Mom Mondays - make your own cards

I want to start a tradition on this site to post something that I learned from my mom every Monday - hence the title "Mom Mondays" I would love to hear from you in the comments below things that you have learned from your Mom!

First of all, I would just like to take a minute to brag on my Mom, who happens to be the most amazing woman in the universe! She became a Registered Nurse and worked to put my Dad through his last year of school. They have been happily married for a million years now and have seven kids! And my mom is so incredible because she chose to homeschool all seven of us : ) I am sure that it would have been a lot easier to continue working as a nurse and send all of us to public school. With my Dad's job as an engineer combined with her income, they could have been a lot wealthier than they are now. But my mom made that financial sacrifice in order to spend time loving us, teaching us, and instilling God's ways in us. That is a much more valuable contribution to a child than new toys or anything that money can buy.

(This is my Graddad's card - he loves Mustangs)

I really appreciate how my mom taught us at a very young age to work. We knew how to load clothes into the washer and unload them from the dryer before we could even talk. As we got older she would gradually give us more responsibility in proportion to our capability. For example, we would start out folding towels and matching socks, then as we got older we learned to fold more complicated things like shirts and pants, until eventually we were ironing clothes. And she did it in such a way that it felt like a privilege and not a chore! That is one smart lady! She had us all thinking that doing the chores was something to be proud of - which it is!

She would also make work fun. I will always remember how she would spray lysol on the floor and let us skate around on it with sponges strapped to our feet! I love how she would always praise us for helping out. I never remember her nagging us to get our chores done because she made it such a joy for us to do them!

This is my Dad's card - I figured I could get away with it!

One thing that my mom always did that made my self-confidence shoot through the roof was showing off my school and art work to her friends. She would let me show it to my friends as well but she would always make a special point to show it to other adults who came over and this always made me feel so proud of myself. I am a perfectionist so I think that if I did not have this kind of encouragement from her, I wouldn't have ever ventured out and would not be the evil creative genius that I am today!

Which brings me to today's topic - making your own cards to save money on gifts. Not only is it cheaper to make your own card, but it is a lot more personal. Think of it - no more searching for the card with the perfect amount of humor or seriousness for the occasion. No more opening and shutting countless cards before finding the perfect one. So it is a perfect pair - you save time AND money!

These are the cards that I made for Father's Day this year. My Dad's was the Darth Vader one and my Granddad's was the Mustang one. I love making my own cards because I always know what is perfect for the person I am making them for more so than any generic card company. Also you can use name brands and movie characters because you are not selling them so you don't have to worry about copyrights : ) but I never would have made things like this if I did not have my Mom who fostered this cretivity in me. Thank you Momma for always believing in me!