Design Crafters

“Let’s stay in touch!” A large part of why millions of people worldwide send Christmas cards to their family and friends is to stay in touch and to send out holiday greetings and well-wishes. After all, the “trend” of sending Christmas cards is now well into its second century…and still going strong.

For others, another reason that so many folks wouldn’t even consider not sending out Christmas cards one year is because the cards themselves are memories in the making. They make a fantastic snapshot of the times of the family who might be sending the cards For example, it’s rather likely that at one point or another, you’ve looked at old Christmas cards and said to someone,“oh look at this old family photo on the card; can you believe that little Mary Ann hadn’t even been born yet?” Or perhaps your family is the kind who can date a photo on a Christmas card going by the house that the photo was taken in (“that’s definitely the house in Springfield. Oh, I haven’t thought of that house in years.”). And of course there’s the ever-popular past-time of being both amused and slightly embarrassed by the clothing choices you might’ve made 20 years ago, as in “wow, I wore some really big glasses back then. Those were very stylish at the time, if you can believe it.”

If you are someone who loves to save old letters and Christmas cards, you already understand what a potential future treasure trove your old Christmas cards will be to you one day. Just think: if you can get such a kick out of looking at old photos and holiday greetings, your someday grandchildren and great-grandchildren might find it even more fun to see them.

Something’s in the air.  These days, you can’t go more than a day or two without hearing a lot about going green (or, environmentally friendly).  It sure makes sense to go green with houses, with cars, with your family’s food, and even with cleaning supplies, but have you ever wondered if you can you go green with Christmas cards?  Sure, you can!  It’s actually rather easy to go green with Christmas cards.  To begin with, you can select cards or envelopes made with recycled paper.  That’s a fantastic way to make it a green holiday.

But once the season is over, you can still make it a green Christmas.  How?  Well, when you’re taking down your decorations, your Christmas tree, or Christmas lights, there’s one more thing you probably take down that you don’t even realize could be recycled.  That’s right:  your Christmas cards that you’ve received from faraway friends and family, that you’ve perhaps put on your mantel or in your entryway, to enjoy the entire season.  They can be recycled, just like newspapers, cardboard, magazines, or old notebooks from your college economics classes.

Many times, many places you go today you’ll hear many people talk about the wisdom of recycling Christmas cards, of giving new life to the cards that would otherwise end up boxed in the attic or in a trash bin somewhere.  Personally, I like that idea very much, but only if I can still keep the cards with family photos on them.  I consider those ones to be simply too precious to recycle.

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It’s so frustrating!  You’ve gone to all the trouble of getting everyone dressed up and looking presentable, posing in front of the camera, kids fidgiting, adults trying to keep smiling, and then you look at the photos and see that someone in your family blinked just as the photo was taken.  Ugh!

Now you can save the photo (and the day) by making small, subtle, but very effective edits to the digital photo. Professional photographers and ad agencies have been using photo editing software tricks for years, why not take advantage of the technology and end up with your all-time best family photo for your Christmas card this year? If you’ve ever wanted to have a family photo without tears, flyaway hairs, or even blemishes for your Christmas cards, but never did manage to get that perfect photo, then let us tell you a little secret:  photo editing software programs.  These little miracle programs have saved the day for countless families each and every holiday season for the past few decades.

Forget about those awful times you’d look at photos and be disappointed by the many things that are wrong with them.  With the wonder of photo editing software, we have photos where none of the kids are throwing fits or refusing to look at the camera.  We have photos where the baby’s drooly chin is amazingly drool-free.  We even have photos where the dogs are sitting quietly at our feet and looking at the camera along with every member of the family.  All thanks to photo editing software. It takes some trial and error, and a lot of practice, but it’s possible to remove stray hairs, unsightly blemishes, and clean up the dreaded red-eye from the camera’s flash…and the end result is your dream family photo to go on the front of your Christmas card.

Have you ever had a holiday season where you’ve repeatedly thought about friends or family you haven’t spoken to in ages and wondered how they’re doing?  Many people think back on their lost friends and relatives with regret, knowing that they can’t go back in time to undo the argument but wishing that perhaps there was some way to repair the damaged relationship. That’s just where Christmas cards come into play.

