D.I.Y. scratch off invitations

This DIY can be made for so many things: games, invitations, save the dates, thinking of you cards, etc etc etc. Basically anything you want. I thought I'd share how to make them yourself.

The concept was taken from a typical lottery ticket- scratch and win. Who doesn't like to scratch those little circles off?  These examples below are in the etsy shop. I made them to reveal the birthday boys' name.

To get started, here is what you will need:

• a print out of your invitation, lottery ticket, save the date, etc.- similar to the example above.
• coordinating acrylic paint (preferably silver- darker colors work best, or same color paint as the print will be so you can't see the "surprise word: through the paint)
• contact paper -sticky back plastic

What to do:

- Take your print out and cover the "surprise" that you want to be scratched off with contact paper. For example, if it's a date that you want to be scratched off, completely cover the date with contact paper- sticky side down. Leave a little extra room on the sides if you want to design something with the paint.
- Next, paint over the "surprise" word with acrylic paint. You can free hand it our use a stencil for a cleaner look.
- Let it dry and repeat another coat if  you can still see the "surprise" words.

Viola! Easy-peasy.

 note: you may want to make several practice runs just to scratch off for fun. They get addicting- I made a few extra just to scratch off myself.