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Mar 16, 2024

Don't throw away those old photos! They make great Christmas gifts

Talk of Christmas in August? Yes. For many reasons. When my children were young, I would hunt sales for gifts. If I was out shopping for school clothes and supplies, I kept my eyes open for other

Talk of Christmas in August? Yes. For many reasons.

When my children were young, I would hunt sales for gifts. If I was out shopping for school clothes and supplies, I kept my eyes open for other bargains. If gifts were found, they were stashed away in my closet. By December, the space in my closet was running out. With things ready for Christmas, I could relax, except there were birthdays to consider, too, so I had to have multiple gifts hidden for different events.

These days I don’t shop much for Christmas in August. Instead, I’m considering different things for the coming holiday. That being making creations to sell.

Long before Christmas comes around, I set up a table at the arts and crafts sales. I only participate in a few, but I must have a supply of my art ready to sell for each event.

Besides my watercolor pins and alcohol ink tiles, I’ve started crafting things using photos.

For years I took photos with a 35mm camera. As a Green Bay Press-Gazette stringer, I needed a camera. In those days, I also snapped quite a few shots of our young children. Additionally, I needed a camera for class assignments and also for a photography club 'show and tell'. Because I used film, I had to have everything developed and printed.

Some people would have thrown out all the unused photos after they served their purpose. I didn’t. They were stored away in shoe boxes.

Recently, I came across my photo archives and instead of tossing them, I am now using them.

The first ones went onto blank cards to be used by me for birthdays and other greetings. I figured that using my photos would make it more personal, instead of buying a card.

As I put together a few for myself it dawned on me that I could do more with my photos.

Soon I was sorting through 3 by 5 photos and affixing them to blanks. Since I only had only a few sheets of card stock paper, I ordered blanks from Express Printing in Seymour. I also bought envelopes that would fit perfectly. My newer cards needed blanks, too. These were 4 by 6, so I bought 100 blanks and cards to fit them.

Now I must go to work and sort through old and new photo prints. Too soon I’ll need a good handful to sell at the fall craft fairs. My first one is set for Saturday, Sept. 9 at Kailhofer’s Greenhouse, Seymour.

I have to fold the blanks to create each card. I do this carefully, trying to match the corners perfectly.

As I was individually creasing one piece of paper after another I thought about my late husband. I’m sure Bob would have come up with an idea where I could mechanically fold my cards. He was always thinking of ways to save energy. If he came up with an idea, no matter how complicated to make, he would go to his shop and start to work.

His down-home engineering would sometimes get out of hand. When things got too intricate, I’d tease him, all the while appreciating that he could put his ideas into practice—Bob did this on the farm. He was proud when he could take two different pieces of farm machinery and make one that worked. Once he saved a little spring from an old printer cartridge. He didn’t know why he saved it until he needed it to fix the trigger on a hand drill. I sure miss him.

Today I have blank cards, envelopes, and photos that are being pieced together covering my dining room table, along with tape, glue, scissors, and plastic sleeves. Little by little, I’m creating notecards. If I’m lucky, I’ll even sell a few of these.

Anyway, that’s why people think about Christmas long before the holiday arrives. We are either shopping for gifts or creating arts and crafts to sell.

Susan Manzke, Sunnybook Farm, N8646 Miller Rd, Seymour, WI 54165; [email protected]; [email protected]; www.susanmanzke.net/blog.