Do you still buy holiday cards or do you prefer posting on social media? I’m going to take a wild guess and say that the answer may depend partially on your age.
Some of us grew up actually getting mail in the mailbox instead of just bills, ads, and political flyers. So, if you do buy cards where do you get them? Hallmark? Box store? Make your own?
Several of my SC friends here have some serious craft skills.
Last Friday, Sue and I went to a class to learn how to make cards using Stampin’ Up products, and those barn doors really do move from side to side. If I told you how long it took us to make the first one, you’d have yourself a really good laugh.
We came away with a new respect for their cards, and found one piece of equipment that anyone who uses ink stamps needs – Tim Holtz’s Stamp Platform. It has a side for clear or rubber stamps. You set the stamp where you want it, ink, and press on the card which is held with magnets. If it isn’t quite dark enough, you can do it again, and it lines up perfectly every time.
Linda taught me how to complete my first embroidery card, and working on that type of card fits right in with my sewing – I like it a lot. Marilyn makes and sells Iris & Fancy Folding cards, and I bought several because she does a lovely job.
I enjoy these special cards and thinking I’m sending a keepsake for family or friends. I also like writing a message in cursive. After all, those nuns spent a lot of years making me practice cursive, I want to keep using it for a while longer. 🙂
NewEnglandGardenAndThread 
This cards are really pretty and unique. I am definitely kind of person who loves send and gives holiday cards. 🙂
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I am 73 and from the era of snail mail, but have never done cards, my mother was all things cards. Until 20 years ago i forced myself to do Chrismtas cards to people who sent me one, then stopped. but i have to say I LOVE those cards with the sliding barn door. beautiful.. plus you get the entertainment and fun from creating them. i have a couple of friends who make cards and they love making them so much… good job..
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There is an entertainment piece to making a card even if it is the laughter involved in your mistakes. 🙂
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I love sending cards, and I love receiving cards. Over the year, not counting Christmas, I probably send well over 60 cards. (That does include birthdays.) If someone is having a hard time, I send them “flowers” from my garden. The cards pictured in the post are works of art and deserved to be framed. Speaking of which, the “flower” you sent for my birthday is framed and is on the bookshelf in our living room. Love it!
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You are the one who got me thinking about original cards with that beauty you sent me when I was having the medical summer. 🙂 I’m glad you liked that photo, and every person who gets a hand crafted card from me will have you to thank. 🙂
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A-w-w-w! So nice! And it isn’t wonderful to get someone’s handmade card in the mailbox instead of the usual assortment of bills and flyers.
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I love sending and receiving cards. Unfortunately with demand so low now, the selection of available cards isn’t inspiring.
I have a couple of nieces who have been making their own cards for many years. Each one – like yours above – are small works of art. I can’t imagine the time and effort that went into their creation. I think of them as works of love that I get every year from them 💕
btw – those little barn doors are awesome!!
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Those little barn doors are why I took the class. I could not believe they actually moved from side to side, and then I just had to know how to do it. 🙂
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I do not buy cards — but I was never a great card buyer anyway. Garry, on the other hand, loves real cards and buys (and mails) them even now, even though he knows most other people don’t. It’s something about writing the words on the page, addressing them in your own hand and all that.
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It’s a real personal thing these days because we have become so accustomed to just sending a blast on one of the sites. 🙂
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Those cards are beautiful and creative. I still occasionally send cards, but most of the time it’s a message via the internet. That’s kind of sad, isn’t it!
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Well, in your case, you at least have a reason – you’re on the road 12 months a year. 🙂
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Amazing barn doors! All your designs are mini works of art, so much so that who would ever want to throw them away? Christie’s MIL is really into this and has so many supplies for little details that make each card so special. She gave me a stack once, and I was anxious to use them, but was shocked at the postage charged for each one – the little added “doodads” made the envelope thick and that’s how they charged me. After that, I confined them to personal delivery at bridal and baby showers. Every one loved them!
Your post flashed me back to a warm memory. “Back in the day” we received so many Christmas cards that there was the occasional SECOND daily delivery by the mailman! I clearly recall one of those times, seeing his snow covered hat through the door window. Mom would tape them up on the living room wall in the shape of a tree. We had the excess lining the doorway arch to the dining room. I wonder now who all those senders were! My parents were not exceptionally social people, and mom specialized in being “on the outs” with relatives on dad’s side! Maybe they still sent cards out of fear of incurring her wrath!
