February 17, 2023 — Are you an “It’s My Birthday!” sort of person? Or, are you more the “Keep it on the downlow” type?

Being the latter myself, it was a hoot to receive the large group email that dear friend and Contributing Cardie Candy Clausell sent a few weeks ago. Its subject line: “HAPPY Birthday to Me!”  🤣 That’s Candy in light pink on the right, with her best bud Madeline Stockbridge. The card was inspired by their lifelong friendship and is dedicated to them.

Now back to Candy’s email; it read, “Dear Friends & Family, I thought I’d write you to spread a little happiness. Play this song and clap along. It has the Minions in it, so what’s not to like?! And it’s my birthday, so you must indulge me. 😉”

You can learn more about this remarkably joyful Cardie in her Cardie Profile, and to wish her a belated birthday, here we thought we’d share what best bud Mad had to say.

“Candy and I were born into families who lived across the street from each other in New Jersey,” she explained, “and in the winter of 1951 became each other’s first friend. When Candy was seven, her mom died, and her family moved away. Long before email, text messages, social media, and zoom, we found ways to stay in touch. Through the years, we’d write, call and visit each other for weekends. We have been in each other’s weddings, traveled internationally together with our husbands, and supported each other through our own cancer battles. We have weathered many storms, grieved, shared a million laughs, and know that we can always pick up the phone to share our sorrows and joys without judgment. We are as close now as when we were seven.”

Counting the Best Buds design she and Madeline inspired, Contributing Cardie Candy now has eight cards to her credit. “I’ve always loved and sent a lot of cards,” she says, “but never appreciated how much that meant to people on the receiving end until I packed up my aunt’s house after she passed away. Under her bed I found a big box filled with two decades of cards from my late sister and me! Aunt Nippie was like a mother to me — raising us after our mother died — so you can imagine how moving the box was to see for my own eyes how much she cherished all those cards we’d sent over the years.”

Speaking of cards (ha, when aren’t we!?) we’d love to be able to send one to you on your day. So with one last “Happy Birthday to Candy!” we ask you to please let us know below, “When’s your birthday and what makes you happy on that day?” 

Jodee Stevens
Founder & Chief Creative

February 17, 2023 — Are you an “It’s My Birthday!” sort of person? Or, are you more the “Keep it on the downlow” type?

Being the latter myself, it was a hoot to receive the large group email that dear friend and Contributing Cardie Candy Clausell sent a few weeks ago. Its subject line: “HAPPY Birthday to Me!”  🤣 That’s Candy on the right above, with her best bud Madeline Stockbridge. The card was inspired by their lifelong friendship and is dedicated to them.

Now back to Candy’s email; it read, “Dear Friends & Family, I thought I’d write you to spread a little happiness. Play this song and clap along. It has the Minions in it, so what’s not to like?! And it’s my birthday, so you must indulge me. 😉”

You can learn more about this remarkably joyful Cardie in her Cardie Profile, and to wish her a belated birthday, here we thought we’d share what best bud Mad had to say.

“Candy and I were born into families who lived across the street from each other in New Jersey,” she explained, “and in the winter of 1951 became each other’s first friend. When Candy was seven, her mom died, and her family moved away. Long before email, text messages, social media, and zoom, we found ways to stay in touch. Through the years, we’d write, call and visit each other for weekends. We have been in each other’s weddings, traveled internationally together with our husbands, and supported each other through our own cancer battles. We have weathered many storms, grieved, shared a million laughs, and know that we can always pick up the phone to share our sorrows and joys without judgment. We are as close now as when we were seven.”

Counting the Best Buds design she and Madeline inspired, Contributing Cardie Candy now has eight cards to her credit. “I’ve always loved and sent a lot of cards,” she says, “but never appreciated how much that meant to people on the receiving end until I packed up my aunt’s house after she passed away. Under her bed I found a big box filled with two decades of cards from my late sister and me! Aunt Nippie was like a mother to me — raising us after our mother died — so you can imagine how moving the box was to see for my own eyes how much she cherished all those cards we’d sent over the years.”

Speaking of cards (ha, when aren’t we!?) we’d love to be able to send one to you on your day. So with one last “Happy Birthday to Candy!” we ask you to please let us know below, “When’s your birthday and what makes you happy on that day?” 

Jodee Stevens
Founder & Chief Creative