Birthday Organization Challenge

Whenever a new year begins, I always feel a new sense of motivation to become more organized in specific areas of my life.  As a card maker, one of my biggest goals has always been to send birthday cards to friends and family in a timely manner.  I always seem to fall short in this area of my life, and it is with a new found sense of commitment that I decided to develop an organizational system that would really *work* for me and my lifestyle. 

To start, I looked at *why* I wasn’t sending out birthday cards.  It wasn’t a lack of cards to send, because believe me, I have boxes of them!  After a bit of analysis, I decided it was about addressing the envelope & having postage stamps on hand, paired with getting the card sent in advance of the birthday to allow for an on-time delivery.  So I figured there were three solutions that needed to be integrated into my birthday organization system:

1. Address the envelopes in advance each month.

2. Have a birthday calender on display as a monthly reminder that also holds each month’s addresses.

3. Establish a designated day each month to prepare the following month’s mailings.

3. Set up online or cell phone reminder system with mailing dates.

To begin my system, I created my birthday calender.  I decided I needed something that would look great on display on my desk at all times.  I created a template for all of my pages and printed them out onto white cardstock.  After they had been trimmed to size, matted them each onto a piece of ocean tides cardstock that measures 4.75 x 9.5, justifying them towards the right. A small strip of patterned paper from the Polka Dot Parade collection accents the bottom of the page.  I’m including the calender pages I created as a free download here…

Download birthday_book.pdf

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I then cut some aqua mist cardstock to 4.25 x 9.5 pieces.  The edges of these were stamped using one of my favorite patterns from Background Basics: Stars stamp set using ocean tides ink.

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These pieces were adhered inside business size envelopes that have had the flap removed, allowing about a 3/8″ extension of the cardstock past the edge of the envelope.  These aqua mist pieces will basically be serving as a decorative envelope lining.

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The extra overhanging aqua mist cardstock that I spoke of earlier serves as the perfect place to add a scalloped edge for a decorative element.  Once the envelope is turned over, the edge of the opening serves as a great guideline when trimming with the scalloped scissors.

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After preparing enough elements for each of the twelve months, it is time for assembly. 

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The matted calender pages get adhered to the backs of the envelopes, with the right-hand edge of the calender page being aligned with the edge of the envelope opening.

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Punched holes and binder rings hold all of the pages together, as you can see. To create an easy to use addressing system, I simply went into a standard word processing program that had a template included for address labels, and typed in ALL of the people I wanted to send birthday cards to this year.  I saved the file as Birthday Addresses.  I can now go back and print the entire document once a year and have all the addresses at my fingertips.  This also allows me an easy way to update the file as necessary when people move. I then cut the addresses into small blocks according to month.  For example, I kept all of the March birthdays together in one block, April in another block, etc…  These address label blocks can now be filed in the appropriate envelope for each month.

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I purchased a few books of Forever stamps at the post office.  These stamps are a great solution to the increasing postage we continue to see because they are valid “forever”.  I can purchase enough stamps for the entire year of birthdays, and not have to try to keep up with postage changes.  The books of stamps were separated into appropriate quantities for each month and added to the corresponding envelopes with the address labels.  I am now prepared to sit down on the 25th of each month and prepare all of my envelopes & cards for the birthdays that will be celebrated the following month. 

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I opted to use my iPhone as my best option for electronic reminders to send the cards out approximately one week before each birthday.  I use the calender/task list every morning, so it is the most logical way to schedule reminders.  If you are not a regular or savvy cell phone user, you can also find reminder services online within your email program or calenders.

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One last tidbit to share, is this fun website I found a few years ago to order a personalized return address stamp from, Paper Angel.  I always get so many comments on the stamp and it is so much easier than having to use return address labels on my envelopes.  Check out their full line of products because they also have really great options for the back of your cards as well!

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After coming to the conclusion that organization is key, I thought it would be interesting to see what the Senior Design Team members came up with when posed with same challenge.  You can click on each of their names below to take a peek inside their systems, whether they be old or new, and find something you identify with. Utilize one idea in particular that perks your interest, or combine a bit of each to form a single unique system that will work for you.  Either way, enjoy the variety of options that the team has put together for you today…
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Michelle Wooderson created a Rolodex system paired with a beautiful box and customized clips to keep her organized this year.

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Debbie Olson created an absolutely stunning card box, complete with an organized tab system that is simple & easy to use.

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Heather Nichols showcases her tried and true basket organization, which would be really simple to create in your own space.

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Lauren Meader utilized the pockets from her All Boxed Up template to create a divider system that suits her needs.

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Lisa Johnson developed a magnetic birthday calender system that can stay close at hand on the fridge.

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I think this month’s challenge was met with such thoroughness and ingenuity.  I hope you will stop by each designer’s blog today and thank them for their contributions.  With all of these ideas, anyone can successfully keep a goal of mailing birthday cards to the special people in their lives!  Happy New Year!