You’re wondering just how can Christmas cards make a huge difference in a long-lost friendship or family relationship?  While a great many people think of Christmas cards as a simple way to keep in touch with friends and family and pass along holiday greetings, it’s worth noting that the cards are also a means to ending estranged relationships.  We’ve seen it happen ourselves.  All it takes is one card, one sincerely felt, genuinely friendly Christmas card to an old friend or formerly dear family member, and then you very well may get a phone call or letter shortly afterwards from them, relieved and happy to have heard from you after all those years and wanting, just like you, to resume the relationship. Granted, it’s not a guaranteed way back into someone’s life, but it’s surprising how many times that a gesture like a Christmas card will be an effective truce to an argument.

It’s obvious, really, when you think of it like this:  the holiday season is a time of love, friendship, and sharing happy times with others. So it makes sense that it would also be a time of reconciliation and forgiveness among friends and family, as well. Keep that in mind when you next begin writing out your annual Christmas card list…is there someone you miss having in your life who should be getting a card from you?  Consider sending them a note this holiday season.

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The Sugar Plum Fairy’s suite, the smell of fresh Christmas trees, the taste of gingerbread cookies:  What’s your holiday moment?  Everyone has something, some event or food or book (or even a piece of music) that makes it feel like the holidays.  Each year, a few weeks before Thanksgiving, my family and I start planning a trip to the local Christmas tree farm. It’s a wonderful tradition we began before the children were even born. It has sort of become the unofficial start to our holiday season, and a very lovely way to kick it off, too. Hayrides, hot cocoa, baked goods, holiday greenery, Christmas carols playing in the background, and acres and acres of future Christmas trees.

My family and I first went to the Christmas tree farm with some friends, who had asked us to go with them. While there, they turned to us and asked us to take some photos of their whole family, standing in front of the rows of beautiful live Christmas trees. We were happy to snap a few shots with their camera for them, and then we found “the perfect” tree for our home, so we quickly forgot taking those few family photos. But our friends didn’t forget, and a few weeks later, we opened our mailbox to find a Christmas card from them, with one of the photos we’d taken for them on the card smiling back at us.

Their Christmas card photo was fantastic!  In fact, it turned out so well that we decided we would like to “borrow” the idea for our own cards someday. And that’s just what we did. It’s fun to look back at our little collection of photos from the Christmas tree farm that we’ve amassed now; each and every one of them was taken for that year’s Christmas card.  It’s a great tradition that the kids and adults alike look forward to each holiday season.

Do you spend a lot of time on eBay or at antique shows hunting for that last collectible to round out your collection?  You just might have a collection!  More and more all the time, we see that people have all kinds of collections:  china figurines, photos of elephants, movie memorabilia, circus paraphernalia, anything and everything to do with the Wild West, baseball cards, comic books, you name it, someone out there surely collects it!  One type of collection that has been popular for a very long time has been autographs. 

Autograph collections are an interesting kind of collection to see, as people often have all kinds of things autographed for their collections:  baseball cards, cocktail napkins, inside frontispiece of books, teeshirts, movie posters, photographs, and of course the time-tested favorite:  a scrap of paper.    One man in England who was recently recognized as a world-class autograph collector (he auctioned off his collection for 50,000 pounds!) says he put together his collection by writing to people to ask for their autographs, and many famous people complied, sometimes by postcard, letter, or even Christmas cards. 

Now comes a bit of a surprise:  it’s more than likely that you’re an autograph collector, as well.  Sure, you’ll find that most peoples’ autograph collections generally feature the autographs of famous people (actors, musicians, politicians, religious leaders, to name a few), but there are also some folks do collect the autographs of friends and family.  Don’t believe me?  Well, next time you’re putting away your Christmas decorations and you find yourself saving the stack of Christmas cards that you received, you might just realize that you are, in a way, collecting your family and friends’ autographs!  Years from now you might pull out those stacks of cards and enjoy looking through them to see old familiar handwriting of your grandmother, best friend from college, or your niece when she was in the first grade.

Year in and year out, no matter what the “fashions” of the year, did you know that there’s at least one holiday season staple that has been around for nearly 165 years? It’s probably not photos with Santa or waiting in line to start shopping on “Black Friday,” so what do you suppose it could be?  Answer: the Christmas card .  History tells us that Sir Henry Cole — then-director of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, England – commissioned an artist to create a card that he could send to his friends for Christmas.  What inspired Sir Henry to think up the idea in the first place?  He realized that he was too busy to write a holiday letter to each and every one of his friends as he had previous Christmases.  And so the Christmas card came into being, sort of a happy accident, don’t you think?

