Christmas Card Ideas That Will Help You Personalize Your Holidays
So, the Grinch stole Christmas! He did it because he was tired of all the commercialism. I understand. I long for the times when Christmas was more about spending time with loved ones and less about stressing over finding the perfect gift; when little handmade mementos were more valuable than a department store gift card (no matter the amount). Just call me sentimental, but my favorite part of Christmas is getting together with friends to make cookies, spending time with the kids coloring Santa Claus pictures and conjuring up any Christmas crafts that I can think up.
That being said, I have come up with some great Christmas card ideas. First, I designed a few stencils (of course) and then found many ways to use them. What I came up with was a Classic Collection of Christmas card templates in the form of A Reindeer, An Ornament, A Christmas Tree and A Family of Carolers. Then I set about exploring the variety of card making techniques that I could apply to these four little designs. And even I was impressed.
So, now I want to share my Christmas card making ideas with you because I know when you take the time to relax and immerse yourself into a fulfilling project like this you will not only get into the spirit of the season you will also make someone feel very special that you took the time to make something special for them!
Let’s start with the basics of card making and then move on the creative ideas, alright? Cut a sheet of colored paper down to a 6×8 inch rectangle. Fold in half to create a 4×6 inch card. Put this on the side for later. Place a copy of the stencil on top of another sheet of colored paper and cut along the lines with a craft knife. Press down firmly to cut through both pieces of paper. Glue the image to the front of the card. That’s it! Easy, right?
Well, here are some great ideas for adding a creative touch:
Words are powerful. How about putting some traditional holiday greetings on the card behind your stencil image? It’s easy. Just type your message (Happy Holidays or Merry Christmas) on a Word Processor. Set the margins so that the message will print on your 4×6 inch cover and print on the card stock. Experiment with different fonts and colors for your card.
Don’t forget that even though these stencils are created to be cut outs, you can also apply paint through them. In fact, once you have cut out the image from the construction paper, you now have a stencil for painting more cards.
Be creative and use these stencils in the negative. There are many ways to do this. For example, let’s say you cut out the tree for one card and now you have a piece of colored paper that has an image of a tree cut out of it. Cut that piece into a 4×6 inch rectangle with the tree in the middle and glue it to the front of another card of a different color. Or you could trim around the tree and create just an outline.
Don’t forget that these stencils can be flipped to face in a different direction. For example, the reindeer can face to the left on one card and to the right on another.
After you have used your stencil to cut out the first image (as described above) you will have a traditional stencil with an opening which can be used to trace the image onto other sheets of colored paper for multiple cards. Of course, these images will have trace marks on them, so gently erase the marks or turn the paper over and glue with the clean side facing up.
Find other ways to decorate the cards. Glue a festive ribbon along the bottom or use some spray glitter to give it a glamorous look.
Use a hole punch tool to make cute circles from the construction paper and glue randomly over the card as snow or just decoration.
Paper tends to get rippled when glued, so after the glue has dried, place the cards in a heavy book to flatten them back out.
Reduce the size of any image on a copy machine. Cut out the image to decorate the envelope and match the card.
Now, I know you can come up with many other creative Christmas Card Ideas. After all, it’s that personal touch that you are shooting for, right? And don’t forget that even in the end the Grinch found out that Christmas was something that comes from the heart!
Happy Stenciling,
Penny