Challenge: Part 2 of 3 in Make a year’s worth of greeting cards for £20

Holey moley. Has anyone out there made 35 cards - requiring medium-to-advanced skills - in one day? If so, you have my deepest admiration. It took me a total of 15 hours. And that’s allowing for the fact that I (coerced) begged my husband to help me get the job done (he’s a graphic designer, after all, so he’s far more skilled in this area than me). Here’s a breakdown of how the Day Of The Cards unfolded:

10am
Decide to start with the Owl-y card from Handmade Hellos. Immediately realise that the googly eyes I bought are too small for the template. Ask husband to draw a new template with correct proportions to googly eyes. Search through stash of wrapping paper for pretty floral print. Set to work cutting out dozens of teeny-tiny blooms.

11am
Hurrah! Have completed my very first Owl-y card. Notice time and do quick calculation. At this rate it will take me 32 hours to complete the task. Gah! Eat chocolate biscuits and keep cutting and pasting.

11.30am
Trace paper; cut tiny pieces of paper into parts of Owl-y body; glue tiny pieces of paper onto card to resemble Owl-y body. Repeat for the next eight hours.

1pm
Need copious amounts of sustenance to continue. Allow self 20 minutes to eat lunch.

2.30pm
Have finished a total of 8 Owl-y cards. Conclude that Owly-cards are v. labour-intensive for mass production. Want to lie down and forget about stupid cutting and pasting Owl-y cards but remind self that the job will only pay off if I complete at least 12 month’s worth of cards.

3pm
Think I need something besides Owl-y cards. Find a new card project that looks simple enough: pop-art style portraits. Read through instructions, and decide husband would be better suited to project. Ask husband for help. Again.

5pm
Husband not v. happy and complaining about cutting out teeny-tiny nostrils. Continue cutting and pasting Owl-y body parts.

7pm
Husband has completed two different pop-art style portraits of my nephews. Look brilliant. Meanwhile, husband admits defeat and retires to the couch.

8pm
Have completed 15 Owl-y cards. Cannot look another Owl-y in the face. But I’m not even half-way to meeting my card target. Start to despair. Need a new, fast project that will look good and get the job done. Resist the urge to draw 18 smiley faces on 18 pieces of card.

8.10pm
Reassess my options and check my stash of paper. Have brainwave. Dig up old Victorian-style scraps I had bought for a “rainy day” project. Devise brand-new card project of my own creation: Victorian scraps pasted on coloured paper inserted on to different coloured card in manner of old-fashioned photo. Much faster as Victorian scraps come pre-cut.

10.30am
Am powering through. Have made ten Easter-themed cards with Victorian scraps. Am now using scraps of old-fashioned boys and girls holding flowers to make birthday/generic-style cards. Can see a light at the end of the tunnel.

1.30am
Use up my last piece of coloured paper. Have 35 cards in total. Exceeded goal, v. happy. Would do victory dance but too knackered. Crawl to bed. Deign self queen of craft.

Total spent: £21
Total saved: £94.50

PROS:
•    Have lovely cards hand-made by self
•    Saved oodles of cash
•    Don’t have to stress about shopping for cards for the next 12 months

CONS:
•    It took 15 hours to complete a year’s supply
•    Cleaning up the mess
•    Shoulders and neck hunch-like and sore

Make a year’s worth of Greeting cards for £20! from OolaMoola on Vimeo.