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Hi folks.......
There has been a fair amount of interest in my Christmas card puzzles and I hope this helps some people to give it a try. With this note, which I'm posting to both forums to which I contribute, is closeup of the front of our card for this year. I will follow it with another posting of the back, so you can see the cuts more clearly. The point is simply to show the kind of line cutting that I do. Yours choice of cards and you style of cutting, of course, may be quite different.
We buy our Christmas cards late in the year for the following year and I begin making them in January. So far, I have 75 (out of ~80) completed. After mounting and spraying, each of them takes about 35 minutes to cut, so it's a fun, short project with a sense of accomplishment each time.
Christmas cards have page one with a picture and page two with a greeting. I choose pictures that have intricate images within them - images that can be cut into puzzle pieces. Page one becomes the puzzle, page two the cover and then I make a third backing page out of colored posterboard. If all then fits back in the original envelope, sometimes with a cardboard backing to eliminate flexibility in mailing. (postage this year is $1.06)
The pictures are glued with Ailene's Tacky Glue to 1/4" poplar, cherry or cedar plywood. I use 2/0 puzzle blades from Mike's Workshop. After I cut the outline and before I begin to cut the pieces, I spray it with any "Triple-Thick Glaze" spray and let it dry for at least two days. I don't use any kind of pattern, but I do develop a certain way of cutting each card. When finished, I put it together and give it a light sanding - and I'm done.
This is our 8th year and it pleases us greatly when the friends to whom we mail them tell us they have added the current year's puzzle to an annual display of the others we've sent. It's a very rewarding project.
Anyway, I hope some of you give it a try. Questions? I will answer them on the board or you can email me at [email protected]
Have phun....
Carter
There has been a fair amount of interest in my Christmas card puzzles and I hope this helps some people to give it a try. With this note, which I'm posting to both forums to which I contribute, is closeup of the front of our card for this year. I will follow it with another posting of the back, so you can see the cuts more clearly. The point is simply to show the kind of line cutting that I do. Yours choice of cards and you style of cutting, of course, may be quite different.
We buy our Christmas cards late in the year for the following year and I begin making them in January. So far, I have 75 (out of ~80) completed. After mounting and spraying, each of them takes about 35 minutes to cut, so it's a fun, short project with a sense of accomplishment each time.
Christmas cards have page one with a picture and page two with a greeting. I choose pictures that have intricate images within them - images that can be cut into puzzle pieces. Page one becomes the puzzle, page two the cover and then I make a third backing page out of colored posterboard. If all then fits back in the original envelope, sometimes with a cardboard backing to eliminate flexibility in mailing. (postage this year is $1.06)
The pictures are glued with Ailene's Tacky Glue to 1/4" poplar, cherry or cedar plywood. I use 2/0 puzzle blades from Mike's Workshop. After I cut the outline and before I begin to cut the pieces, I spray it with any "Triple-Thick Glaze" spray and let it dry for at least two days. I don't use any kind of pattern, but I do develop a certain way of cutting each card. When finished, I put it together and give it a light sanding - and I'm done.
This is our 8th year and it pleases us greatly when the friends to whom we mail them tell us they have added the current year's puzzle to an annual display of the others we've sent. It's a very rewarding project.
Anyway, I hope some of you give it a try. Questions? I will answer them on the board or you can email me at [email protected]
Have phun....
Carter
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