their old familiar carols play

it is again time for me to find a blue pen and begin the annual christmas-card-making process. i love this process because it is simple, inexpensive, and intimate. it is very me.

it is a liesurely little process. during church and meetings and while watching films and doing whatever else that leaves one hand free, i sketch christmasy things. holiday things. winter things. always blue ink: blue ink is softer and lighter, and to do christmas sketches in black ink would be far too depressing. right? of course right.

unlike most of my sketching, for these i try and use blank-on-both-sides paper. these cards aren't full-color print productions or anything, but i like them to be nice. no leftover history worksheets on the back, no ragged torn edges, that kind of thing.

i amass these sketches. they pile up in a folder or on my bedside table or under that book. and when i have enough (i never count, i just overestimate) and have colored the ones i think might need a bit of cheering up, i break out the scissors.

my scissors are an orange-handled pair my grandmother gave me my first year of college. in the years since then they have had her sharpied name worn clean off and become instead covered with acrylic paint. yes, i use scissors when i paint. maybe i'll write about my painting process some other day.

i stick for the most part to rectangles. it's a traditional card-shape, rectangles. size doesn't matter but some of these sketches need custom shapes. that giant candy cane? make it candy-cane shaped. yes. that one with the snowflakes? round the corners. sure. and always remember to leave a bit of room for trimming.

once they're all cut and the inevitable scribbly rejects discarded, i introduce my trusty gluestick and a suitable broken cornflakes box.

step 1. apply glue liberally to the colored side of the cornflakes box
step 2. beginning with your larger sketches, glue them on as neatly as possible. make sure you press down all the corners. try not to overlap too much.
step 3. cut them all out, applying more glue if necessary

once they're all finished i keep them on my person at all possible moments, ready for being handed to any acquaintences or various passers-by. last year i scanned them all first, to keep record. having given up my scanner this year, we'll see if that happens again. it might, just.