DIY Embellished Cards

I have a simple and fun DIY project for you today! In fact, it's so easy that I hesitate to even call it a DIY. But sometimes "easy" is the best kind of project--hard to mess up, not a ton of concentration involved, while totally satisfying that creative bug. And the end result is pretty beautiful, if I do say so!

I love sending handmade cards to family and friends and what I normally do is buy plain note cards and then just dress them up a little bit. I like cards that are simple and clean, so my embellishments tend to add just a tiny hint of personality and life to an otherwise boring card. Just enough to make the card feel special and feel like me.

What I did was buy several different types of note cards at Michaels--indigo blue with matching envelopes, brown Kraft-style cards with tiny raised polka dots, and two sets of blocked letter "Thank You" cards (a set of 8 on sale for a dollar!). Then I bought some "doctoring up" supplies--dainty blush-colored pearl stickers, a gold leaf pen, a stamp and white ink pad, gorgeous finely ground "smoky quartz" glitter, and a glue pen.

I couldn't wait to get home and get to work. I did some experimenting and these are the cards I ended up with.

A happy coincidence is that while I was taking these photos yesterday, I learned that it was National Handwriting Day! So I decided to send one of my newly made cards to a friend who recently got married (subconsciously I think I was most excited to write her new name on the outside of the envelope!). Any excuse to write a good old-fashioned letter on a pretty homemade card, I say.