One of the most popular Christmas traditions still observed today is sending holiday greeting cards. The practice is actually a modified custom began in Victorian era England. Children sent printed cards to their parents with messages of kindness. Becoming such a huge success, the custom was quickly adopted by the rest of the UK and eventually worldwide. More than a century later we continue this tradition sending truckloads to destinations around the globe.

Every year, I take time to create our family holiday card. With a heartfelt desire to keep the tradition but feeling pressed for time, I decided to take a shortcut with correspondence this year. Inventory low of envelopes and blank cards for my printer, frugality usually results in some tangible results with a visit to our local dollar store.

I purchased several boxes of simple glossy red cards with classic white envelopes. Sorting through laptop files of pictures taken on various holiday jaunts, the photo of skates taken at Skyland Manor a few years ago is perfect. After printing the scaled image on inexpensive matte photo paper, I ripped the top and bottom edges adding a touch of handcrafted charm, and taped the photos to the front of each dollar store card.

This is how I added another personal touch - an insignia seal in copper colored wax. I use a glue gun set aside just for melting wax, and use our "F" metal stamp to seal the design. For the envelopes, I used the same image to print return labels, mixing text fonts.

No matter how you choose to accomplish the task, signature and style can add a little something special to Christmas traditions... xoxo-Sonya