and DoodleBats as some of my current favorites so ScrapNFonts is currently offering the bundle of all 5 for just $10. Go get it!

Sharing the invites: Depending on the occasion and how much time you have, you can either email the finished piece or print it (upload to your favorite printing spot or print at home). Either way, you need to make sure your file is saved as a .jpg.

Tip: I also save my work as a .psd so that if I need to go in and change anything, my layers are all still there and I don’t have to start from scratch.

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Okay — more inspiration.

I dug up a few other examples of this same concept of intentional space for text. They all happen to be baby-related (I guess that’s what I end up doing the most?) but you can apply the principle to any subject and any theme. A friend’s baby shower invite:

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Another friend’s baby announcement (photography credit: Photos by Natalie):

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I pulled this from my blog archives a couple years ago. It’s one of my personal favorites:

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And one more baby announcement: