Christmas is the time to be happy and merry and to enjoy the company of family and friends. Traditionally Christmas day is when family from near and far congregate at a central point, exchange gifts and greeting cards and enjoy each other’s company and partake in the spirit of the occasion.

The children of the family have an opportunity to get to play with cousins who they may only see once or twice during the year and Christmas time is the perfect opportunity for long term friendships to be formed between the younger members of the family.

However, as is the case with many extended families, commitments and obligations as well as the vast distances involved often mean that important members of the family may miss out on attending the gathering. This is where personalized photo Christmas cards play an important role of bringing those family members who unable to attend the Christmas gathering just a little closer.

A lovely way to involve family and friends who are unable to partake in the festivities of the day is to send them a personalized photo Christmas card. Each year leading up to the festive season many families gather their entire immediate family together for the express purpose of taking a seasonal family snapshot. They them create beautiful cards, which can be sent to family and friends around the country and to those who live abroad.

It is typical that the holiday family photos are of everyone gathered around the Christmas tree further extending the blessings of the season to those who will not have the opportunity to visit over the festive season. Other families, however, choose to send candid personalized photo Christmas cards that show members of the family in compromising or humorous poses or situations. These funny cards are often the topic of many conversations well after the holidays have passed and can be recalled and laughed about for many years to come.

By taking a little time to get your family together for a photo you achieve two things. Firstly you have an original card which has a personal and creative feel to it to send to the people you care about. Secondly, the people who receive the cards are then able to update their family photo albums.

In creating personalized photo Christmas cards many families take group photos of their immediate family each and every year. Often the next year sees an increase in the number of people included in the photo as people wed and babies are born.

For many families these photos become a pictorial type of family tree, which plots the genealogical aspect of the family’s growth and development through the years. As our relatives become older they are often are less likely to travel long distances and these cards are often the only way that they ever see these members of their family.

So if you have members of your family living in another state or abroad why not start your family trend of producing personalized photo Christmas cards and send them this year and every year after. Who know you could start a family tradition that will last for generations.

Technorati Tags: cards, christmas, Creative, love, Personalized, photo, Show

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Christmas cards are one of the most popular and saleable item in every local store and malls during Christmas season. When this festive occasion starts, almost all things related to it turns a bit expensive, including the traditional Christmas cards. These cards ranges from the most simple to the most elaborate. Some comes with music as you open it, while others comes with the sparkly stuff with tiny accessories that goes with it. They vary in size and price. On the other hand, one doesn't have to spend so much just to send a simple wish. As they said, personal is always special. So, here is a simple way to make a beautiful and personal Christmas card for your loved-ones.

Materials Needed:
Silver paint maker or gold paint maker
Photograph
Black photo corners
Rubber stamps with different shapes (star, snowflakes, etc.)
Waxed paper
Blue art paper for every photograph you use
Embossing powder
Heating gun or embossing gun

Ways that you could use for your Christmas cards:

Here are some fabulous ideas which you could use on your Christmas card.

1. Glue the photograph onto the blue art paper. Size the blue art paper according to the dimension of the photograph. Glue each corner and sides to match. Put the black photo corners at the corners of the photograph.

2. Take out your rubber stamps with different shapes. For this project, the star and snowflakes is recommended. However, little tree stamps and Santa Claus stamps are also available may be used.

3. Apply the silver ink or gold ink to the rubber stamp and stamp the card evenly. If you opt to use the star rubber stamp, stamp it equally and sparingly so that they do not occupy much of the space. Make sure not to place the rubber stamp in the same direction a pattern may appear, turn them as necessary as it is to give it a very natural look. A rubber stamp with wider dimension would be excellent. In this case, you can use the rubber stamp to create a border for your card. If you think your card needs a gold touch, then use the gold ink or otherwise it is recommended to use the silver ink. If you are using the stamp to create a card border, then stamp them throughout the card.

4. Add embossing powder throughout the snowflakes before the ink dries so that it will stick well to the snowflakes or star shape. Make sure that the ink does not dry soon.

5. Blow out the excess embossing powder outside the shapes being printed. Make sure that the emboss powder surrounds the shapes exactly made with the rubber stamp.

6. Finally, use the embossing gun or heating gun to heat the embossing powder. Heating it will melt the powder and give it an embedded and raised look.

Making Christmas cards is an interesting activity to keep you occupied when you are free. It is one of the highly recommended activity art sessions you can start with your children. It is a fun way to start teaching art and develop your child's creativity. Christmas is a wonderful opportunity to spend time with our family. It is a great chance to bond and celebrate the wondrous with our loved-ones.

Technorati Tags: cards, christmas, Making

If you are looking for a gift for someone who isn't afraid of heights, has a good amount of daredevil in them, and doesn't find anything wrong with jumping out of a perfectly good airplane, this is one gift that will earn you eternal gratitude.

