Читать книгу A Homemade Christmas - Tina Barseghian - Страница 6
Chapter
ONE
GREETING
ОглавлениеRecycle Cards of Christmases Past
Share the Christmas spirit with heartfelt holiday greetings.
The holidays provide the perfect occasion to send warm wishes to all those we care about. Busy months speed by, and between work, school, travel, and the distractions of life, we may not have the time or opportunity to reach out and catch up with friends and family as much as we’d like.
But the holidays give us the opportunity to slow down and take the time to make and send personal greetings. With written notes and photos, we bring people back into our lives. The process of deciding on the idea of the card, assembling the elements, and writing a heartfelt message connects you to your loved ones, showing them that they’re on your mind and that they mean a lot to you.
It’s also a way for you to express yourself artistically—even if you don’t necessarily think of yourself as a visual artist. Homemade holiday greetings can take the form of art, collage, photos, videos, essays—or whatever appeals to you and works within your budget and time constraints.
“Homemade” in this context means that you put some of your own handiwork into creating your greeting—but it does not have to mean that you must create each element from scratch, eschew technology, or reject anything manufactured. The effort you make and the personal connection you forge in sending the greeting are what make it special. A holiday card amid the stack of catalogs and bills is sure to be the first piece of mail opened; a personal message in your email in-box (especially if it comes complete with photos or video) will be opened with equal anticipation.
This chapter offers homemade greeting ideas for every level of time and skill. If you’re excited to exercise your crafty muscles, you may enjoy making your own stamps, creating collages with different types of media, or embroidering a Christmas message. If your time is very limited or your skills more technical than crafty, you can create a different type of homemade greeting: check out the section on digital greetings, consider writing a holiday blog, or use your camera to make a video. Making holiday cards is a great activity to share with children, too. There are also plenty of suggestions for reusing, recycling, and repurposing materials to help make your Christmas greetings earth-friendly.
Reach out and connect with your friends and family, and get yourself ready to enjoy the holidays!
Send a Photo Card
Embellishments make photo cards extra-special.
During the year, we rarely have the opportunity to share print photos with our friends and family. Most of us have gone fully digital and have learned to negotiate the digital process: download photos from the camera, upload them to photo-sharing websites, and send the links to our loved ones. If we’re lucky, we can pull this off a few times a year.
Seeing the images online is fun, but it doesn’t give the same satisfaction as holding an actual printed photograph in your hand. There’s the delicious anticipation upon spotting the envelope in your mailbox, followed by the thrill of opening it and seeing the photo for the first time: the children’s goofy smiles, the pet’s hilarious outfit, your friend sipping a margarita in Mexico. Stick it on the fridge, and you’ve got an instant reminder of someone you love that can make you smile on a daily basis.
Take the time to turn a simple photo card into a special holiday greeting. Here are two easy options:
If your Christmas greeting list is long: Use an online photo site to create unique cards that you can personalize with a special note or decorative embellishment. Just choose the photo(s), upload them to the website (see Resources), and select a design for the card. You’ll find every imaginable theme and variation in color, number, and arrangement of photos; background design elements; and greeting copy. A week later, you’ve got 50 to 500 photo cards in your mailbox, ready to write in and send out!
If your list is short (or you have more time): Get simple, nice quality, blank cards, then attach your photo using photo backing adhesive or photo corners (both available at most art supply stores). You can also find blank cards that already have four slots cut into the cover for a standard-size photo, or layered cards into which you can slide your image, which then shows through a “frame” cut out of the front.
Make a Holiday Stamp
A stamped card makes an artful and unique handmade greeting. The best part about using a stamp for Christmas cards is that you do the labor-intensive part just once—the rest is simple stamping.
You can choose to go with the elegance of a single image or a mash-up of multiple designs. Experiment with different colored inks, or add color with markers, pencils, or paints to get the design just as you imagined it.
Potato stamp: Cut a potato in half, draw or trace your design onto the flat surface, then carve out the outline with a paring knife or carving tool to cut around the image.
Simple foam stamp: Use a Christmas-themed cookie cutter to cut out a design from a piece of foam. You may need to use scissors to clean up the edges. Glue the foam onto a block of wood, and after it’s dry, it’s ready to be used as a stamp.
Lino-block stamp: You can take it up a notch and create your own linoleum-block stamp (which, by the way, can be reused—and for different purposes). Draw your design onto a piece of linoleum block, which can be purchased online or at any art supply store. From here, you can either carve out around the outline of the design, as with the potato stamp, or carve deeply into the block itself. Then, using either paint or an ink pad, press the design onto your card. Carving the outline will result in just the carved shape appearing on your card, while carving into the stamp will cover your entire card with color. You decide what look you want to achieve.
