Handmade Christmas Cards

I don't often send Christmas cards anymore. I used to. There was a time in the late '90s and early aughts when a friend and I would sit down on Thanksgiving night with two boxes of cards each (that we'd painstakingly chosen in the weeks before), two books of stamps each, our lists of recipients, the Christmas quotes we'd chosen to go inside, stickers to use as seals, green and red pens, and work our way through the lists together.

We'd knock out our entire lists by 10 o' clock in a marathon, sort them into "in town" and "out of town" lists and drive to the post office down the street and drop the bundles in the correct mailboxes, then go back to her place and toast smugly to "kicking Martha Stewart's butt."

I cherish the memories of the fun we had doing this, how great it felt to be so organized (at a time when my life was anything but), and a time when I actually had enough friends and living relatives to have such a long list.

These days, I send them out maybe every three years. I'm not terribly motivated, and when I do, the list is very much shorter. I used the same two boxes of cards for at least three card-sending years.

This year, the list has grown again, and I'm thankful. I want to send cards again!

And this time, I'm going to make my own. I have a picture I took in 2009 that would make a great card, but do I want to use it and pay to have some place print it? Or would I rather make my own via linocut? Of course, then I'd have to pay for envelopes on Amazon. (Loving these ruby red ones.)

I haven't found a place yet that will print the cards economically, and the idea of doing 20 linocuts is a bit tiring ... but both projects sound fun.

Whatever I end up doing, I'll share here with photos and information in case you'd like to do your own.