christmas cards | kimberly ah

A Very Presley Christmas 2021

May I present our 2021 holiday cards? I loved them so much and I couldn’t wait to show you, even though I think some may still be arriving or on their way.

Last summer, I asked Donovan if she would draw something for our holiday card and she agreed. I still love and use the stationery she drew for my birthday a few years ago. I asked her to draw a tree with ramen, cocktails, mail, and a tuna underneath–a few of our favorite things.

Then, I shared this picture of Presley on Instagram. She was looking very grumpy in a Santa hat and Donovan decided to add Presley too. We couldn’t have been more delighted.

I had the cards printed as flat cards (like a postcard, not folded like a greeting card) because I don’t write long messages in my holiday cards. It was the perfect little greeting. (And thanks to my friend Mark at Printing Plus for printing and delivering them to me!)

In addition to our cards, Donovan surprised us with these wonderful faux postage stamps. She was inspired by Presley to draw holiday stamps of a bunch of cats she knows for her Patreon supporters. (If you scroll back on her Instagram (@dovbee) you can see them all. Or you can join her Patreon and download them all!) I used our stamps to decorate the envelopes of our cards that went out to cat lovers and Presley fans.

I hope it was a good holiday season in your mailbox and I’m looking forward to writing some mail this week and I ease into the new year!

P.S. This is not a sponsored post–just genuinely love Donovan and her work and Mark’s print shop!

2018 Holiday Cards

Happy Christmas Eve! We both worked today so we decided to stay in tonight, wrap up some last gifts, eat tamales, and watch the yule log on the Hallmark Channel. Naoto is currently napping in the chair.

I wanted to send my holiday cards out by December 10th and I MADE IT! It’s pretty much the only thing I accomplished in time this season. Karen and I got together to write cards one night and then I worked through the alphabet over the next two days to get them done. Naoto even did a few this year which was a nice help. (He refused to participate in the envelope decorating though…)

We sent a few different cards out again this year (pictured at the top:) Cocktail Santa by Kate Spade, Season’s Greetings stamps by Snow & Graham, ’tis the season by Paper Source, and Sending Christmas Wishes and Candy Cane Bird, both by Papyrus. I filled out the list with some of the pretty letterpress birds leftover from last year.

I bought a bunch of Christmas washi tapes in Japan, so I used those to adorn the envelopes. Nothing fancy, just a strip on the bottom or up by the stamp.

I always try to shop for our cards after Christmas or during the Paper Source warehouse sale, but that often means having several designs to choose from. (Because it’s hard to find enough of the same design for our list of 50+ people.) It gets complicated keeping track year-to-year if I don’t use up a box. (I wouldn’t want to send the same card twice.) Next year, the plan is to get back into making our own…I should start now. #goals Everyone always asks why I don’t sent my own Galaxie Safari cards out. Because the vintage stamps are sometimes hard to find and come in limited quantities, I’d rather save them to sell rather than sending them out. Plus, since I pay for the cards, envelopes, and stamps as a business expense, I’d have to “buy” them from myself and work out the taxes, which just seems silly at this point. And really, I just love shopping for stationery. I’m not sure I’ll be able to stop myself if I’m out and about during the holiday sales this week.

Did you get all of your cards out in time? We bought some New Years postcards in Japan so we’ll need to start on those soon! Nothing like ending the year with a lot of mail…just the way I like it!