Christmas Cards

Have you received any cards in the mail? Up until Dec. 9, I hadn't. On the 10th, a promising envelope arrived, but it was just an obligatory card from a car dealership thanking us for our business. No heartfelt, Christmas cards from friends and relatives. Is sending cards a dying art? A victim of high postage rates and cheaper to send e-cards? Absolutely! And I can't say that I have helped the cause to preserve the tradition. Until yesterday. While the kids whined, "I'm-bored-I'm-bored-I'm-bored", I made several trips up and down the stairs from my studio, hauling down promising papers and bits of things to transform into greetings at the dining room table (the only surface big enough to spread out on). This year I am jumping on the glitter band wagon and sparkling up cards, ignoring the fact that my glue stick is getting imbedded with shiny bits. "Too much is never enough" is my motto for making cards this year. The brighter, the shinier, the more layered. The better! My son joined me in making one card, and Rebecca (3 yrs old) glittered and stamped until I encouraged her to go play somewhere else. (Yes, I am a bad mom, but I can only tolerate so much chaos). My oldest daughter (Victoria, 11) was too busy with her Nintendogs to care about cards (if only our St. Bernard, Lucy, got as much attention as those virtual dogs!). To Victoria's defense, I should say that she loves to write cards and letters to friends, but gets few responses, so she does not feel encouraged to send out Christmas cards, hand made or otherwise. Me, I will mail out cards not expecting a response. The point is, that you have heard from me!

I created with images cut from Victorian themed giftwrap (Vintage Hallmark bought at the thrift store), a little bit of stamping, a little bit of vintage trims, a little bit of paper (from a dwindling stash) and more images from a catalog, Victorian Papers. And gold stars (teachers' reward stars)- I love using them! Everything is shinier and brighter with gold stars!!! I won't have the time to make enough cards to cover my whole entire mailing list this year, but hopefully all of my creative friends (plus a few RAK'd folks) will get a hand made gem. Just be warned that you may need to vacuum after opening!

Now, off to the post office!