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Hi Everyone - I was just reading the "Dear Annie" column in my morning newspaper and a reader was lamenting the fact that people just don't take the time or make the effort to send actual greeting cards anymore. Annie replied that there was something special about receiving an actual card in the mail and that it can mean so much to the recipient. She is hoping for a "comeback" for actual cards.
I think everyone on this site has always felt this way but it was nice to read in print that other people feel the same. Let's keep up the good work with our stamping and cards and spread the word!
People I send cards to thank me for sending a "real" card, not an electronic greeting. Several people I send cards to have taken up card making because they enjoy receiving paper mail and want to send it to others. I'm hoping for comeback with you!
I have been thinking about this subject for a long time!! I make cards as a hobby and sending cards is an off shoot of my hobby. I used to think “What else will I do with them?”I have card making friends and we send each other cards for all the Holidays and Birthdays. I send BDay cards to all my family and friends. I send Sympathy and get well cards as needed. I’m sure I don’t have to tell you the work involved. I get very little feedback ( just a few relatives and friends even acknowledge getting cards from me)
So... that being said this is my weed out Year... if I get a card from you... you will get a card from me. Tomorrow is my Husband’s BDay... he has received 1 card so far... my policy for next year extends to him... no card for him no card for you!! If you are family or your husband and my husband are friends. I always send “the Guys” cards too
If a Facebook Happy Birthday. Merry Christmas, etc is good enough for us it’s Good enough for you!!!
I know my post sounds mean spirited, I don’t mean it to. I’m just looking for a way out of my self imposed feeling that I have to send card to people even if they don’t seem to care enough to send one back.
__________________ Bev
Organized People are just too lazy to hunt for things!!!
I made one card last night and plan to make two more today to thank the folks who covered for me while I was on vacation. I like sending cards and everyone who receives them always seem to love them.
__________________ "I have cats, but they don't smoke or associate with dogs...."
I have been thinking about this subject for a long time!! I make cards as a hobby and sending cards is an off shoot of my hobby. I used to think “What else will I do with them?”I have card making friends and we send each other cards for all the Holidays and Birthdays. I send BDay cards to all my family and friends. I send Sympathy and get well cards as needed. I’m sure I don’t have to tell you the work involved. I get very little feedback ( just a few relatives and friends even acknowledge getting cards from me)
So... that being said this is my weed out Year... if I get a card from you... you will get a card from me. Tomorrow is my Husband’s BDay... he has received 1 card so far... my policy for next year extends to him... no card for him no card for you!! If you are family or your husband and my husband are friends. I always send “the Guys” cards too
If a Facebook Happy Birthday. Merry Christmas, etc is good enough for us it’s Good enough for you!!!
I know my post sounds mean spirited, I don’t mean it to. I’m just looking for a way out of my self imposed feeling that I have to send card to people even if they don’t seem to care enough to send one back.
I hear what you are saying, and understand your feelings. I also make and send lots of cards to family and a list of friends. I send cards for most holidays, many birthdays, and sympathy and congratulations. I get very few cards in return, however.
Some of my friends always mention the cards on Facebook, and even take pictures of them. Some of the friends never say a word. I see my family often, and they usually thank me for any recent cards I've sent.
I love making cards and enjoy the creative process that goes with it. I will keep making and sending cards, even though many people don't send cards back. I consider it my way of sending a little kindness out into the world, and always feel good when I mail them.
__________________ Bugga in OK
"Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible." Dalai Lama
Bev, you have read my mind! I have noticed for several years - I get 1 paper birthday card. I got more Christmas cards this year - 6 cards! Four of those were from fellow card makers and we support each other!
This is my hobby and I love making cards, but I like getting cards, too! I just wish my family and friends could show me some love.
Arlene, That’s exactly what I was getting at. I agree with Buggainok too. Sending cards is a way of spreading kindness... I love doing that too but it would be nice to get some fun snail mail in return. I have a cardmaking friend who hasnt sent any cards in years but expects to be remembered. I have another friend who is very well off tell me she can’t afford to send cards. “ you’re lucky you make your own cards... Hallmark has gotten expensive” ��
__________________ Bev
Organized People are just too lazy to hunt for things!!!
I agree! In these days of electronic thank you's, birthday wishes, etc. A card is something tangible, that truly tells the person you care, are thinking about them, love them, appreciate them in your life, and took the time. I will never stop sending them-they are part of who I am, and how much I love, love, love this paper art crafting. To be able to send a very personalized card, and not a mass produced is so important to me. Craft on everyone-it's art worth doing!!
