I needed two birthday cards — quick! — so I decided to try an idea I’d recently seen on YouTube. (Unfortunately, I can’t find the link to give credit to the original post.) This smart person used her printed deli paper stash to make greeting cards.

It’s a easy as pie. I first selected a couple of sheets from my stash. I randomly tore shapes and used matte medium to adhere to the front of two blank cards. I kept tearing and gluing until I had covered the card fronts.

I already had a sheet of stamped sentiments, so I tore out two “Happy Birthday” messages and adhered them to the cards. CRAP ALERT: I wasn’t happy that the torn paper edges showed on each message, so I tore some more scraps to disguise the edges.

Next time I try this, I’ll just stamp on the sentiment directly, making sure to use a permanent ink so it doesn’t smear. After each card dried, I trimmed the sides, wrote a message inside, and put it in an envelope.

Despite the minor complication, each card is an original design, was easy, and will be appreciated (I hope!).