The house is pretty much decorated for Christmas.....I am down to the tinkering stage....which pretty much lasts until I pack everything up till next year. I wanted to share with you some of the things I do with Christmas cards.
As you know I have a hankering for all things vintage and especially paper ephemera.....not so snobby that I exclude modern reproductions.....a lot of bang for you $$ in my book. In past years I have used the bathroom mirror as my canvas and using plasti-tak......put up my very favorite vintage looking cards and postcards around the outside edge of the mirror in a collage style as a frame. But since I have a framed mirror in the remodeled bath....that won't work. So decided to use my collection of flower frogs to display some of them on my window sills. Let me just say, if you have wide window sills....I am jealous. Isn't that silly, but I like making little display vignettes, but my "little, teeny, weeny window sills limit that. Bummer.
The Silver Fox and I have exchanged the most beautiful Christmas cards almost every year and I have saved everyone of those. So I have a huge stack of them and I enjoy having some of them displayed each year. The side board in the the dining room with a piece of plate glass cut to fit the top is the perfect spot to show off some special paper or textile items. So here you can see some of my favorite cards that we have given and received. Of special note at the bottom of the photo is a horse drawn carriage....a beautiful laser cut card.....now look at the other end of the side board.....there is the same card....mirror image. That year we bought the same card for one another, isn't that a hoot!!!
This is the Longaberger tray that I pretty much keep on my kitchen table year round and again it has a clear protector in it.....so it lends itself to more display space and tucked underneath are several more cards from one of us.
Then I have a special affinity for shaped cards....here is a sweet little coffee pot from one of my quilt friends that I have in a flower frog and looks like it belongs to Susan Branch.....isn't her artwork, but pretty much looks like her with a tiny little painted birdhouse with a real shingle on the roof....also made by a very talented quilt friend, as a party favor. Don't you want to be included in that party, where the hostess has gifts for all her guests? :)
The rest of the Christmas cards go into my gift wrapping basket to be cut up at some point into gift tags for another year. I used to use decorative scissors to cut out various shapes including some of the sentiments and titles if there was enough white space on them to use as a tag. But since getting a die cutting machine, they look pretty professional using the many dies to cut various shapes.....very fun and simple to do.
You might want to make up a little gift wrapping basket to keep your supplies in during the month of December, so you aren't wasting time assembling/putting away each time you wrap. Don't you like my Christmas gift wrap scissors. A very fun little gift from one of my quilty friends. Then my fav tape holder for wrapping, which you wear across the back of your hand and it pulls out just the right strip of tape. I've been known to pick up lots of refills for this puppy during the after Christmas sales.....just a thought. :) You can't see it, but there is a ribbon cutter tool in there and then my "bag-o-tags."
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| Here are the remainder of our cards to each other. |
I love this little container made from Christmas cards. I don't know if this was made by my Grandma K. or her mother. I am thinking Grandma K., as it was at their house for as long as I can remember. It is a nice little container with a flip type lid all crocheted together with pearl cotton. The cards are layered with some clear plastic, which is probably the only reason it has survived.
Send me a picture.....I like mail. :)
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