How to Make Great Christmas Cards

Christmas cards help you express the love and joy of the season and well wishes for the coming year. Make the cards even more meaningful by creating your own and covering them with personal touches and festive sentiments for your family and friends.

Things You'll Need

• Blank cards
• Envelopes
• Card stock
• Scissors
• Patterned paper
• Adhesives
• Embellishments
• Rubber stamps and ink
• Recycled Christmas cards
• Pens
• Photos
• Ribbon
• Glitter

Instructions

1. Buy blank pre-cut cards or create your own by trimming and folding a piece of card stock to fit the envelopes you have on hand. Great colors for Christmas cards are silver, blue, white, oatmeal and the traditional red and green. (See Resources)

2. Cover the front of the card with an additional layer of coordinating card stock or patterned paper for added interest. Measure and trim the sheet so a narrow border of the card base will still be visible after the decorative paper is adhered.

3. Trim an additional rectangle of card stock that will sit in the center of your card and serve as the background for the main embellishment.

4. Decide what you'd like to use as an accent. Try stickers (like Christmas trees, presents or sleighs), small die cuts (like stars, bells or tree ornaments), rubber-stamped images or felt or foam shapes. You can also save money by trimming the images of Santa Claus, snowmen and angels from the Christmas cards you received last year.

5. Adhere the accents to the small rectangle of card stock (use foam tape for added dimension) and affix that to the center of your card.

6. Stamp a Christmas greeting along the bottom or inside the card along with your handwritten message. (See Resources)

7. Make cards personal by incorporating small photos into the design. If you're creating a tree-shaped card, for example, output photos the size of index prints and "hang" them from the branches like ornaments.

8. Add glitz by using a metallic ribbon bow, creating a card base from metallic or embossed card stock or "painting" specific sections of stickers or die cuts with glue and sprinkling with glitter.

Tips & Warnings

• If you're running short on time, but still hope to create Christmas cards on your own, consider printing simple designs from the Internet. (See Resources)

Resources

• Blank, pre-cut cards can save you time.
• Select a holiday greeting to stamp inside your card.
• Print your own cards from home.