Thank You Notes

I tried taking the past couple of weeks off to recover from the madness of Christmas. But I have started to reach the point that boredom has set in and I really want to get back to work. That sounds like such a self indulgent thing to moan about but I find it genuinely hard to sit down and do nothing since 90% of my time I'm making/selling/sorting something. Since I got back to Limerick I've really tried to force myself to do nothing, and take time to chill out. This is easier to do when there are friends around, but on Friday evening I found myself at a bit of a lose end and within an hour I was in the studio tidying up after my hectic Christmas. After a little Spring cleaning i noticed that I didn't have any online sale thank you cards prepped, before I knew it the blank cards and scissors were out of their boxes.

You may remember this thank you card tutorial I did earlier in the year. I tweaked the design a little using blue ink instead of red, which matches my logo better. I also added some 'stitching' around the edge to bring in more blue, it's easily done with a pen. I used a bird stamp instead of the scissors one just to change it up a little too. In the end I got 50 notecards made, which should keep me going for a little while. It was so nice to be back in the studio again, I think I'll ease myself slowly back into things this week(although I have an exciting/distracting new toy arriving in the post soon which I'll tell you all about later!)

PS: If you are looking for more How-To's I compiled a whole list of them here for your perusing pleasure!
Pin It

Thank You Notes: A Simple How-To

I include thank you notes with all of my online orders. I always make them in bulk though so I have them ready to hand when I get my orders. It's a nice little touch that makes my work stand out from the crowd and makes it more personal. People shop on etsy for these little extra handmade touches, it's part of what sets it apart from buying from faceless multinationals.

In an effort to keep costs low I make my own rather than buying them. I always take notice more of a handwritten card, rather than a business card thrown in with the order. Here is a simple how-to for how I made my most recent cards:

You will need:

Scissors

Ink pad(two colours preferably)

Clear stamps of your own choosing

X-cut corner cutter(optional)

Blank Cards(small)I used something similar to these 

Envelope(optional but it makes it nicer)

Printing sticker paper(optional)

1. Since I make cards I also have lots of odds and ends of cards lying about the place. I used these small white 3x3in cards. Since I have more spare envelopes than cards I have chosen to cut them in half so I can get better value for money. For a neater finish cut either side on the centre crease,making 2 cuts.

2. I love rounded corners on cards, I think it adds something elegant to them, I know it's more work but it's worth those few extra minutes. You can get one here at a reasonable price, and it's great value for money, I use mine all the time.

3. Since I sell crafty items I chose a scissors and thread stamp from my collection( I also like that it kind of matches my tattoo). I've been building up my collection over the past year because I make cards, but you can easily pick these up in your local craft shop. I first stamped on my image using black ink. I then found a thank you stamp and used red ink for the lettering to make it stand out more.

4. It's always important to keep on branding yourself. I made up these little stickers in photoshop in a few minutes. I added my website address below my logo, and also the facebook, twitter and blogger logos so people know that they can search my business name and find me. This is a lot tidier than typing out all the address, handy when working with a small space. Weirdly I picked up a pack of 10 sheets of sticker paper in my local €2 shop, and I can use in my printer at home which is really handy. I fit about 40 of these stickers on a sheets, the sheets cost €0.20, so that works out cheap as chips!

5. I put the sticker on the reverse of the card, and write my message of thanks to my customer just below it.