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Yes, there were so many cards you had to be creative with the displays. I use to send out boxes at Christmas. Now, I never use an entire box. I love cards, but like me they are getting to be a thing of the past. 🙂
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These cards are OUTSTANDING! There is just something about a card in the mail and especially if it’s made with LOVE! I know that they are time consuming! I use to stamp but when I moved to AZ I gave them all to my friend who still scrapbooks.
I make cards with my photos now and send them.
I also will embellish the outside envelopes with calligraphy (that’s not perfect!) (I try!!)
I just found an app that will take one of your photos on your phone… and turn it into a post card or card. They will make it and send it! I have only made three. But it’s pretty
easy and it saves me a trip to the post office! The app is called TouchNote!
Have fun with those cards… you will truly make someone happy!
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Glad you liked them, and thank you for sharing that tip about the app. I’m going to check it out, and I bet others will to. 🙂
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Love those cards. Truly works of art, each one. Keepsakes for sure. I send cards, usually with a note in them. At my age, I don’t want to forget how to write! And hand-written letters were more common than a phone call.
Like Joyce, we had a ‘second delivery’ on Christmas mail. But not occasionally, it was for the two weeks preceding Christmas.
•••Ginger•••
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I have to laugh at those of us who spent literally years of our lives perfecting our cursive writing only to be replaced by a keyboard driven by thumbs. 🙂
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Those a beautiful! I love the window in the beery one!
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Isn’t that a hoot. I thought it would be perfect for a beer lover, and I know several of those. 🙂
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Love the cards!! I also love getting cards in the mail and sending Christmas cards. A lot of years I have made picture cards of our family but I also send boxed cards, and sometimes I buy that special Hallmark card that stands out to me for someone. So a little bit of everything. 🙂
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Cards are just so much more personal than a social media post. 🙂
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Barn doors? A mug of beer? Hot chocolate with whipped cream? It would be hard for me not to like this post, a lot, Judy.
We send a lot fewer cards today than we did many years ago, but I still think an actual card is a very nice thing. These are beautiful.
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Both…have a list of 60 or so for card….do FB and WordPress, Twitter.
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I love these cards! Last year is the first year I did not send out Christmas cards. I used to make cards from some of my photos. I sold a few in a local shop and kept some on hand to use for birthdays and special occasions. I’ve used them all up now. I may have to make a few more after reading this post!
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I received a beautiful photo card from Laurie in ME and made a few of those. Of course, some of the photos I had copied wouldn’t fit. Lesson learned. 🙂
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I don’t remember the last time I bought a card. I make mine including my Christmas cards. I also use Stampin Up products as well as others. I’ve been making cards for about 20 years but have been more into it since I’ve retired. It’s a great hobby and I find I send more cards than I used to. Share a little kindness 😊
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I think you captured it – ‘share a little kindness.’ If the people only knew the amount of time and effort you put into each card, they’d slide that piece of art right into a frame. 🙂
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Yay! A new cardmaker is born!! All of your cards are just lovely, Judy. I can truly appreciate the time you spent on each one! I just love the barn door ‘slider’ cards and the white embossed background on your birthday card. Iris-folding is an art. I’ve tried it using both ribbon and thin strips of paper. Using a stamp positioner is truly a game changer! My MISTI tool allows me to restamp to get a perfect impression, even on textured watercolor paper. Hope you will make more cards, Judy! Stitching on cards would be perfect for you! It’s fun to make gift tags and bookmarks, too! Happy crafting, my friend!💗
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I cannot tell you how many times I thought of you while I was at that class. All the equipment and the time required to make that card – blew me away. Now, I understand your studio and can appreciate the investment in time and equipment you have invested to create each one of your pieces of art. I will never look at a hand crafted card the same way ever! 🙂
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Judy, I have been smiling ever since I read your post earlier today! Heartfelt thanks for your sweet thoughts. I think of each handmade card a a tiny gift from the heart ~ overflowing with love! I can only imagine the amount of love that is stitched into each of your quilted masterpieces, Judy! Sharing handmade kindness is one of our love languages. Perhaps a new creative spark is glowing in your imagination. Hope you can go to another cardmaking class with your SC friends! 💗
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Beautiful cards! I’m afraid that I’d feel terrible about tossing them once received (thus, adding to my “stuff”). I still send birthday cards but didn’t send Christmas cards last year because I was traveling a lot and didn’t have time (I know… poor excuse). I thought that I might send New Year’s cards… then Groundhog Day cards instead but that didn’t happen either. I bet you could make little quilt cards that would be beautiful!
