Monday, January 08, 2007

Christmas Cards

I've mentioned before that I LOVE Christmas cards....I REALLY REALLY love them. Family newsletters and pictures are my favorite. I love reading about what everyone has been up too, catching up with relatives I don't get to see very often, and seeing how much everyone has changed, or grown since last Christmas.

I just have to share my awesome system I have come up with for storing my Christmas cards. It is SO awesome...it may just be the coolest system you have ever seen....you will be amazed at my creativity....you've been warned......

JK!!! Really, is this not the most boring, lamest way to keep these precious bits of memories???? PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE help me with some clever and beautiful ideas for what to do with my Christmas cards. I have a bag like this for just about every year we have been married. I tried one year to cut them up and make gift tags for next year (after cutting out and saving any handwritten messages inside) and while the tags were cute, I really missed my cards after I did that to them:( So all you wonderfully creative ladies, what do you do with your Christmas cards???? I usually receive about 60 cards a year and I just really want to do something with them that is nicer than a gallon size ziploc bag.


I have started my list of goals - eventually I want to do a layout like Moki did featuring my goals, but for now I am content to have them written on a little post it note. So far I have -

1. Organize
2. Reduce Clutter
3. Complete one altered book
4. Complete one fat book
5. Complete at least one WIP each month

I am working right now on 1 and 2 - my goal for this week is to put away/go through at least 10 things a night. Tonight hubby and I filled a garbage bag with at least 10 pairs of shoes that Miss S has outgrown, I listed 5 books to sell on Amazon.com and I have two Cottage Living issues that I mailing out to a friend tomorrow. I think I have successfully completed my 10 things for tonite:)

9 comments:

LJ said...

I never did say THANK YOU for the lovely little package and card you sent me!! Thank you bunches!!

Jodi Ohl said...

Looking forward to having you in the Pink and Brown swap!!

As far as the Christmas cards go, you have a much more organized cool way ( lol) of handling each years stash than I do. I took a few cards this year and made them into paintings. Even though I hate the thought of giving up my cards I think I may use them for gift tags next year. Any other ideas would be appreciated though.

lucy

carrster said...

Yes! Thank you for the Christmas card and the crafty goodness...I too am on a quest to organize & declutter. For that reason I usually do not save Christmas cards from year to year (unless using them to make postcards or gift tags) unless it's from my husband. Those are the best ones. :)

Anonymous said...

I would do exactly what you are doing, but then why not pull them out each Christmas and tie a pretty ribbon around each bundle? You know, like some people do with old love letters? (Which really... they are.) They would be a cute decoration, and easily accessible to reread each Christmas season. But I'd continue with the Ziplocks for storage, so you don't crunch the ribbon.

Anonymous said...

By the way, I tried to comment yesterday, but blogger said I looked like a robot. I'll take that as a compliment.

Anonymous said...

Dang! That anonymous comment was me again. Haha!

em said...

Your idea is way better than mine. I usually just group mine by years and put a rubber band around them.

Anonymous said...

I'm so impressed with your organization of the cards. I did see a cute method of storing them a long time ago on Martha Stewart. She used a heavy tagboard for a front and back and cut it larger than the largest card and decorated it with a little marker, glue, rickrack, etc. Then she punched a hole in the top left of each card, reinforced it with those little circles, stacked them between the tagboard covers, and ran one of those large notebook circle things through it all like a big palette thing that houses paint chips in an interior decorating place. It was cool, but I think you'd then want to store it all in a ziplock for safekeeping from atmosphere, etc. And you couldn't spreak them all out and enjoy the feel of cards slipping around. I like your way a lot! I'm new to your site, but it's a definite keeper! I just started mine.

Tola said...

about the cards . . . . . since i am a photographer i like photo albums. a scrapbook-type item would work as well. if its the sentiment inside that you want, you could try scanning them and keeping them on your computer. or if its the graphics of the fronts that is what youy love then a collage is fun and interesting. i dont have this problem with christmas cards (i dont actually receive very many) but what i DO collect is postcards. i ask my friends who go on trips to mail me postcards and i keep them in special photo albums where i can see both sides (the picture and the message). oh, one thing i did this year with my christmas cards is i cut out the return address on the envelope with scrapbooking scissors and then glue-stuck it on the inside of the card. that way i reduced the amount of paper i kept. hope you can come up with something that works for you!