It would be fun to send a letter back, oooh, yeah – It makes me smile to think my friends would say, “I wonder what’s in the mail today?”.

From the children’s show, Bear in the Big Blue House

When Jonathan was little, one of his favorite television shows was Bear in the Big Blue House. In every episode, the big bear would sing a song about checking the mail to see if anyone had written to him. That tune was so ingrained in our brains, that it still comes to mind often when we check the mail!

Before I started selling my cards, I handmade them for friends and family and sent them out often. I used to have a jar full of paper strips with names on them. Each week, I would pull out a few names and make a card to send out. I haven’t done that in a while especially since requests for cards started happening. I had quite a few orders last year and my friend Kara was a big purchaser as she needed graduation, birthday, and thinking of you cards. I have known Kara since my college days and we often wrote letters and e-mailed each other to send updates and photos of our lives. Do you remember cameras not attached to phones? And film rolls that had to be taken or sent off to a photo print shop to print photos? I remember not knowing how the photos would turn out until I received them in the mail. Even with texting and social media nowadays, we still send handwritten notes to each other here and there as we continue to value that personal touch. She is such an encouragement to me in my card-making and doesn’t mind when I experiment with new techniques and layouts. Her enthusiasm gives me the courage to keep trying new styles of handmade cards. She also was the first person to ‘nudge’ me to sell the cards I had been crafting!

I still make them for others “just because” as I am able because I know how much fun it is to receive a letter or a card! It has been a while since I posted a card-making blog post. I had intended to share often, but you know how life has a way of changing plans! I have a few family updates to share as well, but for now, I will show you a few cards I made last February for Kara.

In the first collage are various birthday cards. I had recently bought balloon die cuts and a birthday one, too (which was more intricate than I thought it would be), and was experimenting with them. I haven’t used these in a while and this encourages me to take them out again!

Kara takes beautiful nature photos and I always thought they would make great cards. I used a photo editor to make them look like watercolor paintings and embossed the images so they would seem like watercolor paper. I left the cards without sentiments so that they were more versatile for a birthday, sympathy, thinking of you, get well, etc.

Here I played around with different papers, inks and stamps, stickers, and elements for a vintage-type card. I loved how these turned out as it differs from what I usually gravitate towards.

I view my cardmaking as a ministry because I know it means a lot to me when someone reaches out with a handwritten note. I do charge for card-making expenses, though, especially with so many requests in the last year. For a set of 10 cards, the price is $35.00. This includes shipping. The price may be raised in another year, but for now, John and I feel comfortable with this.

You can see more cards I make on Instagram @ stray_gifts_studio. I’d also like to encourage you to write a note to someone- just a simple “Hello”, or “Thinking of You”. Send something special out in the mail today.

Just for kicks, I looked to see if I could find the song. As we watched the video, the little boy in Jonathan grinned from ear to ear at hearing a long-time favorite. The grown-up aspiring historian Jonathan said, “Ohhh…look at the architecture of that house! It looks like the classic Victorian style that I like”. Haha! We had fun looking back for a few minutes. Stray gifts!