Ever find yourself with a gift but no thank you readily available? Just remembered it's your friend/Co workers birthday tomorrow, but it's too late to run to the store? Have a friend who could use a kind note but you don't have any stationary around? It seems like these events pop up out of nowhere and running to the store to grab a card isn't always convenient (or affordable, $5 for a basic card!? You've gotta be kidding me!) Today I'm going to share my quick, easy and relatively inexpensive DIY note station. This can easily be custamizable to fit your needs, taste, space and budget.
All you will need is:
- A Container to hold your supplies (I used a simple Letter Holder I found at Target for $4.99, however you can find similar things at a dollar store, on sale or use a basket or other container that fits your needs/space)
- Cards: Thank You's, Blank Stationary, Birthday, Graduation, Wedding, etc. Whatever you typically need. I am a recent college graduate and I have a ton of friends getting married so I need a lot of Thank You's and Wedding cards right now. It's always a good idea to have a lot of blank stationary that you can use for any occasion. I get most of my cards/stationary from Targets dollar section. I cant help but check out the dollar section every time I run into Target (my mom and I could spend a ton of money and hours digging through there if we let ourselves). I always find the cutest packs of cards ($1-$3 depending on the amount) and now they even have more decorative cards for special occasions for $1.
- Stamps: I always stick with forever stamps because you never have to worry about the price changing. These are probably the most expensive item in the entire station, I picked some up today (May of 2016) and it cost me $9.40, no real way around this though unless you hand deliver all your letters then you can leave this out.
- Return address labels: Again if you hand deliver everything you can skip this step, or if you prefer to just right the return address that is a cheaper option. I get my return address labels from Shutterfly. Every once in awhile they will send out an e-mail for a free sheet of return address labels, all you pay is shipping. So you can simply customize a sheet of return address labels (they always have a ton of cute designs to choose from) and pay the shipping (about $2.99 right now) and you have some inexpensive beautiful return address labels. I also hang on to ones that I get free in the mail (from people asking you to donate money) although they usually have cartoons and things on them which isn't really my style so I don't end up using them too often, but good to have just in case.
Here is my little Note Station set up (a bit bare right now while I'm working on reorganizing my entire room and deciding where I want everything to go)
Don't mind all the clutter of containers surrounding, I'm finding a way to better organize this little crafting nook. I store my little Note Station on top of this Drawer Rolling Store Cart I use to keep scrapbooking/craft supplies in. I like to make my own cards sometimes so its nice to have everything right there. This is also right next to my desk where I keep all my pens so I can quickly grab something to write with and I have a writing space right there ready to use. This station is nice and compact and easy to grab and take somewhere else in the house as well if I don't feel like writing my letters right there. Everything stays pretty snug in the little Letter Holder so I don't have to worry about things falling out while I carry it. You cold also grab a little bucket from the Target dollar section (I have a million, they always have a bunch of fun styles/prints) or an old cup and set it next to the Station to have a place to keep pens. If you use this medal Letter Holder you could even attach a magnet to your favorite pen and stick it right on front for easy grab and go.
Starting from the front and working our way back, the first thing I have tucked inside my Letter Holder are my stamps.
I leave a tiny part of the end sticking out so they are easy to grab and pull out. You could also attach a post it note, piece of tape or those see-through colored tabs post-it has to make a little tab to more easily pull them out.
In the front section (1/3) I have all my cards that have things written on them. Right now I have ones that say: "hooray!", "Thanks A Bunch!", "Thanks!" and "Thank you". The first 3 all came in packs of 8 (cards and envelopes) and were only $1 at Target (Dollar Section). I took them out of their wrappers (I've already used half of each of them) and place each card with the envelope to make them easy to grab. If you have/want a ton of variety but want it to fit in a smaller container like this you could place a 1-2 cards in the station and store the rest away in a drawer or cabinet until you need to add more. I'm don't have as many cards right now so all mine pretty much fit.
"horray!" Blank inside cards
"Thanks a Bunch!" Blank inside cards
"Thanks!" Blank inside cards
Some old thank you cards I had from a long time ago, not sure where from or cost. All I know is that they are by American Greeting.
Next section (2/3) I have completely blank cards that can be used for any occasion.
