Christmas time is a wonderful time of year. It’s a time when we all celebrate with friends and family. If you’re like most people and like to exchange Christmas cards, you don’t have to use store bought cards this year; you can make them at home with a few simple items. Here are a few ideas on how you can make your own Christmas cards this year:
Picture Christmas card
Everyone loves to receive a new family picture, especially your relatives and others whom you don’t see as often. To create your own picture Christmas card, print out a few 4×6 pictures. Once you know how many people you will be sending cards to, you need to purchase some card stock. You might want to purchase some Christmas scrap booking paper to use as to decorate the pictures. Create some frames to go around the pictures and write a simple Christmas note on the back of the card. Another way to make your Christmas photo card stand out from all the others is to print out 3 wallet-sized photographs of different family pictures. You might want to do a picture of you as a couple, your children and then a complete family picture. Arrange them on a rectangle piece of card stock paper. Use green or red to highlight the pictures, then create a pocket behind all of the pictures to insert your Christmas note. This makes a wonderful Christmas gift for your friends and family members that you don’t get to see as often.
Painted Christmas card
A painted Christmas card is another unique Christmas greeting card to send out to your loved ones. To create a painted Christmas card, you will need some red green and white acrylic paint. White card stock paper will work great as your Christmas card body. Paint the front of the card with a small wash of the green paint. Get a small sponge and dip the red paint in it and blot it all over the card. If you want, you can do this as the background instead of the green wash and then you can sponge paint the green paint as the tree. Use some white and yellow paint to create ornaments and lights on the tree. To make sure the card dries flat, you need to place a heavy book on top of it. On the inside of the card, paint a nice phrase to share with your loved ones. Use a black calligraphy pen to write your Christmas greeting inside the card, it’s a wonderful way to showcase your talents.
Foam Christmas card
If you have kids, a foam Christmas card is a lot of fun to create with them. Purchase foam in several different colors. You can use the foam as the body of the card or simply as the decorative elements. A piece of thick card stock will work well as the body of the card. Use a glue gun to secure the foam cutouts to the card stock. Use some cookie cutters to cut out some different pieces of foam in designs like gingerbread men, Santa Claus and Christmas trees. Glue the foam onto the front of the card. It’s a wonderful way to mix up the traditional Christmas card and a lot of fun for the kids to create with you.
Making your own Christmas card may be a little more time consuming to create than a store-bought Christmas card, but it is a fun craft to create with your kids. It will also save you a lot of money when you purchase the Christmas cards, especially if you like to special order them.