Well, when it came time for thank you notes, I was used to getting exactly the stationary I wanted! I was pretty burned out after the wedding, so first I looked online for thank you notes. While there are numerous cute options out there, nothing was quite right.
My Requirements:
- Affordable. Sorry, but I can't pay $2+ per thank you note. That's just crazy.
- 4"x6" size (or A6). We want to write nice messages to our guests, and didn't feel like we could do it on a 3.5"x5" tiny card. (This is what really started limiting the selection)
- Cute! I didn't want to send out just any old card!
While endlessly browsing for cards, I began to get inspired. I loved the blowflowers. I loved the fireworks ones. The ones with our photo would be cute. But I really really liked the ones with pennants on them. Besides, we had about a mile of pennants (or bunting? I don't know) at the wedding, and maybe it would remind our guests of the night!
I mean, how cute are these?!? They start at about $1 per card and go up from there.
1. Citrus Press Co, 2. Karen's Kreations, 3. Fresh Paper Studios, 4. Daisy Design Shop |
I started by ordering A6 blank notecards and envelopes online. I wanted to be sure they were pre-scored for easy folding, but weren't already folded! That way I could put them through my printer, and would avoid scoring them myself. I found just the thing, affordably and using recycled paper, at Desktop Publishing Supplies. I was also super smart and ordered self-sealing envelopes. No more licking glue!!!
I initially tried using Powerpoint to make these because I'm really comfortable with the program. I managed to make the string and some triangles, but all the angles looked too harsh somehow.
making the image in Powerpoint just wasn't quite right... |
So then I went to Photoshop. I will say right now, for the record, that there is an insane learning curve with Photoshop!!! I couldn't even draw a line for the first hour! About four hours later, I had the image I wanted, but it was super pixelated and I didn't know why. I looked at some advice online, and it turns out I didn't have the image quality set properly. Not that changing it would change any of the shapes you've already made...
messing around with image quality |
So then I started over from scratch, but in higher image quality. This gave me ample opportunity to practice all the line and triangle drawing skills I had just learned. Another hour later, and I had the finished image!
Then I had to fight with my satanic printer for about half an hour.
wrestling with the printer to get a quality print job! |
Finally got them printed out all pretty. Now we just have to write in them!
Pennant thank you cards |
pennant thank you cards |
In the end, this project took about six hours and cost about $26 for 100 thank you cards (not counting ink) - bargain! Wayyy more time than I had imagined, but I did pick up new Photoshop skills, and created exactly the cards I'd been dreaming of.
And if you want some for yourself, they're available in my etsy shop!
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