Christmas Resources

In 1843, Sir Henry Cole of England began the tradition of sending Christmas cards.

Because he had too many customers to hand compose Christmas greetings, Sir Henry Cole contracted artist John Calcott Horsley to create a card onto which he had printed “A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to You”.He typeset one thousand cards. Of those, twelve exist today.Soon, people in different countries startedmailing Christmas cards.

In the late ninteenth century and early twentieth century, Christmas cards made by Kate Greenaway, the Victorian childrens writer and illustrator, were popular. Like the scrapbookers of today, her cards often featured many different types of papers, fabrics and fringe. Some were even elaborate pop-ups featuring skaters and tiny mangers.

It was not until 1875 in the United States that Christmas cards were available to the masses. In that year, Louis Prang, a German immigrant began producing them in his publishing shop in Boston. BeforeUntil to that year, Americans imported Christmas cards from England. In the 1890’s, Prang could not compete with cheaper cards printed overseas and went out of business. Still, Prang is known as the originator of the American Christmas card.

Technical advances in card publishing during WWI was spurred by competition among card publishers.

During the Depression in the 1930’s, the use of color lithography revived the card industry.

The studio card, which used humor as an element of the card, made its debut in the 1950’s.

The 1990’s saw the introduction of the e-card, an electronic version of a greeting card sent via e-mail.

Christmas cards today are available in many formats to appeal to the masses. From traditional and religious Christmas cards to cards with jokes, there is something for everyone. In fact, the industry has evolved so much that there is a card for virtually any event, or “non-event.” Still, Christmas remains the highest ranking of the card-selling holidays.

As a staple of the holidays, Christmas cards are sent to family, friends and business colleagues to express holiday wishes. With people’s busy lives, it is often the only time they update family and friends on events that happened in their lives during the year. The Christmas card has made many changes since its introduction in the 19th century, but the sentiment behind it is always the same: “Merry Christmas!”

Many people wait until at least October to begin thinking about Christmas, but not yours truly. I love Christmas. Although I have to admit that I’m happy to move onto other things right after the holiday is over; by Mother’s Day I’m ready to give it another go. It’s about then that I begin scouring the Internet for new Christmas wreath clipart to add to my already huge collection. That always helps when I begin designing handmade holiday cards in the fall. That way I don’t have to search for images when I’m ready to begin; I can just start creating the cards. Since that’s a complicated process, I’m always happy to have image searching out of the way.

One aspect I do leave until right before Christmas, though, is the creation of personalized letters from Santa for the kids in my family. These can’t be mailed until the beginning of December because they actually have to be sent to a post office located at the North Pole for a postmark. They’re then mailed to the kids in stamped, addressed envelopes I provide. The process takes less than 2 weeks, so I don’t want to mail them too early. Kids get hyped up enough about Christmas; they don’t need to get letters from Santa before they’ve even had Thanksgiving turkey! But it does make me happy to see how much they enjoy getting custom letters from Santa. Because I make them myself, I’m able to put in details that make them think Santa really knows them. If they have toys on their Christmas lists, “Santa” names them and tells them that they can have them as long as they’re good. If there’s a lot of figthing between brothers and sisters at the time the letters are mailed, I also say they must get along with everyone in the house if they want Santa to visit them. Nothing like some good, old fashioned pressure from St. Nick to get kids to mind!

Once my handmade holiday cards and Santa letters are in the mail, I still can’t rest. I like to make handmade New Year cards for a select few friends and family, along with a custom e-mail New Years greeting for the rest. When I make those, I pick from my collection of new years clipart. I get quite elaborate with the handmade versions, since I don’t have to make that many. They’re fun to make and I always enjoy the process of creating them.

If you’d like to experiment with making your own handmade Christmas or New Year cards, here are some tips:

• Print the cards either on pre-cut, pre-folded cards you can get from the stationary store, or on the thickest card stock that will go through your printer.
• If you have a printer that will accommodate photo paper, you can print the images separately from the cards, and cut them out and paste them onto the card fronts.
• There are lovely metallic and specialty papers that you can use to frame the images by cutting pieces slightly larger than the artwork. These can be found at discount stores like Walmart, or at craft stores.
• Glitter glue pens work wonders for adding a little sparkle. But don’t get carried away with it! The cards may warp and also have a tendency to look overdone.

