This is the "Why?"

There are so many people out there creating beautiful cards. Just try a search for "cards" on Pinterest. There seems to be no end to the amazing things that people come up with. BUT the why is so much more important than the how to where cards are concerned. Handwritten notes connect us to each other. 

Today I was tagged in this Facebook photo.

I love it. These are some of the letters received at camp by a precious teen I know. (YEP ... one of them is from me.) It's hard to argue that letters aren't important when a 15 year old takes the time to display her collection, take a photo of it AND post the picture to Facebook. 

I'm so happy to know I made a little bit of difference in brightening someone's day. It makes the cutting and pasting so much more valuable. When I make a card it's not just a crafty project.

It's What's On the Inside

Handmade cards are beautiful aren't they? Their beauty is multiplied when there's a personal note inside. There's just something about kind words from a friend. In the age of electronics, email has a way of keeping us away from the practice of writing to one another. A letter in the mail is completely unexpected. Truthfully, a personal email isn't "normal" either.

BUT today I decided to make it all work together. I received an encouraging email that ministered to my heart. AND I love handmade cards. SO I took out a card I recently made ... printed out the email ... glued the two together and Voila!!!  A handmade note of encouragement that I can look at again and again. I suppose it's a little bit weird, but I don't care.

This note encourages me and I want to carry it with me. What a pretty way to do it. Take some time to encourage others with handwritten or email composed notes. As long as the words come from your heart it really doesn't matter what the format is. You will be a blessing.

Every Day

For some silly reason I can't begin to understand I  have started doing not one, but two (more) things every single day. If there's one thing I've always struggle with it's being disciplined & regimented & all out orderly. If I wanted to really impress you with A LOT of paper I'd photograph the piles on my counter or the paper explosion that takes place when I create something. Mostly I'm messy, so it's pretty much a miracle that I'm hanging in there with these two things. 

1 - write a letter to a stranger every day (this is only for 12 days, but it's still every day for 12 days during decorating, baking, shopping, wrapping, partying, singing season.)

2 - take a picture every day AND post it on line. 

Maybe I can change. Maybe.

10 minutes ago I stumbled on this ... create a card every day. I'm on such a roll with this every day thing that I actually considered it. Thankfully the desire to jump on that band wagon quickly changed to a sense of sheer panic. Seriously ... who in the world do I think I am??

There's really only one critical thing that I care to do every day ... read my Bible. If I didn't do this there's no way I could begin to even consider any of the other things I've been doing. Quiet time is the only consistent thing that I have and it makes all the difference in how I live my life.

I will always take pictures AND I'll always write letters AND I'll always make cards. BUT none of those "practices" define me. The truly deep, abiding satisfaction in my life comes as I celebrate CHRISTmas every day. I won't be able to post my progress. You'll just have to hang out with me (for years) to find out just how valuable this one simple daily practice really is.

An Almost Free Christmas Gift

A friend of mine showed me a website that I just can't stop looking at. It's called The World Needs More Love Letters. There are so many things to love about a site like this but here's my favorite part ... the whole thing was started by people who are very young. They're people who write blogs, which means they're people with computers. So why do you suppose they don't just send emails and facebook messages? Why would these 20 somethings use a pen and a piece of paper to communicate? Because ...

There is absolutely NO replacement for the handwritten note. Even those who have grown up in an electronic culture are finding out that it's not personal. It's fast. BUT typing looks like everything else. Nothing stands out the same as something written with a pen, pencil or marker. It just makes a connection that can't be beat. The most amazing part is that the process is a bonus for both the sender AND the receiver. If you write ... you will feel different.

Today is the 3rd day of the 12 Days of Letter Writing. Letters have been requested and are going out to people who are in need of a pick me up during this most wonderful time of the year. As you lick the frosting off of your gingerbread man it's not fun to think that there are people out there who are struggling with one thing or another. It's feels safe inside the Christmas celebration bubble, but to truly celebrate the meaning of Christmas (giving) you have to come out of there.

I'm here to tell you that writing a letter is EXACTLY the best way to celebrate Christmas. It's seems obvious to me that Jesus would celebrate Christmas doing things just like this. It might not seem as tangible as Toys for Tots. A note of encouragement to a complete stranger may not feel like doing "enough" this time of year. The list of excuses is endless. Get over all of the reasons you wouldn't write a note and click right here --> WRITE   You will read just a little something from someone who needs to hear from you today. AND it's not too late to write to more than one. You need paper, a pen, a stamp and about 20 minutes. It's a gift that costs a lot less than some of the things you've wrapped up so far.

For every note I write to a stranger I'm sending one to a person I know too!!

Pre-Game Warm up for Thanksgiving ...

Are you sending Thanksgiving cards this year? There's enough happening in your life to send a Thanksgiving card every day of the year.  If you pay a tiny bit of attention you'll realize there are people all around who are helping to hold your world together.

You may feel like you're all on your own. Who else really knows all of the things you're dealing with? Who comes up with solutions when you need them? No one else seems to be involved BUT truthfully we're never alone .....