This is just the holiday gift for that special someone who you know has always wondered how it would feel to just jump out of an airplane, let alone fall 10,000 feet.  A single tandem sky dive session will run you an average of about $200.00 which includes instruction that runs about half an hour and one jump.

That is also what makes the tandem jump such a great gift, since it is a one-day event, you get the opportunity to see how much you really enjoy it without investing a lot of time and money learning to dive on your own, then if you complete the jump and find yourself wanting to get back up there and do it again you have the option of signing up for classes where they will teach you everything you need to know from packing your own chute to landing in your target. 

The tandem jump is done while you are harnessed to a professional diver who helps control the fall.  You will undergo on the ground training and perform the jump the same day.  You start out taking a plane up to around 10,000 feet.  At that point you will jump and free-fall for several thousand feet at approximately 120 miles per hour.   Contrary to what most people think free falling doesn't make your stomach roll like a roller coaster might.  It's more like floating on a cushion; similar to the feeling of buoyancy you get in the water but to a much greater degree.

After the minute or so of free fall you toss the toggle, which is attached to the pilot chute, into the airstream, deploying the canopy and float to the ground.  There is no worry that you will forget or freeze and not open the chute.  If you don't open it when you should the instructor will use hand signals to let you know what you should be doing.  If you still don't react the instructor will deploy the chute.  Most schools also have a device that will automatically deploy the chute at a certain point if it hasn't been manually opened.  Now that you are floating downward you have time to relax and enjoy the scenery, while the instructor helps you guide both of you down to the target where thanks to new technology you can make a nice soft landing.  

This wonderful holiday gift of skydiving will provide you with an entire spectrum of emotion.  You start with the anticipation as your plane climbs.  Then there is the excitement and adrenaline rush of the jump which is followed by the exhilarating yet tranquil feeling of the descent, ending with the pride and satisfaction of accomplishing something that up until now has only been a pleasant daydream.

Technorati Tags: parachute jump, Xmas gifts

When you consider ways of making handmade Christmas greeting cards you could effortlessly come up with many ideas. The crucial point lies in your collection. The quantity of several collections you have to fashion your beautiful card, directly stays in ratio to the best card you would be in possession of. The assortment of decorations one could gather to make a fine-looking and eye-catching Christmas card would be the focal point of card making. It is not just a month's labor; you have to be inventive enough to look for stuff around you right from day one. These collected works would someday prove to be useful. Before sitting out to make your card, wander around to look for materials that would make Christmas greeting card truly exceptional.

Tips for Your Handmade Christmas Cards

1. It is significant that the resources you bring together should be colorful enough. Consequently, whenever you come upon several colored sheets with various thickness and you find them of no use, take out a punching instrument and punch out small balls. The balls should be of varying sizes. Try to get a hold of them with the use of compass and scissors. These groups of balls could be glued at the borders of photographs, to make frames for any photo, to lay them as a bed for a new embedding craft.

2. Gather several different colored ribbons to create beautiful bows and glue them in your Christmas card wherever essential. It would be magnificent to tie a bow around your card to hand them exclusively as a gift to your loved-ones. These ribbons could also be placed parallel to give the impression of beautiful Christmas trees.

3. Punch out star figures and parallel strips of colored papers to attach stars and hint trees using parallel strips. It would be nice to use silver and gold colors for stars.

4. Put aside colored threads that lay unused. If the threads' colors are, gold and silver gather them to make out your own picture. Give them a classic touch using these golden threads. You can also use the golden threads in letters printed on the card. Glue them consequently and place them tight in place.

5. Create some snow flakes in your golden and silver sheets and attach them sparingly in the card to make fine glitters in your card.

6. Get the finest glue that would aid you fixing any type of material from threads to papers.

Be it children, teenagers or adults, anybody would love to be greeted on Christmas. If the wishes were conveyed through presents and compliments then that would be much special. If it is going to bear a special touch of yours then that would be the most exceptional gift that they could ever have. It is very important that you acquire all the materials prior to making your card. It is essential to create the card at a stretch than to craft them in different modules for a number of modules. Should you make at a stretch design ensure that, you use a high quality glue that dries up with out leaving a mark on your card. Make sure they cling to everything tight in place. Else get your card plastic-coated in a nearby store. This would not upset any of your designs.

Technorati Tags: cards, christmas, Handmade, ideas, Tips, Very

My Boss has asked me to find a company who will supply Christmas cards for our chosen charity this Christmas. The only problem is the charity is unregistered and is based in South Africa. If anyone has any suggestions it would be great. Even if you know of a company who produces Cards for UK charities.

Thanks in advance!

