It's Never Too Early - Xmas Cross Stitch Cards

OK, we understand how frustrating it must all seem. Christmas is certainly one of the most wonderful times of the year; good food, good friends and plenty of excuses to cross stitch all day every day. But honestly, by the time August was leaving, you could already see supermarkets hiding crimbo goodies in the back, half-baked early Christmas marketing campaigns and the Genesis of a gift list forming in your mind.

Thank goodness then that cross-stitching is one festivity that's actually worth starting months in advance. To help inspire and prep you long before the 12 days begin, each of our weekly posts on the Past Impressions blog during this month of September will be a focus on a different popular particular of Yuletide stitching. With our opening carol, we sing you a song of Christmas cross stitch cards: the most personalized winter greeting you're ever like to give, or if so lucky, receive.

Christmas cards have been on the up and down since the early millennium, with every technological push having either been a boon or bane to the industry. Once an essential way for people to keep in contact, they became less vital once telephones and emailing became common place. On the other hand, the internet also revolutionized the business when it unveiled the first e-cards, along with easy to order home-made-card kits.
Enter cross stitching.

Stitching and sending your own Seasons Greetings is as easy as the following steps:

1. Stitch together your design from the many, many, many on offer on the Past Impressions Christmas Card Kits page.

2. Each kit comes with a correctly shaped piece of card for you to stick your finished pattern on. Once it's facing out of the window front, glue the other included piece of card onto the back.

3. Fill in the card!

Cross stitch cards are a simple yet very easy way to show someone how special they are to you during the holidays. Naturally, you should never stop at just one, and we don't intend for you to. Our newest range of products include wisely selected sets of 3 cards to cater for whatever you're after; from traditional to trendy, religious to secular - designed with all the classic well wishes of Christmas.

If you may recall to a few weeks ago, we went in depth into the recent fascination of 3-D cross stitch, and there's no reason why this multi-dimensional wonder can't find its way into the humble Christmas card. Utilizing many of the techniques we outlined, from a clever use of perspective to simple cut-out shapes, these are striking and highly individual cards that let your winter time well-wishes burst right out of the envelope.

That's all for now on this early slice of jolly Christmas cross-stitching. Next time we'll take a look at some of the new stunning, photo-realistic patterns from Dimensions just waiting to be made.

Whilst we feel cross stitching gets a pass, we want to know what are some of your pet peeves and the tell tale signs that Christmas has come too early. Let us know in the comments, or by sharing your anecdotes over at our Facebook, Twitter and Google+ pages.