Making Cards

Well here we go again. It is time to make the Christmas Cards. I know others do it in some very crafty ways. 

Another Blogger---- > Far Side of Fifty, makes her own Christmas cards. Plus she and her husband carve and paint ornaments from ... real wood and cool bark!

My talent? I have a camera and lots of imagination. So here are some of my possible photos for Christmas Cards. 

The Creekside Bears:

Nor and Runo:

Then there is the Charlie photo. I wanted to keep up the tradition of having my pet dress up and pose. Morris was never still. He bounced all over and usually took several treats to get one decent shot.

Charlie is a dream. He is like a posable doll. He doesn't look at the camera but tends to look all around as if he is embarrassed.

But I think I have one that I will use.

Charlie is just plain tired of all the shenanigans. However, he is such a good sport about it all!

He even 'posed' on the chair but this is the look I got!
Okay. So now I've bored you to death about this.

I use a photo editing program and print out 5X7's or 4X6's at Walmart for about .06 a piece and then send them in an envelope with a note.

Is that a good idea or not? I sort of think so.

I think I need to get busy and order my prints so I can take some time to write notes. I may just print them out this year...I haven't decided yet.
I've always loved hand written notes, they seem so much more personal.

Then my next project. Calendars.

And Charlie was very relieved when I told him that we were done posing for photos.

That's it for today.
Boring, I know!

Oh...by the way. Sunsine is doing fantastic. It is like she never had any colic! I had to take Fred the elder mule...he is something like 33 ish inside the shed and out of the sleet. He warmed up and then proceeded to try and take apart the round pen panels. He started braying before light this morning and chasing the girls around.

All is quiet on the Farm.

Cool backdrop and cold weather fun.

As the temperatures dropped and the winds picked up I decided to work on my Christmas Cards.
I found out that I was short some.

What to do? What to do? I don't like most choices in the boxed items they sell in the stores and ever since I found out I could print them out myself, I've done it that way.

Well I had an hour or so to kill before going to get and delivering groceries chores to my mother in law, so why not 'make' some?
I had read somewhere how aluminum foil on cardboard pieces made good reflectors and interesting back drops. Even more fun was to add glitter via glue to the aluminum.

So I found a box. I cut the flap off from it and made a 'reflector'.

I even covered one in pink, red, and silver glitter glue.

Then I went to the 'magic creative room' and set some things up. An old box, some parts of cards from years passed, and the foil backdrop.

This shot shows the pinkish glitter glue on the foil. A white board leaned up against my chair. The table is a plastic tub with a white piece of board on it.
Over that is an old lace table cloth.

Well I had a bit of fun with it.

I 'developed' it with an Antique look in ON1RAW2017. I even liked it enough to send it to print.

Then I tried this one.

This one is my favorite. The yellowish golden glow is from an old lamp with those now extinct bulbs in it...for light.

The items that are poinsettias and Merry Christmas are things I pulled off from old cards that my Aunt and Cousin had sent me a few years ago.
The old paint cracked box makes for a wonderful texture and the foil added a bit of zip.

I sent this one to print too. Walgreens and Walmart offer easy 1 hour pickup and you cannot beat the prices.

Then it was time to go to town. The winds were howling and the snow was blowing across the open areas.

I got strange looks when walking around the stores. I don't care, I wore my heavy coveralls and was nice and toasty warm. I don't get the ladies who dress with skinny jeans or those who wear capris and a light top with no hat or gloves in very cold temperatures with extreme wind chills.
They must live in town and not have to negotiate snow blown drifts.

I know if I get stuck in the drifts I can still safely walk somewhere or sit in my car and be very comfortable.
I carry a sleeping bag and a space blanket along with tea lights and extra clothes.

Friday afternoon until midnight I am working. If the roads and the snow and drifting are bad at midnight, I'll pull all the sleeping blanket and take a nap until the roads are clear.

No use risking my neck to drive 30 miles of twisted roads that go in and out of steep valleys and windblown ridge tops to get home until it is safe to do so.