"small pleasures" - christmas cards

Confession: I am a Christmas card fanatic. I love to give them and I especially love to get them.

I believe in Christmas cards in the same way that a four-year old believes in Santa Claus. I think they're magical, and I'm not ashamed to admit that I do a little dance in my kitchen when the envelopes start to appear in the mailbox.

Earlier this year, I had earmarked a gorgeous (and, unfortunately, expensive) set of letterpress cards that I wanted to buy to send as our first official family Christmas card. But our dual unemployment and diminished budget made me rethink.

I decided to go the handmade route, coming up with something very simple and revolving it around the theme of "small pleasures" -- which is sort of appropriate for us this year, anyway.

I hand-embroidered small cotton bags...



Handwrote a quote on cardstock + embellished with a little lace...



Tied the card + a family photo together with baker's twine...



And put it all together to make a cute little package!



I made 65 total (yes, it was a long project!) and was so happy with the way they turned out. I also did a version with green embroidery and green baker's twine.

Someone asked me why I would take all the time to do something so time-intensive when most people just throw away their Christmas cards. And while I suppose that's true, it wasn't about sending them something tangible to keep. It was about sending them a feeling...I hope that when my friends and family opened their small package, they felt a bit of the magic and excitement that I felt while making them. If so, then the time it took was totally worth it.

[Dear husband, thanks for taking all the pretty pictures! I appreciate you!]

the little one

On the occasion of his first birthday, the pint-size adventurer fearlessly traversed unexplored lands:



I supervised the picking up of leaves and throwing of sticks. I watched him plop himself down in the playground and throw sand onto his pants and shoes. I didn't stop him when he tentatively brought the sand to his mouth, partly because I thought that this lesson would best be learned the hard way, and partly because I knew that the disgusted grimace on his face would be really, really funny. (It was.)

He lets go of my hand with little hesitation these days - oh, bittersweet, I never knew you fully until now - but I love the fact that when all has been explored, he always comes toddling back into my arms.



[Hello friends! I've missed the blog world dearly, and I'm ready to jump back in. Is anyone still out there? I'm hoping to do a little Christmas recap and then finally, FINALLY, finish up Isaac's birth story. He just turned one...maybe I can get it done before he gets his driver's license? Oh, dear.

My husband gave me a Diana Mini camera for Christmas, and although at first I had no idea how to even load a roll of film into the thing -- now I absolutely love everything about it. I feel like the images it produces have such a unique and romantic look -- what do you think?

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas + New Years and I'm looking forward to catching up on your blogs!]