
Can any of us ever have too many words of encouragement?
This thought kept wandering through my head, fluttering like a banner pulled through the sky by a Piper Pawnee aircraft.
It kept dancing in my brainspace. Rippling in a rhythmic fashion. Reminding me of the importance of speaking good words into people’s lives.
Prompting me to notice the significance of taking the time to tell my people how much they mean to me. To say, “You do this so well” and “I appreciate you.” To say “Thank-you” more often.
I began to feel it soak into my bones. “We need to tell people what they mean to us,” I half-whispered to myself. “We need to speak the good we see in others. We need to cheer for it and we need to say it now.”
I’d attended two funerals and I’d listened while friends and family shared good memories, kind acts, and special characteristics from the lives now lived.
I appreciate commemorations and memories of lives lived. We certainly can still learn from people gone before us.
Yet it also signaled something in me. A stirring to speak the words more often and share with my friends and family how glad I was to have them in my life. I wanted them to hear it for themselves.
In all this pondering, the thoughts of gratefully naming the good and the delightfulness of happy mail managed to collide.
They burst into the idea of award certificates. An award is an honor, an achievement, an accomplishment. Most awards hold significance, and often, fanfare of some sort!
What if I would detail award certificates and send them out to brighten a friend’s day?!
I loved the idea.

If you could have peeked in my window, you would have found me scrolling Amazon and adding certificates and stickers to my cart, tapping my glowing phone screen, and completing the checkout process.
Step One for this idea = C O M P L E T E D!!!
When my package arrived, I slit the box open and pulled out the awards. I dug through my messy craft closet and found my washi tape and box of stickers.
Micron markers stood in a basket and manila envelopes waited for addresses.
I’d ordered two varieties of certificates.
A Certificate of Excellence and a Certificate of Appreciation!

I began to add stickers and fun embellishments. I penned in the name to whom the certificate was presented. I wrote down what I wanted to thank them for or rejoice about or praise.

Instead of writing in a date, I gave it a twist and wrote, “Awarded on this happy day of delighting in you,” or “Awarded on this happy day of gratefulness for you” or whatever other happy variation I wanted to put there.

It was a fun project. It pulled together creativeness, paper crafts, hand-lettering, and happy mail!
It can be done in a variety of ways. You can take this base idea and totally put your own touch and creative spin on it!

I worked on one or two as I had time. It was a fun project for me and it was super fun to slide them into the mail and send them off to add happiness as they arrived at their intended locations!



Wax seals would be another fun way to dress up the certificates! I have a few wax stamps and enjoy using them too.

I still have a few certificates tucked away in my craft closet and hope to pull them out again in the near future.
If you make happy awards of your own to send to your people, let me know! I’d love to hear! And I’d love to hear about your ideas and what you did for details and embellishments!
