Printed.com personalised invitations review

Here at printed.com we like to describe ourselves as an easy-to-use online print destination that puts the power back in your hands. You can mix ‘n’ match your size, papers and finishes to suit your designs — because print shouldn’t be one size fits all.

Printed.com have kindly offered to review one of their products and I knew straight away that I want to review 1st birthday invitations. I know it is a little bit too early for the 1st birthday preparations but I like to be organised and to plan ahead. 

To be honest with you I have never heard of this website prior to this review and was hoping that it would be an easy process of simply scrolling through few designs and ordering. It took me a little bit longer than I expected as I had to work out how to use Photoshop (that is something I have never used in my life), but first things first.

Printed.com is an online printing company where you can personalise products ranging from leaflets and flyers to wedding stationery and posters.

If you don't know where to start "How it works" section is here to help. You can also find video tutorials if you don't know how to submit your artwork and much more to help you out along the way.

All the products are listed on the left hand side in the Products section or you can follow the link from "How it works". 
Choose your size (it varies depending on a product), select printed sides (one side or both sides, paper and finishes (each option has a picture sample), paper weight options, envelope options (from white to gold), quantity, upload your artwork and order! 

"Choose a design"option from "How it works" is a little bit misleading as I spent ages trying to find designs. With the help from Printed.com representative I found out that they don't stock any designs and I would need to provide my own artwork. Big bonus is that you can find artwork templates.  I was struggling with this one as I have never used Photoshop before but if you know your way around it will be easy!

File (-s) itself you can upload either from your computer or from Dropbox and preview the file once uploaded. If you stuck and don't know what and how to do "Upload files" section has some valuable advice at the bottom of the page.

I have opted for 25 folded invitations on a Gesso 250 gsm paper with white envelopes, with an estimate price £25 without delivery costs. For delivery you can choose from the following options:

I have opted for the cheapest option- Royal Mail first class which was delivered the next day, pretty quick, right?!

And here is invitations I have ordered:

I am slightly disappointed with the way it looks on a Gesso paper, but taking into consideration that I had no clue how an invitation on a certain paper type will look like and didn't know what to expect it's not too bad.

What do you think?

Disclaimer: I was sent the above items for the purpose of this review. All thought and opinions are my own.

Baby Shower preparations

In less than 3 weeks I'm going to have my own baby shower, yes I'm organising it myself! I thought it would be easier to be in control of all things, such as food preparations, decorations and entertainment if I rely only on myself (I had few let downs in the fast from family members).

As a baby shower is not a traditional English even I decided to keep it that way- I'm not planning to have a party just for girls, we invited couples, as I would like it to be as a “get together” day with some possible activities throughout the day.

Our baby shower invitations were kindly provided by Zazzle, a website where you can find almost anything and not just buy items you see on their website but personalise them as well. 

“Zazzle is the world's leading platform for quality custom products. Zazzle’s rapidly expanding product base covers every topic imaginable and includes t-shirts, business cards, invitations, in addition to a variety of custom gifts. Upon creation, products are instantly and accurately visualized on the site and offered in the Zazzle marketplace. When ordered, each product is made on-demand, typically within 24 hours. Launched in 2005 and based in Redwood City, California, Zazzle’s vision is to redefine commerce, powered by the world’s imagination”.

I have spent few hours just browsing the website as I couldn't pick 1 design, I had tabs opened with few variations of the card we picked, a card with a very cute things hanging on a laundry line and Vintage Alice in Wonderland card, in the end we picked this (I just love it, this little girl is so cute):

Cards were delivered within a week and a half (according to website it could be 5-12 business days). I am very happy with the quality of cards as well as picture, font and colours look exactly as on a website. 

I am also making my own bunting (wall decorations) with a small help of Google, thankfully I had some bits and pieces left from our wedding, such as favour bags and ribbons and I'm planning to use it all for wall and table decorations.

Entertainment part I would like to keep as a secret for now, but hope it will fit well.

I'm so nervous for some reason, just want it all to look well and be organised, still have to think about our menu and table decorations.

Any suggestion as to what else I can do and plan for the day?

DISCLAIMER: I was sent  Zazzle voucher for the purposes of this review. All thoughts and opinion are my own.