It’s coming! The holidays will be upon us SOON! Are you ready? I’m not entirely ready, but I always start planning our family’s Christmas cards way in advance. Memories of my grandparent’s home covered in the Christmas cards they received each year impressed upon me the delight of receiving holiday cards from family and friends, and I have enjoyed sending Christmas cards to family and friends every year since I became an adult.
Make your own Christmas cards!
Today I’m sharing a few creative ideas you can use to make the holidays a little merrier with holiday greeting cards that are not like everyone else’s!
1 – Thumbprint cards!
Use your family’s thumbs and an inkpad to create reindeer, a Christmas tree, snowmen, stockings, carolers, or whatever else you can think of! Here’s one example I like:
Source: squidoo.com via Jamie on Pinterest
2 – Caricatures!
Is there a budding artist in your family? If so, have them try doing caricatures of your family. If you like this idea but have no one to do the drawing, you can make caricatures online! Try this caricature maker for cards at VistaPrint.
3 – Send New Year’s cards instead!
Does sending cards in time for Christmas seem like too much to add to your holiday to-do list? Then take the pressure off, and send Happy New Year’s cards instead. You could write up a few key highlights of your year, like this one. Another bonus: your card won’t get lost in an influx of other holiday cards.
Source: bowerpowerblog.com via Jamie on Pinterest
4 – Do a pen and ink drawing of your home.
You could do a simplified pen and ink drawing this way: enlarge a crisp photograph of your home, trace the outlines (use tracing paper or put a light behind your photo), then copy and reduce the traced image, and it will be ready for use on your holiday cards. Add a little text, like “From our home to yours…” and you have totally unique cards on a budget! Or you can commission an artist like my mom to do a pen and ink drawing of your home; she did this one for me when I lived in a log home years ago:
5 – Make button cards!
You probably don’t want to try making 100 of these, but for a few special (and hand-delivered) cards, you can use buttons to create wreaths, snowmen, Christmas trees, and more. One cute example:
Source: hobbycraft.co.uk via Jamie on Pinterest
6 – Scrapbook-style cards!
Use your scrapbook skills and supplies, or do a little recycling by using wrapping paper scraps for making cute custom cards like this one:
Source: hsclassroom.net via Jamie on Pinterest
7 – Stamp those cards.
Use fun stamps, or even consider using a mini letterpress to create your own cards! I like this one at PaperSource. This wouldn’t be the budget-friendliest way to make cards, but super fun and totally custom.
8 – Pop-up cards!
I wouldn’t want to make dozens of these, but they’d be adorable!
Source: apartmenttherapy.com via Jamie on Pinterest
9 – Photo cards!
I’m a photographer, so of course, I loooove photo cards. But I don’t love boring family photos. My advice: choose not too holiday-ish outfits for your family photos; this way you can use these photos all year long, and your family and friends won’t want to put them away when the holiday is over like they will if you’re all wearing reindeer sweaters. (Check out this family’s outfit choices!) Have FUN with the photos so they will reflect your family’s personality! We have a day on the calendar soon for our own family photos (courtesy of a remote camera trigger), and we’re making a day of it to hang out and enjoy a family dinner that has become far too uncommon since my stepson moved near college campus.
This photo appeals to the dog-lover in me, but there’s no way Lacy the WonderDog will allow us to do this:
Source: photosidea.com via Jamie on Pinterest
10 – Use your child’s art.
Kid art makes great graphics for your holiday cards, and becomes a keepsake, too! When Kathryn was in preschool, she drew an adorable nativity, and it made an adorable Christmas card! Just use the art in place of a photo when creating online cards or printing your own at home.
11 – Stitch a card!
Choose a simple design, like a Christmas tree, to stitch on a piece of paper, then cut and glue onto a card. This would be something older children could do as well, perhaps for a special card for grandma. This example uses an apple, but you could do the outline of a Christmas tree, wreath, snowman, or gift.
Source: blogs.babycenter.com via Jamie on Pinterest
12 – Send post cards!
You can use almost any of the above ideas to make your own postcards and save on postage, which can add up quickly if your Christmas card list is long.
Another thought: What will you do with all those cards you receive this year? Try these ideas: put them in/on your Christmas tree; arrange them on your mantle; make a card tree; recycle them into gift tags for next year’s gifts; or — my favorite idea — keep them in a basket and use the cards as reminders to pray for your friends and family all year long!
If the holiday season seems more stressful than joyous, if your budget seems too small to be generous, or if you are simply in search of inspiration, the 12 Ways of Christmas is written just for you! Click on each of the buttons below and join all 12 of us as we share crafts, decor, traditions, and more!
i love these! #3 is a great idea for us this year but i also love photo cards. that pic gave me the idea to do something w/lights and our chickens. hmmm…
thank you so much for participating in this! you bless me!
Twitter: ByWordsMusings
says:
Last year i made a big deal about not doing my 250 cards and buying a goat for charity instead … but we will see.
i do love them so
Lovely to be a part of the 12 ways with you.
By Word of Mouth Musings recently posted..Howlerific Halloween – Molly Campbell
Jamie,
Thank you for these great ideas! I always love sending out Christmas cards with our family picture and now I can add a bit more creativity to the mix.
I continue to pray for you and your Dad.
Hugs,
Trisha
Jamie – I love all of these ideas! I need to start thinking about our cards and get started on them!!
