A beautiful bride deserves some beautiful stationery!

You could, of course, create this stationery for any occasion, or just because it is extra-lovely to receive a lovingly handwritten note in this digital age! But it was created with my friend, who will shortly tie the knot, in mind.

A lot of the fun is in finding a font that you love. You can go for clean, ultra modern block text or delicate script, and get a totally different look. You can also get some amazing writing paper these days - I fell in love with the iridescent gold paper that I used, but there is so much out there. Thank-you notes are always needed in the weeks after the wedding, but some notecards celebrating the bride's new name are a classy personalised gift too.

You will need:

Beautiful writing paper (heavy-ish weight if possible)
Envelopes
Access to a Silhouette Cutter (we used a Portrait)
Access to a computer running Silhouette Studio

Step 1: Lay Out Your Note Card

First, you need to create your cut file. Measure your envelopes and create a box a little smaller (fig 1) - this will be the maximum area of your notecard, ensuring that the finished card will fit into the envelope!

Next, use the text tool to write your chosen word or phrase in your chosen font. The fonts I used were Noble Notes (thank you), KG Hard Candy Solid (Mrs Matthews) and Aharoni (hello there). All fonts were downloaded from Da Font.

Position your text just inside the top of your box, and enlarge or reduce the text until it runs the full length of the box but no larger (fig 2). Then reduce the height of the box so that it skirts the bottom of the text, ensuring that there is a good overlap, as we want it all to cut as one single sheet (fig 3).

Step 2: Create Your Cut File

Next, we need to turn the constituent parts into one solid sheet. Select all parts of the design by clicking on each while holding down the shift key. Right click and select weld (fig 4). This will turn all of the design into one cut line (fig 5).

You can then multiply the image to fit it on the page more than once, if you can (fig 6). This just saves a little on paper! Although I always save paper scraps as there are always little projects I can use them for...

Step 3: Cut Your Design

Once you have your cut file you can send it to the Silhouette to cut it! Remember to adjust your Silhouette cutter settings according to the paper you are using. I find that my Silhouette cuts a little deep so I tend to set the ratchet blade a step lower than recommended. If I am cutting an intricate design (like the Mrs Matthews design) I reduce the cutting speed much lower than recommended, to ensure a clean, accurate cut.

Step 4: Package Nicely and Gift!

Once your note cards are cut, carefully remove them from the cutting mat, using a hook tool if necessary. Once you have done that, all that remains is to package them nicely and give them to the recipient! A thoughtful, personal and practical gift to a new bride or anyone else :-) I hope you like them!