![designing handmade thank you cards designing handmade thank you cards](http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wwyEkkbcWd8/UinvII8RmdI/AAAAAAAAClI/3fT2riKQp7I/s200/KISS-8.jpg)
Thank-you cards always sell fast in my Etsy shop. I make them with pages from old books and a round "thank you" stamp. They're ok, but for a downtown gallery -- shouldn't I add some pizzazz? Bad idea.
Here's how I refined my over-complicated designs into a simple but attractive notecard.
My first idea started with a TV. Specifically, a photo of an old-fashioned TV in a microwave cookbook from the 70s. What if I made it look like the "thank you" was actually on the TV screen? How fun would that be?
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Wood grain is so underrated. |
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Not your mother's cookie. |
I knew where to find illustrations that would match the look of the stamp -- in the old Golden Book Encyclopedias I'd just gotten. The pages were filled with lots and lots of round things.
![retro illustration for thank you card retro illustration for thank you card](http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-f0FfYIViGq4/UinuLgZQk3I/AAAAAAAACk8/kDaHsUgundA/s400/KISS-7.jpg)
Hmm, kind of cool, but the "thank you" gets lost in the details. A busy card like this might confuse the recipient -- "Hunh? Why is Sarah sending me a card about coal?"
At this point, my design process was interrupted by a visit from Martha Stewart. Not in person, but in the form of a paper punch I couldn't resist. It produces paper "thank yous" with a simple squeeze.
I returned to the retro illustrations and put the punch to work. I played around with lots of different designs. Here's the one I ended up with.
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Tiger, tiger burning bright...into my retinas! |
His face got that look. The one that says, "I don't love it, but I don't want to hurt her feelings so I'm not sure what to say." I can take it, I told him. After coaxing, he said the letters made his eyes hurt. Uh oh.
I went back to the original card, the one that customers seemed to like. How to incorporate the new punch letters with the book pages? Here was my first try.
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The Sally Field of thank you cards. |
Just right.
What do you think? How do you know when enough is enough -- or too much? Do you start simple and add, or do what I did -- start big, then remove and simplify?
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