the magic of moo + playing with cootie catchers

Last night Nicolette hosted a gathering of creative women (and one gentleman) at Syngery Workplaces, which is her new home for Compass Point. When we pulled our business cards out, all eyes zoomed in on my Moo cards.

If you have not heard about Moo cards yet, you need to listen up. They are super cute. Everyone loves them and they feel so great in your hand. These teeny business cards measure 28 mm x 70 mm, which of course I don’t know what that is because I am an American. Just think small and cute. For $20, you receive 100 cards. You can select up to 100 different photographs or designs for your cards. Granted, if you don’t have that many pictures you love, you can simply use one image. It is completely flexible. Upload and crop the pictures using their online software, personalize the back and order. It is that easy.

I received my Moo cards right before Henry’s parents came to visit this past fall. One day, Henry was at work and we were just hanging out. They thought that I was asleep for a while, because I was in my bedroom working. But they were shocked as things started rolling off the printer thanks to the magic of wireless printing via Airport Extreme. (I so love technology.)

After lunch, I decided to join them in the living room and hang out. What better activity than to share my Moo cards. I placed all of the cards on the table in a large grid, so that they could take a look at all of the pictures. Antonio was in complete awe. He could not believe that I had all of these pictures on these tiny little cards. He told me not to give any of them away. He said that I should frame them and I could be Picasso. I laughed and said, if only it were that easy. But then he eagerly took a couple of cards that I had made specifically for him – one of the 104-year-old abuela in Spain and a second of Tia Fina and his great-nieces. I was quite happy to spy them on his desk when we went to visit over Christmas.

Last night, I displayed the dozen I had on hand to share with our small group gathered around the table. I explained the process and the story above. These are all pictures that I have taken. One picture that was actually taken by Mike, my neighbor in Chapel Hill, features my cootie catcher. Angela pointed to it and said, I want to make one of those. “I used to play that in school.” So Fern promptly ripped out a page from her magazine and I started folding. Angela followed along, as well. Fern started snapping pictures with her iPhone. Rarely am I on this side of the camera.

For all of you out there wanting to play along, following are the instructions that I send out to everyone who orders personalized cootie catchers from me. I know that you have a great reason for your very own cootie catcher. No need to wait until you get married (or remarried). They were a great ice breaker. Order your own set to have in your bag and whip out anytime you would rather play than network.

My Personalized Cootie Catcher Instructions

1. Print the number of copies that you want and have a copy center cut the stack at 8.5” with one cut. This will save you lots of time. The cut will make the paper into a square. (You can also start with any sheet of paper – fold it diagonally and tear off the bottom excess paper to create a square.)

2. Fold the square in half in both directions, so that it creates an x in the center of the page.

3. Fold two corners together to the center of the page and crease firmly. (This should be lined up exactly)

4. Then fold the other two corners together and crease again. All four of the corners should meet in the middle folded in.

5. Flip over the folded sheet, which is now a smaller square. Then fold all four of these corners into the center just like before.

6. Fold the entire square in half, then unfold and fold again the other way. This will fold along the lines of outer tabs to allow the cootie catcher to bend.

7. Stick your thumbs and first fingers into the four pockets on the bottom of the Cootie Catcher.