This coming holidays might see a lot of changes in how we observe the holidays, particularly because of the world economic downturn and the green initiative that is influencing the world. So even while it’s still early, here are some tips on how to do your own eco-friendly and natural holiday decorations.

Instead of spending money on plastic decorations made of non-biodegradable materials, why not utilize nature as your inspiration when decking your house for Christmas. Natural, recycled materials and the like are the main components when making your own decorations. And you will have enjoyment doing it as well.

Your backyard can be your major source of materials. It will cost almost nothing and will also lend your house a fresh look. Hang greenery, twist into garlands or make table arrangements with greenery and vibrant fruits like apples, oranges, grapes. You can make homemade wreaths using branches and greenery trimmed from your backyard.

An alternative to store-bought Christmas trees, is using native trees and scrap twigs, decorated with a few branches burnished with silver paint, decorated with ribbons, painted eggs, star cutouts, wax-dipped pine cones, handmade baubles, ginger bread decorations, and the like.

You can use dated magazines, cards and scrap paper to make Christmas tree ornaments. Just cut out the figure that you desire, use eco-friendly paint or used wrapping paper. You can also use old white paper (used envelopes, paper, forms) to make turtledoves or angels.

Tennis balls and eggs (without the insides of course) can be used to make adorable Christmas tree baubles. Cover it in multi-colored paper. Add a sprig of holly and you have a nifty ornament that is uniquely yours.

Have fun creating your own decorations and have a unique and environmentally friendly holidays! To find great and affordable Christmas decorations, check out http://www.christmasdecorations4less.com.

Christmas will be here before you know it, so it’s time once again to make Christmas crafts, such as homemade ornaments or card holders. Each year gives me another chance to be creative! It also means researching new craft ideas I haven’t made before. But that’s fun, so I’m happy to do it. I’m pretty sure I can gather all the components I need in just a short time.

Ordinarily my creative process begins with looking for vintage Christmas clipart that can be used as the basis for the craft. Since the focus is on Christmas, I will want to search for Christmas tree images. That should be simple, due to the number of Christmas images available on the ’Net. I’ve also found in the past that vintage Christmas cards that can be found on the World Wide Web can make designing an Christmas craft project easier. Because the cards already have fantastic designs, it won’t take much to create a fun craft project.

You can also make great Christmas crafts by using free Christmas scrapbook embellishments. A variety of photo frames, borders and other embellishments exist that can make your project  exceptional. For instance, 3D stickers will literally take your craft project to another dimension. In addition, colorful scrapbook papers you can either download off the World Wide Web or buy in a store can add a lot to your Christmas project. These components are used by professional card designers, so it’s proven that their use produces good results. So when you set about making Christmas crafts this year, remember to go online. Keep things basic by choosing beautiful images and letting them do most of the work. That will give you solid results and will also make the project easier to construct. I’m sure you will get lots of compliments as a result. And if crafts sales are what you’re after, you can be confident that your crafts will be attractive enough to sell.

It seems that as our banks are getting emptier and the price of everything around us is getting greater, the amount of young adults going for a family holidays being taken is on the rise.

With everyone being a little tight for cash, many people are having to re-think their holiday plans this year and it appears that many young adults are deciding to join their parents for a family holiday this year. Over one in ten young people have decided that they can’t stand not having any sun this year and they have chosen to go on holiday with their parents this year.

Over 28% of young adults have admitted to going on a family holiday where their parents pay some if not all of the overall cost of the holiday. Out of that 28%, over 25% of the young adults have said that they have been on holiday where the whole thing has been payed by their parents bank.

It seems that the Boomerang Generation where young adults return home to live with their parents to solve some financial problems has now ended, and we are now have the piggyback generation where young adults take advantage of the kindness of their parents to fork out the cash for them.

