Christmas Cards Already?!

Every year, I look forward to the mad practice of making Christmas cards by hand.  While Halloween has barely passed, I am already knee-deep in crafting this year’s crop of cards.  The process actually began back in September, when I sat down to decide on a design and color scheme!  This year I decided it would be fun to make stockings that could hang on the tree or be used as a decoration in each recipient’s home.  So far, this is what I’ve made:

Click for full-size

Aren’t they cute?  The best part is they are incredibly easy to make!

  

Supplies:

• Stocking and tag templates
• Christmas print card stock
• Stickers or clip art
• ribbon
• rubber stamps
• black ink pad
• corner rounder
• hole punch
• scissors
• double-stick tape

I knew I was going to make at least twenty cards, so I made a template for the stocking, top “fold,” toe, and heel.  All it took was a few drafts of drawing a stocking shape on a piece of card stock.  To make the “fold,” toe and heel, I traced the stocking onto a piece of copier paper and cut it out.  I cut off the toe, heel, and “fold” and use them to make separate card stock templates.

Use the templates to trace each part of the stocking on various Christmas prints.  Once the pieces are cut, it’s all about mixing the patterns and putting them together with a little double stick tape!  Trim the edges where necessary.  Not even a template can solve the problem of slight irregularities!

For the wording, I pulled out my old Christmas stamps, but its just as easy to write your own sentiments.  Once the words are printed or stamped, trim the card stock.  Find a contrasting color and cut it to a size slightly larger than the text block.  Nip the corners of both layers with a corner rounder.  Attach the text block to the frame, and then attach the entire piece to the stocking.

For a little flare, add a couple stickers or clip art to accent the text block.

Optional: Punch a hole in the upper corner of the stocking. Thread ribbon through the hole along with a to/from tag.  I made the tags using left-over Christmas paper and a tag template.

Stay tuned for a post on Christmas gift tags.  I had a ton of Christmas paper left over so I decided to put it to good use by making my own to/from tags.

Season’s Greetings!

c.b. 2011