I’m sure many of you make your festive cards, and many others think about it. I’ve done both. (And I apologise ahead of time for seeming to whip-on the gallop towards that busy season.) The date for sea mail cards from Australia has already passed, and that’s no doubt true around the world, but there is still time to think in November of the cards you will send in December, whether you’re celebrating Christmas, Kwanzaa, Hanukkah or whatever your festive season may be.
One thing I’ve done several times is to include as part of my card a photo of some of my craft work from the year just gone. Have a lovely time fishing out the things you’ve made – quilts and other stitching projects, hats, bags, altered books, whatever you’ve created and spent time imagining. You may wish to include any fetching children you’ve been growing during the year, if you have them. Play stylist with your work, and have fun remembering all you did, the challenges and successes, while you arrange and photograph it. Digital gives you instant feedback and plenty of room to experiment – many items in one photo? a single shot of something you’re particularly pleased with?
Nothing is stopping you then working with your favourite photograph in a photo-editing program, if you want to add words, or maybe merge several images, if some of your works have been given to others (you photographed them first, didn’t you?) fd’s Flickr toys such as the Mosaic Maker or Hockneyizer offer further possibilities.
Commercial photo printers often offer cheaper deals on printing 4x6in photos as the holiday season approaches, and this may be more economical than printing the image yourself.
You can glue your final image to the left-hand side of a commercial card opposite the printed greetings, or make it the front of a card you make yourself, either folded or postcard style. If you opt for postcard-style, stationery suppliers stock sheets of 4in x 6in labels to put through the printer that fit on the back of a photograph – so you can prepare your text on your computer, fonts/message etc and just handwrite the bits you want.
Don’t forget to keep one for yourself. Over time, these photos become a wonderful record of what you’ve made in various years. To the recipients, they speak of who you are and what brings you joy. If you’re having an iffy modest moment about this seeming like bragging, go read what yarn harlot had to say the other day.
If you’ve got other craft ideas for festive cards, do share them in the comments.
PS: if you do do this, and have an image of your year’s work on the net somewhere like flickr or photobucket or in a blog entry, do post the (exact) URL in the comments too, so we can go and enjoy seeing it and being inspired.
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Some of the most fun holiday cards that we have gotten were children’s art. My sweetie was a preschool teacher for years so we would get these every once in a while, but when we did they just warmed our heart. It is so fun to see kids draw a menorah or santa or snow… just fun for the holidays! Jacqueline
For the last couple of years I’ve tried to make cards that serve a purpose as something–bookmarks, tree ornaments, small books, etc. Not sure what this year’s will be–I’m watching this space for encouragement.
what a wonderful idea! it is really nice to go back and see all the changes that have happened with our work in the last year.
This is an excellent idea, something I think I will do myself this year, even if I just send out a few photos to those whom know I craft. The collage of photos in one photo is a good idea too. I love Picasa2 from google, it does a really nice collage photo too.