Little Gifts: Part 1

I have two posts on the subject of little gifts--one about the gifts themselves, and one about the package they come in. First let's talk about the packaging.

I received some candies one year in the cutest handmade boxes, obviously made from used Christmas cards. I have always meant to make some myself and this year I had the perfect excuse to do so.

If you want to make your own, you'll need some Christmas cards. You can see my box of cards to the left. I keep all the cards I receive, partly out of sentiment and partly because I love making things out of old cards. I fished through the box and didn't find too many I was ready to do without.

It was fun to look through them all and to read old letters and cards. (And easy to get distracted!) I saw a card from my one sister and was surprised it was only signed by her. Then I remembered that it hasn't really been all that long that she's been married with kids...they have just become such a part of the family I couldn't think of her without them!

Of course, you also may find some "landmines" as I did. In the same way I was surprised to find a card signed only by my sister, I was surprised to see another one signed "Mom and Dad." It's been seven years since my dad died, and I have become used to seeing just "Mom" in the signature. I went ahead and read the letter in the card, and it was the one from when he was sick and we knew he wouldn't live much longer. Mom's letter was so brave; it was hard to read and yet good too.

In the end I found a few cards I felt I could use.

If I need more sometime, I'll have to look at the used and "new-old stock" cards I sometimes see at antique and second-hand stores.

Then I studied the box I was given because it was all I had to go on. I took some measurements, made some marks, cuts, and folds and ended up with this:

That can't be right!

So I tried again and had much better success. Here's what you do:

1. Select a card and cut it in half along the fold line:

2. Mark the inside of both halves with an X, making lines from corner to corner:

3. On the top and bottom of the piece that will become the box top, mark 1.25" in from both sides. On the piece for the bottom, mark just longer than 1.25" (between 1-1/4 and 1-3/8). I know this is technically 1-5/16", but it's easier to just mark half way between 1-1/4 and 1-3/8. It doesn't have to be that precise.

4. Draw lines from the marks you just made to the diagonal lines:

5. Fold the card between the same marks:

6. Now turn the card a quarter turn, and make a fold to intersect where the partial lines meet the diagonal lines:

7. Cut along the partial lines:

8. Fold the long edges up and tuck the tabs inside:

9. Fold up the end:

10. Wrap it around the tabs and make a crease:

Now you have a top and a bottom, hopefully the former a little bigger than the later (because I made that mistake on one box too!):

Slip the bottom inside the top,

and voila, a lovely box:

Keep at it for a few more minutes, and you can have a whole collection of little boxes:

They stay together pretty well as they are, but if you want to add a bit of ribbon or metallic elastic, you go right ahead:

Christmas Card 2010

Ok, here's your warning. The gifts mentioned in this post are going to be given to people who may or may not be reading this post. If you think that might be you and you don't want to know, you should just carry on to the next blog. If on the other hand you don't mind possibly knowing ahead of time (after all, you won't know for sure if it's for you), then read away. It won't bother me...

This post will also be a little preview if you get a Christmas card from me. Some of you have gotten yours already, and the rest are still in the mail. I got mine out on the first of December this year!

I gave you a tiny preview the other day of the post card quilt I made. Here it is completely revealed:

I laid it on a piece of black velvet and this picture became the front of my card.

The original card was mounted on black velvet and then framed.

The last couple years, I just mailed the card as a postcard, but this year I wanted to do a little more. (If you're wondering about the size, the card is just a bit bigger than 5x7 and it is an 8x10 frame.)

The second card which didn't get picked for the Christmas card also found a lovely frame:

Merry Christmas, to all!

Quilts as Postcards

Have you heard of the craze of making mini quilts and sending them as postcards? People love them because they can finish them in an afternoon and they make a very fun surprise to send to someone in the mail.

I made my first one last year shortly before Christmas and was inspired by some fabric triangles my sister sent me to show me the fabrics she was using in a quilt. Her bright scrappy and white quilt turned out wonderful and the little fabric bits she sent me were irresistible. That inspiration turned into the following postcard:

Lessons learned from that postcard were 1. shortcuts can be fun (I would normally want to piece a pinwheel, but just slapping down some half-square triangles worked and was much easier); 2. you really do need to stick down applique pieces or they will slide around; and 3. more stabilizer is better, especially with the heavy sewing I needed for the lettering.

Then I struggled with what to do with it; I mean, obviously I couldn't make one for everyone on my Christmas card list! So I settled on this plan: I would send the postcard to my sister, for indeed she had inspired me to make it, and then I would take a picture of it to use in the general Christmas card I sent out to the rest of the list.


I "borrowed" a friend's Christmas tree and got this picture of my postcard sitting in it:

and I then used the picture in a Christmas postcard:
I was happy with the solution. I really didn't want to send a postcard with just my mug on it because what does that say about Christmas? Not much. So this way I got a Christmas message, and could also pass along a personal picture which does say something about my life. (Like in this case, "I cut a lot of wood this year!")

So this year, the same question: what to do for a Christmas card? A friend had given me some gold lame scraps and I had some nice leftover fabric from my Hawaiian Star quilt sitting on my desk. This was the leftover pieces from the fabric I'm only using the dark parts of. And it grew on me that I wanted to do a star. There are so many quilt options for stars and I settled on a simple Sawtooth Star:
I had some gold thread already as well, so it was perfect for the quilting. I started in the center and just sewed outward in a gentle arcs. I wanted to imitate the general shape of a galaxy (as seen from very far away, obviously).

The main thing learned from this postcard was that you really do need to have a very stiff layer in the middle (this one isn't stiff enough to mail on its own). And gold lame is very hard to photograph.

And then I took a picture of the postcard sitting in the evergreen bush in my front yard and made that the front of the card.

The inside of the card has a small family pic printed on the upper half and the quote,

"We saw his star in the east

and have come to worship him."

printed in the usual place. I had it all printed up at WalMart.com and they turned out pretty good. I hope to have them all out by tomorrow. (Phew!) I had Troy write up this year's letter which was a load off my mind.

So who's getting the "real" card this year? Sorry...I'm keeping that secret so it won't spoil the surprise when they get it!

Good luck with your Christmas/Holiday/Seasonal cards this year...give them some thought and I'm sure the recipients will appreciate it.

All for now,

christina