Creative Christmas Countdown: Day 2 {Homemade Christmas Cards}

Yay!
Welcome to Day 2 of the Creative Christmas Countdown!
Today, I am posting about 
Homemade Christmas Cards
Last year I stressed over having the picture perfect Christmas card and they cost an arm and a leg!
That's not what the holidays should be about.
This year we decorated cards with materials we already own
The only thing I bought was paper!

The girls and I were busy little elves and made six different types of cards
YES, SIX!!

Not only did we make cards
but
we also made the envelopes to mail them in!


All of our cards are 4.5" by 6" and made out of 100lb paper

Paper Scrap Ornaments
1. I shredded some Christmas-themed magazine ads and had the girls glue them to a sheet of paper

2. When the glue was dry I used a circle cutter to cut different sized circles out of the paper (I also cut out some teardrop ornament shapes)

3. The girls glued the circles to our cards

4. We drew lines from the top of the cards to the circles to make it look as though they were hanging

5. We embellished with ribbons

Glue Yarn Snowflakes
1. Make a mixture of water and white glue

2. Cut some lengths of yarn

3. Dip the yarn in the water/glue mixture

4. Place them in a snowflake pattern on a tray or baking sheet (lined with parchment would probably be  best) to dry (DO NOT place them on wax paper and then put them in the oven...oops!)

5. When they're dry, glue them to the cards

 Oil Pastel & Watercolor Resist
1. Draw an image on your card with oil pastels (C drew Santas)

2. Paint over the oil pastels with watercolors

Tissue Paper Christmas Lights
1. Punch some holes out of tissue paper and save the little dots

2. Place random little dots of glue all over your card

3. Using a cotton swab, lick the tip and pick up a tissue dot and place it on a glue dot
4. When the tissue dots are dry, draw a squiggly line around the dots to be the light strand

5. Using a black pen and connect the tissue dots to the squiggly line by making a little squiggle as the base of the light

6. Dot your tissue paper lights with glitter glue

Negative Branches
1. Go outside and pick some branches, leaves, berries, whatever you'd like on the front of your card

2. Mix paint and water in a spray bottle

3. Place your natural items on the card and spray on top of it, lift the item up to reveal a negative print


Dot Art Wreaths
1. Cut out a piece of contact paper the size of the front of the card

2. Cut a large hole and then cut a smaller hole so you have what looks kinda like a negative donut

3. Stick the contact paper to your card
4. Using cotton swabs, dot the card with paint
5. Embellish with ribbons and red dots for berries

6. The contact paper ripped our cards a bit so we painted over the front with glitter glue

Envelopes
1. I started by tracing around a folded card (thats the area that's dotted on my template)

2. The wings on either side meet in the middle so they are half the length of the card (my card is 6" long so the wings are 3" from the dotted line to the point)

3. I folded the bottom up to see where I liked it and cut it bottom flap that way (it turned out to be 2.5")

4. I found a curly-q detail that I liked on a piece of cardboard and traced around it to make the top flap

5. Once you have your template drawn (I drew mine on copy paper first) cut it out of cardstock to use as a stencil

6. I found a really cute pad of heavyweight scrapbook paper and traced the template onto the back of the paper

7. Once you have it all cut out, fold your flaps up

8. Glue the bottom flap to the side flaps

9. Insert card and glue down the top flap
10. Don't forget to buy mailing labels if you use decorative paper like me!
Have you made any homemade Christmas cards?
Link them up here!
(this linky is for Christmas card posts only, please)



30 comments:

  1. Laura @Art For Little HandsFriday, December 02, 2022

    I like your negative print ones best. So nice. You guys really went to town. You have given me lots of ideas to get going. I never do any cards, but I think we should probably do some for the grandparents this year. You have inspired me.

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  2. If you decide to do some cards for the grandparents (which I bet they would love!) don't forget to link the post up! ;)

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  3. I love all of your cards! You're so creative. Wow! I think my favorite might be the Christmas lights, but they are all beautiful and creative and I would love to make or receive them all! You did a great job! Thank you for posting for day two. Definitely inspiring!

