Category: Handmade Cards

What’s in the Mail Today?

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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!

It’s Time for a Change

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Hello and Happy August! I have an update for my card-making business that I’m going to dive into right from the start.

I have had quite a bit of business in the last year since selling my card creations. When I first started selling them last summer, I did not know where to start in pricing and I was content with $25.00 for a set of 10 cards which included shipping. I am not trying to make a living from this but I still need to cover the costs of supplies and a bit of my time. I have been told multiple times by friends and family that the price I charge is not high enough for what I make and I should be asking more. It is difficult to put a price on your own work! I have been doing a lot of thinking and researching concerning the pricing of handmade items. I have looked on Etsy to see what is out there in the card-making world and am surprised at some of the higher prices of other handmade cards that are much simpler than mine -no stickers, no shimmer, no sentiment or greeting, no detail– just a patterned paper piece glued on to a card base. The ones who have given me advice are businesswomen who know how to handle business and finances successfully and I value their input. But what to charge? It would be less expensive to mass-produce the same card or set of cards, but I am not ready to do that. I enjoy making each card a bit differently, even if I use the same patterned paper for multiple orders.

Through research, I am learning I need to start keeping better track of expenses as card orders keep coming in. I have had enough consistent repeat purchasers now to make this a priority (stray gifts!!). I need to learn how to make a spreadsheet and factor in the time it takes to make a card and what it costs for shipping. In the past year, shipping prices have increased. I was shocked at how much it cost to ship a set of 10 cards out recently –it’s just paper! I am also looking into a different kind of packaging to see if there is a less expensive way to send the cards securely so they don’t bend in the shipping process.

I hear the advice I am being given. I don’t take it lightly. With that said, I am raising the price for a set of 10 handmade cards to $35.00. This does include the shipping. If you would like to order more than 20 cards, we can discuss a bulk price. And even if you would like just a few, we can discuss that as well. The price may increase in the next six months to a year but, for now, John and I agree this is the next step.

I am so grateful to you who keep coming back for more cards! I love making them for you. Your encouragement and your business mean so much!

More Supplies

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“Organize? I thought you said, “Order more supplies!”

– crafting meme seen on social media

It has been a while since I have shared photos of my cardmaking “adventures” here. In December, I posted photos of Christmas cards and February was the last time I sent out a large group of “just because” cards. Last summer, I started selling my handmade creations to friends and family and I received eight orders right in a row! I made one hundred cards between June and December for others. Things got “quiet” after that and I wondered if the cards really were liked as much as I had thought they were because card sales completely stopped. In March, however, I had requests for more cards from some of the same friends and family who ordered last year. They were restocking their card supplies! From March to a few weeks ago, I have made more than eighty cards (not including those that ended up in the recycling because of mess-ups)!! I created Easter, graduation, birthday, Christmas, and get-well-soon cards. And I have a new request just recently for “thinking of you” ones. Whew! That is a lot of cardstock, tape, pretty stickers, and envelopes! As I continue creating, I become more aware of the tools that work best. The designs on patterned paper, the quality of patterned paper, types of adhesives, weights of cardstock, and more are things I’ve had to consider when purchasing supplies. Lots of learning is going on in making cards. There are thousands of designs and layouts which, if I look too long on Pinterest, can make my head spin – and makes it harder to choose which design to use for each order. Decisions, decisions!

What touches me, is that others like to send cards, too. Notes of thanks, well wishes, encouragement, sympathy, love, and kindness should never be a thing of the past. A note on social media and through texts is appreciated, yes, but there’s nothing quite like a handwritten note that took some time and effort. With that, I’ll leave you with a few photos of the cards I created in February. I have a few more sets I have worked on this year and will share them in the coming months. In the meantime, I need to get started on my new request …but first, I need to organize and order more supplies.

If interested in me making handmade cards for you, I charge $35.00 for a set of ten cards. This does not include shipping. Each card and envelope is put in a plastic envelope for protection and sent to you in a small box. It typically takes me a week or two to make a set of cards, depending on family events. To order, simply e-mail me and we can discuss what you have in mind.

My e-mail address is straygiftsstudio@gmail.com.

