Handmade Christmas Card

Make a Winter Themed Handmade Christmas Card

Having a white Christmas this year? Why not spread some cheer by making these handmade snowman Christmas Cards? This is a fairly easy card to put together. The recipients of this card will appreciate the gesture all the more since it is a handmade Christmas card. What's even better is that you are not limited to making it a snowman Christmas Card. Change the decorative paper on the front to match any Christmas holiday theme. I have added snowflake embellishments to the front but these can also be replaced with any kind of Christmas Themed Embellishment. Also, the embellishments I used are ready made stick on embellishments but you can easily make your own using paper punches and other Christmas themed craft materials.

snowman christmas card

Materials used to make these Snowman Handmade Christmas Cards:
12" by 12" cardstock
snowman themed decorative paper
plain white cardstock or paper
snowflake embellishments
glue-stick and craft glue
or or an adhesive glue runner

To start this card you need to go shopping for all of your materials. Choose papers and embellishments (or craft supplies to make embellishments) that all match in color and in theme. Also make sure and choose some very good quality glues and adhesives.

Now on to actually making Christmas cards! First take your 12" by 12" cardstock and cut it in half to make two sheets measuring 12" by 6". When folded they will create 6" by 6" handmade Christmas cards. To cut these pieces I recommend either purchasing a good sliding paper cutter or to cut out some of the more tedious and boring work visit a print or copy shop to have all of your papers cut for you.

From here you have a choice. You can either choose to print a message onto the inside of your cards, or you can leave them blank and hand write onto each and every card.
To print onto the inside of the card use either a word processing program or desktop publishing program. Set the file up so that the page measures the same dimensions as the card (12" by 6" - landscape or wide) and then place your text where you would like it to print and then center it.
If you want to print onto the inside of the card but haven't the slightest idea how to do this, or maybe just want to skip a step, visit the custom invitations text page and a custom printable text file ($7.00 through paypal).

The next step to take is to fold the invitation in half. To make the fold as crisp and clean as possible try going over the crease a second time with a flat edge like the side of a ruler. This kind of "irons out" any wrinkles.

To move onto decorating the front of the card, start by cutting your decorative papers. Again, you can cut these by hand using a good paper cutter or get them cut for you at a print or copy shop. There are two separate pieces to cut to construct the front of the card. First cut your decorative snowman paper. This should be cut into squares measuring about 4 1/4" by 4 1/4". Also cut some white paper into small rectangles measuring 5" by 1 1/2". I'll tell you that in my opinion both of these papers are far easier to have cut for you if you have a large amount of handmade Christmas cards to make. You will save a lot of paper as well.

You will now start to attach the pieces of decorative paper to construct the handmade Christmas cards. I recommend using a good quality glue adhesive runner to attach these pices but you can also use a good glue stick. Starting with the white paper triangles apply a layer of glue to the outer edges of the paper. Adhere the paper to the front of the card aligning it to the left side of the card but floating it centered as best as possible on the left, top, and bottom.
Apply the glue to the outer edges of the backside of the decorative snowman paper. Place this piece so that it is slightly overlapping the white rectangular piece but also aligned to the right of the card. Center the paper between the right, top, and bottom of the card.

Lastly you will add a nice winter themed decorative embellishment to the handmade Christmas cards. I used a ready made snowflake embellishment. If you want to save a little money you can make theme yourself as well. One good way to do this would be to purchase a snowflake shaped paper punch. Punch the snowflakes out of sparkly or metallic paper. Or punch them out of plain white paper and then add glitter. Another great effect is to punch a bunch out and layer 3 or 4 flakes of different pale colors. Add a rhinestone to the middle, or a dollop of glitter glue.

If you want to go with a nice ready made embellishment or ornament check out the Christmas Themed Embellishment and Craft Materials page.

See Also...

Christmas Jingle Bell cards

Make photo Christmas cards

Unique Christmas party invitations

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