Those who can’t imagine carving out a stamp of any type will be happy to know that every imaginable design is available at craft shops and online stamp purveyors. You’ll find all manner of Christmas trees, angels, reindeer, snowmen, snowflakes, Santas, holly, bells, and much more.
Stitch Up a Greeting
Use simple needlework to make an exquisite and unique holiday card.
For those with even the most rudimentary sewing skills, making a hand-embroidered or machine-sewn card is a cool, crafty alternative to the standard holiday greeting. Think of the surprised smile of the recipient who opens this card.
All you need to get started is a blank card made out of heavy paper or cardstock, an embroidery needle, embroidery floss, and a little imagination.
1. Draw your design on the front of a blank card. A star is simple yet festive; if you’re feeling artistic, try a snowman, reindeer, or the words “Merry Christmas!”
2. Choose the color of your embroidery floss and decide if you’re going to use the same color on the entire design or different spots of color in different places.
3. Thread your embroidery needle with the floss. If you’re a beginner, use a straight running stitch to begin sewing along the drawn lines: the simpler the stitch, the cleaner it will look. If you’re confident of your stitching ability, try other stitches, such as whip stitch, stem stitch, chain stitch, or cross stitch. You may even want to have some French knots scattered across the card to look like tiny stars or snowflakes.
4. When you’re done stitching, use tape to secure the end of the thread to the back of the card.
For the more advanced sewer, slip the card underneath the sewing machine, and sew over your drawn design. Just make sure your needle is strong enough to sew on heavy paper or cardstock.
Don’t be intimidated by the amount of time it’ll take to make all of your cards. While keeping your hands busy with the embroidery, catch up on your favorite television series or listen to an audiobook.
Fashion a Felt Card
Felt is a fabulous choice for a holiday card—its warm texture, bold colors, and three-dimensionality are guaranteed to give any card project a tactile appeal.
Easy to use for all ages, felt is a versatile material that is inexpensive, cuts easily, does not fray or tatter, and adheres to cardstock or paper with liquid craft glue. Enhance an existing card design with felt or use a blank card to make an original work of art. Here are a few suggestions to get you started.
Geometric pieces card: Cut pieces of felt in basic geometric shapes and combine them into recognizable forms, such as a Christmas tree (one large triangle or three triangles of increasing size), ornaments (small circles), a house (triangle and square), presents (small squares and rectangles), a Santa hat (triangle and a circle), a snowman (three circles of increasing size), and holly (a long, thin rectangle and circles). Glue them to your card, and you’re done. The possibilities are endless!
Simple reverse cut-out card: Draw animal shapes, stars, angels, or snowmen onto the felt; use a sharp blade to cut the figures out. Glue the felt outline to a card, and your design will be revealed in reverse.
Felt postcard: Cut out a piece of felt and a piece of cardboard, both in the size of a postcard—4¼ by 6 inches (10.5 x 15 cm). Glue them together and trim the edges so that they match. Create your design on the front, and write your holiday greeting on the back. Add a stamp and send it off in the mail as a postcard. (Do make sure the glue is dry and the felt and stamp are securely adhered to the cardboard.)
All of these ideas can also be applied to making ornaments. Just punch a hole at the top of your design and thread it with a pretty ribbon.
Reuse Paint Color Chips
Create unique cards that are also eco-friendly.
Next time you come home from the hardware store with a fistful of paint samples, consider using them for a different type of project: your Christmas cards. The progressively deepening hues of color make a beautiful backdrop or pattern that can be used a number of different ways. The variations are endless, so adapt these ideas as you see fit; the idea is to take advantage of the sturdy, colorful paper in clever ways.
You can glue the entire piece onto blank cards and decorate each square, either with words (“Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!”), stickers, or, if you’ve got the time and inclination, cut and paste photos of you and your family, giving the card the appearance of a photo booth picture set.
Cut the wider paint chip samples into triangular Christmas tree shapes, stars, and snowmen (three circles on top of each other), and then embellish with stickers, glitter, or shapes cut from other paint chips.
If you’re adept at drawing, sketch the silhouette of a tree branch and cardinal, or other Christmas icon.
You can also use paint chips as gift tags, garlands, nametags for place settings, or tree ornaments.
Construct a Pop-Up Card
Surprise your friends and family with a pop-up greeting.
