I don’t know about you, but I have a tendency to forget about thank you notes when Christmas is approaching.  When Christmas is over, I remember — but then I have to scramble to find something to write them on!  It works much better to be prepared by making sure ahead of time that there are blank cards in the house.

The Best Note Cards

I was really excited to find these cards on Amazon!  NobleWorks is best known for their sometimes-irreverent line of humorous greeting cards.  (The snowman “stem cells” card is one of my personal favorites. Fair warning: some of the designs have strong language.)  However, they also have a presence on Amazon where they sell their “Best Note Cards” line of blank cards and thank you notes — and they are gorgeous!

Each set of ten includes ten unique designs based on a theme.  (In some sets all designs face the same direction; in other sets some are vertical and some are horizontal.)  Many sets — like the one shown above — are abstract, which is nice, because it means you don’t have to worry much about whether they’re appropriate for certain occasions over others.

Glam Rocks: 10 Assorted Blank Note CardsJust My Type: 10 Assorted Blank Note CardsM3024 Melbourne Stripes: 10 Assorted Thank You Note Cards

One of the things I love about these cards is that they’re not all girly!  Many times, card companies have a lot of floral or lacy patterns.  Those are nice enough, but a) they aren’t really my style, and b) it never feels right sending those to the guys!  (Seriously.  There’s something very weird about sending a flower-covered card to my brother-in-law.)  I love peacock copper, so the set below is one of my absolute favorites, but there are easily half a dozen or more sets that I would snap up right offhand: these two sets, of course, as well as trees, vintage typewriters, leaves, peacock feathers, etc.  Click here to browse the options.

More About the Cards

When a set of cards arrives, it’s packaged like this, with the cards, envelopes, and a sort of “proof sheet” all neatly packaged together:

Here, out of the plastic, you can see them a little better:

(Notice, too, that you can see what all ten designs look like.)  The cards come flat, so you’ll need to fold them.  I’ve found that if you fold them all, then stack them together with the folded edges all aligned, and pinch along the edge again (the folded edges of the whole stack), there’s something about the stacking that provides an added “oomph” to help crease the folds well.

Different card sets have different interiors.  Some, like these peacock copper cards, are just white inside.  Others, like the Aboriginal art, have a colored interior.

The only downside I’ve found is that the cards are not super-matte, so you may have to experiment a little with which pens work best, and certain inks may smear.  (Permanent markers work great!  Gel pens, not so much.)