Giving Thanks

When you're engaged, you have a lot of reasons to send thank you notes.  I've been to celebratory happy hours and engagement parties and I still have bridal showers and all that other fun on the horizon.  It took me a few months to get my stride and figure out exactly what I wanted but I finally came up with a thank you note system that no one else has.

For my first major DIY project I made our thank you notes from scratch.  I didn't set out wanting to do this but after sorting through too many options that weren't right for us, the thought came to me that I could just do this myself.  Although it took me a bit of time, it wasn't anything I needed special skills to complete.  I plan on using this technique in the future and I hope this tutorial is helpful for people who want to do something similar.

The supplies needed are:
-sheets of 15x15 navy card stock
-sheets of 15x15 cream paper
-pack of cream 5x7 envelopes (same cream as paper)
-hole punch (purchased previously from Overstock)
-spray adhesive
-paper cutter
-glue gun
-navy wax for glue guns (nostalgicimpressions.com)
-fleur de lis wax seal (gartnerstudios.com)

I purchased most of the items at Hobby Lobby and the paper was on sale for 40% off so I stocked up (hoping this wouldn't be a flop).  I used my paper cutter to cut the navy card stock to 5x7 and the cream paper to 4.75 x 6.75. I got three cards out of each sheet of paper, as seen here:

I plan to use the excess paper later - maybe for escort cards?

I then punched a fleur de lis in the lower right corner of each piece of cream paper.  (Side note - in a perfect world the hole would have been at the top but this didn't work with the punch I have.)

I then sprayed the back of the cream paper with spray adhesive and stuck them on to the blue card stock.  

After writing each note and stuffing it in the envelope, I stamped each front with our custom address stamp (purchased on etsy).

I then used a drop of wax on the seal of the envelope and pressed the wax seal into it.

I held the seal down for 10-20 seconds and then voila!  My bridesmaid Nole suggested using a wax seal on our invitations and I thought it would be a good way to tie everything together from here on out.

So that's that!  Are they perfect?  No, but that is kind of the point.  No one else has these cards and it sets the tone for the rest of our wedding.  I really do plan on using this technique for Christmas cards and other notes in the future. 

How did you personalize your wedding?  

(All photos personal.)