----- originally posted on January 6, 2014 -----
I'm not very good at mailing things. Perhaps part of the problem with card making is that I'm so focused on making the card that I never actually get around to mailing the card. Terrible, I know... It doesn't mean that I don't have good intentions. In fact, I write letters to people in my head all the time. Hmmm, I guess that doesn't really count...
So this past weekend, I came up with a plan. Enter The 52 Week Card Project. My goal is to send one card out a week to someone I think about regularly. I knew that in order for this to work, I'd have to make it easy for myself, so I did all the legwork now while I had the energy and motivation. Hopefully, this will make things way easier for me in the future, whether I'm writing card number 2 or I'm at week 52...
So, here's what I did. First I made a list of 52 people in my life who I wanted to let know that I think of them. I went through my phone contacts and my Little Pink Book to help me out. I cheated a bit and put some people down twice - people I think about a lot but don't tell them enough (like my little bros). I included a nice mix of family, current friends, old friends, and colleagues - anyone who crossed my mind at some point during the year and who I thought would enjoy a little note tucked in their snail mail amongst their bills and catalogs on a random day.
Then I spent an afternoon tracking down everyone's addresses. I dug through my stack of Christmas cards, sent out e-mails to my parents getting addresses for relatives, used the handy dandy online white pages, and shot out a few random texts and e-mails. I got back a lot of responses fairly quickly. I typed all of them in and made 52 address labels using fun and fancy fonts that I like. For people who move around a lot or are getting ready to move, I just made a blank label with their name on it. I'll have to track down and fill in the address later.
Then I cut out the labels into 52 single stickers. This was surprisingly the most annoying part of the process... I dropped them all into a pretty glass jar on my desk. I also dug through my giant stash of cards and pulled out various Hello and Thinking of You cards. I didn't bother to try to get 52 cards, because I figured I might make a handful more during the year, but I gathered quite a few. I crammed them into a cute basket and also placed them on my desk. I wish I had a cute photo to share with you today, but alas, this arrangement isn't quite as pinworthy as it sounds. My desk doesn't have fresh cut flowers or those pretty acrylic trays... You know, like this one:
I think this is possibly my favorite desk space ever. One day... But back to the project... Now I have a sweet reminder to mail out a card weekly. I'll just pull out a label, which can be done randomly or I can pick one out if I'm thinking of someone in particular and pen a quick note. No pressure. No need to write that perfect letter detailing all my life happenings since the last time we chatted... Just a quick hello. And hopefully, I'll be sending 52 smiles out this year. :)
