Greetings from the Heart

Contributed by Stephanie Bearce

Remember cards? Those wonderful greetings that used to come in pretty envelopes in the mailbox.

How long has it been since you got a real card. Not an “E-greeting”. Those are fun, but you can’t hold them. You can’t hide an e-card away for twenty years, and then pull it out from a memory box. That’s the difference with a paper card. It gives tangible evidence that someone cares about you. Someone took the time to write a greeting, buy a stamp, and put it in the mailbox. A card is a token of love and friendship.

I love sending and receiving cards. I have a few dear friends who still adhere to the tradition of sending paper greeting cards and I treasure those cards. I have a special box where I keep my cards. I hope someday my grandchildren will open that box and find the beautiful treasures I have stored there.

They will see special cards from my mother (their great-grandmother) and cards of love from my husband. There will be Thanksgiving cards and Valentine’s Day cards from dear friends Katie and Sue, and birthday cards from Valerie, Carol, Vicki, and my mother-in-law, Margaret. I keep them all.

Lately I have been making my own cards. Some of them silly and some more serious. It allows me to make my greetings totally personal. Plus, it’s just lots of fun! I highly recommend it to anyone who likes to make crafts.

I have a large collection of ephemera, and I make photocopies to use in crafting. But you can also use photographs from old magazines to create lovely cards.

And if you can’t figure out what to say… there’s always the internet! You can find hundreds of quotes and funny sayings on dedicated websites. If you are at a loss for words, here are some websites to visit.

www.quotegarden.com      www.brainyquote.com    www.coolnsmart.com

www.wisdomquotes.com   www.great-quotes.com    www.quoteland.com

To make your own cards you will need:

Your favorite quotes

Copies of ephemera or magazine pictures

Scraps of brightly colored paper

Rubber cement

Markers and pens

White or plain colored base card

Scissors or paper cutter

I always start with a base card and decorate it. Some people fold their own, but I buy them in bulk at a craft store. I’m all about making it easy!

I attach everything with rubber cement. It’s the most wonderful medium for gluing paper. It doesn’t wrinkle and you can reposition papers if you make a mistake.

For those of you who don’t have your own ephemera collection, I have posted several greeting cards that you can add to you images collection. To use one of my postcard or paper doll images just right click on your mouse and select “save picture as”. Then save in your pictures file. You will be able to print out the picture using a photo quality color printer. Just remember that these images are available to you for personal use and are not to be sold.

So get your tools together and create a card for your best girl friend, or send your sister a surprise love note. Who knows…maybe your card will be stored in someone’s treasure chest!