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Does anyone have a way that they keep track of what kind of card or cards you send out to certain people? Like if you send four or five different Christmas cards each year ...who got what?
I keep track in one of those composition notebooks.
At the beginning of the year, I title a couple of pages Family Cards 2014.
I put the person's name and a short description of the card. I mainly just want to make sure I don't use the same DSP and stamp set two years in a row.
What helps me though is everyone gets the same Valentine, Easter, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas card. One year I mixed it up a bit and the siblings whined because how come so and so got whatever and I didn't. They were just joking with me so it was all in fun, don't want you to think they are non-appreciative.
Birthday cards the ladies get the same card, but my brothers get different one.
I do take pictures of the cards too and label them in the file.
I should probably keep a list of all I send because many times someone will comment on how beautiful it was and ask how I did it and I have to sometimes ask them to describe it to refresh my memory. Then I can tell them how I made it.
I use Google Documents, simply so that my files are available across two different computers. For birthdays I use the spreadsheet, and make a note of what card. I end up copying and pasting some of it into an archive so it's faster to load. Because I'm in BRAK, I organise my birthdays by month rather than person, so it's easy enough to check.
I imported my Christmas list from a Word document, so it's a document rather than a spreadsheet and it's listed by people. That way it's pretty easy to see what stamp I used for that person the previous year.
Last year, for the first time, I made a more detailed list of my cards. I use Excel. My columns include:
general type (birthday, get well),
brief description (maybe colors, or main image),
the day I made it,
the day I mail it (this may remain blank as several go in my stash)
who I mailed it to,
how many I made (most cards are unique, but I do 12 Christmas cards of a particular design)
if I uploaded it to my gallery
date of a blog post (if any)
which SCS challenges I used (if any...I love doing challenges!)
which blog challenges, if any
I just realized a lit of this is in my signature! LOL I started this because I wanted to hold myself more accountable. In other words, why spend money on supplies and time on creating cards if I don't actually MAIL them! Plus, as I said, I love doing challenges, (I often combine them on one card) so I consider it fun to track them.
I got a late start this year due to illness, but I have my 2014 list up and running.
__________________ Kim in Illinois, Dirty Dozen Alum, QFTD#207, FS798, VSN Moderator "Famous Last Words" Spring Virtual Stamp Night, April 19 & 20
No, but I don't do the same designs each year for Christmas...and I figure they are glad to get a card so if its similar to last year that's OK . Birthday wise I must not make enough of them as I have an idea of what I did for them in the past.
I make copies of each card I make and keep them in binders by categories: Holiday binder for Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving, etc.; another binder divided into Birthdays, Anniversaries, Sympathy, Congrats, etc. The copies are inside sheet protectors and I have a sticker attached to the outside of the protector where I put the name and year. A2 size cards fit 4 on a page and I can get 2 or 3 other size cards on a page. I've done this for years and it works for me.
I take pics of what I have made and can refer to those if I am in doubt and want to make sure I don't repeat a design. There is always new product and techniques to try though so mostly I just don't worry about it.
I don't worry about it... I figure if I can't remember, how can they?
Hahaha...this made me laugh! I know what you mean. But there is a tiny part of me that wants to keep track. Making copies on the copier seems easy enough to do, so may try that.
Although I do have a very good friend in the Netherlands who makes two of every card she makes, one to send and one to keep. She has great inventory and knows who got what in heartbeat! Wish I could be like her...but it's not gonna happen in this lifetime ;)
But I send tons out and most only receive one handmade one so they don't have as many to remember!! LOL
Yes, Kathy. And I have been flattered to hear that many people keep the cards I send to them. That really makes me nervous about duplicates!
Right now I have a paper list of people I frequently send cards to. I jot a little bit about each card, to help me remember, i.e. BD - cat. But then I go back and think - Which cat?, lol. So my "system" is really not very efficient.
I really like holiday cards, because everyone gets the same for those, and I don't have to worry. Example, I can look in my computer and see what last year's card looked like, and which stamp I used.
Also, it seems my handwriting is illegible, even to me who wrote it. I was at the grocery store recently, looking at my list. It really looked like I had written "bears". I kept thinking, "bears"?. A clerk walked by and I showed it to her. She puzzled over it, and said "Beans?" Aha, that was it.
__________________ Bugga in OK
"Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible." Dalai Lama
Thanks everyone for your ideas...I do take pictures of what i make but then after awhile forget who I made it for. I may try to make a smash book of them but wasn't sure if it was worth it or if i would fill it it too fast...not that i make that many a year... if I go back and do it could be fun!!!!
I take at least 2 photos of each card. One includes a note with the name(s) of the recipient(s) and of just the card. Actually I usually photograph the inside too so I know what I wrote (or stamped).
I find this most helpful when I've managed to NOT mail out all the holiday cards and can figure out who didn't get that design so I can send it the next year.
Sophie's post made me laugh!
But I find if I don't make a note and they ask a question (which people often do), I haven't a clue what to answer.
My aunt, this Christmas, asked me where I got my lovely papers I'd used on her card. Well - it wasn't till I checked what card I sent her that I realised it was one that hadn't got any DP on it at all.
Well I'm still making a list because today I gave two box card valentines to friends. I wouldn't want to give these two friends another box card so I need some way to remind me that they got one. They are so much fun to make.
I used to make one design for all of my Christmas cards. But when I joined the Christmas Card challenge here on SCS, I started making a new design each month. Now, when someone says "I love your Christmas card", I have to ask "which one?". I was thinking about tracking who gets what, just so I at least know what they are talking about.
Also, with birthday cards, now that I'm sending out almost 100 each year, I have started making multiples of certain designs. I really need to keep track of who gets what, just so in future years I don't send the same card.
__________________ aka Sue. Or Sue-odd.
No blog for me. My gallery chronicles my card-making successes and mishaps.
Christmas or any cards
