some may call it card-hoarding...

...but I just call it a sentimental collection.

I have a slight problem. You see, I can't throw cards away. It doesn't matter what kind... birthday cards, thank you notes, birth announcements, wedding invitations... you name it, I keep it. I'm not quite sure where this compulsion comes from... but try as hard as I may... I just can't bring myself to discard something that someone else took the time to send me.

I've had the card-disorder for as long as I can remember... I've always had shoeboxes stored away, overflowing with notes and letters... since middle school probably. Well... lately, I've been trying to think of a way to make my card-saving-obsession feel more like a card-saving-collection. So, I hereby give you the ring-o-cards...

I decided that, for me, the simplest way for me to save these bad boys was to punch a couple of holes in the cards and put a ring through them. This corrals them all together, but still allows me to flip through the sentimental handwritten notes.

I recently upgraded to a larger size of rings, but I still have a feeling I will have 2 bundles of cards per year. Even after upgrading to the 7gypsies medium chrome cable rings, my ring-o-cards is already busting at the seams...


Being slightly OCD, I like to keep them in chronological order... which gives me a pretty mix of thank you cards...
...wedding invitations...
...and even my recent stash of birthday cards...

My bundle of cards looked pretty fabulous as it was. Just the simple fact that my cards were all together and not in a billion piles and drawers around the house made me very happy. Just look at that pretty stack of organized happiness...

But I still wanted some way to add the year to this bundle of goodness. I didn't really want to make a huge cover that hid the cards themselves... because, to me, that is the true beauty of this project. So... I decided to just add a little decoupaged chipboard bird, with "2011" handwritten on the bottom. (maybe a how-to post on mr. birdie later?)

But there you have it... A simple way to turn card-hoarding into card-collecting...

Linking this to Running With Glitter.