Robyn | Add a Pinch recently posted..12 Ways of Cooking for Christmas
Twitter: jen4ever4always
says:
You have lots of great ideas here! I am a tad obsessive about our cards each year. I love doing them and always like to plan outfits and a different place to take them. This year I really lacked inspiration about what to do, so I did a collage of several different pictures from the year. The cards turned out pretty good, I don’t love them, but for this year I can check it off my list
Jen recently posted..Using a Mini-Office in your Homeschool
Such cute ideas!! I suppose one of our “traditions” is to order photo cards from Shutterfly or DaySpring {whichever one has the best sale!} – it serves as double-duty for us. Everyone gets a Christmas card AND an updated photo of our family!
Mandy recently posted..12 Ways of Christmas:: Ways of Frugal Gifting
Twitter: randi094
says:
I always send out photo cards each year and just create them myself on the computer. I love the other creative ideas too!
Miranda recently posted..Beyond My Appearance
I love all these ideas. I try to think of creative ways to do our Christmas cards each year. Now you got my creative juices flowing! Thanks for the inspiration! Happy to be participating in the 12 ways with you. : )
Denise In Bloom recently posted..12 Ways Of Christmas Mantle Decorating Ideas
Thanks for sharing lots of great ideas! I especially like your mother’s pen and ink drawing.
Tiger’s Mum recently posted..You can’t get away with that!
great ideas! thanks for sharing. I am always looking for new ways to get my kids involved in holiday fun. I really like the thumbprint cards.
Here from the HHH!
katie d recently posted..Fun with Other Homeschoolers
Twitter: steflayton
says:
oh oh – I LOVE the highlights !! What a GREAT idea !!
Stef Layton recently posted..12 Ways of Outreach
I love the 2010 highlights card. I think that will be our holiday card but will add pictures somehow.
Thanks for the idea!
Kathy Sykes recently posted..Meditation Monday! Making Your Home A Haven Challenge!
love your ideas! my favorite thing i’ve done is photo postcards ordered from hallmark.com…and if you upload your addresses (from an excel spreadsheet), they will mail them out for you!! it’s wonderful!
Heather recently posted..Beyond “Stop it!”…Making Disciples
Oh, I never thought about doing a postcard! I’m one of those that never seem to get around to cards every Christmas! LOL Perhaps THIS year?
Twitter: chaosandclutter
says:
Great ideas! I’m not sure what to do this year. We usually do photo cards. Two years ago, we sent out an adoption announcement instead. Last year, a very standard photo card. I am thinking of maybe making a collage of photos. The fingerprint one is a cute idea…saw something similar on Pinterest, but I get a bit creeped out by thoughts of our fingerprints being accessed by anyone for years to come (I may have been watching too many Criminal Minds episodes!). I like the button one a lot.
Sharla recently posted..Truth Tuesday
Oh thank you! I was just thinking of my cards and wishing I had started earlier! I love the idea of making my own, but have a tough time coming up with great ideas that don’t look “kindergartenish”. I think I am going to try the thumbprints this year!
Erica recently posted..I Might Be Wiping Away Tears Just Thinking of Them
Since getting married 3 years ago, I’ve done a different type of Christmas newsletter each year. The first year I made a rhyming poem. The second year I did a quiz with multiple answers (and an answer key) telling what we’d been up to that year. Then last year I did a top 10 list for the year. I’ve been pondering what I’ll do this year. I love the idea of the highlights by each month. I think that’s what I’ll do this year. I used to mail out a Christmas letter to anyone/everyone that we know. But it gets costly and time consuming. So, I’ve started only mailing the actual letter (and a family picture or two) to our immediate family and then scanning the letter (on cute Christmas paper of course) and pictures and emailing it to everyone else. I love to get Christmas cards and pictures, but never know what to do with them. Hopefully this will help others cut down on their Christmas letter/picture clutter.
Sharon recently posted..31 Days of Date Nights {Day 25} Coin toss walk
So many good ideas! Thanks so much for sharing them!
Jennifer recently posted..Menu Plan Monday – October 24th
I love that stitched card. And the one of the dog… awesome!! Thanks for sharing these!
Jenny recently posted..Tutorial: No Sew Pacifier Clip.
These are great! Thank you for getting me to start thinking about it!
Cheryl @ finding the beauty recently posted..God DOES give us more than we can handle
Love the 2010 highlit. Awesome Idea to let the family and friends know what has happened in your year.
These are great! I have to say that there are so numerous great suggestions! Many thanks so much for sharing them!I love the idea of generating my personal, but have a difficult time coming up with excellent suggestions. I believe I am heading to try the thumbprints this year!
Janna recently posted..How to Make Him Fall in Love With You
What CUTE ideas! Thank you so much for sharing them.
I wish I had the skills to do the pen and ink drawing one!
We always do a card with photos and an update letter. I’ve posted a few of the creative ways we do our update letter on my blog, if you’d like some ideas.
http://chickenbabies.blogspot.com/2011/11/unique-christmas-cards-cancelled.html
I especially like your mother’s pen and ink drawing. Thanks for the idea! great ideas!
Teresa Mclean recently posted..Acne Tips
Twitter: thoughitbemad
says:
These are fabulous! I absolutely love the thumbprint idea. Wonder if I can convince my husband to participate…haha! I keep our cards out all year. Sadly, I think Christmas cards are going by the wayside (kind of like blog comments, huh?)…but they still are one of my favorite things about the season.