Christmas envelopes with pizzazz!

piz·zazz

1. an attractive combination of vitality and glamour.

a little history of me and Christmas cards...

I love giving Christmas cards out and for many years I use to just buy a box of cards to mail out...and was very OK with that. It was before my card making days which only began about10 years ago. At that time I began making individual, original cards for each person and I'll be honest, that just flat wore me down. That phase lasted for about 3 years...and then I finally learned the easiest way for me...was to paint one card and have it printed off. That way they are getting original art work, but a print...no one has yet to complain, 

which is a good sign, right? lol

But no matter how I make the cards I have one tradition that I have faithfully followed no matter what. Prepping the area in which to address and write my cards. I always try to make the experience special and not rushed. I turn on some Christmas music, make myself a cup of hot tea, get out my fountain pen and of course have my address book and Christmas stamps ( another Christmas event is the deliberation in picking out that years stamp! ).  This year was just a little bit different since it included all the accoutrements  for decorating the envelope but the basic principle was the same. Setting up a special area to take the time to not only make their card special but to make it a relaxing and fun environment for me. This is like decorating the tree, a very special part of Christmas for me, one that I look forward to.

If you want to see my card that I created for 2016 you can watch a short time laspe video of me making it here. I do appreciate the views and heck you can gift me with a "thumbs up" or a comment if you want, after all it's Christmas :)

But this post is about the envelopes.

 Many of you know that during 2016 I have expanded into decorating the outside of the card, the often ignored, overlooked envelope. I have a Facebook group too if you want to join in the fun. ( Snail Mail ) Would love to have you join, the more the merrier. I have written many a post on my blog about the art of snail mail which you can check out one here if you desire. :) 

Here is the envelope for this year's card...

It's a combination of stamping and drawing, coloring in with colored pencils and markers plus a little stickles for some pizzazz. 

I even stamped the back of each envelope :)

And my latest addiction is to use my special fountain pen whenever I send out a card or a letter. I much prefer the way it looks compared to a ball point pen these days. Another new thing that came about in 2016 along with my appreciation for snail mail art was bringing about the art of writing in cursive and nothing screams cursive hand lettering better than a fountain pen!

So no matter how you do it,

 boxed or handmade, 

ball point pen or fountain pen,

 I just hope you do it, 

because sending out cards 

is becoming a lost art

 along with cursive writing.

Merry Christmas!