IT’S IN THE CARDS
High on my list of favorite things would be index cards! My preference is the 3×5 size and when necessary, 4×6. Somehow life seems more manageable if your “to do list” can fit onto an index card. Also the perfect size for recording things I want to remember—Bible verses, quotations, poems.
One of my early index card projects was the college survival kit I prepared for Heather when she went off to Vanderbilt. There were assorted topics—practical tips I wasn’t sure we’d discussed like how to balance her checkbook (which we used to do), how to do laundry, suggestions for time management, healthy snacks, Bible verses and more. They were arranged in a small card file box. She said her friends would sometimes ask what the cards said about a specific topic.
The photo above shows one of my favorite card projects—for Mother’s 92nd Christmas in 1990. There were 92 pink cards based largely on items found in her desk in Athens and some of her favorite recipes. I had at least 50 sets printed at Kinko’s and tied each bundle of cards with white satin ribbon. Everyone in the family got a set for Christmas, as well as so many friends who loved Mother. On Christmas I showed her the gift and read the cards to her. For years afterward, people would call or email to tell me they were making a recipe from “Harriett’s pink cards!”
A few years later, young friends and family were getting married and asking me for some recipes of dishes they’d eaten at my house. I prepared 30 or so pink index cards with those recipes for at least 20 people and still use some of them.
Since moving to Nashville, I’ve done a few more index card projects. This one
was a festive red sequined pouch containing a dozen cards with some of my favorite Christmas recipes. I gave them as gifts to friends and family.
It’s all in the cards!
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