Behind the Story: Announcement Card

My new book, Faith & Hope, will be out in less than 40 days! Can you believe it?
To get you even more excited for it, I'm going to be doing some posts over the next month or so to help you get to know some of my characters a little better, and give you a peek into their lives.
Today, we're talking about Faith McCreary. She married her college sweetheart, Sam, and they're happily living just north of Austin, Texas. Now, after four and a half years of infertility struggles, they're finally expecting their baby. Needless to say, she's thrilled.
Faith teaches preschool during the school year, helps with a summer camp most summers--although the doctor has warned her against getting too hot while pregnant--and sells stamps so she can support her card-making hobby. Because she loves to make cards, she's had tons of ideas over the last few years of just how she could announce her pregnancy to family and friends. Unfortunately, the timing of this year didn't work out. She isn't due until December, so an Easter card won't cut it. Maybe for Mother's day.
Good news. Because she can't use the idea for herself, she's sharing it with you today in case you know someone who might like to send a cute card like this. Want to know a secret. This could be used for anything? You could make the inside into a chick with your child's picture as the face instead and send to a grandparent. But for today, here's what Faith would do.

​First things first, let's gather some supplies. You need:

• one envelope
• one piece of cardstock for the outside of the egg
• one piece of cardstock for the inside
• glue
• scissors
• a small brad (brass fastener)
• a pencil/pen
• cup of tea (optional)

---

First, I used my envelope to measure and make sure I cut my eggs out small enough to slide inside. To do that, I folded the white to the right size and used the envelope as a template to cut a regular shaped card first. After you get your rectangle, cut it into an egg shape. You might want to use some scrap paper to make sure you get it the right shape and size and then trace onto the white to cut out that way. Cut the yellow into a slightly smaller egg. You should end up with two white eggs and one smaller yellow one.

Time to crack the shell! Figure out about where on the egg is the widest, and mark it on either side with a pencil so you can have a goal for cutting. Only on one white piece, cut a zig zag across the widest part.

Now, we assemble. Glue the bottom half of your cracked shell, only around the edges, to the bottom of the uncut white egg. Then, using your brad, fasten the top piece at a corner so it can open and close. Make sure your yellow part still fits. If you're like me, you might have to trim the edges again.

Time to decorate our yellow part. On one side, I wrote "Hatching this September." Obviously, you can use whatever phrase fits you best. "Happy Spring" or "Happy Easter" would also be cute. On the other side, I attached an ultrasound picture (this one happens to be of my son from several years ago). 

I hope you had fun with this. I can't wait to share more of Faith's story with you!
Did you have any fun ideas for announcing your pregnancy? I'd love to hear about them!