Getting carded at a store, gas station, bank, or restaurant can be embarrassing or uplifting, depending on your age and situation. Now I know of one carding situation that is a positive any time it happens. These magical moments occur when the mailbox door is opened and a card is inside waiting just for you.

For years I have been a card stamper. I LOVE designing, making, and sending cards to people. For about the last 4 years, I have made it a habit to give or send at least one card a week. The last three or four months I’ve been slacking though.

With the COVID 19 quarantine upon us, I took to my crafting table and whipped up a bunch of new cards. Maybe it was anxiety or fear, maybe it was a need to hide from my cooped up family, maybe it was a desire to get some creative juices flowing before the grumpiness of being stationary set in, I don’t know, but what I do know is that I made almost 20 cards in less than an hour and a list of who I wanted to receive them.

In my creative excitement, I sent pics of my progress to my #1 Stampin’ Up sister Rebecca. (She led our stamping club for the last 10+ years.) I was so proud to share my creations with her and my rekindled flame for bringing joy through cards.

As always, Rebecca was super supportive and followed up with her own flurry of card making.

I am excited to say I was formally “carded” by Rebecca this week and it could not have come at a better time.

My children and I took it upon ourselves to all have monstrous melt downs one afternoon. Even though I did my best to help us move past those tantrums and shift gears to be more positive, the next day I was still feeling pretty down on myself for being such a grumpy mama. When I opened the mail and saw her card, everything felt lighter.

In her kind words and reminder that I was doing my best to bring joy to others, Rebecca shared her idea of “carding” and renewed my sense of Intentergy. In fact, she started a fun social distancing distraction encouraging ALL of our stamping club members to “card” people!

While not everyone owns tubs of stamps, ink, adhesive, die cuts, and paper, we do all have the ability to send a message via email, dig out some old greeting cards from an office drawer, or simply jot down a note of love, appreciation, or positivity on some loose leaf and send it to someone.

Your Intentergy challenge for this week is to “card” someone. Send greetings of gratitude, humor, love, or hope. Feel free to share the idea of “carding” others. While we cannot be certain what the next few weeks or months hold for our world, we can be certain this “carding” will make it a better place.

By: Melanie A. Peters

P.S. You may get sucked into a Pinterest vortex if you search stamping ideas, but that’s okay. It’s like a little creativity vacation.

P.P.S. My kids are “carding” people now too. I’m gonna have to order more paper.