As a birthday gift, my friend got me a Valentine’s day card making workshop at the Paper Source on the Upper West Side. It’s probably one of the most thoughtful gifts I’ve been given since I love arts and crafts, particularly card making, and I’ve always wanted to try heat embossing but have been scared to do it by myself.

During the workshop, I was chatting with the woman sitting across from me and the class instructor, who is actually a volunteer at Paper Source who teaches classes for fun. She has a day job that she finds un-stimulating, so she does these classes and crafts in her free time as her source of creativity. We were all talking about how much we loved handmade things and homemade cards, but we knew few other people who are as obsessed or passionate.

The sad thing about that is that it’s the most exciting thing not just to give a card you spent so much time on, but to know that the person who received it knows how much effort you put into it and loves it just as much, if not more. But how often do we meet people like this in the busy times that we live now? If I add a heat embossed stamp image to each envelope of my wedding invitations, which of my guests is actually going to notice the raised design on the outside and even call it out?