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| Dawn, Dusk, Graduation by Pixabay |
For my high school graduation, I just did the standard official graduation announcements from the school with added name cards and photos. I did buy pretty stamps for them, but overall they were pretty boring.
This time around I did things differently. I spared no expense and no time. The tutorial below shows how to print on your announcement envelopes and return envelopes, properly stuff announcement envelopes, how to wax seal envelopes, and how to mail wax sealed envelopes. I hope you enjoy the tutorial and have fun making you own announcements one day:
Supplies
5x7 Graduation Announcements
Printer
Envelope Printing
Open Microsoft Office Word. Open a new document. Go to the Mailings Tab. Select the Envelopes and Labels button. Either select the A7 envelope in the drop down menu of sizes, or enter the dimensions of the envelope by hand. Type in the mailing address. Type in the return address. Click finish. You should now have a document that is the size of your envelope with addresses in the correct place.
Setting up with document for print is the easy part. Printing on the envelopes is the hard part. Most printers do not want to print on anything but regular copy paper. I ended up hand feeding the envelopes into the printer one at a time. It is trial and error, you just have to figure out what works best for your printer. This is how many times it took me to get it right.
After I finish printing addresses on the mailing envelopes, I stamp them with regular postage. I ordered these stamps specifically for the pattern on them, but normal stamps will do.
Return Envelopes
I add addressed and stamped return enevlopes to the announcement for my out-of-state family or those who I know I will not be seeing at graduation. This makes gift sending easier for those who plan on sending graduation gifts. If they are gracious enough to send a gift, the least you can do is make it easy on them! The envelope printing process is the same as above, just with a different sized envelope.
Envelope Stuffing
Each of my envelopes includes an announcement, and a stamped return envelope (omitted for those who are coming to graduation). I place my announcement in the envelope first, with the front of the announcement facing out. I then stuff my return envelope behind the announcement. This way when the envelope is opened, the first thing they see is the face of my announcement. The return envelope should be an afterthought.
Wax Seals
To set up for wax sealing, you need your wax seal kit, stamp, and a lighter. Light your candle. Place two wax pellets in the wax spoon. Hold the spoon over the candle flame until melted. Pour wax on the center of the envelope flap. Immediately place wax stamp in the middle of the melted wax puddle. Leave stamp in place until wax is dry. Slowly and carefully rock stamp back and forth while applying upward force to remove the stamp from the wax. Allow sealed envelopes to sit for 12 hours before mailing to ensure they are fully dry.
Mailing
After you have addressed, stuffed, and sealed all of your envelopes, you are ready to mail them! To mail wax stamped announcements, extra postage must be added. They cannot be ran through the Post Office sorting machine and I requested that they not be bent, so I paid 20 cents extra per envelope for them to be hand sorted and not bent during processing and mailing.
The Post Office will automatically ink stamp over the two postage stamps to mark them for mandatory hand processing. If you want them to not be bent, you must request they add the DO NOT BEND stamp to the bottom of the envelope.
It might seem like a long process, but you only graduate from undergrad once! Have fun wax sealing!
Jayme! This is so awesome and very applicable. While I am not graduating this semester, I will be soon and found this very helpful for when I do. I honestly marked it in my favorites so I can come back and refer to it when mailing out my announcements. Great job!
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