DIY Calligraphy - Addressing Envelopes

For someone who's so fabulously artistic, I have terrible handwriting. Not only do I have terrible handwriting, I make typos. I didn't even know you could make typos while handwriting, but I miss letters or they run together all the time. It's not that I don't know how to spell the word (usually), but someone that doesn't translate on paper very well. And, even when I get the words spelled correctly, I'm lucky if anyone else can interpret them.

So, when it came to my wedding invitation envelopes, I was left with a dilemma. What was the best way to address them? I figured I had a couple options:

1. Be traditional and handwrite the addresses, drop them off at the post office, and, like a mother dropping her kids off at school for the first time, wave at my little darlings, cry softly, and whisper, "Godspeed little doodles" in the hopes that the post office would be able to read my chicken scratch.

2. Buy labels and *gasp* computer print them. Well that might work, just don't tell grandma.

3. Pay a calligrapher to write each one with a gorgeous sweeping, elegant, style that I can only dream of...Hmm...let's see. $2.00 x 150 invitations = how much were labels again?

4. Run the envelopes through my computer printer! Oh wait, the haste of a 20% Paper Source sale, I already purchased 200 A7 envelopes in "night." And, unless HP has come out with the best printer since sliced bread (i.e., can print light ink on dark paper), that's not going to work.

What's a DIY-er to do?

and then...I found the solution!

Look, I did these myself!

Was it calligraphy class?

Bribing a relative with good handwriting?

Surgically transplanting my hand with Laura Hooper?

Nope!

It was...Wedding Bee and the AMAZINGLY clever Jennifer.

Ok, here's the secret: tracing (shhh...don't tell)

Start by computer printing the address in a color similar to the color or your envelope.

Can you see that?

What about this one?

It is hard to see, but with the right light, and some patience, it's not so bad.

Templates and printer settings will vary from computer/printer to computer/printer, but I can tell you that I used Adobe Illustrator to make sure everything was lined up correctly, changed my printer settings to "5.25 x 7.25" and "envelope" and just ran them through one at a time. I did have to copy/paste each address into Illustrator, but I got into a rhythm and it went pretty quickly. (Plus, I've computer-printed addresses for wedding invitation clients in the past, so I'm kind of use to it by now).

Then I used a Uni-Ball Singo broad white gel pen and just traced! The ink wasn't perfect, and I had to trace a few lines over as I wrote, but overall, I think the one's I've completed came out gorgeous!

They have a wonderful handmade quality, but I didn't have to pay a lot or risk people knowing what my actual handwriting looks like.

A couple vintage stamps to complete the look... and ta-da!

So I still have a lot more to do, but at least it's progress, right?