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The Christmas card, probably the most popular way to express holiday sentiments, was started in England in 1843. The first Christmas card was printed in the United States in 1875 by Louis Prang, a Massachusetts printer. By running nationwide contests for the best Christmas designs, Prang helped launch Christmas cards into a multibillion dollar industry.
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Holiday Greeting Cards
Personalize your holiday message
By KRISTIN BUEHNER, Of The Globe Gazette
One of the most cherished holiday traditions is the sending of holiday greetings to friends and loved ones.
With a little extra creativity, these cards and letters can become a personal and treasured gift that requires only a minimum of time, money and talent.
Following are suggestions from a few North Iowans:
Christmas cards
Kathleen Docken, of rural Osage, makes her own cards year after year using construction paper, odds and ends, pens, photographs and glue.
"I think it's personalized," she said. "It's something you do yourself and not purchased."
This year, Docken folded construction paper into a card shape and used cotton balls to make snowmen on the cover. She then spruced up the snowmen with tiny paper hats and a bit of ribbon at the neck.
"They are not elaborate," she said. "Just an evening's work."
Docken always takes the time to write a personal message inside each card because "I feel that if you're going to send a card, write something in it."
She sends out about 40 Christmas cards each year to friends living out-of-state.
Clear Lake artist Diane Ewing, who also makes her own has some suggestions for what tools you might want to purchase: card-stock paper in red, green and white; rubber stamps; stencils; scissors that make decorative edges; crimpers that will variegate paper; paper embossing tools; assorted papers and trims and how-to booklets.
Betty Krones of Mason City has been making her own Christmas cards for the past five years. She uses rubber stamps as the basis of her creations.
"I'm not big into letter-writing," she said. "So my personalized thing is the card."
Her ideas come from hobby shops, stamping stores and related vendors.
For this year's card, she used small squares of purple metallic paper that she had scribbled over with silver, blue and purple Galaxy Markers. She then misted the paper with water, wadded it up and scrunched it to achieve an interesting pattern.
Over the dried paper, she stamped a snowflake pattern and used embossing powder and stamp pad to create a shiny, raised look. The purple paper was then layered over silver metallic paper over a black card. Inside, she used stamps to create a snowflake pattern and a message.
A card featuring two mice on the front was made using Fun Flock, a product that gave a fuzzy feel to her mice. The mice were stamped and colored with markers. A crystal lacquer was used for a candle flame. To dress up the card, she added a tiny red raffia bow in one corner, topped with a gold metallic cord bow.
She also prepares sets of note cards to give as gifts, placed in a basket and tied with a raffia bow.
"People seem to like them and these are projects I can start and finish in the same day."
Leigh Drzycimsky, of Mason City, a demonstrator of Stampin' Up line of rubber stamps, works primarily with beginners. "They can learn to make things as simply or as elaborately as they want to," she said. "It really takes very little artistic skill."
A simple Christmas tree design consists of a Christmas tree stamp done in green ink on a white card (card-stock paper). Stars are stamped in red in the background and running off the page. The edge of the card is blurred in green using a stamping sponge. As a final touch, gold metallic cord is run through the center of the card and tied in a bow along the fold.
"It's fun to be able to give somebody something that you made," Drzycimsky said. "You can pull off a very professional-looking project with very little work and artistic ability."
Christmas letters
At Printing Services Inc. (PSI), of Mason City and Belmond, the sky's the limit when it comes to designing a personalized Christmas letter, said graphic designer Jana Root.
"Whatever you come up with, we can do," she said.
The letter might be as simple as taking a message typed into a computer and printing it on holiday paper. Some people like to embellish their letters with the names of the people they are sending to in a rainbow shape across the top of the paper, Root said.
Another very simple idea is to print the letter in black on red or green paper.
A different option is to print the letters of the sender's last name down the left side of the letter and write a paragraph about the year's activities for each letter of the name. Each letter will suggest a theme, for example, "F" could signify friends, fashion or festival - whatever inspires an idea.
Some people write letters that are actually poems.
Or write a month-by-month account of your year. Keep it brief.
Another idea is to bring in a photograph of the house at Christmas, or the family or the family pet, and use it as the art for a color postcard that can be printed in multiple with "Season's Greetings" or some other message alongside it. The postcard can be of various sizes and sent as-is or placed in an envelope with a holiday letter.
"People love getting photos," said Root. "This is an inexpensive way to do it."
An even less expensive option is to put a black and white photo on a colored sheet of paper.
Still another photo option is to make a collage of pictures taken of your family or your children throughout the year. This can be printed in color on the back of your Christmas letter.
For those who choose to write longhand, pretty pens, including new metallic ink pens, can create a beautiful impression.
The letters can be sent in foil-lined or colored envelopes, using rubber stamps, stickers or glitter to decorate them.
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