DIY Cards

I have a love-hate relationship with thank you cards.  I find that it's really nice to let people know how much I've appreciated what they've done, but there's something about buying a pack of cards, writing out a generic message, slapping a stamp on the envelope, and sending it off to its inevitable destination in the garbage that makes me feel a little queasy.

After our wedding, my mom suggested we send a photo of the ceremony, or of Calgary, or Something, as a gesture of thanks for the gifts we received.  I liked this idea, especially since people seemed to like the wedding invitations I made.

I had to figure out a good way to go about it.  If I had a decent printer, I could just print on cardstock, fold accordingly, and have them ready to go - but I don't.  If I were just sending a few thank-yous, I could outsource the work, and have a photo place make really nice-looking cards - but I had a lot more than a few to send.  So what did I do?  Well...

First I went to a photo kiosk and printed out a few different photos I had taken around Calgary, and on our honeymoon.  I decided to go with small prints (3x4) because I kind of liked the idea of a small, personal-sized, card.  Then I got some necessary materials together to actually turn the photos into cards - cardstock, a ruler, tape, and an exacto knife.

I cut the cardstock down to the same size as the photos, and started to hinge each photo to a piece of cardstock, but quickly noticed the tape I had was pretty nasty, and transferring dirt/hair/who-knows-what-else, to the insides of the cards.

So I ran to the nearest office supplies store and found filing labels - about four bucks for 160, which was more than worth it!  Not only did the insides of the cards look nicer, but it was much quicker to attach the photo to the cardstock with a precut piece of adhesive.  

So, after about fifteen dollars and a couple hours, I had produced sixty cards that I felt good about sending out - much more personal, and much more likely to stick around a house for a little while.

This was a good experiment for me, and I think I'll be able to figure out better ways to make cards in the future.  Until then, I'm pretty happy with the way these turned out.