Practicing Creativity

Sunday, January 14, 2024

What are French Holiday/Christmas Cards Like & When Are They Sent?

Holiday greeting card with French sentiment and Hetty Clare's Christmas Penguins digital stamp as the focal point, colored with Luminance 6901 pencils, by Paperesse.

This is the first of my three last 2023 holiday cards. Before I tell you more about it, I thought you might like to know what end of the year holiday card giving in France is like.

In France, we primarily send cards for the new year rather than Christmas, which means my Meilleurs Voeux cards have all of January to arrive without being considered late, hence the reason I do them last. Indeed, they are traditionally mailed after New Year's day. Meilleurs Voeux means 'best wishes' and is our standard greeting card sentiment this time of year. There are specifically Noël (Christmas) cards, but they aren't sent as often and have a more religious connotation, which a large part of France is not; it is a much more secular society than in the US. You also should not wish anyone Bonne Année (Happy New Year) before midnight on the 31st of December, it's a big no-no. Which is to say the standard American 'Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year' sentiment is not used here. If you're definitely mailing your card after the 1st of January, there are Bonne Année cards one can send as well.

This card (like the other two coming up) was hand delivered to one of my neighbors. I chose the small card/envelope die I used for this lady bug card and envelope back in March. 

I colored up Hetty Clare's Christmas Penguins digi with my Caran d'Ache Luminance pencils and was reminded in doing so, how much easier it is to color in very small spaces with pencils than markers. The paper is a sheet from the EMF 333 Origami Colorful Christmas block I picked up on my recent trip to Basel. The sentiment was created with Dhanikans font. Stars and gold pearls dress it up. 

Supply List
Paper – cardstock, EMF 333 Origami Colorful Christmas block
Digital stamp – Hetty Clare Christmas Penguins
Die – Die-namics rectangle stax, Studio Light Die Essentials 257
Embellishments – stars, pearls
Font – Dhanikans
Caran d'Ache Luminance 6901 pencils
Art-n-Fly white pen
Unipin .05 black fine line pen

I'm linking up with: Polkadoodles Wk 2 – ATG, Girlz Creative Christmas #55 – Stars, The Paper Players #672 – Color Challenge, Creative Fingers #269 – ATG, and Pattie's Creations #214 – ATG.

7 comments

  1. Great card !!!
    groeten Ineke

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  2. This is so cute. It goes perfectly with our theme “Anything Goes” at Pattie’s Creations Design Challenge.
    Pattie
    Artist & Owner

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  3. Such a sweet card - and a wonderfully educational post. My French penpal sends me New Year cards - but I send her Christmas cards each year.

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  4. Your penguins are adorable and your post explaining French traditions was so informative too. Thanks for sharing with us over at The Paper Players this week!

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  5. Da is toch een kei leuke kaart. Super tof. Leuk dat je meedoet met onze challenge bij Girlz Creative christmas Challenge
    I really like your project Thanks for joining us at Girlz Creative Christmas Challenge

    Creatieve Groetjes Claudia

    Vanaf heden geef ik workshops en verkoop ik mijn kaartjes via mijn FB groep
    Mijn FB groep: Claudia's Kaartjes
    You tube:Claudia's Kaartjes
    Blog:Claudia's Kaartjes
    Challenge blogs:
    Girlz Creative Christmas 
    Girlz makes Guyz Cards
    Girlz creative crafts
    Creative sketchy girls

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  6. Wonderful card, Shani! Such a cute digi and I'm loving the black and gold combo.

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  7. So cute and beautifully coloured.

    Thanks for joining us at the Creative Fingers Challenge.

    Helen x
    DT

    ReplyDelete

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