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Wow – now you have me thinking about quilt cards. I imagine I could attach them like the embroidery cards. Hmmm.
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I bet everyone who received one would cherish that little bit of you.
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Each of your cards is a work of art, Judy. I’m sure the recipients will love them and appreciate the time taken to create them.
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I used to spend hours in card stores as a young adult – I loved buying just the right card & would buy some just because I loved them so much & knew tons of people who would love them. (Hippo, Birdie, Two Ewes was a long time favorite) But the card companies jacked the prices up from $1 to $5 or even $6 over time and I just got disgusted with them. They took the fun right out of it for me. But you put the fun back in – sliding barn doors? I’m all about those! Great job!
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You bring up a very valid issue – cost. I know when I’ve been in a Hallmark store, find a ice card, flip it over and see $5.99, and then set it back down. I think we will probably see card stores go the way of video rental stores – out of business.
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Their greediness sucked the fun right out of it . . .
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I still send real cards, but the stack is getting shorter with each year.
Back in the late 80’s and through the 90’s I was BIG into Rubber Stamping. I was even a rep for one company now gone I believe so I could earn Rubber Stamps, ink, papers, and everything else.
I used to make greeting cards, birthday cards, Holiday Cards all the time, but never anything as elaborate as your barn door one.
I have 2 homemade acrylic T-bars a small and larger one I used to get my stamps to line exactly where I wanted it to go on the paper.
I still have all my Rubber Stamps; There’s a lot of them. Once in awhile I pull them out and create a quick card, but it’s just once in awhile. I’m ready to part with them just yet. 🙂
I’m sure everyone who receives one of your handmade cards will love it! They’re so beautiful, and very unique. It’s like a gift itself!
For inspiration outside of the classroom, and lessons/tutorials I recommend viewing some of Lindsey’s (The Frugal Crafter) youtube videos. She’s pretty talented and fun to watch.
Here’s a link to her latest stamping project posted just 3 days ago. I didn’t view it. I watch her watercolor painting tutorials the most.
Happy Stamping!
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Thank you for that link. I watched it and subscribed. I’m finding the creativity of card making pretty interesting.
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Beautiful cards, Judy. I send Christmas cards, birthday cards, and postcards as well as cards at various other times. I find them all over the place, including Half Price Books, but I don’t spend a fortune on them. I have quite a few waiting to be sent, but I plan to start making some of my own soon. They’ll either be with my photos on them or Japanese-style cards that I’ll make myself. There’s nothing like getting real mail.
janet
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My neighbour and I love cards & we often put new & interesting ones in each other’s letterbox. The ones in your photo are small works of art..👏👏….. and YES I remember the long hard road to learning cursive at school.. The nuns were never satisfied!
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It probably is age-related, but I still send cards for birthdays and Christmas. I’m not so creative as to make my own, but I pick mine up at surplus stores for $1. I simply cannot spend $6.99 for a piece of cardboard, no matter how prettily it is printed by Hallmark. 😉 The high cost of commercial cards is good news for those crafters who sell at fairs, etc. I’d gladly pay for a handmade card from its creator.
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The beautiful folded cards are sold for $3 each. I bought eight of them, all I could grab, to take home. I would much rather pay the crafter than pay a conglomerate. 🙂
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I love getting and sending cards. I make some with my own photography and also buy from individuals and from hallmark, it all just kind of depends. I love these that you have in this post.
