Hello! Erin here with a little confession to make.  I started buying Digital Scrapbooking Kits so I could print them out to make cards.  Back when I first moved overseas I did not take any crafting supplies and I naively thought that it would be easy to find greetings cards wherever I ended up.  When the first Holiday season rolled around and I could not find any Christmas cards I started looking for crafting supplies to make my own cards.  But those were nowhere to be found either.  While I was looking up ideas on the internet, I stumbled on digital scrapbooking and the rest is history.

Card making has become one of our family’s all-time favorite activities. We usually make birthday cards and thank you cards throughout the year, but come September my kiddos start asking to make Christmas cards.  Every year we spend hours together crafting cards for each other and everyone else on our mailing list.  It is a great way to carve out some time together in what usually becomes a hectic season, and it allows my kids some time for unique self-expression.

Now if you do an internet search for hand-made cards you will find some gorgeous, and often intimidating examples, but card-making does not have to be a frightening endeavor.  And if you are card making with children, it does require some simplification, but you can still make some beautiful cards for your Holidays.

Below I have some samples of cards that we have made by hand this year with just some basic supplies and X-mas is Coming kit by Digital Scrapbook Ingredients.

If you have a cutting machine it would greatly cut down on your work load, and allow you to create more intricate designs, but cutting machines are in no way required (we don’t have one and still enjoy the process).

Supplies:

Card stock in whatever colors you like

Printed digital elements and papers

Adhesives such as glue sticks, double sided tape, foam tape, staples, whatever you like

Extra embellishments for dimension such as ribbons, buttons, rub-ons, and stickers (optional)

To get ready I gathered my supplies and created a jpeg in Photoshop with all the elements that I thought we could easily cut out by hand.  I also made 4×6 cards using the paper from X-mas is Coming.  I find it is easier (and cheaper) if I print several of each design at 4×6.  Then all I have to do is trim it to fit my cardstock card base.  I always put those trimmings in a baggie to use later too. You can print these out at home or have them professionally printed.  When I am making cards to mail I usually get them printed at a photo shop as the prints are water and light fast, unlike my home printed pages.

Here are some of the cards we made.

Set 1:

For these cards we used a base of cardstock.  Then I trimmed my 4×6 papers down to fit my card base (and remember to keep those trimmings they come in handy later) and layered it on the front of my card.  Finally we topped the card off with some elements, which we fussy cut by hand.  We used foam tape on the elements and added a little ribbon to the ornament to give the cards more dimension.  These are some of the simplest cards we make and require the least outside resources, which is nice if you are hard up for holiday craft supplies.

Set 2:

These cards started the same way, with a base of cardstock and trimmed 4×6 paper pieces layered over that with some elements from our digital kit, but we added even more dimensional elements, such as ribbons and strings, as well as some old rub—ons I had left over from years ago.  The rub-ons were a fun addition for us (my kids love them), but if you don’t have rub-ons you can also use word art from your kit, or simply type some text directly onto your 4×6 paper piece before you have it printed so it is ready to go.

Set 3:

Again, these cards use the cardstock base, the 4×6 trimmed paper pieces and additional elements from our stash.  Over the years we have collected lots of little goodies, some bought specifically for crafting, others taken from cards or packaging and repurposed.  This type can be really fun and creative, but it takes a bit more preparation and digging around.

Set 4:

Finally, this set uses those paper trimmings I told you to save for set 1.  We have quite a large mailing list (and we are bit frugal) so once all the main paper pieces are used up we use the trimmings to make a few more cards. For these we often add stamps, rub-ons, or paint in the background to create more interest. Again, ribbons, washi tape and other elements add dimension.

And on a side note, those fun little tags and labels make great gift tags – which I find I always need more of.

You could also use them on a card front to print or write your card sentiment on.

We have several other things we have done with our digital goodies this year, but I will leave you with this for now.  If you feel inclined to makes some cards yourself link us up so we can see your creations!