This would be an obvious place to turn the corner and talk about God in our lives. However, since we're talking about sending thanksgiving cards ... this isn't a supernatural sort of conversation. I'm talking about writing notes because I know with every fiber of my being that you have AT LEAST one person to say thank you to this November.

As I mentioned before, you could really write a thank you note every day. First take a look at the people you see most often like your family, co-workers & the girl who makes your latte. One of those people did something for you today ... really. It's possible that you're too busy noticing all of the things people do to make you have to work harder. Looking for something to be thankful for is an excellent practice. Just this past week I received an email with this little tidbit.

"Thank-You Therapy" from Prevention Magazine, November 2011          

If life's minor annoyances make you want to scream, 

try saying "thank you" a little more often. 

Experts say that expressing gratitude makes you less likely to 

lash out when you're irked. 

It works best to put your thanks on paper, says psychologist Todd Kashdan, PhD. 

For inspiration, check out John Kralik's book 

A Simple Act of Gratitude: How Learning to Say Thank You Changed My Life.

There you go ... a man with a PhD says write thank you notes : )  

We're not talking about the thank you notes that people expect like when you receive a gift or have a job interview. There are actually "rules" about how soon you should send those notes. 

I'm talking about sending a note of thanks just because ..... 

Well ...  I'd love to post a list of suggestions, but I can't help you. You'll have to write the list for yourself, because you are the only one who truly knows what you're thankful for. A note that makes an impact comes from the heart. It expresses things just the way you'd say them if you were talking directly to a person. The main difference is that the receiver can "hear" you say thank you over and over as the note is saved in a special place to be looked at again in the future. 

It's not too early to get your Thanksgiving cards in the mail. Do it before you buy the turkey or get out the good silverware.  Send a note or two to truly celebrate how thankful you are this Thanksgiving. 

Check out other cards made following this Sketch Challenge.

Sketch used for the cards
shown here ... got it from
Operation Write Home.

The Power of Three

OK ... not so very long ago I got three letters in the mail on the same day. I was giddy!!! All the letters were from people who easily could've sent me a text or a facebook message. In fact, during the time between when they sent the letters and when they arrived these were all people I talked to. Two of them were so excited to have sent a letter that they told me one was on the way. It didn't ruin the surprise. It made me go with great expectations to my mailbox every day. What a great bonus it was to receive three at once!!

So today I decided to have a bonus day going in the other direction. I'm sending three letters. There's so much reward and just as much giddiness in sending mail as there is in receiving. I'm not sure if I'll have any really obvious results to show anyone today. BUT the value of sending a note is beyond measure. It's tempting to send a text to these people to let them know a letter is on the way. For now I'll just have to jump up and down all by myself and enjoy knowing that a blessing is on the way. I'm having a happy day.


The bottom line ... write a note to someone who is just a phone call away; even if it's someone you'll see tomorrow. And if you get all excited and give it away, oh well. Your day will be better for it and so will the person you write to.  You're sure to make someone smile and it will probably be you : )

Papercrafting with Purpose

The very reason I didn't want to start a blog has occurred ... nothing to post. It's not that I don't have anything to say about paper. It's in my life (and yours) constantly every day. I've tried to put something up here, but it seems to fall a little flat. That's another reason I didn't want to start a blog ... being boring.

BUT ... Here's something that brought tears to my eyes.  Click on this link to read what a few of our American heros have to say about being able to write letters home on hand made cards.

OPERATION WRITE HOME

I've developed a soft heart for this "project" and seeing the responses from those across the sea is a giant motivator. It motivates me to do three main things ...

1 - pray for our troops
2 - send more cards their way
3 - write a letter

You can join me in any of those areas. You can pray and write a letter all by yourself, but in order to send cards you'll have to connect with someone. I will be sending a box to OWH once a month during this school year. I'm just getting it started, but once this is in full swing I hope to draw lots of people in to help me out. If you have one or more hand made cards that you're would like to donate please contact me and I'll make sure they get in one of my packages.

Notebook Paper Works

OK ... just in case you've been thinking that you have to use some sort of fancy hand made card to be an encouragement or a blessing ... get over it.  We all remember passing notes in school ... on notebook paper, with all of the ragged edges. Those kind of notes can be a blessing even today.

This morning I couldn't pull myself together.  I used a thesaurus to find a word to describe what I saw in the mirror and all of these seemed to apply ... unkempt, disheveled, rumpled, tousled, frowzy, unruly, uncombed, & ruffled. I changed my clothes so many times that you'd think I was headed for my first day of 7th grade. I ended up in a hoodie and a skirt ... comfort over cute is what I always choose.  My hair got very little attention because I burned my finger on the curling iron, which I blamed on my hair. I'm pretty sure I only put mascara on one my left eyelashes and I applied blush as I was brushing my teeth. There's probably a more accurate method. I forgot to put my contacts in.  AND my shoes didn't match my purse.  (gasp!!)

That was only the beginning of my haywire morning. I'll spare you any more details. I sat down at HomeMakers physically present but mentally things were a lot like my thesaurus words. I was having a few more junior high moments wondering if everyone was looking at me because I was late ... wearing who knows what ... probably with lipstick on my teeth. My thoughts were messy.