Some polka dot cards, that are really old and I cant remember where I got them/cost.
A cute pack of blank cards tied in bakers twine, once again from Target, $1
Some more old cards I had lying around
These are from target but not the dollar section, I was obsessed with these awhile back, I couldn't find them online but I know they aren't more then a few dollars. You can find them in the invitation card section, the brand is Spritz. I just loved the simplicity and the unique cute out design. It doesn't open up, it is just a single piece of cards stock.
Another design.
Some more old, Blank cards
At the very back of this section I put extra envelopes I had from messing up in a card or using the card for scrapbooking or another craft. These are great to have just incase a envelope goes missing, you make a mistake with the address, or the envelope somehow gets beat up.
The third and final section (3/3) I put a bunch of single cards I have for upcoming occasions or ones I just bought because I liked them. a month ago I had some baby shower ones mixed in but I have since been to all my baby showers and used all my baby shower cards. Right now I have a few wedding ones for all the upcoming weddings/bridal showers (I still need to go out and grab a few more).
These cards "Mr. & Mrs." and the banner of hearts were from the $1 section at Target. Each card comes with an envelope and costs $1. A little more expensive then the packs of cards but way cheaper then regular greeting cards. These also have gems, glitter and other decorative elements on them making them cost a little more. I left these in their wrappers to keep the gems from getting ripped off.
I also got these, 2 Valentine, and one wedding one "Love" that could be used for Valentine's day as well (its blank inside) all 3 $1 each.
And in the very back of the final section I keep all my return address labels, I cut the extra boarder off around them so they fit better and look neater. I have a few different ones I have been collecting over the years.
One more recent purchase was this pack of 24 blank note card sets (card and envelope). I got this in the Target dollar section for $3. It has 4 different color cards/envelopes, I thought these would be perfect for simple notes or to dress up with fun stickers to make them a little more personable.
These came in a nice little plastic box that stands up well and I haven't opened them yet so instead of placing some inside the station and storing the rest (since I'm not currently storing any others right now) I decided to just stick them behind the station for the time being.
Since I don't have a large variety of different cards and its easy for me to remember which ones are where and quickly grab them, I didn't really need to label them (plus I like the current look without labels. But if you have a larger variety or like to be able to quickly and easily see what's where without sliding anything out you can easily add little tabs with post-its, or the little see-through colored tabs that post-it makes that I mentioned above. Post-its will easily peel off the envelopes without damaging them so you can place them right onto the first card and have sections such as "Thank you's", "Birthday", etc. You could also use note cards to separate each section and place them vertically to have a tab sticking out above the cards, or horizontally and allow a tab to stick out the side.
There is a lot you can do with this DIY station to make it fit your budget, style and space.
If you didn't need the stamps or the labels and you wanted to start off with a simple station you could use 3 packs (24) of $1 cards and a pack of $3 blank cards, and you could get everything you need at Target and make this for ~$11
You could make it even cheaper with a Letter Holder from a dollar store. The dollar store also has a decent card selection where you can find cards for just about any occasion.
For my personal Note Station the total cost came to Approx.: $43.39
Break down by category:
Letter Holder from Target = $4.99
3 packs of thank you cards at $1 each = $3
1 pack of blank cards at $1 each = $1
2 packs of spritz cards, unknown cost, guessing around $3.50 = ~$7
6 special occasion cards at $1 a piece = $6
24 count of blank cards = $3
3 sets of "free" address labels from Shutterfly with cost of shipping approx. $2.99 = ~$9
Stamps: $9.40 (the most expensive item)
Making each card and each label:
I have 60 cards (not including the old ones I didn't know the cost for) total cost ~$20, ~$0.33 per card
104 Address labels (not including the completely free ones I didn't show) total cost ~$9, ~$0.11 per label.
Hope you all enjoyed this simple DIY.
This is something I kind of threw together over time without really meaning to make it, just a simple system that works for me, so it wasn't originally something I was trying to make budget friendly but it came together in the end. I thought it might be something useful for others as well.
If you make your own I would love to see it! You can share it in the comments below or share it on Instagram with the hashtag #DIYNoteStation
You can follow me on Insta @auntie_m_25 :)
