holiday card (2021): stationery design

Despite my secular upbringing, I love the holiday season because it encourages us to care for our fellow humankind and search for & celebrate the light in the darkness.

I love the yearly ritual of sending out holiday cards, and this was the first one that I designed (outside of the presets on sites like Shutterfly). I stamped the message and scanned all of the elements: the greenery, the Instax photo of me gleefully eating s’mores, and the ripped paper with the message.

I printed it with Paper Culture (with rounded edges as shown below), typed out a general well-wishing message on the back, and then handwrote a specific message on each card I mailed out to my loved ones.

Despite the pervasive gloom of that 2021 holiday season, represented by the black background, I truly believe there’s always at least something to be grateful for. Nature, as shown in the scanned branch and in the photo of me in my happy place amongst the trees, is a great place for me personally to start looking when I’m in a low place. Holiday cards are bright spots in the darkness of winter for me. As they accumulate throughout the holiday season, arriving with their cheerful stamps in the mailbox, I feel like they’re physical manifestations of love from my friends & family — a little paper hug. It’s a tradition I’m fully on-board with and love participating in.