Come On Get Crafty: Christmas Card?

I needed to mail a friend something in a larger envelope.  But I was worried that it would get bent in the mail, so I wanted to include a card.  But one can't include a card without decorating it!  So I did a simple design, inspired by this idea. 

I chose a yellow card so that my writing on the back would show up easily.  I chose red as my primary scrap color because it is almost Christmas!

Merry Christmas friend!

In the Papier: Fire birds!

A friend recently sent me this card.  I don't usually like cards in this general style, but I really like this one!

I like the design of the birds and the color of orange they are surrounded in.  It makes me think they are super-birds just chilling in a lava flow!

Card is from Hallmark.

In the Papier: Very British, Very Fun

I tried to resist this box set from Barnes & Noble (published by teNeues), and I succeeded for a while.  But eventually the world re-aligned and I used my one frivolous stationary purchase/month (one of my New Years Resolutions).





































I love how iconic they are in so many ways.  And full of not-stuffy nostalgia.  And generally, lots of fun.





































These Tula Moon cards feature the work of artist Steph Dekker, a designer and jewellery maker from Liverpool, who loves the colours, patterns, fabrics, quits and crafts from the 50s, 60s, and 70s (according to the box).

In the Papier: Fans Fans Fans

I bought this card for myself.  It is really pretty and I don't want to send it to anyone.  I want it all for myself.

So selfish!

The card is by Sharyn Sowell, for Sunrise Greetings.

In the Papier: Pigmented Insects

I love stationary.

I love sending letters and notes to people. I love writing addresses on envelopes and sticking on the stamps. But best of all, I LOVE sending people letters and notes that are a visual party. Stationary and note cards feature some really beautiful, funky and creative art, full of cool colors, shapes, images, interpretations and materials. It is so enjoyable to receive provoking visuals in the mail along with the latest news from your pals, and it is so enjoyable to browse the stationary stores and aisles until you find something you think your correspondents will get a kick out of or really really love. I still have many many cards people have sent me over the years either because they are beautiful or because I can tell the person put a lot of thought and effort into picking a card they knew I would really love or would really speak to me.

So much love can go into that simple, little physical packet of paper.

As such, I'm going to start sharing with you some of my finds, starting with these cards featuring insects against some gorgeous colors. I've started to get really into butterflies, so I think that's what drew me to these initially when I picked these up at Michael's off one of those $1 stands. They are a little cheap-looking, but still very pretty.


The orange one is easily my favorite.


These are done under the label "Studio18" by Rachel Tribble, and distributed by International Greetings USA.

La poste

"My Dearest Friend" --- letter from Abigail Adams to John Adams

Even as a small child I greatly admired the art of correspondence. Whether in nineteenth century novels, or in the dramatized excepts from primary sources in Ken Burns' PBS miniseries, the eloquence of the sentiment and precision of expression displayed in these 200+ year old documents are astonishing. I think most of us would agree that such writing is a long-lost art. But I have always felt it my duty as an admirer of the written word to at least do my bit to keep the practice of letter-writing alive. This has made me a loyal patron of the United States Postal Service. I appreciate its history and am glad to use it as my go-to mail service. However, the poor USPS seems to be striving to make this more and more difficult for me each year.

(1) As many letter-writers may know, the cost of the stamp has inflated over the years, often an additional cent every year. This makes the snail-mail corresponder's life most difficult as we juggle a jumble of 44 cent, 42 cent, 2 cent, 28 cent (postcard), 27 cent, and 1 cent stamps, fearful that if we get the wrong combo our messages to our dear and beloved will be lost somewhere out there in mail limbo.

And yes, I realize that we could buy the 'forever' stamps, but that would require surrendering to brown Liberty bell image blandness, versus the fun flower, fruit and furniture selection offered by the regular stamp. One should not have to compromise on aesthetics!

(2) Flat-rate boxes are an evil ruse. Sure you can ship anything you want in their cheapest box offered for just under $5. But the catch is that you can't actually fit anything in it. Unless you are planning on ship something relatively flat and rectangular-shaped like a stack of magazines, it's unlikly anything you actually want to mail will fit in their handy-dandy less than $5 box. Nope. Instead, you'd probably have to upgrade to the box that you can actually put things in. It only costs you $5 more.

I resent these shenanigans. I understand the ole postal system is in want of finances. But trying to pick-pocket me out of it with sneaky flat-rate box schemes shrouded by innocent tv ad facades and going all evil big-businessy on the general pop is not the way to go. Whatever happened to sticking to our founding principles, doing the right thing and being the better man? UPS and FedEx may have given up on ethics (or just be better, but we'll ignore that one for now), but who is the bigger mail system in the end? Oh, that logic actually does not work.

Well, I guess when the day comes that the homey USPS delivery trucks are running down pedestrians and joggers a la FedEx driver protocol, then we'll know we really have to worry.