A pop-up card lends itself well to any design you’d like to use: a snowman, a Christmas tree, a snowflake, a star, a dove—or words like “Noel” or “Peace.” It’s also a great way to showcase your favorite family photo.
To get started, you’ll need either a blank folding card or an 8- by 10-inch (20 x 25 cm) piece of cardstock folded horizontally.
1. From the outside crease of the folded card, cut two short (about 1½ or 2 inch; 3.5 or 5 cm) parallel lines about ½ inch (1 cm) apart from each other, equidistant from the center of the card.
2. With your card open to an L shape, gently push in the slice you’ve just cut, so it pops forward (away from the crease). This will create the support for your image.
3. Cut a design (tree, star, snowflake, photo) from cardstock or heavy paper. Use a glue stick to apply glue to the pop-out support, then adhere your design to the backing and press the card closed so it dries securely.
You can also use multiple images on the same card by cutting out two or three slots instead of one.
Collage a Card
Recycle magazines and catalogs to make cut-and-paste Christmas cards.
Magazine editors spend months finding and curating the perfect holiday images for home design, lifestyle, and fashion magazines, and even those mail-order catalogs that are heaped into your mailbox by the pound. Rather than tossing them into the recycling bin, why not use them to create your own pieces of original art?
Using standard scissors (or pinking shears, for a more decorative edge) cut out images that you like: Christmas trees, holly, candles, fire, snowy scenes, or anything that conveys the holiday spirit. Then decide on a visual theme to organize the images. Collect some blank cards, glue, and any embellishments (such as ribbon or glitter) you think would look nice, and you’re ready to start. Here are some suggestions.
Cut circles or onion shapes from the pages. Glue them on to the card and draw a line from the top of the shape to the top of the card to make them look like ornaments.
Cut out a square from a glossy, colorful page and glue rickrack ribbon around its outside edges to make it look like a present.
Cut out key words like “Celebrate” or “Noel” and paste them onto the card—try a vertical or diagonal orientation for a fresh look.
If you find a page that’s uniformly bright or deep in color with few images, use that as the backdrop for other images you can layer on top of it.
Make a decoupage card. Cut out holiday shapes—simple trees, snowmen, or stars—and affix them to your card. You can opt for a very simple, elegant look, such as a single Christmas tree with a star at the top, or make it more elaborate, with multiple overlapping images. A sealer will keep the finish smooth.
Hang a stocking. Poke two small holes, one at either side of the card, then string baker’s twine in a swooping line across the top of the card. Glue the shape of a stocking you cut from a magazine to the line.
With a hole punch, cut out little circles from silver- or golden-colored pages and use them as shining accents.
Magazine pages make an excellent source of paper for all kinds of holiday projects. Save them up all year, then pull out your stash as December nears and have some fun.
Use single pages to wrap small presents.
Tape or glue pages together to create a collage-style wrap for larger gifts.
Cut out cardboard shapes and glue colorful pages to the front and back, then attach a hook or string to make ornaments.
Fold and glue individual pages to make envelopes (find templates online). Last year’s calendar is another good source of envelope paper.
The key to achieving a polished look is restraint and appreciation for blank space. Rather than randomly gluing all types of images on the card, try sticking to a palette of two or three colors at most and one primary image with a smattering of embellishment.
Recycle Cards of Christmases Past
Greetings come around again when you reuse this year’s cards for next year’s holiday décor.
Giving and receiving holiday cards is a thoughtful way to express your appreciation to those who are important to you. Here are a few creative ways to reuse and enjoy these cards once again—and it’s much more satisfying than just placing them in the recycling bin!
Next year’s cards: Some of the cards you receive will delight you, so why not transform and send them back out to please someone else? Find the images and designs you like best—perhaps an angel or a particularly cute Santa or Rudolph caught your eye—and cut them out. Once you go through all your cards, you’ll end up with a pile of great images that can be remade into next year’s Christmas cards. Glue the images onto plain cards now, so they’re ready to go, or wait until inspiration hits you next Christmas. The Pop-Up Cards and the Collage Cards are also great ways to show off your favorite images.
Gift tags: No need to buy gift tags when they can be easily made from last year’s cards. The sturdy cardstock is just the right weight for gift tags. Just make sure the back side of the card you cut is blank to leave space for filling in the name of your gift recipient.
Garland: Gather together your favorite Christmas cards from seasons past, and splay them over a ribbon. Or cut off the fronts of the cards, discarding the backs. Punch a small hole in one corner of each card front, then string and thread a piece of colorful ribbon through all the holes. Now drape your garland along a fireplace mantel, around the stairway banister, or around the Christmas tree. For a vertical garland, glue the cards in a straight line down a ribbon and hang alongside a doorway.