As innovative and clever new things often do, the cards managed to cause an uproar back in 1843.  Not just over the brilliant idea of the cards itself, but because the image on the front of Sir Henry’s card was of a family enjoying their holiday dinner while a child enjoyed a sip of wine.  Many were outraged and newspapers and ministers alike decided that Sir Henry’s cards were “fostering moral corruption in children” with the image on the front.  Nonetheless, the idea of Christmas cards took off in popularity almost immediately. 

For the first few years (or even decades), Christmas cards with religious themes were the only ones available to Victorian consumers, but it didn’t take long for other Christmas card themes to appear on the market.   Nowadays, of course, you can find a Christmas card in just about any theme or motif you could dream up:  nature, with family photos, corporate, patriotic, humorous, sports-themed, luxurious, classic, cartoon characters, and of course featuring Santa Claus in his many forms. So don’t forget to raise a cup of eggnog to toast Sir Henry’s brilliant idea this winter….and then get back to sending out your own version of the Christmas card (hopefully scandal-free).

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More and more every day, artists all over the world have opportunities to enter their artwork in competitions to be featured on an organization’s Christmas card this coming holiday.  Entries are already arriving at the many different organizations that hold competitions to be the winner, featured on the front of their 2008 Christmas card.  Such competitions are becoming widespread in popularity, both for the organizations (such as a charity or a school) and for the artists who enter the competitions.

It’s a win-win for everyone.  Are you considering entering a Christmas card competition this year?  Perhaps you are wondering what kind of art might be more favored by the judges.  Well, considering these are art competitions for Christmas cards, it’s probably safe to say that the subject matter should be some sort of holiday theme.  Snowmen, angels, Christmas trees, carolers, Christmas wreaths on front doors or windows, Christmas tree ornaments, and of course the perennial and timeless favorite:  Santa Claus.   All of these subjects and a great many more would make fantastic Christmas cards.  Even those subjects that aren’t as obviously Christmasy would work, as well, including snowy landscapes, starry skys, peaceful still lifes, and simple, unadorned Christmas trees growing in the forest.  The list of potential subjects is truly endless and it won’t be hard to find a pleasing subject for you.

One thing that I find especially interesting about such Christmas card competitions is to see the wide range of artists that enter their pieces of artwork.  It’s often a combination of seasoned, established professional artists and those more amateur, untrained artists who create art for the sheer joy of it.  You’ll also see many children enter their artwork in these competitions, and very often, their entries are among the most impressive and moving.  Who will win this year?  Maybe your art, but only if you enter it!

Sending Christmas Cards is a simple way of letting our families and friends that they mean something to us this holiday season. But if you are in business, sending Christmas cards to your customers and associates is a great way of showing them how important they are and making sure they remember you.

Sending your clients Christmas cards gives them an impression that you value doing business with them and enjoy serving them. You could even include coupons or discount vouchers as a Christmas gift to them. This not only makes them feel extra special, it also gives them an incentive to buy more of your products or services.

Well made Business Christmas cards can be a wonderful promotional tool for your business. The fact that you are willing to go the extra mile to wish your clients a Merry Christmas will put you ahead of others who do not in their minds. With a sincere approach and intention, this could prove to be an effective way of promoting your business.

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Are you an only child, part of your own version of The Brady Bunch, or something in between?  Me, I’m the little sister in my family, and I’d always see those neighborhood kids who had a large number of brothers and sisters, because it seemed to me that they must have a great deal of fun along with the houseful of kids.  Noise and fun, of course.  It was only when I grew up and got my own family full of kids that I realized just how much work, in all manner of different forms, a houseful of kids can be.  To begin with, think of how just being prepared for the birthday presents and Christmas cards alone would be a full-time job!

Can you imagine how much work that is for someone with a large family?  Just ask an 88-year-old woman in the U.K. who really has her hands full when it comes to sending out her Christmas cards.  Simply to send out a card to each one of her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, Mrs. Graham needs to have a whopping 117 Christmas cards each year!  She concedes that it is certainly hard to keep track of where everyone lives, but of course, each of her seven children, 30 grandchildren, and 74 great-grandchildren surely appreciate the effort she makes.  We suspect that Mrs. Graham probably has taken to sending out holiday greetings just to her family, to save on time and effort, not to mention the cost of postage.  Still, it’s surely easier than buying Christmas presents for them all.

Our point is that people love being thought of during the holidays and a Christmas card is a lovely way to let them know they’re in your thoughts.  As Mrs. Graham knows very well and could tell you, no matter the size of your family – immediate, extended, or just honorary – the folks on your Christmas card list enjoy receiving holiday greetings from you each year. So don’t stop sending those cards!