Mail It Monday: tips for mass producing cards

Happy Mail It Monday! The holidays are upon us and it is time to get going on cards! There is nothing better than being able to create handmade cards. Today, I have some tips for you to make your holiday card making smooth and easy. Sorry, I don't have any advice for the lines at the post office! :D

1. KISS – Keep It Simple Silly

When mass producing cards, keep the design simple. Something you can handle stamping 73,000 times. Wink. Back in the day when I was making custom wedding invitations, I had a bride choose a tri-fold with two colors of cardstock, and three colors of heat embossing. I quit the custom invitation business shortly after that order of 250 invitations. My bad

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2. Gather all your supplies

Make sure that you have all the paper, ribbons, etc, that you will need to complete your cards. Having refills for your ink pad is essential. You do not want to run out of ink half way through your stamping.

3. Complete each step all at once.

Stamp all the green leaves. Then stamp the highlights on all the leaves. Same goes for die cutting, heat embossing, stickers, etc. Doing this also allows you to keep the tools out you need for that portion. You don’t need 30 things on your space, just the two or three things for the current step. You also get into a good working groove this way. Speeding up the time it takes to complete your cards.

4. Break it down into chunks.

Maybe you only have time to die cut all the bases. Go for it. Continue with the next steps as you have time. It’s the old adage; How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.

5. Use tools to help you.

Stamp positioning tools such as the MISTI can really save you time. You place your paper in the tool, then the stamp in the desired location on your paper. Once you close the lid and the tool picks up the stamp, everything lines up perfectly each time. Not to mention, if you don’t ink up your image properly, you can ink it again and not miss when you re-stamp. I cannot be the only person with this problem…

6. Bribe your children.

Oh, wait. I mean, engage your children in your project. Ha! Seriously though, my son thinks it pretty fun to use my die cutting machine.

Other ideas/tips:

If you don’t have time, order cards. Seriously, there is no shame. I order my cards every year. One, I like photo cards. Two, I am making too many cards for my job already to have the time. The point is that I mail cards and send our love to our friends and family.

Many companies will send out offers for free printing on envelopes, if you go with the photo card route. Having them print your return address is a huge time saver.

Caution for the companies that use your address book to send your mail, again for pre-printed or photo cards. I have heard a few horror stories about people getting doubles and triples of cards, and others not getting cards at all. Use your judgement.

Save your holiday mailing list in your computer. It makes for easy printing onto labels. And as people move and addresses change, making that change is quick and easy.

Another special card drive:

This card drive is from Vera Yates, the huge heart behind the Caring Hearts Card Drive. 

These are her words:

Card making friends, I need a favor please. The grandson of one of the ladies that help me hand deliver Caring Hearts package is going through some medical hardship. His name is Michael and he is 9 years old. He has a very rare, fast growing tumor that is in his jaw and soft tissue, and has entered his sinuses. He is one of a handful of children in the world that has this. He often has seizures.He has biopsy scheduled at the end of November and major surgery (possible jaw removal) mid December.

I thought he could use some cheering up by showering him with "Thinking of You" cards. Can you please help by sending a card to him? I am really hoping we can build quite a pile of happy cards for him.

Michael Pacheco

1018 Notre Dame Circle

Vacaville, CA 95687

Sincerely Yours,