I have to admit that some of my IRL friends and family looked at me with sketchy, concerned eyebrows after reading my offer to do a Christmas Card swap with my blog readers.
(IRL = “In Real Life,” for those of you in real life.)
I get it, I get it – the internet is a big, bad, place. And sometimes I do experience that badness. But I consider myself a fairly good judge of character.
(For instance, I totally didn’t give my address to that creepy dude from Vanuatu.)
(See, Mom? I’m taking care of myself.)
But really – It was so much fun exchanging Christmas cards with so many of you. I loved the photos of your family, the drawings from your kids, the magazine cutouts of Printed Jeans, and your sweet notes. I know that some IRL people will never completely understand this, but internet people are actually just as real as they are.
Weird but true.
As cards began coming in, I admit that I let them pile up on my counter, a bit panicked at what to do with them now. Normally, I slice my cards all up, magnetize them, and stick them on the refrigerator.
But,
a) Cards are getting more complex in their photo layout every year which requires a greater dexterity with scissors than I possess, and
b) There were a LOT of cards. And Ali is taking up more of my fridge real estate with fairy drawings every day.
On Christmas Eve, I was feeling especially anxious about my lack of Christmas Card Display. I began going through my stack again, and my IRL friend April’s round card (the only round card I’ve ever received) inspired me.
“Wouldn’t this look cool hanging on a ribbon surrounded with square cards and rectangular cards?” …I said to myself.
I told Chris my vision, and he said something about not having time before we needed to leave for Christmas Eve Festivities.
He was right, but when I get a vision, I can’t just let that vision die, which is exactly what happens to a vision unless I complete it right then.
Usually this type of situation doesn’t end well for my sanity, as things never quite work in reality like they do in my head.
But I pressed on.
So I dug through my Present wrapping supplies and found an unused roll of 1/4” ribbon. I also found my hole punch and punched the top and bottom of every card.
Then I strung them up like popcorn, with the ribbon travelling behind each card.
(See how April’s round card brought the whole idea together? Next year there need to be more round cards in this square world.)
In a miraculous bit of Christmas Magic, my vision happened exactly as I thought it would. The ribbon was the exact right size to hold the cards in place with no tying (not even on the ends!), and when I finished stringing all of my cards, I had used up exactly the entire supply of ribbon on hand.
And here is my new dining room wall:
Yes, it will be staying like that for quite some time.
I started out by taping my ribbons on the wall, but one fell off once an hour. So Chris took pity on me and nailed them in place with tiny, adorable nails.
(Which further solidified their semi-permanent state.)
The only thing that would have improved my wall would have been if you had all gone with a Spring Design – you know, so I didn’t look like I was just being lazy about not taking down my Christmas Decor.
So, Next year: Circular Spring Cards. Everyone on board?
Looks great! I hope you can make room for my late addition…
Absolutely!! I can make room by scrunching up the other cards. :)
What a cute idea!! I’m doing this next year. And I like the round card idea, too. :)
**Doh!** I forgot to send you one of mine. It’s a nice (rectangular) fall-looking card. Would you like for me to wait and mail it to you around August-Sept so it will fit in with your fall decor?
It looks really great! I didn’t get nearly as many cards (but then… I sent out 4… so what was I expecting? Lol!). But does the fact that my card isn’t on the picture mean that it didn’t arrive on time – or that it didn’t arrive at all? :-( Yours arrived today, so I can still hang it up with my cards for a little while before we put away the Christmas stuff. Thanks a lot! :-)
Yours arrived on Christmas Eve afternoon, right after I finished stringing. I loved it!! I saved it out to show Ali the letters on the front, and then am going to add it to the bottom of one of the strings. Thanks!!
I love it! We took down all of our Christmas decorations today but I did leave up my card wreath with the cards. I LOVE Christmas cards! I sent out 45 this year & still didn’t have enough so I’m contemplating New Year’s cards! That could definitely be left up til March! Also, I love the idea of making them into magnets!
Rachel, that is so awesome! I love this idea. I am sad, though, that I missed out on the card exchange. Is it too late?
Except that I’m slow as anything at answering comments this week, no!! I’d love to exchange cards with you.
I’m so doing this next year!
Cute!!!! Can’t help but notice that they’re all above Noah’s reach. Just like ours. We taped all of ours to the back of the front door, so every morning I get to pick up the ones that didn’t make it through the night. Next year I think I’m going to be all Magic Mom and do this! (yes, this qualifies as magic mom. They’re not in a pile on a desk. Magic!) =)
He can reach them, but I gave him strict commands to leave them alone.
And miraculously, it worked!
LOVE this! Right now my stack is sitting on my desk waiting to get tossed and then I found this: http://www.stjudesranch.org/shop/recycled-card-program/
That’s really cool! I guess it doesn’t do much good for photo cards, though. But I’m going to have to keep that in mind!!
That turned out great! I love that. Definitely my inspiration for next year. I hope you do the card swap next year, would love to join.
Oh I LOVE it!!!! You should definitely consider this a Christmas WIN! Also? You should just ask people to go make Circle Spring Cards NOW, and do another exchange soon. Then you don’t have to completely undecorate – just swap out the cards! You could do like a year-round transitional card decoration! Ok, that might get old….
I’m sure everyone would do that JUST for me.
Or not.
But if they did, it would be fun!!
I see mine! I got yours today; it’s gorgeous! My only American card this year :)
Yay!! I feel so honored. I hope you have a great New Year!!
looks great! and it made me smile to see our card up there :D
i friend of mine did a very similar idea except the ribbon was on her kitchen cabinet doors. she said she saw it on pinterest but i’ve never seen it there. she’s cooler than me :)
oh, and your card is up on my fridge :)
Oh I love it!! I wish so bad that I had gotten on the ball with cards this year but it just simply did not happen with the whole having a baby, 2 major holidays, a birthday, and a round of the stomach ick in a month.5’s time! Maybe next year!
Love, love, love it! And I feel so famous! :)
I see us! And I didn’t bother to tell any of my IRL friends/family that I was doing it so that I didn’t get the same sketchy looks you did. My son just looked puzzled when your card came in and he didn’t recognize anyone in the photos. I figure though that anyone that has Alabama season tickets so close to ours, and also has a dad into old cars that it would be safe. Roll Tide and Happy New Year!
I love that idea! Looks really great. I can see why your IRL friends would be a little concerned, but I thought it was pretty fantastic of you to offer to swap real life cards with your blog friends. I totally wanted a Christmas card, but didn’t have any to send out in return and wouldn’t have been home to receive it anyway. To next year!