Although many young adults are grouping with their parents to make sure they get a bit of the sun, they may have to settle with the British weather as it seems that a uk family holiday is still going to be the cheapest deal out there according to travelsupermarket.com. However, saying that, we have has a very good spell of weather recently, if it stays this way we could see a huge rise in the number of uk holidays being taken this year.

It’s always good to know that when times are tight there are always some bargains you can get here in the UK, like bowls holidays for example.

They say that everyone has to experience the Christmas blues at least once in their lifetime.I always thought that it was impossible.Christmas is my favorite. Every year I look forward to Christmas more than any other holiday. they are correct really. I’ve got the Christmas blues. Christmas stress have officially arrived. I can’t even bring myself to hang the christmas garland.

I cant think of what has gotten into me. I just feel so tired lately. I was planning on getting presents for all my list this week, but if I’m not in the right mood I just can’t go shopping.  It’s my personal Christmas shopping principle to have “the right kind of cheer” whenever you shop because it will reflect a great deal with the gifts you choose. To make matters worse, Jim just told me that their boss liked the dinner party we gave a few months ago so much that they “sort of” invited themselves again tonight.  Jim must have “forgotten” to tell me again last night. 

On top of everything else like the gifts I still have left to buy, and the Christmas stress I have going on, I still have a dinner party to get ready. I’d like to switch the toggle to turn myself into Superwoman. There’s nothing going on. I am overly tired. With my luck I’m going to come down with a cold.  It’ll be a blow for the kids. People have come to expect the happy cheerful me at Christmas time. I don’t want to bring down the party.

Ugh. I really, really don’t feel so good.Pardon me…. WHAT!? My Christmas stress is officially over. 

I just got the news that me and my husband are having a baby! Bring on the festivities! I guess the red garland might get hung this year.

There is something wonderfully special about receiving Christmas greeting cards from distant friends and relatives. It reminds both the sender and the recipient of their special relationship.

Christmas greeting cards let people know that you care and have not forgotten them, especially during the most festive and important time of the year. A simple thing like a greeting card is a special kind of gift you can send, without having to spend a small fortune.

With Christmas greeting cards you can also help to keep family ties and friendship links strong, by letting people know that they are important enough to be on your Christmas card list. There are some long-time friendships that span decades, yet the only form of communication they have is in their yearly Christmas letter.

It is easy to reveal your own personality, or the tastes of your family, through the Christmas greeting cards that you choose to send out. Cards can be purchased separately, which is often done for a very special friend or family member, but most Christmas cards are bought in sets that contain anywhere from eight to twenty cards in a pack.

Some of these packs will have a variety of designs that revolve around a common theme, while other Christmas greeting cards are in sets with a single design. The designs cover a huge range of different styles and themes, ranging from very traditional and spiritual to very modern and even irreverent, as well as every thing imaginable in between those two extremes of Christmas expression.

Photo Christmas greeting cards have become a very popular choice and have also become quite affordable. They usually cost about the same as a regular greeting card but these will have a picture, usually of the family or of a couple, as the main design of the card. Often these cards come in a postcard style, meaning they are printed on one side and do not fold over like standard Christmas cards. However, because of the photographic material they are printed on, it is still recommended that they be put into an envelope to mail.

Many people combine the photo Christmas greeting cards with a Christmas newsletter that recounts the main highlights of the year for the family. By tucking both of these items into an envelope, the recipient receives both a nice photo to see how the family has grown and a heartfelt letter.

There are also many styles of Christmas cards. Some have slots in them that allows you to add your own picture, either on the cover or on the inside of the card. This is another nice way to customize your greetings and to show off the family as well.

A growing trend in Christmas giving is the use of Christmas gift cards. Giving gift cards helps to assure that the recipient will be able to choose a gift that they really want. It makes it much easier for the giver too. To cater to the increased use of gift cards, there are also many Christmas greeting cards that now have a special place to tuck a gift card or even cash inside for easy gift giving.

One of the resources that is stretched most thin during Christmas is time. One great time saver that has come along with the internet is the introduction of electronic Christmas greeting cards. Not only does sending electronic Christmas cards save a great deal of time, it is also a wonderful money saver. As a bonus for those who worry about preserving the earth’s natural resources, it is also a very “green” way to say Merry Christmas.