Too cutesy for my own good!

Unlike many of you, I didn't get creative asking my bridesmaids to be, well, my bridesmaids.

(Unlike mplnewsdallas, who had these beautiful cards custom-made!)
I asked most of my ladies in person, and one over the phone. Luckily they all said yes, despite my lack of effort. ;) Speaking of which, if any of my bridesmaids is reading this, shoo!

Well, I decided to make it up to them with more thoughtful thank you cards. After all, I kind of knew they would all say yes, being my three best friends and my two step-sisters. I mean, they're kind of stuck with me! But that didn't mean that they had to do anything for me after agreeing (and, hey, some of them didn't, but that's a story for another day!)—so I made up for my early laziness with some homemade thank you cards.

I know I'm not much of a DIY bride—printing some thank you cards and lining an envelope or two...hundred does not put me on a level with our most talented Bees!—but when I saw these adorable cards on Etsy, I couldn't help but think, "HEY! I can do that!"

(source)
So I started by assessing my resources. I still had quarter-sheet size ivory envelopes and ivory card stock from the thank you card "project," and black linen cardboard scraps that didn't get used for the programs or rehearsal dinner invitations.

I started by printing up a background or "frame" in Microsoft Word. I made a two-column document and inserted two clip art images (also known as, the same image twice) that were the size of a quarter-sheet of paper on the right top and right bottom.


Because I was feeling cutesy, I also wrote in a little "Handmade with ♥ by [Spaniel]" on the left, and printed three copies on my black and white laser printer.

Then, looking at a picture of the bridesmaid dress, I drew a rough silhouette of the dress on black card stock and cut it by hand.

(bridesmaid dress photo source)
Then I used the "template" and traced the waistline onto a piece of ivory card stock to draw the sash in the correct size, and cut the bow/ribbon from a separate piece of ivory card stock—an extra layer for texture. Then I glued them all together onto the card and, voilà! Bridesmaid thank you card!


I love that it didn't take too long, because I plan to pour my heart out into the content, instead. :)

How are you thanking your bridesmaids?