Card of the Week: Happy 60th Birthday

Last weekend we hosted a surprise 60th birthday party for my Mom. To say she was surprised would be a bit of an understatement - she was shocked. And I was so happy that we had pulled the whole thing together without her having the slightest inkling that anything was going on.

Of course I made her a birthday card to celebrate this milestone occasion - my first 60th birthday card.

Card Base: Recollections; Patterned Paper: Pebbles Inc.; Cardstock: Bazzill; Sentiment Rub-On: Bazzill; Flowers: Making Memories; Button: my craft stash; Scalloped Circle, Circle, "60": cut with Silhouette; Adhesive: Scrapbook Adhesives, 3D Foam Squares

I really stressed out about making this card. I was anxious about the fact that this was a milestone birthday, a very special occasion, and I felt that the card needed to be just perfect.

I often get this way when I am making cards for momentous occasions - milestone birthdays, weddings, anniversaries - like the significance of the occasion calls for a card that is truly out-of-this-world, like a card that I would ordinarily make will not do, that I need to really take things to the next level so that my card is 'good enough' for the occasion in question. It is unnecessarily stressful, but happens each time I am called upon to make a card for a very special occasion. I am a bit of a perfectionist and times like this really bring that out in me.

In the case of this card, I kept adding and removing things like flowers and buttons, fidgeting with the placement of the '60' and the 'happy birthday' sentiment, and completely second guessing everything I was doing. To be honest, I drove myself a little nuts.

In the end, with the party only a few hours away, I took a deep breath, tried to relax, stuck with my 'simple is best' philosophy, and managed to deliver a beautiful card to my Mom on her very special day.

But I have to ask, am I alone in feeling a little anxious when making a card, or anything else for that matter, to give to someone on a very special occasion? Does anyone else feel this need to make it perfect in order to meet the significance of the time? Please share. Let me know that I am not alone in my self-induced stress.