Win-Win with your Holiday Cards

As the days get shorter, the temperatures drop and the leaves start to fall, thoughts turn to the upcoming holiday season.  One of the first things I like to do is select greeting cards to send to family and friends.  I realize it’s much faster and easier to send greetings online and that sending cards via snail mail is a little old fashioned. Despite the trends, I still appreciate every card, letter and greeting that appears in our mailbox.  Opening the envelope, admiring the card’s design, and reading the sender’s message are all part of the experience.

It’s become our tradition to select cards made by local artists. We choose cards with a personal connection that represent an aspect of our lives.  It’s a small way to support local artists plus we get to share a small work of art with our family and friends.  That’s a win-win in my books!

Another part of our tradition is to include a short letter with our greeting cards.  We typically include a short paragraph explaining the background on the card’s artist.   Our letter extends best wishes to our family and friends and shares the highlights of our year.

Today, I’d like to share some examples of the holiday cards we’ve sent to family and friends over the last few years.  Every card has a bit of history and represents part of our story.  See the More Info section below for artist contact details.

While living in Michigan, USA, I came across an award-winning children’s book called “Stranger in the Woods”.  This book, created by wildlife photographers Carl R Sams II and Jean Stoick, is presented as a photographic fantasy.  It’s packed with beautiful photos and tells the story of how the birds and animals react to a snowman in the middle of the woods.  The story is unique and entertaining but it’s the photography that sets it apart.  As it turned out, the author/photographers lived in a village very close to us.  Their Stranger in the Woods greeting cards were the perfect choice!

We selected the below card when we were living in Singapore.  Holiday greeting cards like this are more of a Western tradition so the options were limited.  I was very pleased to find this one.  It was the perfect way to share the excitement of living in that beautiful part of the world.  The card was created by Kim Angelico.

There were many beautiful greeting cards to choose from when we lived in Germany.  The below card showcases the magnificent Kölner Dom (Cologne Cathedral) which is a famous landmark in the German city of Cologne where we lived.  The card is based on an original work by Arlette Furler.

Spending the Christmas season in Germany was a memorable experience.  Cologne hosts several outstanding Christmas markets but the biggest and most impressive is located around the base of the Dom.

Nearly all German cities and towns host a traditional, street-based Christmas fair or market.  They are typically open for several weeks in December.  The markets are packed with small booths selling arts and crafts.  They feature unique, handmade products, such as blown glass ornaments, wool and felt apparel, nutcrackers, Christmas pyramids (aka candle carousels) and other carved wood decorations.

Christmas music plays and the largest markets often have live musicians.  Of course, there is lots of food and drink including grilled sausages, roasted chestnuts, gingerbread cookies and beer.   It’s usually quite cold at this time of the year so drinking glühwein, which is a hot and spiced mulled wine, is a Christmas Market tradition.

Returning back to the topic of holiday greeting cards.  The below card was created by graphic designer Ryan Fitzpatrick from Man vs. George Design.  Based near Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA, they specialize in fun and modern greeting cards.  I found these cards on Etsy (link in More Info below).  Ryan was very accommodating and agreed to print the cards with a custom message inside and on the back.  He even provided a small matching graphic for our letter.

The first year we lived in Georgia USA, I came across the work of a local artist Sally Storey Jones in a local boutique.  I was delighted to discover that Sally lived in our neighborhood… only a few streets away!  This card, featuring historical downtown Villa Rica, was an ideal choice that year.

Last year we selected a beautiful letterpress card from Cherry Laurel Studio.  They are located in Decatur, Georgia.  The artist, Elizabeth Kotz, calls herself a Southern girl through and through.  We were tempted to use one of her other cards but reluctantly admitted they were not appropriate for the holidays.  Runners-up were: “Well that just dills my pickle” and “Grinnin’ like a possum eatin’ a sweet potater”.

As you can see, our holiday greeting cards were found from a variety of sources.  I’m always on the lookout for local artists and make it a point to shop in local stores and boutiques.  Oftentimes, these shops carry work by local artists.  Their inventory is usually quite limited but once an artist is identified it’s easy to do a little online research to see if he/she offers holiday greeting cards.

Community craft fairs and markets are another great way to identify local artists.  Look for paper, letterpress, and stationary artists.  Artists who paint, draw, work with fiber, or take photographs often offer cards as well.

Another, perhaps obvious, source is Etsy.  It’s easy to search for “holiday greeting cards” and find thousands of hits.  The trick, though, is to narrow the search based on the seller/artist’s location.  Etsy’s faceted search includes a Shop Location option (shown in red box below) that filters the results by location.

More Info

The Stranger in the Woods book has evolved into an award-winning series of children’s books and movies called “In the Woods”.  You can learn more and view their amazing wildlife photography on the Stranger in the Woods website.

Several years ago, Singapore artist Kim Angelico sold her greeting cards under the label Paw Marx Cards but I was unable to find any current contact information.  Nor could I find anything further about Arlette Furler who created the painting on the Kölner Dom card.

Man vs. George Design has lots of unique and fun cards in their Etsy shop.

Here is the link to Sally Storey Jones’ website which showcases her lovely work.

Here is the link to the beautiful Cherry Laurel Studio website.

Today’s Takeaways

1. Consider sending holiday greeting cards via traditional mail.
2. Explore the opportunity to share a part of your personal story via your holiday greeting cards.
3. There are many worthy causes that you can support through the purchase of your holiday greeting cards.  Consider purchasing from local artists to support their work.