Arlene, That�s exactly what I was getting at. I agree with Buggainok too. Sending cards is a way of spreading kindness... I love doing that too but it would be nice to get some fun snail mail in return. I have a cardmaking friend who hasnt sent any cards in years but expects to be remembered. I have another friend who is very well off tell me she can�t afford to send cards. � you�re lucky you make your own cards... Hallmark has gotten expensive� ��
I know what you mean! I have those same well-off friends who say irritating things like that. We all get to decide what to spend our money on. I think some of them must think a day at the spa or a pedicure is much more important than brightening someone's day with a card.;)
__________________ Bugga in OK
"Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible." Dalai Lama
I would love to send more cards but mailing them is expensive. The grandkids are usually the only ones to get mailed cards anymore. Although I have really lost my mojo and even the kids that live across the street from me are lucky to get a card.
__________________ 2 cats short of the Crazy Cat Lady (5 Ragdolls RIP Katie DSH, RIP little Merlot Flame Ragdoll & Sunna Torbie Ragdoll- we miss you! Damn FIP) http://rebecca-rebeccasemptynest.blogspot.com/
My adult kids know I like (expect?) cards. ;-) I send them to people I love and care about. What I get discouraged about is people who won't even send an email to say hello, even if I specifically ask them to send an email to let me know how they are. Those are the people I drop. I do get some nice comments so that keeps me going.
I send out ALL the cards I make....to family, friends, to shut-ins, for holidays, new jobs, new babies, whatever reason. I have always loved getting mail. Others still do, and my grandchildren call to thank me, and save every one. I thought I was the only one trying to keep the Post Office in business!
__________________ Anne HarmonFS154, QFTD58, PROUD FAN CLUB MEMBER
I have another friend who is very well off tell me she can�t afford to send cards. � you�re lucky you make your own cards... Hallmark has gotten expensive� ��
Ha ha -- because we are all saving so much money with our rubber stamping hobby!
I just made and gifted a variety of 50 cards, split between my mother in law and daughter in law....per their request.I do a lot of card gift giving and people love them.
My favorite project is monogrammed note cards. People think I had professionally done.....nope, just the Misti makes them look that way.
Monogrammed note cards with ‘thank you’ stamped directly beneath, makes a neat gift for showers. People are thrilled with them.
I enjoy making cards, but struggled with what to do with all of them. Making gifts of the cards solves that problem. Occasionally I’ll accept payment if someone orders a set of monogrammed cards.
I’m retired and this has been a fulfilling hobby.
Thank you for bringing this up again. Our family is rather small plus we don't have a big circle of friends so we don't receive a lot of cards. But, I love making cards and thanks to SCS I send many of my cards to Cards for a Cause every month and a couple of places that disperse the cards to Kids in the hospital.
One of the things I do struggle with is when I do send a card to someone "just because" I can't think of anything to say. I feel like I should write something like "Hi, we're fine" but it seems so silly.
Do you all write something interesting or what do you say? We're just 2 old retired people who watch a lot of TV (in the winter) plus I make cards. HEHE.
__________________ We can't all be stars but we can all twinkle.
I was sitting at the table with my mom, two aunts and two cousins and one of them brought up how much they love receiving my cards. I mentioned (nicely) how I never receive cards any more and they all said it was because they don't make cards and didn't feel like store bought were nice enough to send to me any more.:rolleyes:
I too send a lot of cards and it gets a bit disheartening not to receive cards in return, especially from fellow stampers that I've been stamping with for years. I love sending cards and will continue to do so but I have weeded a few off my list in the last year or so after sending numerous cards and never even hearing if they received it. I don't want to sound mean either but postage is getting expensive and I'd rather send to those who I know appreciate them. I've also been donating a lot of my cards to Cards for A Cause and other organizations that always need cards. I also visit the Card Request thread frequently and send cards to those who need cards sent to family, friends, etc. It just makes me feel good to know I possibly made someone smile.
I too send a good few, I'd say about 10 - 15 most months between birthdays, a few regular "thinking of you" ones, Teapot Tuesday destinations, and random just because. Most are international postage, so I'm afraid that after a couple of years of sending into a vacuum, most people do get crossed off my list. But you do never know...no feedback doesn't mean they're not appreciated. I got the sweetest note-card a couple of weeks ago from a friend's 16 year-old daughter saying thank you for all her beautiful birthday cards through the years, she has kept them all. I wonder if her brother has done the same :mrgreen:. I buy my stamps 30 at a time and the clerks almost always offer me a receipt, presuming that anyone buying that number of international is buying for work rather than personally.
