joy to the world (2011 christmas cards)

Can you hear that? It's yours truly heaving a big old sigh of relief.

The gifts have been bought, our six night stretch of social events is behind us, we've finally made peace with the fact that amidst our kitchen reno there will be no Christmas tree (but there IS a nativity set, which is way more important), and most importantly the cards have gone out.

Ah yes, the Christmas cards. All 125 cards for my design business clients and vendors, 75 photo cards for family and close friends, and of course the inevitable 100 cards that my in-laws ask me to do for them. And then there's the batch that were not yet addressed which my husband thoughtfully mailed for me. The first day that they started coming back to me, my little heart skipped a beat when I thought that someone else also thought to send out teal envelopes at Christmas. Not so. And so began another afternoon of card assembling.

Last year's cards were all about rich materials and metallics. This year, I wanted to make them a little more fun and light-hearted. Attached to the cards are some gift tags which you can slip over the neck of a bottle (or hang on a gift). But the real gift is a donation I make on my clients' behalf to a worthy cause. Because seriously who needs another canister of mixed nuts?
 

I look forward to designing these cards all year. In fact, I just may have plans for next year's cards already. And secret decoder glasses *may* be part of the package. But truth be told, I want my dining room table back. It's been covered with paper goods, cutting tools, envelopes, ball-chains, and drywall dust (thanks to a well-timed kitchen reno) for the past month.

So in celebration of having the cards in the mail (and hopefully in many of your mailboxes by now), I write this post.

What about you? If you could have a hanging wine card say anything you wanted, what would it say? Come on... dish! The top submissions will be created and sent to those who submitted them in a care package by yours truly. Once I've recovered from Christmas, that is.

Cheers!