I am 20 weeks pregnant! (Holy cow, where is the time going?), and we find out if the little peanut is a boy or a girl at our appointment on Tuesday. So, last week, I was trying to think of a fun and creative way to announce the gender.
I took to the reliable Pinterest to see some ideas since we will not be having a gender reveal party. We have so many parties coming up in the next couple of months, I was trying to save myself the expense of throwing another get-together.
I saw the awesome, and very clever, idea of making homemade DIY scratch-off cards! I came up with the perfect plan.
After our doctor appointment, I will mail out the scratch-off cards to our closest family and friends. Sure, this means I will have to keep a secret for a day or two while they are sent through the mail, but I'm hoping I can seal my lips for a few extra days so they can have the excitement of getting the news in the mail!
I love how they came out so much. I am looking forward to sharing the steps with you.
Now that I've experienced how easy they are to make, I want to make them for every event! Scratch-off cards are so much fun, especially when receiving adorable baby news.
I made the card design in PowerPoint (again, one of my favorite programs that I think people underestimate all the time!). My mom has mentioned throwing me an owl-themed shower in a couple of months, so I wanted to incorporate that with the gender reveal, as well.
These are the cards that I made. I made both boy and girl. I want to be able to pop them in the mail as soon as we leave the doctor's appointment on Tuesday, so I had to have both genders ready to go!
Important tip: Before you make the card, decide what envelopes you are going to use if you plan on mailing them. I had really pretty craft paper envelopes that are 5 1/2" x 5 1/2" , so I made my card size 5"x5" so that there was a little extra room for the card to fit in the envelope.
It's so frustrating when you design your card first and then need to reduce the size to fit in a certain envelope size.
I saved the card as a .JPG image and ordered my prints through Staples on 110-lb white cardstock (I even had them cut the images for me so that I didn't have to do that part).
Once I had my prints back from the store, it was time to make them into scratch-off cards!
For this part, you will need the following:
- Clear duct tape
- Paint brush
- Dish soap
- Metallic acrylic paint
Cut off a piece of the clear duct tape and place it over the image that you would like to be revealed once the card gets scratched off. For our gender reveal, I wanted the heart image that says "Boy!" or "Girl!" to be revealed, so I had to cover the entire heart with the tape.
Make sure the tape that you use is large enough to cover your image without having to use more than one piece. I tried to capture a picture with a light reflection so that you can see where I put the tape.
Next it's time to apply the scratch-off solution. For this, you mix two parts metallic acrylic paint and one part dish soap. This isn't an exact science, as it's very forgiving if it's not mixed exactly right. I used my favorite lavender-scented dish soap, which makes the cards smell really pretty too!
After you have the solution mixed, you can paint the area that you would like scratched off. Remember to stay on the area where you've placed the clear duct tape.
I painted my scratch off in the shape of the heart over the pink and blue images. I had to make sure to go a little over the outline of the heart so that it wasn't seen at all for the people who were going to get these cards in the mail.
Depending on the brand of acrylic paint that you use (I use Martha Steward brand), you will most likely need multiple coats to cover the image underneath. I needed to paint four coats over the hearts to have the color and letters completely covered.
Important tip: Make sure to allow the paint to completely dry before applying another coat. I let each coat dry approximately six hours before applying the next coat. It took a total of two days to paint and dry all four coats before the heart scratch-offs were done!
After the last coat is completely dry, they are all done and ready to go! I did an extra of each gender color for the purpose of this blog post so that you could see how well they work. I scratched off one boy and one girl card.
Aren't they great? I'm so excited to find out what we are having! I'll definitely be posting an update to see which one we will be sending out.
Stay tuned, and happy scratching! (hee hee that sounds dirty, but I meant it in a crafty way!)
xoxo, Heather