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  4. Brooke @ Let Kids CreateFriday, December 02, 2022

    Wow, I am amazed. I never would have thought of any of these ideas - all fabulous! I can't wait to try a few of them and link them up. I hope to do them tomorrow afternoon.

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  5. Cerys @ Rainy Day MumFriday, December 02, 2022

    I love the cards - the lights one is brilliant I have seen something similar with finger prints but like tissue dots better - i think J(2yo) would love the hole punching bit. Will link up our cards so far - more to come

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  6. Chrissy @ The Outlaw Mom BlogFriday, December 02, 2022

    The Paper Scrap Ornaments are to die for cute! I absolutely love them! I'm going to make them myself - forget about the kids :-)

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  7. Wow!
    Very beautiful cards!!
    I like the Christmas lights one best!

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  8. Kevin and KristinaFriday, December 02, 2022

    Love these!!!

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  9. cathy @ NurtureStoreFriday, December 02, 2022

    They're all so beautiful! Thanks for all the ideas :)

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  10. Wow Aleacia! You outdid yourself! They're all wonderful. I think we're going to make some homemade cards this weekend so we can link up.

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  11. Anna @ The Imagination TreeFriday, December 02, 2022

    these are so gorgeous! and so diverse too!

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  12. http://livingatthewhiteheadszoo.blogspot.com/Friday, December 02, 2022

    Your Cards are so lovely and special! I will be be saving this post for this year and future use too! GREAT ideas!!

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  13. Jill @ A Mom With A Lesson PlanFriday, December 02, 2022

    SO COOL! I think my favorite is the Christmas light card, or maybe the paper scrap ornament. AHH I can't decide.

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  14. Rashmie @ MommyLabsFriday, December 02, 2022

    Love, love, love these ideas! Amazingly creative. I loved all of them. My fav was the Christmas lights one!

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  15. Rashmie @ MommyLabsFriday, December 02, 2022

    Pinned these and shared everywhere!

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  16. Laura @Art For Little HandsFriday, December 02, 2022

    I can't see the linky anymore?

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  17. Thank you so much for sharing your creativity. I truly appreciate how "make-able" these cards all are. It doesn't appear that extra special supplies or super powers are required. Thank you. Thank you. I look forward to creating myself and facilitating some great fun with my 4 and 7 year old.

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  18. Trisha @ clarionwren.comFriday, December 02, 2022

    Such great ideas! I love the negative branches - way more simple than I anticipated. :)

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  19. 2flowerslearn.comFriday, December 02, 2022

    Great ideas. Love them all... now to try them..which one first?

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  20. I love all of the cards that you did! I think we are going to have to try them all! Thanks for sharing those great ideas!

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  21. Oh my! I love all your cards. So many different ideas!! Go you. We made some magazine cards too... will link once they are up!!!

    Thank you for Day 2 on the calendar!

    Maggy

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  22. So much inspiration to help me with designing our Christmas cards this year. Thank you!

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  23. You have a wonderful talent for creating together with your kids !
    Wonderful Post,
    love, Angelique

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  24. These are some beautiful Christmas cards!! I have linky'd up!!

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  25. Thank you for the inspiration! My children and I spent the weekend crafting our own Christmas cards. Here is a link to my blog which shows them making some cards of their own. http://www.shouldclean.com/2011/12/homemade-christmas-cards.html

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  26. I LOVE the ornaments and the envelopes! Such a great post!

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  27. Love all your cards! Thanks for the Linky also!
    Marcia :)

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  28. The negative print cards are such a simple idea, but make a beautiful impact! I will have to incorporate this idea into some other projects! Thank you for sharing!

    [email protected]

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  29. he he wonder full newyear 2012 Newyear Greeting Cards

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  30. Absolutely GORGEOUS!!! I love them all

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