I love Christmas, especially the busy lead up time with all the shopping, the gift making, gift buying, the decorations, the carols, the lights and of course giving and receiving Christmas cards - especially handmade. Christmas is such a special time of year and although we live here in Australia where we don�t celebrate a White Christmas, we certainly know how to create a magical one. I have to be honest with you all - I don�t like handmade gifts I LOVE THEM. I simply adore and treasure anything someone has put all their heart into in creating a wonderful gift for another person. Nothing else could be more wonderful then to receive a handmade gift or a card from a loved one or friends.

Handmade cards of any sort are just delightful to create, to give and to receive and seeing how it is Christmas time, I thought I would help you along a little and encourage you to make a few this year for that someone special.

As you can see I have created a few Christmas cards which are fun and whimsical and I have also created more non-traditional and elegant cards. The wonderful thing about creating your own is you can make them anyway you like.

To help get you started take a 12x12 sheet of good quality scrapbooking paper like the Basic Grey Blitzen range, SEI Holiday Hoopla range or Around The Block Christmas range. Trim it in half, this will give you 2 strips of 6x12, and then trim each strip down to 6x 8�. This I have found to be the perfect size for each Christmas card and best of all they fit into a C6 (115x162mm) envelope which are readily available in packs just about anywhere if you do not wish to create your own envelopes. Plus, the piece you trim off can be used on your cards so there�s no waste at all.

Take each card measuring 6x8� inches and score each one right down the middle for a nice neat fold. Next the fun begins, decorate as you desire with all the wonderful embellishments you have gathered. For inspiration check out magazines, galleries, books, even last years Christmas cards and create away.

Personalizing the inside of your Christmas Cards with a greeting is so easy. Whether it is done on the computer or handwritten, the choice is yours.

Here are a few ideas:

If the inside of the card is not patterned then you can write directly onto the card itself, handwritten, using a Christmas greeting stamp, computer, Christmas quotes or even Calligraphy, etc. You can trim a mat to size in a contrast paper and write on that. Pop a card insert especially made for handmade cards and personalize it as desired. For those who have not used card inserts you can either buy them or create your own. I generally make my own. All you need to do is trim a card insert from a paper of choice; typically they are made from the lighter weight papers and are usually plain. I trim mine to fit nice and snug in my cards so remembering your card is 6x8� inches, take off an extra cm all the way round (you may wish to trim off more or less), scoring down the middle, adhering double sided tape to one side (I generally adhere to the right side of insert) pop insert into card lining up folds and attach.

You can decorate the inside of the card as desired as well and you may even like to write on the back, Handmade By (your name) and even include the year.

There you have it simple and easy and wonderful gifts within themselves.

Happy Christmas card making,

Chris

If you would like to have any of your designs included in our resource centre, please email them to us at [email protected] (please make sure all files are .jpg or .gif).