Sarah, a family friend, enjoyed seeing my popup cards, but could not touch them. To her, touching a glossy card was tantamount to scratching on a chalkboard – eeek!

I made popups on matte paper for Sarah and her family. Then a strange thing happened. I began to cringe slightly when I handled my glossy popups.

I wrote the following letter to Sarah this week:

Hey, Sarah, you had the secret all along.  I now realize that my best popup cards are those made with matte paper, using only glossy for the pictures that pop out!  The “new” matte cards are much easier to fold. There's no squeaky noise. Being lighter, they're even cheaper to mail. The matte background contrasts nicely with the glossy picture that pops out.  I can use lighter and more flexible plastic strips to hold the pop-out pictures.

I am ready to change my popup style for 2014 – Thanks to you, Sarah.

I am thinking of making popups easier for myself.  Since I plan to send out about 15 cards a month for people on my birthday list, I am thinking about mass production.  I can print out the card backgrounds and popup pictures in advance. I am thinking about using the same design, at least until I get tired of it.  Then while I am watching TV, I can do what my wife does:  multi-task.  She multi-tasks doing her iPhone game, and I can multi-task cutting out the popup pictures. 

I just ordered 200 sheets of double-sided matte paper online. Does that mean there’s no going back?

Hey, if I save 40 cents per card in postage, just think how much I will save mailing out 150 cards a year. But if I stop making popup cards altogether, think of how much money and time I will save. You know what? Maybe it’s time for a new hobby.

Mr. Ebsen may be contacted at robertebsen@hotmail.com