Weddingbee Blog

We’ve already learned about dotted lines, glyphs, zig zag lines, and black & white effects, so I bet you’re wondering what could possibly come next. Today we’re going to use clipping masks to make a thank you card.

I know, I know, what a strangely specific thing to write about, right? But when I read Starfish’s post about thank you cards, I started wondering how else you could incorporate wedding photos into thank you cards— aside from the liners she made—besides the standard photo with ’thank you’ on top.

This is what I think of when I typically think of a wedding thank you card (Well, at least before I started reading Weddingbee and finding out about all those great ideas, anyway!):

(source)

Here’s what we’re going to make:

Okay, here we go! I took a ton a screen shots, but I promise, this is totally doable for beginners because it’s soooo easy!

A quick FYI to avoid confusion: Masks (aside from specific clipping masks) in Photoshop are different than making a clipping mask in Illustrator. This post is just about Illustrator.

Pretend you got married on a beach and want to put that photo on your card, like this photo. You can use any photo though,  even one of you making kissy faces your new hubby. This is how you would do it.

For this, I highly recommend using a bold and/or condensed typeface. They’ll work the best. Here are some examples (I’m using Poplar).

Step 1) Place your image into Illustrator by going to File > Place and selecting the image you wish to use.

Step 2) Make a new text box and type thank you in the typeface you wish. I made the “you” a little extra big because I’m cool like that.

Step 3) Click on your “Thank You” to select it and place it on top of your image.

Note: in order for this to work, the words have to be on the top. If they’re not, bring it to the front by going to Object > Arrange > Bring to Front.

Here’s the thank you on top of the image:

Step 4) Click on your “thank you” to select it and choose Type> Create Outlines.

Step 5) Select your “Thank You” and choose Object > Compound Path > Make.

After you chose “Compound Path” this is what your “thank you” will look like:

Step 6) Here’s where the magic happens! Select both the image and the “thank you” and click Object > Clipping Mask > Make.

It’s that simple! There you have it!

Good work, team!

Anybody else making clipping masks? Better yet, any ideas for future posts (aside from scalloped edges— they are on the way soon!)?