Tag Archives: Greeting cards

Courage at Twilight: So Many Cards

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Cards have begun to pour in from the Church primary children, and from some of the men and women of the neighborhood, and from family members, and former missionaries, all with sincere and adorable and tender messages to Dad, including great-grandchild scribbles. We taped all the cards to Dad’s rehab room wall, where he must see them every day, to remind him that many people love him and hope for his healing and return home.

You Are the Best! 

Never Give Up! 

I want to play Legos at your house. 

Hurry up and get better.  We miss you at church!

I love you so much!

I hope you get well soon!

Please know you’re in our prayers and thoughts.

Your awesome!

I think about you every day!

I like to play outside and look for pinecones in your backyard. 

I hope you get better soon.

Hoping and praying for you every day.

Feel beder.

You are the goodest Baker in the world.

You’re cool!

We love you.

You can do this.  Never give up.

I love you Grandpa.

Grandma’s Pressed-Leaf Greeting Cards

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My grandmother Dorothy made thousands of homemade greeting cards from pressed leaves and flowers.  Encyclopedias stacked against the walls of her craft room were crammed full of drying leaves and petals.  Decades ago, she taught me.  And I have taught my children.  Hannah has just produced her first cards, inspired by her great-grandmother.

The process is simple: glue pressed leaves to wax paper, cover with tissue, apply more diluted white glue.  When dry, place the cards one at a time in a paper bag and iron to set the wax.  Then cut and send.  I provide more detailed instructions in the chapter Shirley and Lucille in my memoir Rabbit Lane.

Here are some photos of the process.  Give it a try yourself!

Arranging pressed leaves on wax paper.

Leaves and tissue glued on and drying.

Time to iron.

Match the card size and shape to your envelopes.

My sweet little Grandma with me (may she rest in peace), circa 1982 (when I had hair).

The finished product!

Roger is the author of Rabbit Lane: Memoir of a Country Road.  The book tells the true life story of an obscure farm road and its power to transform the human spirit.  The book is available in print and for Kindle at Amazon.  See Rabbit Lane reviewed in Words and Pictures.