Handmade Wedding Thank-You Notes

For a cute twist on personalized thank-you notes, send gift-givers postcards of you and your groom wearing clothing emblazoned with messages.

These special cards are perfect for special guests who deserve a truly creative thank you. Don't be shy about your artistic ability: You'll need to sketch only simple outlines -- the colors and the body of the fibers complete the picture -- so they are easy to make.

Photo postcards allow you to share your wedding-day memories -- and they are simple to create. The deckled edges and stamped "Post Card" heading evoke correspondence from the early 20th century.

Dainty Victorian-era engravings of birds culled from a clip-art book and then color-photocopied become elegant winged messengers bearing tiny three-dimensional missives of thanks.

Make a garden's worth of these note cards to thank your guest. Convert store-bought cards into this pop-up flower stationery, or create your own from lovely patterned papers. Before you send off your spring wishes, adorn each envelope with a matching flower seal.

Stationery doesn't have to be expensive to impress. Personalize thank-you notes by using an embosser to stamp prepackaged cards and envelopes. You can buy an embosser and have plates made at an office-supply or specialty shop.

Your wedding day will be filled with generous gestures by family and friends, and a handmade thank-you note is an especially gracious way to express your appreciation.

To create personalized stationery, apply pressed pansies to handmade cards or to notepaper and matching envelopes. Pansies pressed on their stems work especially well for this project.

These charming paper-cutout greeting cards and envelopes display flowers of the month. One continuously cut image, such as the salmon-pink carnation, provides flowers for cards and envelopes -- negative and positive images. Several papers went into the daffodil (top center).

These cards look like duo-tone prints, but they're actually made with digital snapshots. Software can be used to convert pictures of pets and other animals to black and white and to amplify the contrast. Then the shapes are cut out and glued to cards. Botanical images and other photos of nature also work well for this project.

A calligraphed monogram from your wedding ceremony or a clip-art letter can be scanned into your computer and used as either a graceful embellishment or a bold graphic detail. A single repeated letter or a pair of initials makes a splashy customized cover for a note card.

Make an impression with ink-block printing, an art form dating back to ninth-century China. Once you've cut out a design, these cards (or envelopes) can be generated quickly.