I am the worst about actually sending cards. On the flip side, I know I really enjoy getting mail that is not bills or ads. It's a rare treat to get a lovely hand-stamped card in the mail.
Cards, homemade, or store cards, over the years have literally saved me from "the gloomies", especially when my sons had extreme health difficulties. During those times, I was unable to send a card back, but oh, how treasured they were. I have them, still. So now, I encourage you to keep sending cards, even though they may not be acknowledged, for in that moment, it may make a huge difference in that person's life. And the difference was made by YOU, cardsender. Keep Creating! and Sending!
Things come and go, and then come around again. I doubt sending cards will ever completely go away. The invention of the telephone could have spelled the demise of handwritten mail and it didn't. And just because someone doesn't send a card does not mean they don't enjoy receiving one. I am the recipient of other people's arts and hobbies and even though I don't have the same hobbies, I admire what they create. A card with a meaningful handwritten message inside is so powerful! Kudos to all of you who send out cards!
A year or so ago, I made a gift-set of thank-you cards for a friend. Besides the cards and envelopes, I also included a pen and a set of postage stamps. My friend was happy when she got the gift, of course, but the real joy came a little later when she started sending out the cards. She told me that having everything she needed in that one place was just perfect. She didn't have to drive down to the post office to buy postage stamps and she didn't have to hunt for a pen that worked well or an envelope to match the card size. And the response she got from people who received the cards was so amazing that she went out and practically raided the local stationery store for more card sets.
Most of the younger people don't mail in their bills anymore. Practically everything is electronic, and that means that there's a lot less chance they'll have a postage stamp to mail a quick card with. With the busy lives we lead, taking a trip to the post office to mail a card could be a major task - and not one people can always make time for.
It doesn't help that people feel like you need to acknowledge the card right away or it starts to become awkward. "It's been 6 weeks since my birthday, and I didn't send a thank you card, it will just be weird if I do it now." Once that guilt sets in, people tend to just avoid it altogether.
I also don't feel obligated to send a card for every occasion. Sometimes it's better to show I'm thinking of someone in a different way. For example, instead of spending hours making an intricate baby card for a new mom, I made a bunch of casseroles for her fridge/freezer so she won't have to worry about dinners for a couple of weeks. I congratulated a friend on her new job via Facebook so her family could chime in and celebrate with her. I called a cousin who just moved on his birthday because I thought he might be feeling lonely and talking to a live person would cheer him up.
I try to look at it from a bigger perspective. I believe that what we put out into the world is what comes back to us. So, the thoughtfulness and kindness that I put into the act of sending out a card to someone will come back to me - maybe tomorrow, maybe a year from now and probably in a whole different way. But it will come back. And because of this, I don't worry about it.
I rarely receive cards of any kind, but when I do, it makes me so happy it can lift me out of dark places.
I need to expand who I send cards to. Right now, for every holiday, my nephew and I make cards for his grandma and grandpa and a cousin that helped raise him when he was little and his mom was deployed in Iraq.
It is so much fun. He picks out the paper, the image, and the sentiment. Then, it's my job to find a way to put it all together. He hates to color, but from time to time I can get him to color the image.
I send cards to my father and my siblings, but no one else. I need to send more. I know that they can brighten someone's day and I can't lie, I love it when I get a positive response to my cards. It brightens my day.
you know that "hi, we are fine" yep, that works...
on the other hand I tend to buy stamp images that fit people in my life, so like once I bought a older couple a Mo Manning from stamping bella and I told my mom I am so excited to color this for the grands and it came out around a little after Valentines day that year and I didnt want to wait until June for their anniversary. and my mom said to me, ( this hit me really hard)
Make it a Happy Tuesday card. ( or what ever day they get their mail on)
and send it now.
so, hi, we are fine works but, so does random happy tuesdays.
(my gma has since passed away, and I found a huge box of cards I had made and mailed them over the years in the house after)
I enjoy making and sending cards so I do. There are a few people who have been taken off my list, but I usually add people. I have a stash of cards built up so I send them. Over the weekend and yesterday, I sent 10 cards. So far I have 4 thank yous. I put a card in my husband's lunch bag, he appreciated it.
If it makes you happy to make the cards, do it!
I have some funny stamps for the envelopes and card backs (Stacy sent me a card with the envelope stamped) -one says WORLDS Most Expensive Card company--we all need that one!
I send about 50 handmade Christmas cards every year and a handful of people thank me for them, but more commented on not getting them the year my father died and I sent bought ones.
I just sent out about 15 valentines, and yup, you guessed it. Got two in return. Makes me feel like my efforts are wasted. Used to make a special card for each of the 9 grandchildren, but now only do that for the two youngest. The rest I never hear from. I gave special cards with money in for Christmas and they thanked me for the money. My DIL did rave about her card, so that made me feel good.