I love that it's not even folded straight : )

Everything eventually came together because ... someone handed me a note written on just one piece of notebook paper.  It was a few simple very kind words. Those hand written words calmed my brain and popped me back to reality.  Every single thing I was being distracted by was defused.  The last sentence of the note was "Be blessed". And of course I am.

You can do that for someone.  Look around you. Someone will be encouraged if you'll pull out any old piece of paper and write a little something on it.   Pass it over quietly just like in your school days.

We all know, "it's the thought that counts".  It's really a tiny bit more than the thought. It's the thought that moves you to action that especially counts. If you're thinking about writing a note
 ... do it!!!

Just One Piece ... inks, ribbon, colored pencils, and a few miscellaneous scraps of cardstock

Here it is ... the post about paper creating that you all expected to see on the very first day. You were right when you thought I'd be writing a little something about cutting & gluing with colorful papers. 

I love double sided paper ... it gives me options. AND I used just one piece of 12 x12 double sided paper to make nine cards. There wasn't one scrap left of the original sheet. It's rewarding to use up a whole piece of paper. I don't have to figure out where all of the scraps will go.

There is someone reading this who is getting all exacting about my one piece claim.  Yes ... I used pre-made cards (4x5.5) because I'm lazy. I added embellishments too. In this case I used the Pair-A-Phrase Stamp Set that is FREE from Close To My Heart with a $75 order.  You can embellish with buttons, ribbons, stickers, and a million other doo-dads that most paper crafters have way too many of. Dig out some of those things you just had to have when you were shopping and get busy. You all have some lovely things sitting alone in your supplies. USE YOUR STUFF

I know you have a stamp set or sticker sheet that you've been itching to use, but somehow you feel like you have to create the ultimate work of art to do it justice ... so you aren't doing anything with it ... yet.
That's why this just one piece method is a great kick start to get your mind off of being perfect. Sometimes it's better to just get it done : )

CUTTING ... 5 minutes
This is so easy it's embarrassing.  Cut a 12x12 paper sheet into 3 strips that are 4 inches wide. Cut two of those strips into four 3 inch sections (8 pieces of  3x4 inches). Cut the remaining strip into 9 one inch strips with an additional 3x4 inch piece to add to your other pile. If you have CTMH paper you'll also have a zip strip that you can cut & use up. Here are the pieces you'll have to work with.


PASTING ... 10 minutes
The next thing you'll do is to attach one large piece and one small to a card.  Really, there are no rules.  Just do something ... you can't really do it wrong. The important part here is not to think too hard. Don't get all particular, because this is the background ... not the focus. As you look at the finished cards below you'll see that I used  4 basic patterns. You can do them all the same or make up even more. You'll also notice that just by twisting and turning the same designs look different.


DECORATING ... can be done in less than 45 minutes so that you can say it only took an hour
This is the fun part.  Take all of those cards and add something from your stash of goodies. Use something else up in addition to that one piece of paper. I limited myself to one kind of ribbon and a few colors of ink, but otherwise there were again ... no rules. When I made these I didn't worry about how "perfect" everything matched in size or color. I had fun!!! That's what this is supposed to be isn't it?


OK ... laugh with me ... I have no idea how to get these photos into ANY sort of order. They all seem to want to float around.  I'm going to call it artsy, even when I know it's just a lack of technical skills.

Check out the photo below ... the background designs are paired up ... just a flip makes a difference

THE MOST IMPORTANT PART ... 

Use your cards or give them to someone who will. Sometimes cards turn out so great that you just like to look at them.  There's no bigger waste of your time and resources : )  Don't you want to brighten someone's day? Trust me when I say that the action of mailing a note is the most beautiful part of any handmade card. 

Amazingly creative cards that never get sent to someone are the saddest cards of all times. If you don't know who to send a card to you can donate your cards. I will be sending a box of cards to Operation Write Home every month during this school year. I'll take all the cards I can get for this wonderful group that supports our military. If you see me ... hand over your unsent cards !!

What's in Your Mailbox??

Yesterday I wrote two letters (with a pen on paper ... not email).
Yesterday I gave away 4 handmade cards to others so they could send a personal note in the mail.
Yesterday I bought 100 stamps, because I plan to be busy writing notes : )
Yesterday I figured out a speedy quick way to make 9 cards out of one piece of pretty paper.
Yesterday I wrote a little something about sowing and reaping in my journal.

AND yesterday I received a handmade card with a personal note in the mail!!!

Of course I squeal and jump up and down a little when I get a letter in my mailbox. I don't write notes to get notes, but I love having the receiver's feeling every now and then.  It gives me great satisfaction to know that I can add a smile (and maybe a little happy dance) to someone else's day.

It's not that I write life changing words of wisdom. Most of the notes just say "thinking about you" in one form or another. Before someone even opens a hand written note the message is ... "when I thought about you today it moved me. It got me to take a pen and a piece of paper to a quiet location. I wrote down a few things that I would've said to you if you were sitting with me. I spent a little time with you even if your part (reading) happened several days after mine."

If you haven't discovered anything but bills and junk mail in your mailbox lately maybe you should plant a few mail seeds and write a personal note to someone.