Skip to main content

Christmas Firsts #2 : Christmas Card

 Handmade Christmas card - Wilma Simmons 2017 

Christmas cards,  in many places,  are already a tradition of Christmas past. Many people have told me that they send electronic Christmas greetings now, but for just as many, sending and receiving Christmas cards is one the practices most enjoyed at this time of the year.  I still like to make my own cards which I find  a really fun part of the Christmas card tradition.... well,  perhaps not when I am behind  schedule and putting the last spot of glue on a card on Christmas eve! 
Handmade Christmas cards - Wilma Simmons 


 Have you ever wondered  who sent the first Christmas card and when? 

 The first Christmas cards were commissioned by Sir Henry Cole and designed and  illustrated by John Callcott Horsley in London  in 1843. The first card had three panels - the centre showing a family celebrating  with the outer panels depicting helping the poor. 
The first edition of the cards were sold for 1 shilling each. In that era, that was expensive!   The cards were sent by Penny Post  introduced in 1840 as the first postal service in England that working class people were able to afford. Cards became popular in England and by 1870  they could be posted for a halfpenny if they were in unsealed envelopes. 
First Christmas Card 1843 
Cards were much more expensive in USA and even though they were introduced in 1840's it wasn't until a German born printer, Louis Prang began to mass produce cards in 1875 that  Americans could afford them. American sharpshooting star, Annie Oakley is accredited with the first "personalised" Christmas card in 1891. The card featured a photo of herself dressed in tartan as she was  visiting Scotland and had the cards made to send back to her friends in USA.  
Annie Oakley 1891 

If you are going to send Christmas cards, don't hesitate ... over the years the postal service hasn't become quicker, so this week is a good time to have your cards written and posted!  

 Tomorrow there will be a follow up : the first Christmas postage stamp. 

 Sources : https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Annie_Oakley_1891.jpg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_card


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Thanks for reading my blog and please share your thoughts about my blog post by leaving a comment.Your comment won't appear immediately as comments are verified before publication in an effort to reduce the amount of spam appearing. Anonymous comments will not be published.

Popular posts from this blog

"Temari Or Not Temari?" Tutorial

 Background Information:  Temari (literally translated “hand ball”) is a Japanese folk craft that is alleged to have originated in China and was introduced to Japan five or six hundred years ago. Traditionally, the balls were constructed from wrapped kimono fabric remnants and silk threads. They were made by mothers and grandmothers for children to play with. Nowadays, decorative embroidered temari represent a highly valued and cherished gift symbolizing friendship and loyalty. Recently I've wondered if your don't use traditional techniques whether you should call what you create "temari". That is an ongoing debate but today I share what I do to make a "non-traditional temari".... 1.I start  with a polystrene ball ( traditionally the balls were wound  silk scraps or other organic materials) and begin to wrap with approx 4 ply wool, turning the ball as I wrap.  2. I then wrap another layer of wool in a similar fashion , this time a 3 or 2 ...
8 comments
Read more

Bilby Infatuation

  Wrapped wire and fabric bilby sculpture : Wilma Simmons 2016  Over the years I have been fascinated with the plight of the bilby and it has inspired quite a few of my cloth creations... With long pinkish-coloured ears and silky, blue-grey fur, the Bilby has become Australia’s version of the Easter Bunny. Unlike the rabbit, bilby numbers are falling rapidly. There were originally two species but the Greater Bilby is now commonly referred to simply as ‘the Bilby’ as the Lesser Bilby (Macrotis leucura) is thought to have become extinct in the early 1950s... Bilbies are nocturnal, emerging after dark to forage for food. Using their long snouts, they dig out bulbs, tubers, spiders, termites, witchetty grubs and fungi. They use their tongues to lick up grass seeds. Bilbies have poor sight and rely on good hearing and a keen sense of smell. To minimise threats from predators they’ll mostly stay within 250m of their burrows, but sometimes roam further afield depending on the food...
1 comment
Read more

Countdown to Christmas 20 - Fruitcake song!

There are many songs about fruit cakes  - not all of them referring to the Christmas cake we know and love.It is really surprising to learn via Google that there are 89 listed songs with references to Christmas cake or fruit cake - not all of them complimentary.   Probably one of the most famous folk songs about Christmas cake is Miss Fogarty's  Christmas Cake (a favourite sung by The Irish Rovers).  This first recorded comical Christmas song was written by C Frank Horn in 1883 in Pennsylania, as a variation of an Irish folk song, 'Miss Mulligan's Christmas Cake' . The chorus might give you the hint that Miss Fogarty's cake was not for the faint hearted or those who suffered from a weak stomach.    Chorus : There were plums and prunes and cherries, There were citrons and raisins and cinnamon, too There was nutmeg, cloves and berries And a crust that was nailed on with glue There were caraway seeds in abundance Such that...
Post a Comment
Read more