Blue Hydrangea Birthday

For several years our family joined friends for a week-long vacation in Cape Cod. And every year the blue hydrangeas were in full bloom while we were there and they were absolutely beautiful! I don’t recall seeing this variety in Vermont. Here they all tend to be the white or cream variety of hydrangea. On the Cape the majority are the blue ones with a sprinkling here and there of pink ones. I find them much more pretty than the plain ones we have here. Is it something about the soil because it’s near the ocean? Is it the climate and these colored varieties need the temperatures to be a bit more mild? I’m sure that there’s a horticulturalist that knows – but it definitely is NOT me. I’m totally a black thumb!

I made a small batch of these cards for the September card ministry. I had an itch to use this beautiful stamp set, but the blending takes a bit of time that isn’t scalable for mass production. Also, after I had the sample created it seems kind of stiff to me. What? You may be wondering – and rightly so! There’s a tale to tell here… Last month, for the first time ever, the church had some cards returned that they had sent for the card ministry. The card ministry coordinator took them to the Post Office and inquired what was up. They checked the cards out and said that they were too rigid, and therefore were non-machineable. Sending non-machineable cards requires extra postage, so she paid the extra to send the cards on their way. There was nothing exceptional about the cards last month. I have made cards in the past that were just as rigid. I have also recently had a couple cards come back to me as non-machineable, so I decided that we’re seeing a trend. What was fine before is now being rejected by the Post Office. I wonder if there is a new sorting machine in VT that is now more sensitive. When I asked at the Post Office the clerk laughed in a friendly way and said that the PO never gets anything new. However, I just did an internet search and apparently the Essex sorting facility was slated for a new machine in 2024. I don’t know if it happened, but there may be something to my suspicion… despite what the Post Office employee said. I took one of these cards to my local PO and the wonderful, friendly guy at the counter confirmed that it is too stiff for the sorting machine. I purchased some non-machineable stamps to include with the cards so the church doesn’t have to pay the extra postage. And thanked my stars that I made a small number of cards and not a big one.

Thankful Garden Photopolymer Stamp Set (English) [165526] $24.00	Year Of Flowers Cling Stamp Set (English) [165367] $26.00	Thankful Garden Decorative Masks [165538] $13.00	Stylish Shapes Dies [159183] $30.00
Blending Brushes [153611] $15.00	Stampin' Dimensionals [104430] $4.25	Cloud Cover 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock [165621] $14.00	Secret Sea 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock [165624] $14.00
Basic White 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock [166780] $14.00	Classic Stampin' Spot Small Assortment 1 [166716] $19.00	Balmy Blue Classic Stampin' Pad [147105] $9.00	Azure Afternoon Classic Stampin' Pad [161663] $9.00
Granny Apple Green Stampin' Pad [147095] $9.00	Old Olive Classic Stampin' Pad [147090] $9.00	Secret Sea Classic Stampin' Pad [165285] $9.00