MY SIL recently died, and my daughter received about 185 cards. A few were handmade, and I really appreciated seeing other's work. They do stand out from the store-bought ones. I was disappointed to get a store-bought one from a lady who stamps and even had her own blog. What's up with that? Keep on stamping folks! Some of us appreciate all the hard work!
Sending a card to someone who is shut in , sick or lonely can mean the world to them . I have found this out by being a card angel to chemo patients and a card buddy to the elderly that a simple handmade card can change their day. There is something about a handmade card like a written letter that is personal and intimate .
I just sent out about 15 valentines, and yup, you guessed it. Got two in return. Makes me feel like my efforts are wasted. Used to make a special card for each of the 9 grandchildren, but now only do that for the two youngest. The rest I never hear from. I gave special cards with money in for Christmas and they thanked me for the money. My DIL did rave about her card, so that made me feel good.
MY SIL recently died, and my daughter received about 185 cards. A few were handmade, and I really appreciated seeing other's work. They do stand out from the store-bought ones. I was disappointed to get a store-bought one from a lady who stamps and even had her own blog. What's up with that? Keep on stamping folks! Some of us appreciate all the hard work!
Last year was the first time I created enough Christmas cards to send them to everyone on my list. For several years, stamping friends and family got handmade. Others got store bought. Now I�m starting to make Christmas cards in February so that I have enough in December.
I, too, send cards to shut-ins and recently sent one to a lady whose husband is in hospice. Having gone through that recently with my SIL, I can appreciate what she is going through. Never easy, and if a simple card gives her a smile, it's worth it. Do get nice responses from the daughter of an older friend who has gone blind. She describes the cards to her mom and they always appreciate a letter, and she even reads them to her mom again later. Nice to be appreciated.
Alicia........I’m so on board with what you are saying. There IS a great need for our handmade cards. I like to leave them in the prayer chapel at church. People praying for a sick person in their life can pick up a card and envelope to send. Lots of venues to utilize our cards!
I think it is universal...most people don't thank you for the cards you send but, stop sending them and they think you are mad at them!!! I send lots of cards throughout the year..60+ for Christmas, 15 or so for Valentine's day, 10-15 for Easter, lots of get well cards, birthday cards for family and friends, just because and sympathy cards too. It is funny, some people realize the effort made and others might think you are being cheap to not purchase a card! Hand made cards are more costly (overall, think of all the stuff you purchased over the years). I still like to send cards and would love to receive more as would you all.
__________________ Have a creative day, every day.
I am a card sender. I can sit in church on a Sunday, read the bulletin, listen to the prayer requests, see everyone there and can always come away with several people who might need a card. I figure mailing them is part of the hobby. They make me happy to send them and I hope they make someone else happy to receive them. I have been sending holiday cards to our 'old' aunts and uncles and I hear again and again how much they appreciate it. I encourage you to send them. Don't just stick to family. Sometimes non-family appreciates them more!
I like to send cards to people, sometimes that doesn't happen for many reasons. However, I am going to start a #mailitmonday so that I can get these cards to people who would enjoy them. Anyone with me?
Thank you for the links, Pia. Those are wonderful stamp sets!
Quote:
Originally Posted by PMR
I have some funny stamps for the envelopes and card backs (Stacy sent me a card with the envelope stamped) -one says WORLDS Most Expensive Card company--we all need that one!
I have had family members who don't send any cards to us and hadn't acknowledged the ones I had sent later tell me that they love the handmade cards and save every one! Glad I kept sending them...
__________________ "When I do good I feel good, when I do bad I feel bad, and that is my religion."
--Abraham Lincoln
My husband told me a few years ago that I spend LOTS more time making cards than anyone does looking at them. I explained that my joy was in making them and anything anyone else got out of it was just extra. I send out about 125 Christmas cards each year and lots of birthday & anniversary cards. I also donate card to our local retirement center and a quilt guild I belong to. Most times I don't hear back but the few times I do just reminds me how much I enjoy it.
People who receive my cards have no idea what is involved in making a card. I assume they think we just whip out a card and shove it in the mail. I think about that person the entire time I am planning the design, colors and sentiments of their card. I think of that person from the beginning to the end and dropping it in the mail. I think of them - has the card arrived? did it arrive in time for their birthday (or other occasion)? Did it put a smile on their face? Do they know I love them, care about them and pray for them?
When you put your heart, body and soul into card making and never hear from them - it hurts.
People not sending cards anymore
