TWEAKING MY CHRISTMAS CARD

My Christmas card this year is like any another year — the same concept for decades — but I tweaked the design this year.

Some time ago, I fashioned this three-tier Christmas tree design, utilizing Hawaiian-print paper as the thrust of the card. It was festive, it said “aloha” and it was an easily doable project.

Thus, the creation is somewhat of a classic, and since each card is created separately, every card can be considered an original.

However, the scale is smaller this year (not an inflation issue, just so happened I had vellum white cards which were tinier than years past), but perfect for the project.

Simply, the three levels of the tree design had to be squished a skosh, to retain a star atop the tree, with the bottom base “holding” the tree, also minimalized.

It still works for me. I simply cut and assemble the three sectors and still give the creation a little twinkle with a yarn thread between the sections, which creates a luminous glow when light shines on the card.

And because I hand-cut a variety of Hawaiian-print wrapping paper, the card continues to say “aloha” or “Mele Kalikimaka,” without actually saying it.

So, here I’m sharing six specimens from the 36 cards I assembled over a couple of hours a few mornings ago. Hope it’ll be enough for holiday mailings this year.

To finish it off, I sign my signature since a fellow artist told me four decades ago that it was prudent to “sign” each card or anything you create, for identity purposes. It’s akin to a painter putting his/her John Hancock on a canvas on a grander scale.

For me and a dwindling audience, mailing cards still matter when you want to say, “Merry Christmas.” Emails are swift but don’t do the job.

Yes, Hallmark peddles their lovely gems and I occasionally peruse the racks and make a purchase, since I often find inspiration to hatch an idea to concoct my version.

Life’s a card.

MATTERS OF THE HEART

It’s February, and yes, Valentine’s Day looms.

To my network of friends and allies, check your mailbox: mailings are out to you.

The pins were fun to make, but had a last-minute burst of creativity: concocted one shadow-box for Valentine’s, already distributed to a longtime buddy, and shared here.

MAKE YOUR OWN CHRISTMAS CARDS

So I’m pretty much done doing Christmas pins and decorations, so now focusing on easy do-it-yourself Christmas cards.

Utilized scraps from gift paper, cut three segments using different designs, and assembled with double-sided tap to secure on vellum or card stock paper.

Add a star at the top, if you have stick-on stars, and the base is those hot-coffee shields cut into little stands. Can’t see ’em in the photo, but used fringed string at the bottom of the three tree segments, to cover possible irregular space in-between the three tree cut-outs. Give it a try!

These cards say aloha. Enjoy!

NOTE CARDS WITH THE LOCAL MOJO

So I needed some notecards, with an island flavor, so created more postcard-motif cards to send thanks, share aloha, and simply get the local mojo working.

Here are some samples of the recent additions that join my Wild Cards creations….