I've never had a baby but that doesn't mean I don't love being around those little bundles of joy. In fact, I love babies a lot. So creating these free printable baby shower invitations was a no-brainer, once I realized that I wanted to create a series of invitations. (If you're interested in seeing the other designs I've created to date, please visit my birthday invitations and Christmas party invitations hubs.)

I know that not everyone likes the traditional pink and blue associated with babies of my generation. (If you want to know what my generation is, I can tell you that I watched all those retro programs now featured on Nick at Night when they were still new. ::grin::) Today, high fashion dictates that babies be as hip as their moms and dads, so I've included some non-baby colors, such as green, red, brown and orange, to accommodate the tastes of the fashionista among us. But not to worry if you hold to tradition and want pink or blue. I've included some of those too. Please see below to download the invitation artwork and read detailed instructions for creating the invitations. I've also included links to envelopes, should you want to order them online from Amazon. And if you want to create coordinated decorations, wrapping paper or a scrapbook for the baby shower, there are matching images linked at the bottom of this page.

Please vote in the baby shower invitation poll below!

1. Download the invitation artwork

When you choose a thumbnail of one of the images and click it, it will appear larger. Once you see the larger version that results, double-click on it. That will make an optimum-sized version appear. If you have a Mac, control-click the image until you get a menu with the option to save the image. If you use a PC, right-click your mouse and save the artwork to your computer.

2. Decide what size you want to make the invitations

These invitations were designed in a square format and can be sized to fit 5" x 5", 6" x 6", 6 1/2" x 6 1/2", 7" x 7" envelopes or any other-sized variation of a square shape. To decide what size to make it, you should first choose which size envelope you want to use. (See the right column for envelope ordering information, if you'd like to purchase them from Amazon.) Naturally, if you'll be delivering the invitations by hand and don't want to use envelopes, you can make the invitations any size you want.

3. Paste the image from your hard drive into a word processing document

There are several ways to insert the art into a document. If you want to print them large, you can paste just one or two invitations per page into the document or insert that artwork as clip art. As an alternative, you can create a table with one cell for every invitation you want on the page. Just insert the artwork into one cell, size it and then copy that image into the rest of the cells. You can also paste the image into a text box, size it and then copy and paste the text box/artwork combo into the document multiple times. Using this technique will allow you the flexibility to move the art around to find the best placement.

Whenever possible, place the images so they're right next to each other on one of the sides, and/or on the bottom or top, so you can't see any white area between the pieces of art. That will allow you to make fewer cuts per invitation.

If you will be using more than one invitation on each document page, make sure to create the first image the exact size you want it before copying and placing more of them on the page. It's a bear -- and sometimes not even possible -- to re-size multiple images and get them all the same size. A simple way to get the right size before you paste any other pieces in place is to paste one into a document and then print it. Screen sizes can be deceiving, so you should compare printed version to your envelope size to determine whether you need to do any resizing.

4. Print the invitations

I recommend using the heaviest card stock your home printer will take. If you don't know what weight your printer will take, check the printer's manual or the manufacturer's Web site. remember, too-heavy card stock will get jammed in the printer or won't print at all. On the other side of the coin, if the card stock is too light, the final product won't have much substance.

5. Cut the invitations

Using a paper cutter or taking the invitations to a copy center, instant print shop or office supply store to have them cut professionally are the two best ways to cut invitations. But you can also use a craft knife and a ruler, as long as you have a good cutting surface and a firm hand. You can use scissors, but the edges of the invitations probably won't be straight. If you have no other options besides scissors, try using decorator scissors that create patterns, such as zig-zags, that would make any uneven cuts less noticeable.

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Baby Shower Invitation Terms of Use

You are free to use these free baby shower invitations all you want for your personal use. But you may not sell the images, incorporate them into products or give them away as a collection without permission. I'm open, though, so if you have a special request, please don't hesitate to contact Carla at info [@] vintageholidaycrafts [.com].

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If you use these free images, I would appreciate a link back to this hub using the following code or text:

<a href="http://hubpages.com/_invitations/hub/fun-baby-shower-invitations">free baby shower invitations</a>

If you don't know how to use the HTML code above, please use this link:

http://hubpages.com/_invitations/hub/fun-baby-shower-invitations

... and link it from one of the phrases below:

free baby shower invitations

baby shower invitations

These invitations were designed in Picnik.com, the free Web graphics program anyone can use. To learn how to use Picnik to create your own images, check out this tutorial that will teach you how to make your own clip art.