2008 Christmas cards

For the third year in a row, Hope and I created our family Christmas cards which are now in the mail. Hopefully by now most of you on our mailing list have received them but I wanted to take a moment to share the fun process we went through in the creation of this year’s cards.

STARTING WAY BACK IN OCTOBER
At the start of the fall we came up with the idea to screen print our Christmas cards with some of Hope’s art work. We started working on our ideas way back in October in hopes of getting a head start on this project knowing how new I was to the screen printing process. Here Hope was back in October with one of her drawings:

Yes, it's October...

Of course starting in October was merely that, a start. I spent the next two months researching, reading, and learning everything about the screen printing process. I spoke with many designers experienced in screen printing and soaked up every ounce of knowledge about screen printing eager to experience screen printing for the first time. Between October and December Hope drew many more holiday drawings and words. Here’s most of the drawings I saved:

2008 Christmas cards progress

MY FIRST EXPERIENCE WITH SCREEN PRINTING
Once we finally finished up our final designs, I was fortunate to get to spend a few hours at Lure Design to see how they approached the screen printing process. I must extend a huge thanks to Sarah Blacksher for answering my never ending questions a few weeks ago where I saw first hand their process from burning screens, to printing, registration, duplexing, and reclaiming screens. Once I returned home I was eager to get started on printing the cards. My eagerness quickly turned to disappointment as I quickly found out that some of the artwork and handwriting had a bit too much fine detail for the screen mesh I had ordered (approx 150 count). Here’s one of my first screen prints of our cards which was planned to be printed with white an silver ink on brown paper with a light blue interior.

2008 Christmas cards - screen print attempt

OUR ALTERNATIVE PLAN
Of course, I always have a back up plan, and so printing these traditionally was always the “other” option. It did allow me to use more colors, which some might find more fun. We printed about 100 cards this year and there are two versions. So if you haven’t had an opportunity to see our cards yet, here they are:

Version one:

2008 Christmas cards

Version two:

2008 Christmas cards

The back of all cards have a picture Hope drew of herself along with her super cool new signature:
2008 Christmas cards

The inside of the cards have a drawing Hope made of our family along with everyone’s name:
2008 Christmas cards

2008 Christmas cards

AND INSIDE THE CARD…
We sent out with most cards photos of the kids, here they are:

Christmas card photos - 2008

Christmas card photos - 2008

Christmas card photos - 2008

MORE THANKS!
Many thanks to all of you who answered questions along the way as I learned about screen printing!

We hope you all enjoy this year’s cards. After this year’s experience with cards, we might just need to get started on next year’s cards in, oh…February. :o)

Merry Christmas everyone!

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December 24, 2008 - 7:15 pm

Anabela do Rosario - The cards are beautiful and so are your kids!! I always enjoy looking at Hope’s artwork. Looks like she’s getting better and better at it every year.
Merry Christmas and blessings to your family!

December 24, 2008 - 11:00 pm

Eddie - Oh what a fun learning process. I give you till the end of January where you master it. I love version 2 of the cards, the gloves. And that first b&w of the kids is awesome. I hope you and your family have a merry Christmas and hope to see you soon.

December 24, 2008 - 11:39 pm

Phyllis - I smell an ETSY shop. ;o) Lovely, lovely, lovely…

The ONLY thing that could possibly make it any better is if I were actually on your recipient list. ha! Happy holidays to you all!

December 25, 2008 - 12:00 am

Amanda Kern - Thanks guys. Yes, Eddie this is far from my last attempt at screen printing! :o)

And Phyllis…do I really need anything more to add to my to do list? I’ve been told by many that I could sell these…but ah, time…I’d much rather buy some of that. Do they sell that on etsy too? :o)

And of course if I don’t have your address…I’m taking orders for next year…email me your mailing address. :o)

December 26, 2008 - 11:08 am

Dennis S - Merry Christmas!

Those cards look so good you should consider starting a line or maybe selling the idea to Hallmark®.

And the Babies as beautiful as ever.

December 27, 2008 - 9:47 pm

daissylinares - Way to go!
Im sure you all had fun making those :)

Feliz Navidad y prospero Año Nuevo!!!
HUGS

December 28, 2008 - 3:30 am

oorjas - Hi..

Really cute cards by cute kids…

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