green felt with red and white glass beads

I havent bought a set of holiday cards from the store in almost 20 years. I never find ones that, as a designer, i think are tasteful and interesting and they never capture my sentiments. So I make my own.

Many of them i dont have anymore but the exciting part is getting to make new ones every year. Generally I choose subtle over red and green glitter and quiet over loud. You can use any kind of material.

photo and card by @pissyrabbit

This “hope” card (which i made about 8 years ago) was just white computer printer paper torn to the approximate shape of the card stock with 3 red glass beads (to represent holly berries) and a green piece of thread (deconstructed leaf) and a fat charcoal pencil to write whatever you want.  it cost me approximately $15.60 for 50 cards (with envelopes. postage not included) and maybe 6 hours of my time (for 50 cards. you may not need that many)

the great part is that when people get them, they call me to tell me how much they love them.

and they dont just end up in the trash without a thought.

All these photos are of cards that I have done over the years with different materials, generally what i have laying around in my fabric scraps.

scrap tissue paper with metallic gold paint

scrap grey wool flannel with stitched red glass beads

Here is the card I made yesterday. I used brown suede scraps from a project like 3 years ago. (i couldnt BEAR to throw out suede, no matter how small the scraps) plus some green linen and red glass beads that i have used for like 10 of my previous holiday cards.