Christmas Mail in a Pandemic

 On normal Christmases (is that a proper plural?) I would have been busy accumulating photos of at least our grandkids, if not the whole of the family in order to order something like 200 photo Christmas cards.  Many folks have told me they love watching the progression of the children growing up, etc.  I sure love sharing them.

This year there was to be no gathering in which to get such a photo.  And although I did come up with a creative idea on how to get all the grands onto a card, only one of them complied.  

Our beautiful and selfless Granddaughter J, at work as a student nurse - the only one who remembered.

So I was up a creek with only one photo!

I decided to make as many hand made cards as I could.  After all, I own more accumulated accessories to do so than any living human (probably not, actually) and I can't take it with me!  I had some real fun.  I did take a couple of on line tutorials whereby I learned some new techniques, but for the most part I just cut, glued and inked to my heart's delight.  Below are some of the creations.

This was one of the first new technique I learned.  I didn't get very good at it, but I loved the results!

By attaching the inside feature with a small piece of cardstock, it will swing out when opened. 

Simply stamped and embossed with white embossing powder for the wording in back and cannibalize an old Christmas card for its frame and pine cone! 

Utilize Christmas wrapping paper!

This one might have been my very favorite!


And then there was the Christmas Mouse!  I love mice!  I may have posted in years past that I won a package of these little guys from Scrapbooking Made Simple.  SMS
I didn't really have enough proper markers to color this the way I'd have liked.  Santa made sure I got some for Christmas!!


I didn't get every card made, and it took a while to get them sent since we had very few stamps.  Eventually we got some stamps sent in the mail, and I "think" everyone got a card who was going to.  A limited list this year, but hoping next year will bring me the joy of picture cards again.  And I wouldn't be surprised if I am tempted to hand make some as well.