Last week I got to participate in the Handmade Gift Series at Shaken Together and knew I wanted to write about something easy and meaningful.
My gift idea: Send snail mail!
For the last 3 years I’ve made this the Christmas present for my Grandma and my husband’s Grandma. We all live in different states and don’t get to see them very often.
My gift to them is that I will send a homemade card and a picture of the kids every month during the coming year. They love seeing how the kids are growing and what we’ve been up to, and I get a place to send all the cards I make 🙂
But wait, you don’t like making cards? No biggie. The most important part of the gift is just sending something in the mail. The picture is a bonus, and handmade is totally extra.
If you want instructions for a really cute and easy card, check out this formula. It just takes a few cuts (with a straight cutter–no fancy machine needed!) and with a few different papers, you can have a whole set of cards made in 30 minutes.
Materials:
Buy blank cards, or make your own by cutting a piece of cardstock in half at 5.5 inches. Then fold each part in half at 4.25 inches. This will fit in a regular card-sized envelope (also available at most craft stores)
Pick two coordinating papers (an easy way to do this is get double sided scrapbook paper–then you know they’ll look good together!)
Cut one paper at 5 x 3.75 inches
Cut another at 1 x 4.25 inches
If desired, rub an ink pad along the edges of your cut pieces and base.
Using liquid glue or a tape runner, glue the larger rectangle to the center of the card front. Then glue the smaller strip at the bottom third of the card.
Add a flower to the left side of the strip and you’re done!
For something extra, add a rhinestone or button to the flower center.
One final note of advice for picking patterns to use, I generally like to mix a big print and a small print, and it doesn’t matter which one goes on the bigger rectangle. Also a solid with a pattern always looks good.
Let me know if you have any questions, and I’d love to hear who in your life would love a gift like this!