Simple Tips & Tricks for Creating Handmade Christmas Cards with a Professional Flair

Oh, Christmas.  You’re sneaking up on us again, aren’t you?

When the Holiday Season comes around, one of the first things we think of is sending Christmas cards to our loved ones.  If you’re like me, you think about it really hard until Dec. 24th, then scramble to pull something together last minute!

Making and selling handmade greeting cards is something I’ve been doing for about 3 years now.  Friends and family are always asking me to make birthday, graduation, and baby shower cards, and everyone loves getting cards from me because they know it will be something unique and personalized.

Over the years, I’ve developed a few tricks to make card-making easier.  Please note: this post contains affiliate links.  If you should click on one and make a purchase, I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you.  Please read my full disclosure here.

1. Go ahead and buy pre-made blank cards and matching envelopes like these 5″ X 7″ Heavyweight Blank White Greeting Cards.  This is definitely a time saver!  While not quite as cost-effecting as making the blank card from scratch, having the cards pre-made with envelopes to match will save lots of time.
2. Pick a theme.  The theme for the cards featured in this post is “snowflakes.”  I know, you’d never have guessed!  With a theme, it’s easy to pick out accents, papers, stickers, and stamps to use.  For these cards, I used a set of stamps similar to these clear stamps by Hero Arts.  I also used several different snowflake stickers, and a snowflake punch like this one.
3. Get the right ink!  No, I’m not talking tatts…but having good stamping ink is a must for creating beautiful handmade cards.  My favorite stamping ink is the Distress Ink line by Ranger Tim Holtz.  These inks are so versatile, and I use them for so many different things!
4. Have the right tools.  This is the most important tip right here.  All you really need is a good cutting tool (like this 12 Inch Portable Rotary Paper Trimmer by Fiskars), and something to stick things together with (like these photo splits from Scotch).  It’s easy to get caught up in the abundance of fun tools available for scrapbooking and card making.  Trust me, I have dozens of fun little gadgets, but the two things I use more than anything else are my paper trimmer and the photo splits!
5. And last but not least…don’t buy it if you won’t use it!  I’m not kidding here.  There are sooooo many adorable, incredible, crazy awesome do-dads you can buy, but so many of them are just not necessary.  When I head to the craft store, I go in knowing what I want to make and get only the things that will help me accomplish that.

Clear stamps for Christmas cards

You don’t have to spend huge amounts of money to make gorgeous cards by hand.  Really, you don’t!  Start simply and don’t be afraid to make a mess.   Handmade cards are not perfect, they are unique and personal.  Layer a few different types of paper together for texture, add a little glitter for a pop of fun.

Layer different paper for texture

Yes, it costs more to make a card by hand than it would to buy one from the store.  Yes, it’s a time investment.  But it is worth it to be able to say “I’m thinking about YOU” in a way no one else can.  Giving a hand-crafted greeting card is a way to tell someone just how special they are to you without being all mushy and weird about it.  You know that no one else in the world will be getting that same exact card.  It’s yours and only yours.

I hope you enjoy these little tips!  I’ll be posting some tutorials for making different types of cards soon.  In the meantime, if you would like to give a handmade card to someone but don’t have the time to make one just now, hop on over to Facebook and check out my design page at Liz W. Designs.  You can order custom cards by messaging me there!

Leave a comment below and let me know what you’d like to learn about card making!  And sign up for email alerts so you don’t miss future posts.  I’ll never send you spam, just lots of beautiful things!