Christmas Cards 2021

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The pen in your hand is a magic wand with which you can send joy, hope, love and courage across deserts and plains, over mountains and seas, around the world and around the corner.

Wilferd A. Peterson, “The Art of Writing Letters”

In one of my classes during Bible college, we students took a “Spiritual Gifts” test to help us understand where we best fit in ministry opportunities. One of my gifts results was that I was an encourager. One of the ways I enjoy encouraging is through making and sending handmade cards. I wrote a bit about this cardmaking journey in a previous blog post, Stray Gifts Studio. I have a list of friends and family I create for regularly, but sometimes life gets busy and time is short for playing with all my pretty paper. I was determined to get nice Christmas cards out this year and worked at making cards to send out. I had come down with a bad cold a few weeks before Christmas and I wasn’t sure I would even be able to get these out in the mail. I had wanted to write a nice long ‘catching up’ note in each card, yet as Christmas grew nearer, I had to settle for a quick Christmas and New Year greeting. I hope that even with a short note, the cards sent brought a bit of joy to the receivers. Here are my latest creations in cardmaking.

Stray Gifts Studio

Published on by arecordofgraces

“Stray Gifts Studio” is the name of our former “homeschool room” and it is where I create handmade cards. My cardmaking journey initially began twenty-five years ago when I lived in Washington State where John was stationed in the Navy. I had a group of friends who were into cardmaking and we would get together with our rubber stamps and ink pads to enjoy the time of fellowship and creativity. Over the years, I had moved away from making cards and had eventually donated my collection of rubber stamps.

I was visiting an aunt in GA one year when she received a birthday card I had mailed. The card was from a set of boxed cards I had bought at the Christian bookstore. I thought the card I had picked out was especially pretty and “fit” her. She opened the card and said, “Oh! My friend gave me this exact same card! I love it!” My heart sank. The exact same card? The card did mean something, but I decided then and there I would get back into cardmaking. I also decided that not one card I made would look the same. I may use the same designer paper and the same card material, but I have yet to make the same card twice. Each one has a different layout, or I have used a different ribbon, or I have chosen a different mix of papers or materials. It’s a personal decision, I know, but one I value seriously. I love to receive any “happy mail” – whether handmade or store-bought and every card is significant. I craft cards because I love it. I send them to friends and family for birthdays, holidays, and just because. In the last few years, I have been asked if I would sell the cards, but I never felt confident enough that someone would pay me to be creative. I took a leap of faith this past June and sold a set of cards to my friend Angela who loved them. I have since received orders from others and have created/sold nine sets of cards with ten cards in each set. When I explained to the Postal Annex employee what I kept shipping out, he said, “Oh, you’re an artist!”. I hadn’t thought of myself that way, but I liked the sound of it.

I have been encouraged to start an Etsy shop online to sell my cards and even the bookmarks I make. I have looked into it, but right now is not the right season for various reasons. I do have an Instagram account (@stray_gifts_studio) where I share photos of cards I create. I have thought about starting another website designed to share my cardmaking exclusively, but I don’t have peace about doing that just yet. For now, I share bits and pieces of the cardmaking on Instagram and personally through texts with friends and family. Since I already have this website up and going (and somewhat figured out), I plan to share photos of my cards here. Maybe it will gather more ‘business’ and maybe not. Maybe it will encourage someone to get creative again. And maybe it will encourage someone to write a card and send it out. It doesn’t need to be handmade- just from the heart.

I recently made a set of Christmas cards for a friend. Their last name is “Bright” and she thought it would be cute for the cards to say, “Merry Christmas from the Bright Bunch”. I created the sentiments with Canva, uploaded them to my Cricut and had the machine cut these out. Each card has a bit of shimmer which does not show up in the photos, unfortunately. The cards are so much more vibrant in person.

Here are a few of the cards I made. I enjoyed crafting the Christmas cards and hope they will be a blessing.

If interested in me making handmade cards for you, I charge $3.50 per card plus shipping. Each card and envelope is put in a plastic envelope for protection and sent to you in a box. It typically takes me a week to make a set of cards, depending on family events. To order, simply e-mail me and we can discuss what you are looking for.

My e-mail address is: straygiftsstudio@gmail.com.