Does This Make Your Mouth Water?

I had a very interesting conversation Wednesday night at the Ronald McDonald House. While I was there for our monthly crafting night, the marketing and communications director for the Atlanta Ronald McDonald House Charities stopped by.

While we were getting acquainted, she asked about the cards we were making. She knew of Stampin' Up!'s partnership with RMHC as a national sponsor, and wanted to know if there would be some way that we could work together to have some kids from the House involved in making cards for the Atlanta McDonald's franchise owners.

You see, these owners had decided the evening prior to continue donating their "fry tax" (revenue they make each time they sell a pound of french fries, if I'm understanding it correctly) to the work of the charity. These funds, which have totaled approximately $750,000 annually, and the director wanted to thank these businessmen for renewing their commitment during this challenging economic climate when they could've chosen not to. She wants the children of the Houses to sign cards for these folks to thank them for their investment.

As we brainstormed about what the card design could be, a light bulb went off in my head. The thank you for donating the fry tax money should be a card that looks like a box of McDonald's famous fries! I shared the idea, which she loved, and was given permission to run with it. Here's my prototype.

Whenever I try to mimic something that is widely recognized, I like to get as close to the original as possible in my design. So, I purchased some fries, traced and eventually disassembled the box in order to create a template, and the rest came together fairly easily. The base is Real Red, obviously, although I wish it had some gloss to it like the actual box.

The striped white interior behind the fries was created with Whisper White and a Barely Banana Stampin' Write Marker. The fries are crafted from a half sheet of Barely Banana card stock cut on a variety of angles. The card will be signed on the inside, although I'm thinking of adding the words "thank you" in a font close to the McDonald's font on the outside of the box/card.

The coolest part of this is that a group of high school students who are part of an organization called National Charity League have the Ronald McDonald House as one of their philanthropic organizations that they support (they also volunteer at the House at least once a month). Since the director wants 60 of these, the girls are going to help me mass produce them! Although I have to get clearance on the design from the director, I think this is a good start.

Got fries? I'm going to eat lunch now.