Marbled Paper Thank You Notes

I am a firm believer in thank-you notes.  If someone gives you a nice gift, the least you can do is write a note telling them that you appreciate their kindness.  (This is especially important if the gift came by mail.  Otherwise, how does the giver even know that it arrived?)  For the record, I don't think there's anything wrong with an emailed thank-you. And a thank-you phone call is obviously great too.  But in this household, we usually send thank-you notes.  And we make them ourselves.  

Here are the thank-you notes Trevor sent to the family and friends who helped him celebrate his birthday.

If you've never tried paper marbling, you should!  This method is so easy and fun.  It features one of my all-time favorite crafting materials, Sta-Flo liquid starch.  (If you're not familiar with it, I blogged about it when Trevor and I made tissue paper carrots last year.)

Materials: Sta-Flo liquid starch, acrylic paints, white cardstock, wooden skewer or toothpick, and two pans, each larger than the size of your paper.

 

Begin by filling one pan with water.  Pour liquid starch in the second pan.  It should be about an inch deep.  Squirt several drops of paint onto the surface of the starch.  Ideally, the paint should rest on the surface.  If it sinks (like the dark green did in this picture), dilute the paint slightly with water before adding more drops.  

 

Draw the skewer through the paint to create a marbeled look.  Don't stir, as this will muddle the colors.  

 

When you are satisfied with how it looks, it's time to apply it to the paper.  Hold the paper with one hand on each side and bend it so that the middle touches the starch first.  Then lower the sides gently so that the paper floats on the surface.

 

Gently remove the paper and move it to the pan of water.  Swirl the water around VERY gently to wash off the starch.  Don't touch the paint or it will smear.    

 

Carefully remove the paper from the water and lay it onto a flat surface to dry.  (We put ours on the warm pavement.)  If your marbled paper curls once it's dry, either press it under a heavy book or iron it on a very low setting.  

After our marbled papers were dry, Trevor started with the writing portion of the thank-you notes.  He was fortunate to have many friends and family help him celebrate his birthday, which meant lots of notes to write - a difficult task for someone who just turned six.

I made the task a little bit easier by introducing Trevor to a cool tool, the Fiskars Stamp Press.  We put the words "Thanks so much for the" on the Stamp Press and he stamped them onto each card.

Then all he had to do was write the person's name and what gift they gave him.  At the end, he stamped "Love" and signed his name.

Stamping six little words saved him a lot of writing over the course of many cards.  And he enjoyed the stamping so much he was happy to finish a card and move on to the next!  Can't beat that!