Snowbow is helping me send birthday wishes to my family and friends this year. I snapped photos of Snowbow with each of the grands (I thought) back in February, fully intending to make each grandkid a Snowbow birthday card. (Most of the kids would rather have an actual Snowbow instead of a photo, though!!! They loved that little bear!!!)
I have so many grandkids, I can't keep track! Three of them escaped the photo shoot, and I didn't figure that out until I began making the cards.
Initially, I thought I could just Photoshop my little bear into other photos I'd snapped of the three missing kiddos, but after the first paste-up, I decided I'll try again next year, maybe, and do something different this year.
Last year, it was a struggle to send each paper card because I didn't initially keep track of who got what. My bad. I didn't want to send the same card twice to one family.
When I turned 6, I got identical greeting cards from both of my grandmothers, who lived more than 800 miles apart. It was really cool, and I still have those ballerina cards today. But both cards were personally addressed to me, not to me and someone else in my family, and I knew both my grandmas remembered how much I loved ballet. They both looked for something special to send me.
I've always thought if my sister and I had received identical cards (which NEVER happened), someone must have bought a stack of identical cards on sale and didn't care if what they sent was special or meaningful. I don't want to be "that grandparent." I want each of my grands to know they are unique to me. I don't ever want them to think I rushed through a gift- or card-shopping trip.
I decided to create all 16 (which now has become 19!!!) individual cards at one time, then all I have to do is mail them before each birthday. The whole year is done, no duplicates, and all I have to do sign them, put a stamp on them and remember to stick them in the mail!
I have so many bighorn photos, I decided sheep would be the best starting point. One family lives on a farm. Plus, it's really fun for me to write captions for some of the photos. Unless I am trying to write 16 (or 19) different rhyming verses!
Some of the photos almost write their own laugh lines. After about the tenth card, though, writing verses grew a little more challenging. Ever start feeling like your brain is scrambled??? That's how I felt!
Once done, however, I felt as if I'd climbed a 14er! The first few cards have already been sent and enjoyed now, and the remainder are labeled and ready to be mailed when the time is right.
Hearing from the kids how much they love their cards (and spinning some really good tall tales when they ask how I got so close) is one of my favorite experiences in life. (I always confess I have a really good telephoto lens after making their eyes pop out of their heads with stories of being sniffed by a bighorn.) (I did have a bighorn poke its head in my car window once when I stopped to shoot a roadside photo without getting out of the car...) (Oh, and then there was the time one came up behind me and really did sniff me - and scare the daylights out of me - while I was preoccupied shooting one of its kin...) (Well, and they really love the smell of my sweat on my bicycle handlebars...)
Every once in a while, I wonder what I'll use next year, or the year after that. I'm worried I will run out of themed photos as well as humored rhyme.
Perhaps I'll have to make another trip to South Dakota and hit all those dinosaur museums. Kids LOVE dinosaurs!
Or, I could just go back to bears...
Bah, one can never run out of rhyme haha doing it any old time. Both getting you the same special card sure shows they look. Sounds like the bighorns have a little bit of dog in them with the butt sniffing. Original cards are the best indeed.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Pat! I hope I never run out rhyme, but you're a hard act to follow!
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