cards

Anniversary Card Book

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Our (7th!) wedding anniversary is quickly approaching, so I thought I’d share a recent project I did with our anniversary cards. I collected the anniversary cards we’ve given each other since we got married and put them into a small scrapbook! I like the idea of using old cards to continue enjoying them (did you see my post on ways to use Christmas cards?), so I love what I’ve done with our anniversary cards. Now our cards of love and appreciation to each other are in one pretty place where we can enjoy them at any time!

Anniversary Card Book - mjblythe.com

I have only included a few pictures: a wedding picture on the title page, and pictures at our 5 year anniversary. That year we had professional photos taken of the two of us, so I put 2 of those in there, and we “got married” again in Vegas, so I put one of those photos in too! All the other years so far only have the cards.

anniversary card book - vegas - mjblythe.com

anniversary card book - 5 years - mjblythe.com

The album I used is a strap hinge style album from Creative Memories. These scrapbooks have slide-on page protectors. In this album, I have only used the page protectors on 1 page so far (the 5 year anniversary pictures page). On all of the other pages, I wanted to be able to open the cards, so I have not used page protectors.

anniversary card book - open card - mjblythe.com

I had a lovely time sorting through our cards and putting this together. It was a quick project and it was fun to see the cards and notes we’ve exchanged over the years!

Using Christmas Cards

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I always receive beautiful cards, pictures, letters and notes from family and friends during the Christmas season. Every year I display them in my kitchen, and then sometime in January they are taken down and put in a box. Every year the box gets more and more full, and the cards are never admired again. This is sad. So I decided to try to use the cards in different ways and get them out of their box! Here’s what I’ve done this year to try to appreciate my cards from the past:

  • Put cards in frames.

Framed Christmas Card

This is a card I made a few years ago… I loved it so much that I kept one for myself. I wanted to frame it to keep it protected and make sure my silly cats don’t eat the ribbon! I have it displayed on an end table in my living room!

  • Display some cards around the house where the theme matches.

CardCollage

Here are a few cards I’ve received over the years that I decided need to join my regular holiday decor. Why not? They’re pretty and go with my themes, and when I see them out I think of the sender. :)

  • Create Christmas card books.

Christmas Card Books

I couldn’t possibly display and/or frame every card, so the others (including letters!) went into my card books. I found this on Pinterest and LOVE how mine turned out. I made my own covers from scrapbook paper. I made one book for each year that we have been married, and each cover is different! It took a few hours to make my books, but it was really fun and pretty easy. All you really need is a 3-hole punch (you’ll only need 2 holes though!), ring clips, and some scrapbook paper and stickers or a pen to write the year. It was really fun to look through old cards, letters, and especially pictures. Our friends’ children have grown so fast! I also included our photo card from each year — why not? We had a few extras around! So now I have a tray of card books and they’re ready to be admired at any time — so much better than sitting in a box. :)

CardBookCollage

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2013 Valentines

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Valentine’s day is approaching! And I just love Valentine’s Day! Because what’s better than sending notes to friends and family reminding them of your love and how special they are to you? Again, thanks to pinterest, I had some good ideas for my cards! Thanks to the bloggers at stampinwithniki.blogspot.com, splitcoaststampers.com, and iminhaven.blogspot.com.au for sharing their great ideas!

Here are the beautiful cards I made this year and sent out to my special friends and family!

Valentine 4 2013

Valentine 3 2013

 Valentine 2 2013

Valentine 1 2013

Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone!

2012 Christmas Cards

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The past few years, we have sent out photocards for Christmas. They are fun and easy, and everyone enjoys pictures! This year however, I was inspired (thanks to Pinterest!) and I decided to hand make some Christmas cards for some special people on our Christmas card list. I couldn’t decide on just one card though, so I ended up making a bunch of different types of cards – I just had so many ideas!

As I said, I got many of my ideas from Pinterest. Here are some of the sites I where found inspiration and ideas: inkspiredtreasures.com, splitcoaststampers.com,  makingpapercrafts.blogspot.co.uk, and stampingliz.com.

Supplies:

  • Christmas paper packs (one with double sided paper)
  • Ribbons
  • Brads (black, gold, and “blingy” ones)
  • Christmas rubber stamps and black, red, & green ink
  • Christmas paper punches (star, hearts (2 sizes), tree, snowman, snowflakes of various sizes, circles of various sizes)
  • Adhesive (double sided adhesive and elmer’s glue)
  • Blank white cards with envelopes

So I made a few of each of these cards, and  they turned out so well! After I made a bunch of cards, I realized that the ones with ribbons and brads would probably need extra postage… so off to the post office I went to buy 65 cent stamps. Since I was paying extra for postage on a handful of cards, I decided I’d put some wax seals on those ones too. Why not? It was pretty!

Putting the seals on was a team effort for Matt and me. He lit the candle and dripped the wax, then I swooped in and pressed the seal down. They turned out pretty well!

My cards are starting to arrive in people’s mailboxes, and I hope everyone enjoys them!