100 days to Christmas | update the card list

I didn't send Christmas cards last year. It was the first time in a few years since I missed it, and it was totally my own doing - I made my cards overly-complicated, and hated the end result, and even when I tried to fix the problem I messed it up. But not this year, this year I'm going to be on top of it and get my cards out in a timely manner (December 1st is always my goal, although sometimes that means overseas cards are a touch late - maybe I should aim for the cut off date for overseas?)

Anyway, I went to update my Christmas binder when I discovered that The Organised Housewife's Christmas Planner doesn't have space for addresses! I'm sure it's an oversight, but I'll have to use the same pages I've been using in past years from Life... Your Way.

I've culled my list extensively over the last couple of years - for a couple of years after leaving my mums group, I still sent them cards, and I've slowly dropped off people from the list that are no longer "facebook friends". But during that time, my list has expanded, as well. It now includes my scouting families, and playgroup families, and the overseas blog friends, as well as new blog buddies. (I'll tell you how many cards I'll be sending when I've actually written out all the addresses.)

Do you send Christmas cards? Hand-made, or store-bought?

Christmas cards

This is what my cards look like tonight. My list is huge this year - in fact, I have almost 90 names on my Christmas card list this year. Some of those people I have never met - I signed up for a swap over at Bubhub, cause getting cards in the mail is really exciting. When I signed up for the swap, I hadn't counted the number of people on my list... that's why my cards, on December 3rd, look like they're not done. And, to top it all off, I spent two hours this afternoon (between feeding and settling the little boy, and entertaining the little girl, who hasn't slept today) stamping and embossing almost 80 cards... only to discover I did it UPSIDE DOWN! My cards are going to say "merry Christmas" on the front, and the back! I'll share my design when I finally finish them - I was inspired by Avital over at Creativity Prompt, and they don't involve ANY of the stamps that I HAD to buy to make my cards...

I started making my cards last year, cause I've always been one of those people who buys the cards from the supermarket/dollar store/department store... and then throws the cards in the bin in February, only to repeat the cycle the following December. I figured that if I poured a bit of myself into the cards, then I was more likely to actually send them. Do you make your cards? Are you organised enough to get them finished by December 1st (which was my goal)? Do you want to get a simple card all the way from Australia? (my email address is over on the right, send me your address if you do)