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

copyright: bensonkua on flickr

The Noodle is lucky enough to have baby friends who are a few months older than her, so we’ve been to a good number of 1st birthday parties already. Of course, this means a whole stack of birthday cards for babbas and as Hallmark and its shareholders know - cards are a lucrative business.

At £2.75 a pop, and with at least 10 babies to buy for in our immediate circle of friends, I could end up spending £27.50 on cards alone. Luckily, I’m in with a group of similarly fiscally-minded mammas who have all agreed that we only buy a gift for one baby and that the gift should cost a maximum of £10. I guess you could say that not only am I saving on cards, I’m also saving on gifts, to the tune of £90!

So, I’ve taken a leaf out of BirdyMoola’s book and - inspired by her brilliant video on how to make a year’s worth of cards for £20 - started to make my own cards. With a baby in tow, I don’t tend to get several hours in a row where I can concentrate on one thing, so I’m making the cards just in time for each baby’s birthday. The materials I have are:

• 1 box of 50 readymade cards from Rymans (cost £5.99)
• 1 pack of origami paper from Muji (cost £0.95)
• 1 Prittstick (cost £1.49)
• 1 pair of scissors
• 1 animal-inspired imagination

My cards are not as professional as Birdy’s, but I’m trying out a new animal each time, which is challenge enough. My first was a bee that looked a bit like a fish, followed by an owl, then an elephant. The beauty of it is that each card is individual and is hopefully something that the mums will treasure. Plus I pretend that The Noodle has made them, which makes her seem ridiculously talented (and is in danger of branding me a pushy mum…).

I’ve got another one to do pretty soon that coincides with Hallowe’en, let’s hope it doesn’t end up looking like a pumpkin.