Meghan Kort (photo)
A typical Christmas card costs between three and six dollars, while a homemade Christmas card can be priceless—literally. This Christmas, instead of wasting money on awkward wording and impersonal cherubs, try out these four great designs.
Enjoy the looks of awe and delight on your loved one’s faces as they marvel at your creative genius. Handmade Christmas cards mean so much more than store-bought “Seasons Greetings”—your loved ones might not even notice that you “forgot” to bring their presents.
You will need:
Card stock paper (Regular office paper is too flimsy and tacky)
Scissors
Glue
Stickers, scrap paper, buttons or ribbons
Pens, markers or pencils
The Creative Cutter
Using scraps of old wrapping paper, coloured printer paper, magazines or newspapers, cut several small squares of various sizes.
Using green paper, cut several triangles of various sizes.
Arrange the squares at the bottom of the card and glue them down.
Layer the green triangles from largest to smallest up the centre of the card and glue them down.
Finally decorate the tree with stickers and draw ribbons on the presents.
The 3D Fanatic
To create a fancy 3D effect, find two identical stickers or cut out two identical pictures from a roll of wrapping paper. This works really well if you want your card to match your gift-wrap.
Glue the first of these two images to the front of the card.
Cut a few tiny pieces of Styrofoam or corrugated cardboard that are smaller than your chosen image and glue these down on top of it. They shouldn’t be too close to the edge, just right in the middle.
Take your second image and back it with some sturdy cardstock paper, cut along its edges.
Glue this second, now fortified, image on top of the cardboard or Styrofoam.
Enjoy watching your card standout amongst all of those other mainstream 2D versions.
The Sticker Stickler
If you like the clean, neat, and easy approach, use stickers to create your festive holiday scene.
Letter stickers give your card a clean and professional finish, hiding your messy handwriting, yet leaving room for personalization.
The Crafty Collector
If you are the sort of person who collects stray buttons, ribbons, papers, and pretty pens, this is the perfect approach for you.
Draw your design on the front of your card then embellish it with your choice of trinkets. This is a perfect opportunity to personalize your card with memorabilia that will mean something to your love one.
