When was the last time you received a handmade gift or card or even a hand-written note rather than an e-mail or text for that matter?
Do you remember how it made you feel? Pretty darn warm and fuzzy all over, right?
In this age of dashing into a supermarket to buy a gift card at the checkout counter on the way to a birthday party or quickly typing "HBD" on someone's Facebook page rather than taking the time to write a heartfelt message or even better, actually sending a real card by mail (gasp!) it's easy to see why receiving something created by hand feels like you've been given a treasure.
One of the awesome women in my recent "Living the Creative Life" class felt inspired to create lovely handmade presents (see above) for me and the other members of our group to celebrate our last day of class. As you can imagine, we were all absolutely delighted by her thoughtfulness and creativity!
A heartfelt message written on a piece of brown paper
tied with twine and decorated with
fresh sprigs of rosemary and lavender ~
truly a gift that touched all of the senses
~ not to mention our hearts!
How would you like to enjoy a bit of creative play, boost your creative "cred" and make someone's day at the same time? Sounds good, huh?
Why not create and send a personalized postcard to a friend, family member or even to yourself?
The photo above shows some examples of postcards I invite members of my classes and workshops to create at the end of our sessions. They decorate the front of the postcards then write a special message of encouragement or reminders from the class to themselves. At a future date I use my intuition to drop the cards in a postbox so the makers receive a beautiful piece of mail on (hopefully) just the day they really need it.
Enjoy creating your own special postcards in 5 easy steps!
#1 ~ Click here to download the postcard template I've created.
#2 ~ Print out on an 8 1/2 x 11 inch piece of matte card stock then cut in half horizontally. Now you'll have two postcards to create. (Card stock is plenty hefty enough to decorate and send through the mail.)
#3 ~ Embellish the front blank space anyway you like. You may want to cut out images from magazines and use a glue stick to make a simple collage. You may choose to draw or doodle something. You may play with watercolors, crayons or markers. If you're more of a word person, you may want to use only words to decorate your card without any visuals at.
There's no right or wrong way to do this! The main thing is just to have fun playing with the creative process and materials.
#4 ~ Write a note to yourself or someone else on the back left side of the postcard. If you're not sure what to write, what if you just copy one of your favorite quotes?
#5 ~ Address your postcards and pop them in the mail! (If you want to send one to yourself why not ask a friend to mail it to you in the future?)
If it sounds like something you'd like to try I encourage you to give yourself permission to dive in and being right now. Just set a timer for ten minutes and go! You'll be amazed at how quickly you'll be enjoying the feeling of creative flow.
I hope you have fun playing with this low-pressure creative experience. You're sure to brighten anyone's day who is lucky enough to receive your handmade, heart felt postcard!
Until next time, all the best from my Creative Oasis to yours,
Jill