Advent calendar: Choose twenty-five of your favorite cards from years past and present, and detach the front of the card, recycling the rest of the card. On the back side of the image, decoratively write, stamp, or paint the day of the month. Hang all of the cards on baker’s twine with clothespins or paper clips with the numbers facing forward. As you count down to the big day, turn the cards around to reveal their merry images.
Original artwork: If you admire a handmade card, honor the artist by framing the image. If it’s holiday-themed, you can display it every Christmas as part of your holiday décor.
Place mats: This project is super-easy (great for new crafters or kids). Pile last year’s cards on the table and start cutting away. Place the pieces together in different shapes and sizes, and use colored construction paper as a backing. Glue your pieces to the construction paper, and take it to the copy shop to be laminated. Now you’ll have festive place mats to use every holiday season.
Bookmarks: Slice up your cards into long rectangles, punch a hole in their tops, and thread a ribbon through. Tie a knot and cut off any dangling ends. Keep these holiday bookmarks for your own use or slip one into a book you’re giving as a gift. They’re also nice decorations for the outside of a package that contains a book.
Recipe cards: Write down your favorite Christmas recipes on the blank back sides of cards, and keep them for your own use or to share with your friends and family.
Charitable reuse: The children’s non-profit organization St. Jude’s Ranch recycles Christmas cards into cards that are sold to raise funds for the program. Just send your cards to the following address:
St. Jude’s Ranch for Children Recycled Card Program
100 St. Jude’s Street
Boulder City, NV 89005
Go Hi-Tech
Send season’s greetings in no time with these virtual solutions.
Homemade and hi-tech: Can they coexist? Yes! With just a little creativity, digital greetings can capture the spirit of Christmas. They may lack the tactile pleasure of a card, but virtual greetings can convey all the warmth and festivity you’d put into a handmade card. Virtual cards save paper and shrink your carbon footprint! And they let you reach out to many more people swifty and easily.
Email: The easiest way to send a virtual Christmas card is by email. Use a holiday color scheme for your text or add a festive background to make your message more attractive. Attach a family photo or a scan of your child’s holiday drawing. Or create a digital drawing of a winter scene and have the entire family include their signatures. Then hit “Send.”
When sending an email message to multiple recipients, always remember to enter the email addresses into the Bcc (blind carbon copy) line. Your acquaintances will greatly appreciate that you respect their privacy.
Video: If you’re up for a slightly more involved, Web-engineered virtual greeting, videotape yourself and/or your family singing a favorite Christmas carol, spreading peace and joy, or sharing family gossip. Most digital cameras have video-taking capabilities, so all you have to do is upload the video onto a website, like YouTube or Vimeo, and send the link to your family and friends. Also, most computers come equipped with simple video-editing programs, so don’t be afraid to get creative and let your inner director thrive!
E-cards: Though not as personal, there are a number of clever greeting card websites that may appeal to your aesthetic and humor. Most sites are divided into categories: funny, cute, traditional, or religious. With a little research, you will find some amazingly elaborate holiday scenes complete with soundtracks. You will also find hilarious, highly polished videos of elves dancing (with options such as placing a picture of your head on a dancing elf’s body), kittens singing, and chimps acting as St. Nick.
Some possible drawbacks to sending e-cards are that your recipients will often be asked to register on the site before being allowed access to your greeting, and many email programs might tag these messages as spam.
Blogs: If you don’t already have a blog, now is a great time to start one. A blog lets people know what you’re up to and, especially during Christmas, is a nice place to express your best wishes to all. Create-your-own-blog websites like WordPress, Blogger, and Tumblr make it easy to set up and maintain a blog just by registering with your email address. Write a blog post that lets friends and family know what you’ve been up to during the past year, share photos of projects or recipes you’ve made, upload some photos and videos, and give your recipients a view into your life. Just email your link when your blog is set up. If you want to keep your blog private, make sure to protect it with a password that you share only with friends and family.
Social Networking: Social networking websites like Facebook or MySpace are great for connecting with friends past and present. By convening all of your friends in one place on the Web, you can easily send a group holiday greeting or you can write individual notes. It’s up to you!
Text or Tweet: If you’ve been too busy to put any effort into a holiday greeting, your last-ditch effort can be sending out a text message or a tweet (on Twitter) to your friends and family with the simple message, “Merry Christmas!”
