Make a Card

The holiday season has begun, and this is always a busy stretch of the year.  However, there may still be time to make a few hand-crafted Christmas cards.  Perhaps some of the special people in your life might enjoy a one-of-a kind holiday greeting.  For this purpose, you can use card stock from the office supply store.  If that isn’t sturdy enough, however, you might want to consider watercolor, construction, or fancy art paper that you can get at the art store. 

Personally, I prefer watercolor paper for special cards.  It is heavy, has a nice rough texture, and it will hold its shape—even with a swatch of material taped to it.  Also, a very useful thing about watercolor paper is that you can decorate it with watercolor pencils or paints, and it doesn’t disintegrate or wrinkle.  It can be a little tricky to fold, however.  You might want to experiment with different types of paper until you find just the right kind for your project.

Of course, if you are using photographs, card stock is fine, as you can print your photo directly onto it.  If you are interested in trying some of the heavier papers, however, you will notice that they come in a multitude of colors that will enhance your art, photography, or needlework.  Just fold the paper in half, cut to the desired size, and decorate to your heart’s content with sewing, cutouts, or stencils. 

I like to put embroidery or other art work on holiday cards, and one way to do that is to make them into inserts.  In this technique, you cut a window in the card so that the embroidery piece (or other type of insert) shows through the hole.  You don’t have to use embroidery for this, of course.  It can also be done with drawings, small art works, or other needle crafts as well.  Some people enjoy putting family portraits in the window to keep everyone up to date.  This particular technique works well for all sorts of things.

In the card shown in the picture, I have completed a small embroidery of a Christmas candle.  Once it was blocked, and cut to fit, I sewed on a few snowflake-shaped buttons to give it some interest and texture.  You might also sew (or glue) beads, charms, or ribbons on the card for this purpose.  Metallic threads are also nice for embellishment. 

If you want to hide the back of the insert (as in an embroidered piece), just use another piece of paper and glue it to the inside of the card behind the material.  Then you can decorate your creation with calligraphy, stamps, or sewing.  Actually, when you make your own card, you can personalize it any way you want.  It is fun to make your project unique and memorable.

But what about an envelope, you may well ask?  The easiest way to make an envelope (at least, that I have found) is to get a piece of paper that is slightly wider than the front of the card.  This paper will also have to be 3 times the width of the card so that it will close correctly.  I have been known to use a heavy wrapping paper for this purpose, and I’ve found that it can make an attractive envelope. 

Fold the paper into thirds.  Open the paper out, and stick the front to the back of the bottom two thirds of the paper.  You can use double-sided tape or glue, but tape is easier to control.  The third part will be the flap, and you can leave it square or cut it into a fancy shape.  Put in the card, and seal it with double-sided tape or a holiday sticker.  On the other hand, you can cut the card to the size of any extra envelopes that you might have on hand.  For some reason, we usually have extra envelopes.

I always hand-deliver these cards. There are rules about what sizes and shapes of letters you can send through the mail, and I tend to forget what they are.  If you must send your card, you can get advice at the post office—as well as the necessary postage.

Have a great holiday and have fun making your own Christmas cards!