My hol­iday cards are ready to be pro­duced. I com­pleted the design; Monica trans­lated the card’s mes­sage into Chi­nese, and I per­formed a test print. I set­tled on a card format after reviewing the Paper Access web­site. This is a store I vis­ited reg­u­larly when I was in school. It is a fun place. The style of card I am using is what they call pochette folders. The folder is sup­posed to con­tain a card, like a wed­ding invi­ta­tion. In my case, the folder is the card. The way in which the folder opens matches with my theme for the card of light growing from within darkness.

One thing I am most proud of: using a pencil to create reflec­tive accents on the card cover. The printing is a bit flat because it’s inkjet on plain (not glossy) paper. The graphite from a pencil is slightly reflec­tive. By out­lining some of the shapes on the cover, I can create a little light accent. Or if I can find a silver ink pen, I could do some­thing a bit more striking.