Thank You Card Projects

• Say "Thank You" in a personal way by making your own cards. Influx Productions/Photodisc/Getty Images

  Everyone loves to receive recognition in the form of a thank you card. You do not have to be an artist to become a master at this thoughtful gesture, and it is well worth the effort, because both the sender and the receiver feel a glow of accomplishment. To write a thank you note, you must have something to write upon, so creating a memorable thank you note card is the place to start. In fact, with a creative card, you may not have to say much more than, "Thank You."

Collage

• Make a collage using pictures and words clipped from magazines that relate to the reason thanks are due. For example, if a friend took care of your plants and mail while you were out of town, select pictures of plants and watering cans, envelopes and mailboxes, and arrange them on a card in a pleasing design. Glue them down, and write a sincere "thank you." If someone brought you a special bottle of wine, glue the label on the front of a note card for a personal, memorable thank you card.

Photos

• Enclose photos of an occasion you shared, and glue one of them on the cover of the note card. Or write your thank you on the back of a 4-inch by 6-inch postcard-size photo print, address it and mail as a postcard.

Enclosures

• Enclose tickets, a gift card, a packet of flower or vegetable seeds, a gift certificate, or a pile of discount coupons into a thank you card. Anything that will fit into an envelope as a little bonus will make your thank you a treasure.

A Block Print

• Carve a linoleum block with a design based on the words "Thank You," and print cards using water-based printing inks or acrylic paints. This technique is more labor intensive up front, but you can re-use the block for years, stockpile prints for future needs, and vary the color and paper to keep the design fresh looking.

Multiple copies

• If you need to create a group of thank you cards to respond to a special occasion like a shower, scan a flower, a leaf, a dried weed or a butterfly. Save the scan as a jpeg file, size it to fit the front of a note card, print as many copies as you need and glue them in place to form the cover of your thank your cards.