Let's Uphold this Timeless Holiday Tradition

Fads like the hula-hoop and yo-yos will come and go, but sending holiday cards in December to family and friends is a timeless tradition that should be honored! It’s a way of taking a pause at the end of the year and reaching out to share our best wishes.

Technology brings a lot of advances that are quick and efficient, but is that really what matters when wishing happy holidays to those we care about? Holidays offer so many opportunities to be creative with your decorations, gifts, and cards, which is what I’m focusing on each day this week leading up to Christmas.

This year I photographed something for my holiday cards and had them printed, but often in past years I’ve hand made my cards. As emphasized by The Daily Artisan, it means a lot to people when you care enough to invest your time in making them something unique and special. Long after the actual holiday has passed, the feeling of being special remains!

It reminds me of a quote that’s true in so many contexts, and not just at holiday time:

“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
Maya Angelou

Today’s post by The Daily Artisan features photographs of some of the holiday cards I’ve made over the years. As you’ll see, the cards are constructed from a variety of materials and techniques, including:

heat embossing with gold powder, and then watercoloring the embossed image;
die-cut shapes from satin fabrics to all kinds of textured papers – some with tiny parts for assembling (see “before” and “after”);
different pieces of lace cut into strips to form a Christmas tree;
handcrafted envelopes from patterned papers that complement the cards;
three-dimensional effects;
antiqued sheet music as a background; and
decorations of bling, ribbon, and rub-on words for the holiday greeting.

As you look at the cards, see if you can guess which one I made for fun but wouldn’t (didn’t) dare send to anyone. I don’t think you’ll have any problem picking it out!

Let’s get started as we honor the timeless tradition of holiday cards!