I LOVE Christmas cards!  I know it’s kind of a lost tradition these days and very few people send cards any more but I still enjoy sending and receiving snail mail.  (Not that I check my mail often!)

For many years now, I have made my own Christmas cards.  It puts me in the holiday spirit.  I say every year I will make them in July, but that has never happened.  Maybe next year!

If you want to try and make your own cards, I will talk you through the process.  Here’s a list of things you will need.

• 8.5 x 11 card stock in dark green and white
• variety of printed paper (I buy those paper pads you can find at Hobby Lobby or Michael’s.)
• glue or tape (I use Tombow Mono Adhesive.)
• ribbon
• paper cutter
• rubber stamps and ink

Obviously, you can use scissors if you want but trust me a paper cutter is so helpful!  I even bypassed the rubber stamp method if you want to play on the computer a bit.  However, at certain times of the year when the local craft store has sales or half off coupons, it’s a good time to stock up on some generic rubber stamps or larger items like a paper cutter.  I have basic stamps that can be reused time and again (for example, Happy Birthday, Merry Christmas, Happy Valentine’s Day, etc.).  For me, I just change the look of my cards each year so the reused stamps are less noticeable.  The ornament card uses same stamp as today’s card.

First thing, if you want to write a sentiment inside your card without purchasing a rubber stamp, you can use your printer and figure out the placement on regular printer paper until you have it just right and centered on the 8.5 x 11 paper.  (Or email me and I will send you the file!)  Once you have it figured out, run the card stock through the printer and then cut your paper in half to make two cards.

These cards will fold from the top in a landscape fold.

This print out is for cards that will be folded from the left side in portrait style cards.   And change the sentiment inside the card every year.  You can find tons of sentiment ideas online.  These two samples are from past cards.  For this year’s card, I used a rubber stamp.

Tip:  save your template for future use, that’s what I did.

After cutting your 8.5 x 11 paper in half and stamping an inside greeting (or printing out as shown above), you will need to make the front of the card.  Since your card size is 4.25 x 5.5, your white paper needs to be slightly smaller to make the green edge show from behind it.  So I cut the white paper to 4 x 5.25.  See why the paper cutter comes in handy?  They come in handy for more than scrapbooking and card making.  My kids used them for Science fair project boards for years.  Thank goodness those days are over!

On the white paper pieces, I stamped in red my Christmas greeting at the bottom.  Then cut out a bunch of triangle “trees” in several different styles of printed paper.  I used my mono adhesive and glued them to the card overlapping to give it a tree farm look.  To add a little color, I glued a red sequin to the top of one trees.  Use glitter or use a paper punch and find a pretty paper you like and punch out some holes and use that.

Next, tie a ribbon around the top of the white paper and you should be ready to apply the white paper to the card.

Simple and fun!  Some years, my cards are way more detailed and are much more time consuming.  Like last year…

I bought a cute stamp, colored it with markers, embossed the glitter snow over the top and then used the printed paper as backdrop, etc.

I just love making cards, it gives me a reason to color and play!

As always, if you have questions or comments, just let me know!