The Christmas Card
Christmas greetings sent in a card to friends and family, what better way to keep in touch and express your best wishes for the season and New Year ahead.
Wickipedia tells me that the first known Christmas card was sent by Michael Maier to James 1 of England and his son Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales in 1611. Like mine it was handmade.
As with many of our Christmas traditions they have continued from early beginnings and changed and blended over time to the customs we know now. The “Official” Christmas card began with Queen Victoria in the 1840’s and it is sad that for economic reasons this long tradition is in danger of dying out, like the postcard, as many people send far fewer cards now or none at all. The price of postage has increased so much to an eye watering 87p each for a second class stamp or £10.44 for a book of twelve. I usually have to buy 2 books to cover the ones I have to post.
The Christmas stamps themselves are always well awaited and this years are particularly lovely. I have a feeling they have to be purchased from the post office now as only ordinary books of stamps are available from the supermarkets.
I have decided this year to cut down my list next year. For the friends or acquaintances I never see from year to year I will include my email address in this year’s card with a message to say I would welcome an email at Christmas time and if they let me have their email address I will send them greetings in future via email, but this will be the last year I will send them a card.
I often make my own cards, so there is a lot more effort put into them than just choosing a packet from the card shop. My craft room has resembled Santa’s workshop in the last few days as preparation of the card from idea to finished article takes time and the assembly of the cards is best done on a conveyor belt system.
In November we attended a Lino cutting workshop for which I had prepared a sketch in my sketchbook. I decided on snowdrops and kept it simple.
I transferred the design onto the lino which was 13cm x 13cm a nice size for working on and took the first print.
The finished card blank size is only 4″ X4″ (10 x 10cm) so I couldn’t use the lino cut itself to print more cards instead I had to colour a print then reduce it on the computer to the required size. I was going to hand colour all of them individually once printed but as I need 30 cards that was a tall order. So I coloured one and then copied it many times on a sheet of cartridge paper.
I did a tiny version to stick onto the back of the card. Before I stick the print to the card I always stamp the Happy Christmas message inside the card first just in case the rubber stamp doesn’t come out well on some of them. I also like to stamp a little Christmas picture on the back of the envelopes.
Eventually everything was drying and I could finally cut the prints out from the sheets and add the double sided tape to attach them to the blank cards.
And voila!…..my Christmas card 2025.
I have still a few more to assemble but they will wait until tomorrow. My newsletter is all ready and I have the stamps so by tomorrow evening I should have them all done and maybe in the post. For the remainder of my Christmas card list there will be some people who will only get a bought card or if I have any homemade ones from previous years I will use these up.
I must say I do look forward to receiving a homemade card, I still have a few friends that like to make their own. I wonder how many readers make their own?
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where the journey takes me 2 
Those cards are lovely! We used to make our own but gave up when it all got too much work. Now I send only a few I really should start making my own again but I rarely get that organised! Postage is very expensive too. I had a major prune of my card list a few years ago when I realised exchanging cards was the only contact I had with some people and I got the impression that when they received mine they hurriedly sent a ‘spare’.
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That is why I am going to say I will send an email greeting if they want to continue exchanging as some of these people I never see and I have no idea what is going on in their lives anymore. It is time consuming to make your own – I should really start much earlier.
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your cards will be a joy to receive, I have not made cards for the past couple of years, i still have enough supplies to make more, jut lost the desire. I hope as Molly grows she will want to use all the bits I have here.
Marlene, poppypatchwork
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Some years I make more than others depending how work intensive they are and often, like this year, will buy a few to supplement them. My grandchildren always love to come and make something here with my drawers full of crafty bits and pieces.
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I absolutely adore your handmade Xmas cards. How lovely to receive something that so much thought has gone into. (Johnnyjumpsup)
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Thank you – I am not the greatest artist by any means but I do like lino cutting and would love to do more of it. Booking the recent course meant we actually got down to doing some. I love receiving other people’s handmade cards too.
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I make a few cards for close family and friends but not as much as I used to. I send very few cards now mostly because of the cost. Most of my greetings are done as texts, WhatsApp or e-mail messages with a photo attached.
Your cards look lovely with the snowdrop design.
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I will carry onto the bitter end no doubt but will have to send fewer next year. I still send postcards to a few people – I hate the fact they have almost died out. I have a large collection of old postcards they are fun to look back on.
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