Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Picture Books from Christmas Cards - Recycled Inspiration!


The last of Christmas went today, not to the garbage can, but to my desk. Oh, I’m not talking about tinsel or falling needles from dried out tree branches, I’m talking about the pile of Christmas cards I received this year.

As I was getting ready to throw them away the one on top was of two children peeking into Santa’s toyshop, and a picture book was born…….. I titled it Christmas Jack!

Many of you participated in the picture book idea a day marathon in November. And many author's blogs and magazine sites offer prompts to get you started on new writing ventures.

I say, why not use your Christmas cards to do the same thing?

These are the picture book ideas my cards inspired:

Six animal cards………….Three picture books.

two cats having a tea party in the snow………….. Kit-Tea Party
four penguins holding hands……………………... The Perfect Penguin
a snow rabbit hiding beneath a holly bush………. Berries for Bunny

Three Santa cards……………….Two picture books.

snowman with gifts and a Santa hat…………………Snow Santa.
and Christmas Jack from above.

Ten cards with Christmas Trees……….Three picture books.

three glitter trees………………………….The Crystal Forest
children circling a village Christmas tree……………..Dance of the Christmas Trees
a reindeer with a small tree strapped to his back…………Donner’s Special Delivery

Five religious cards…………………….Three Picture Books

four childlike angels in patchwork gowns…………….The Country Angels
a lamb, a donkey and a baby angel………………The Shiniest Star
three Kings in the desert…………………………Santa’s Desert Ride

Two cards with little children………………………One picture book

a little girl skating on a country pond……………………….Country Christmas

So that’s 12 picture book ideas from 32 Christmas cards. Not bad! And I have the whole year to write them.

If you didn’t throw your cards out yet, go through them and see what you can come up with.

Next up, how taking one of my mid-term exams is like writing a novel………..another recycling inspiration. J

5 comments:

  1. Thanks Kelly.

    Try it! The ideas really flow when you study the card illustrations.

    It's Christmas magic! :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. What an inspiring story starter idea! Wouldn't that make a great workshop to do with kids, too?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Yes, Clara. I've added it to my bag of tricks for school presentations. My next blog will be about what else in "in the bag!" :)

    ReplyDelete

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