Cards and more cards!

Last Saturday night I hosted a major event. Well, I almost hosted a major event. I was supposed to host this galactically important major event before I caught the hurling crud from Katie.

Thirteen of my card-making, paper-crafting, super-creative friends and I got together for a ginormous (could I use any more superlatives in this post?) card making party!

I originally hatched the idea in April, when I looked at my hand-made card stash and realized all I had was baby cards. And I needed 5 birthday, 2 Mother's Day, 4 graduation and 9 thank you cards. I thought to myself, "How can I get a bunch of cards without doing all the work myself?" Because seriously, I love to make my own cards but am always waiting until the last minute to make them. I need a stash, man. I needed to lay in a supply.

So I started planning a big party. It took us awhile to get our schedules together and it was worth it! The party was a blast. Except for the part where I couldn't get my sorry butt out of bed to a) clean my house and b) design a card.

Enter my friend and neighbor, Monica, who was planning to come to the ginormous, important, galactically - uh, whatever. That's her card up there.

She called me Friday, the day before the party, to ask a simple question and got my garbled, weak and completely lack-luster voice on the phone. She determined I was sick and then said she'd have the party at her house. Being the control freak that I am, I told her no, I'd feel better the next day, when I would clean my entire house, make party food, catch up on my laundry, design a card and set up all the tables necessary for the extravaganza.

When your brain is fried and feverish and your stomach is churning, you think things are reasonable when they aren't. Monica let me live in this fantasy world until the next morning, when she called again and here's what she said this time;

"Karen, I know you're sick so what do you need? I'm available to help you clean your house, set up tables and design your card. What do you want me to do?"

Is that not the mark of a true friend? I was absolutely humbled by her selflessness! So I responded, "Is the offer of doing this gig at your house still open?" She said, "Of course!" so that's what happened. Her husband, Rick, cleaned their entire house, he and Duane set up tables and I just showed up for party time. Still felt a little shaky but the party must go on!

Here's how we did it; we carved out a small space for each of our cards at one of the many tables Monica had ready. These were little "stations" that had the demo card plus all the materials needed to make one for yourself. Throughout the night we rotated through each station, making cards and drinking cosmos.

There were strict instructions - we were to do no cutting, punching or stamping on the cards - that was to be done by the designer, before coming to the party. The only thing we did at the end of the party was stamp a greeting (or sentiment) inside the card. That way we could all choose whether we wanted a card to be a thank you, birthday, Mother's Day, etc. I brought all my ink pads and "word" stamps for that purpose. It was such a blast! We're going to do the same thing next fall and make all Christmas cards. I know, I'm a genius.

Here are some of the cards we made:

Melissa's holding the card Lisa designed. She was so funny - in the middle of all the card making she said, "I feel like I'm stealing!" We all brought one card design but took home 18. It kinda did feel like we were taking too much!

Shannon and her daughter, Sam, came and Shannon made this card -

Isn't this a cute little Thanksgiving card?

Here are more examples -

Kathy's card,

Bethany's card,

Jenn's card,

Melissa's card,

Heather made a cute strawberry-themed card that I brought home and haven't finished yet. She was Matthew's 4th-grade teacher. It feels weird calling her by her first name.

It was the best card party EVER! Of course, cosmos make everything a bit more fun, wouldn't you say?

Do you guys make cards? If so, leave me your email address in the comments and I'll make sure to include you next fall for the big Christmas card gig!