I send out best-wishes-for-the-new-year cards of my own design every year. This year, inspiriation struck early – I traditionally send out new years cards because christmas wille have come and gone before I get going.

Not so this year – was inspired by the exhibition at Stedelijk Museum we visited, and tried various fold-out-card options yesterday. After a fun few hours folding and cutting I hit on a design that I like. Isn’t it magic to make something three-dimensional from a flat piece of paper?

I then found a nice short new-years-wish-poem by the Belgian poet Guido Gezelle. A lucky find – it isn’t easy to find a message that is spot-on and that isn’t corny.

Wiki: Guido Gezelle – Guido Pieter Theodorus Josephus Gezelle (1 May 1830 – 27 November 1899) was an influential writer and poet and a Roman Catholic priest from Belgium. He is famous for the use of the West Flemish dialect.

It goes as follows (my translation):
I wish you a year like an alphabeth
With all the letters from A to Z.
With work, with joy and creative heights
With blessings, lots of sunshine and delights

I’ve been producing these cards (are they cards?) in great number today, and my record for completing one is one minute flat. In that one minute I precision-fold 15 folds and snip off one small corner, then press the folds into a harmonica and slide the thing into an envelope. Not bad, hmmm?