Accordion Thanksgiving Cards

 I know it's only August, but since I needed to make 140 Thanksgiving cards for my mom, I thought I would get going on that project so I'll have time to do the 250 Christmas cards I'll be making for her soon! My mom is such a thoughtful person, and she sends out cards to friends, shut ins, and family members for every holiday thoughout the year and expands her already-large list at Christmas. Since I need to create a card design that works well in bulk, I look for fun fold cards that are easy to mass produce. For these Thanksgiving cards, I found the perfect fall-themed card stock at my local craft outlet (the staff there know me very well by now 😁) and bought 75 sheets of it. Each sheet has 9 squares with fall themes on the back and a pattern of pies on the front. I decided to create accordion cards with the paper by trimming it along the rows on the back of the paper and scoring along the lines separating the squares on the back. This leaves the pie pattern paper for the front of the card. 

My mom and I both love puns, and I often try to incorporate them into her cards to give the recipients a chuckle and brighten their day when they receive the card. For this set of cards, since the pattern paper had all those pies on it, I chose a pie-related pun: "Did you hear about the feuding desserts? They didn't see pie-to-pie!" I used my Silhouette Design Studio software to create a print and cut of the pun and added pies to the sentiment using a fun font I found at the Silhouette Design Store aptly named "Pie Y'all." I sized everything up and added a rounded rectangle around the pieces to cut them out. I also did an offset of the rectangles so I could cut some out in orange as a mat layer behind the sentiments. I also created a print and cut of the Happy Thanksgiving sentiment and added a turkey balancing 3 pies from the Happy Turkey font (also from the Silhouette Design Store) to the sentiment panel. 

I always try to add something to the envelope flaps for my mom's holiday cards, and this time I chose the sentiment: "Let our lives be full of both thanks and giving." This was another file I purchased from the Silhouette Design Store.  

 

Here's a look at the front of the card when unfolded:

First panel:

Second panel:

Third panel:

Here's a look at the three different back panels my pattern paper created. The first one gives my mom a place to sign the cards on the last panel, and the other ones she can sign on the middle panels where there are some lighter colors:

Here's the envelope design. I love this sentiment!

Challenges I'm entering:

Anything Goes with a Fun Fold for Creative Creases #64 (secretstamper.com): ATG with a fun fold (unlimited entries; ends 9/1/23)

Word Art Wednesday: ATG (1/5 for the week; 5/10 for the challenge; ends 8/30/23)

A Place To Start (hereisaplacetostart.blogspot.com): ATG with a twist of leaves and/or trees (unlimited entries; ends at the end of the month)

613 Avenue Create (avenue613.blogspot.com): ATG (4/8; ends at the end of the month)

Allsorts challenge blog: All creatures great and small or ATG (3/3; ends 8/26/23)

simonsaysstampblog.com/wednesdaychallenge/: Bright and cheerful (1/5; ends 8/30/23)

****Pammie's Inky Pinkies**** **********Challenges********** (pammiesinkypinkieschallenges.blogspot.com): ATG (2/3; ends 8/28/23) C10

Creative Fingers Challenge Blog: ATG (2/3; ends 9/6/23)

Papercraft Challenges (papercraft-challenges.blogspot.com): Shaped cards (unlimited entries; ends 9/14/23)