Tall Trees Ladies craft Christmas cards

By JILL SHERMAN, DAILY SUN

Wednesday, October 3, 2007 6:44 PM EDT

THE VILLAGES — Should the opportunity arise to craft a greeting card with rubber stamps, remember to also consider the envelope in which the card will be mailed.

“It is very important to stamp the envelope,” Carolyn Morris said. “We don’t send out naked envelopes.”

Morris speaks from experience. She has been involved in rubber stamping for seven years and is one of the leaders of a stamping group at Lake Miona Recreation Center. Morris recently went from the recreation center with which she has become so familiar to share her stamping knowledge at another center.

Morris was the guest demonstrator Tuesday at Pimlico Recreation Center during the Tall Trees Ladies meeting. She toted in plenty of supplies for each member to make a Christmas card. Card fronts were stamped with the image of a vintage pickup truck hauling home an evergreen.

Crafters could make their cards exactly as Morris made hers, but that was not required.

“There are no mistakes in rubber stamping,” Morris said. “If you don’t do it the way I have, then it’s your own. You can personalize it any way you like.”

For many of the women, rubber stamping was a new activity.

Dottie Kilmer, who at one time had some artistic inclinations, never had tried rubber stamping. She was confident, however, that she would do fine and said she looked forward to the experience.

The activity also served to bring club members closer together.

“This is a good way,” Kilmer said, “to get us talking to each other.”

Morris had the assistance of several club members during the session, one of whom was Ginny Fortney. Fortney, club webmaster, is part of the rubber stamping group at Lake Miona and said she appreciates the creativity that goes into crafting the cards.

“They’re cute,” Fortney said. “It’s a very personal way of sending a greeting to a friend.”

The Tall Trees Ladies also held a baby shower Tuesday for Tall Trees resident Arline Kiewra, the great-grandmother of the Byler sextuplets. The babies made history Sept. 1 when they became the first Florida-born sextuplets. They are the children of Karoline and Ben Byler of Wesley Chapel. Karoline Byler’s parents, Jack and Patty Kiewra, live in the Village of Lynnhaven.

Jill Sherman is a reporter with the Daily Sun. She can be contacted at 753-1119, ext. 9253, or jill.sherman@thevillagesmedia.com.