This is the batch of birthday cards that I made for the August birthdays in our church. I made 12 of each color combination because that used up each sheet of patterned paper for that combination. As I’ve said before, I tend to be pretty frugal and I love using every square centimeter of the paper. I really loved the Inked Botanicals paper that was in the last Annual Catalog and it seemed perfect to use some for the church card ministry this month. I also pulled out some coordinating retired ribbon because I have spools and spools of the stuff. It’s very satisfying to use some of it up. The spools have so much on them that it takes quite a while, but I’ll count every victory even if I didn’t finish off any of the 3 that I used. I made a dent!

I have a slightly funny story about the card making this month. I don’t learn the number of cards that are needed until fairly late in the month. That seems to be the timing that the card ministry matron learns who is on the list. At any rate, I sometimes work ahead so I don’t have to scramble at the last minute. This was one of those months – I knew that last year we had quite a few August birthdays, so I wanted to get a head start. On a rainy weekend I designed these and then worked in stages over a few days to get all 36 finished. If I needed more, I had all the measurements and could make another 12 if needed. Anyway… on Wednesday I received a panicked call from the gal who runs the ministry. The person who is sending the August cards was in a tizzy because she needed the cards before she headed out of town on vacation. I asked how many she needed, and it turned out I already had it covered. Whew! I was able to do a quick run down to the church office to drop them off, and all was well. Thank goodness for early preparation the flexibility of working at home!

Lastly, I want to call out my friend Heather for the card design inspiration. She recently shared the measurements on her Facebook page (North Avenue Ink) and I just had to give it a try. I had commented that the design was right up my alley and it absolutely is. I had a lot of fun making these cards – thanks for the great layout Heather!

Product List
Calypso Coral 1/4" Ombre Ribbon
Calypso Coral 1/4″ Ombre Ribbon
[144235]
$7.00