I have been making my own cards for a few years now. It is something that relaxes me and let’s me be creative.
Recently, I was going through my mom’s old photos and decided that maybe the people in the photos would enjoy seeing them more than my leaving the pictures sitting in a box. I intended to just mail them to the individual persons.
I don’t know why, but I started to play with a photo and placed it on a blank card instead. That was it. I was hooked. I love making cards out of old black and white photos, especially the photos of the 30’s and 40’s.
First, I made some cards of people I didn’t know in the photos, to play around and write captions. To be creative you can make some mistakes in the learning process, and I didn’t want to mess up photos of the people I did know. Maybe you are thinking I could make copies. Yes, I could, but then I would still have boxes of more photos lying around. The whole purpose of this is to recycle and clean up. The added bonus is I think I am making people happy when they receive a card in the mail, and the card is all about them. I also send cards to people with pictures of someone they love from years ago. Could be their mom having a great time on the beach, or their sister, father or anyone they have a connection with. The response has been great. Sending out these memory cards is something I would like to receive myself.
Memories are special to each and every one of us. Capturing that moment in a photo and then years later, receiving a card with that moment again, is the memory living on. If I can make myself smile making one of these cards, the bonus is in knowing someone else is smiling receiving one these cards in the mail.