Day 6: Easy Handmade Christmas Cards

There are plenty of very complicated DIY projects that one could complete for Christmas, unfortunately I'm not quite crafty enough for most of those. These Christmas cards are easy enough that anyone can make them nice and quick yet beautiful enough that they will impress even the most pinterest-worthy of your friends. 

The good thing about these cards is that you can make them with whatever paper you have laying around. Because I had lots of nice pink paper in my scrapbooking kit, I decided to give this card a pink theme. 

Start with a sturdy piece of pink card, fold it over and cut it to make it your preferred size (I made this one quite large). Because the card I used was quite coarse, I chose to add a piece of paper to the inside to make it easy to write in. Simply cut it to size and glue it in, if you're feeling fancy add a piece of washi tape as a boarder. On the front of the card, stick a white piece of paper that has been trimmed to show a boarder of the pink cardboard. 

From different pieces of pattered paper, cut a triangle and two trapeziums to make the shape of a Christmas tree. Glue them down and add the final touch of some matching buttons as baubles and a gem for the top of the tree. 

This card is super simple but it packs a punch. All you need to do is get two pieces of cardboard in colours that compliment each other and cut them so that there is a smaller card to wrap around the larger card.

Then draw an outline of the head of a reindeer on the front of the smaller card. Fill the shape in with glue and liberally pour glitter over the top (making sure to put something down underneath to catch the glitter because it makes a real mess). Leave it to dry, dust off the excess glitter and appreciate the art you have created. 

Another very simple card that ends up looking quite nice. All you have to do is start with a piece of cardboard, I went with a really cool metallic black one. Add a piece of coloured paper to the inside so that the card is useable and then start on the front. Cut a piece of white paper to size and stick it to the front. 

Put a little bit of red card on the top on which to write 'Merry Christmas' and then draw a triangle to represent a tree. Line the triangle with some masking tape (make sure you can peel it off easily) and begin drawing random vertical and horizontal lines to fill in the space. I used pens of two different thicknesses to make a more random pattern. Peel off the tape and add a sequin to the top of the tree for a little sparkle!

This is the piece de resistance of my Holly-day cards (haha puns) because it looks very fancy with minimal effort. Once again, start with a piece of red cardboard and add paper to the middle to write on. Cut rounds of red cardboard on which to glue a cluster of red sequins. Put them aside to dry. Glue some white paper to the front and add a little 'Happy Holidays' banner at the bottom. 

Draw the shape of holly leaves on three different shades of green paper and cut them out. Fold each one in half but only for half the length, so that the leaves look three dimensional. Add some glue to the back of the sequinned circles and place them in the middle of the card. Put some glue on the back spine of each leave and stick them on top of each other to make a cute piece of holly. 

Making your own Christmas cards may seem too much like hard work but I hope you can see how effective and simple they can truly be. 

Lots of Love, 

Shannon