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I’m positive a card with one of your photographs is truly a gift that is framed. 🙂
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Thanks 🙂
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What memories! Back in the 60s…the riches of Kroch’s & Brentano’s in the Loop…ah, those were the cards. Weren’t they 25 cents? And hilarious! And not a one about body functions! I loved this post and all the comments. I used to make a lot of my own cards and you’ve kicked my conscience, although I cannot make anything as amazing as the cards you’ve featured here. I can’t wait for the post about your quilted cards! I agree with all who believe that personal paper mail is a gift and all but extinct. Thanks for this push to keep it alive!
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I couldn’t make a collection of those cards for use unless I did it full time. They take a lot of time and a passion for it to keep you going. I’d love to take a few more classes just because it kicks your creativity into a new realm. I am going to try some more embroidery cards and a couple of quilted cards. I’ll keep you posted. 🙂
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I’m not much of a card person, I guess, neither sending nor receiving. They seem like one more thing to spend money on, only to be thrown away. Having said that, the cards in your photos are works of art! If you’re going to send cards, these are cards worth sending!
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I love cards. Always have. Nothing makes me feel more loved than to receive a card, but sadly no one sends them anymore. I’ve even backed down on sending them because I’m told that to send one makes the recipient feel guilty. I see it as kindness/connection, they don’t. Go figure.
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Isn’t that interesting that we’ve ‘progressed’ as a society to sending a greeting card but making the recipient feel guilty. I can see it, but I don’t have to like it. 🙂
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Exactly.
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Love receiving real cards in the mail. Your class sounds fun. I once enjoyed a lesson in using dried, pressed flowers to make cards. Quite fun.
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I have not done cards ( Christmas or others ) for years. I first went in to ‘card shock” about 7-8 years ago when I got no thank you in the mail for a nice wedding gift but rather a blanket thank you on FB for people attending that wedding 🙂 In the younger generation cards are clearly gone 😦
Having said that, Judy go visit https://frommycarolinahome.wordpress.com/ She not only quilts but is often posting about stamping / card making 🙂
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Oh my, she has some beautiful cards. Thank you for the link. 🙂 I don’t like it, but I can accept that holiday cards are done and done with the younger generation. The one missing card, that really annoys me is the thank you card. They can send invitations and expect a gift, but they do not say thank you for the time, effort, and money invested in the giving of the gift. I’ve talked to a couple of ladies down here who stopped giving gifts to family because no one ever said thank you even in a text. Sorry – thank you for a gift is a hot button right now. 🙂
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I love these cards Judy, the making of them is very therapeutic. I had a time about 3 years ago when I had a card making craze. Now I just make a few for special friends and I wonder if any of those I sent all those years ago were ever kept….
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One of the ladies at the class told a story of taking three hours to make the perfect card for her brother’s birthday. She called, asked if he got the card, and he said ‘yes.’ No comment about it, and when she asked what he did with it he replied that ‘he had thrown it away after reading it.’ She said he gets a card from the dollar store every year now. 🙂
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Oh dear, I think that does happen to many of our hand made cards we lovingly slave over. But then we have had the joy of creation. I used to scan my cards into the computer to keep a record of them
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Yes, you guessed right. I am of a certain age and still send Christmas cards and birthday cards and I hand write thank you notes and sympathy cards. Your latest artistic endeavors are beyond spectacular. What fun to learn a new craft with friends!
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I make cards, I buy cards and mail them, but mostly, I text people or call them or post to social media.
There were a few years I made cards and did scrapbooks as a full-time hobby. I love paper. It’s like fabric 😉
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You are right – it is like fabric. I was in a store yesterday walking in the paper aisle looking and feeling. 🙂
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I love receiving cards and sending them. I have a friend who makes lovely ones using her photos and I love using my (beautiful!) handwriting. I love my real ink and proper nib pen too. 🙂
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It is in my dna to send cards. We owned a stationery manufacturing plant for 22 years and I designed our Christmas Card collection every year. These days I design our family Christmas cards with a favorite photo on the cover, and a picture of our family on the inside of the card. Shutterfly makes the whole process very easy. Your hand crafted cards are beautiful. Lovely post, right up my alley..
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I can only imagine how beautiful your Christmas cards are with all of your previous experience. 🙂
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Definitely cards. I tape Christmas cards on my wall and leave them up all winter. Just took them down a couple of weeks ago.
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