I checked on the internet and found a couple of possiblities:

http://judges.co.uk/printedCharity.html

This one will ship by Royal mail's air service outside the UK:

http://www.charitycards.co.uk/home/home

i only ask because i did mine today, it was a nightmare, first we got stuck in traffic getting into the supermarket should of gone home then but no we got in to the supermarket 20Min's later, it was packed slowly moving up and down the aisles another 30Min's in the que to pay by this point my partner and i were not talking totally stressed out the he ran into me with trolley wanting to kill him now i have a bruised ankle cant hardly walk were not talking and he has gone off to the pub all in the Spirit of christmas so how was your shopping trip?
omg shopping on the internet why didnt i think of that so doing it next time thanks

Not done Christmas Food shopping yet. We're going tomorrow. Thankfully our nearest supermarket is only a mile away and it has a massive car park above and below ground. We plan our campaign to start as soon as they're open.

One lucky event - we decided to clean out all the kitchen cupboards a couple of days ago and found this secret cache of booze - fifteen assorted bottles of spirits from previous Christmas's - blimey! So we only need a couple more bottles to see us through to the New Year.

WISHING YOU AND YOUR FAMILY A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR

Chuck Berry -

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=AEq62iQo0eU&feature=related

If any. No offence taken if you prefer proper posh christmas cards. Personally i've been buying Unicef ones for about 5 years now. They're not cheap but i don't need many and they are good quality with very cheerfull prints. How about you?

No offense but I prefer to donate directly to the cause, not buy stupid things where only like half or not even of the proceeds go to charity just so I can show people that I donated.

If you were all so righteous, why don't you make sure 100% of your proceeds go to charity? Why do you need something that says you donated half of your money?

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• Child's or Adult's Christmas White Costume Accessory!
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• Included in this posting: 3.5oz bag of white Christmas decoration faux-snow as featured
• Please note that only the items listed above are included.

Product Description
Welcome Santa to your winter wonderland with this delightful and festive 3.5oz bag of white artificial snow! Great for decorating tables and counters, mantles, Christmas trees and tree skirts, nativity scenes, portrait settings, holiday wreaths and more! Please note that 3.5oz bag is great for individual applications, but if you are decorating a larger area please consider adding a second bag to your order.... More >>

3.5 oz Bag of White Christmas Decoration Snow Flakes

Technorati Tags: christmas, Decoration, Flakes, Snow, White

Company Christmas cards can be a grand way to endorse your business and thank those people that lend a hand to make it happen. Or, they have the capability to do strict damage if you don't focus on a few points of protocol.

Here are 5 business Christmas card thrust of protocol to watch out for:

The Culture: When choosing your card design, think about the customs and traditions of those on your business Christmas card list. For instance, do not insult a treasured business partner by sending out a religious card with a Christian picture on the front if they do not follow that religious conviction. If you are confident that a religious card would be valued, then of course, send one. If, on the other hand, you are doubtful, play it safe by sending out a more nonspecific seasonal greeting.

The Quality: Send a first-class card that denotes your accomplishment as a business. Christmas cards are astoundingly inexpensive so you should be able to get ones that are of first-rate, printed on important weight card stock and include fine envelopes. A card that looks as if cheaply made can do more harm than good, even if you paid a high price for it. Keep in mind that the card you send out is a reflection of your company and consider the supposed value.

The Recipients: Identify who is on your Christmas card list. Be cautious not to overlook an important person your company does business with. It is okay to send a greeting card to the President of the company. However, if you don't actually know that person and overlooked to also send one to your most important point of contact within the company, you can do authentic damage. It may be better to send out your card addressed to the company itself than to specific people within the company if you cannot take account of each and every one of them that you do commerce with.

Customize: Imprinted cards are specialized and remarkable. To really make the recipient feel exceptional, on top of the imprint, sign your name and write a very succinct note. The client or business associate will be pleased about the fact that you took the time to consider them personally. It is advisable to hand-address the envelopes as well. Do not use labels as that will look like a bunch mailing, which will interfere with the good will you are trying to accomplish by sending out cards in the first place.

Proper Addressing: Think about the rules of formality when addressing the card. It is suitable to send a card to a home address if your connection is more than just business. Use the fitting prefixes. If, for instance, you are acquainted with the President of the company and his wife, send out the card to their home address, to Mr. and Mrs. John Purcell. Do not take in the name of the wife on a card sent to a business address except if she too works at same company. Don't fail to remember to seal the envelope and use a cute Christmas stamp. Avoid using the office postage meter.

Use simple judgment when sending out your cards. Would you be overwhelmed by the appearance if the card was sent to you? First-class business Christmas cards proficiently imprinted with a bit of personal hand writing are good networking tools which are sure to produce business loyalty and make an impression from your clients and business associates.

Technorati Tags: card, christmas, Company, Protocol