|
|
| Christmas greetings are works of art |
| By themorningsun.com |
| Published: 12/21/2009 |
|
Hanging on the wall in Betsy Banta's office at Listening Ear in Mt. Pleasant, a painting of the Point Betsy lighthouse is among the artwork. So are photographs taken by her husband, Bob Banta, a corrections officer at the Isabella County Jail. Like her mother, Lavonne Mathison, who painted the lighthouse and is a well-known artist in Traverse City, Banta is also creative and artistic. "We've been around art all of our lives," she said of her family. "It kind of runs in the family." While her husband is an avid amateur photographer, Banta's creativity comes in the form of homemade Christmas cards. "It would be a card that nobody else got," she said of her creations. Banta, who works in accounts payable in the Listening Ear business office, started out small in the early 1980s, making block print Christmas cards for about 20 relatives and friends. "The first ones were very simple," she said. Over the years, she has made more intricate cards featuring cross stitching, sending about 50 cards during the holidays. Banta said arthritis is setting in, slowing her down a bit, but she still plans on giving 50 cards this year. This year's batch of cards has been completed, and now Banta is working on poems and letters to write inside the cards. Typically, Banta stays up, writing personal poems and letters, until midnight. She sometimes has trouble coming up with ideas, but said God guides her. One lesson Banta learned early on is to insert the personal greetings on parchment paper folded inside the cards and attached with metallic thread or ribbon. In her earlier works, Banta wrote directly on the card, and in some cases, had to throw them away when mistakes were made, she said. "You learn these little tricks as you go along," she said. Her earlier cards were also less time consuming, taking about two to four hours each to complete. Now, they are much more complex. Banta starts making the cards in July or August, then quits working on them, then goes into panic mode. She thinks the more intricate the card, the more memorable it will be. Read More. |
MARKETPLACE search vendors | advanced search
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
|
Comments:
No comments have been posted for this article.
Login to let us know what you think