Homemade Christmas and Holiday Cards

When my siblings and I were kids, my mom used to have us make homemade Christmas cards for our family every year. As younger kids, we could draw pictures on blank cards. When we got a little older, different art supplies were thrown into the mix. When we got to be pre-teens we started complaining. “I’m not good at drawing, I don’t want to make a card! I’m too old to be drawing a card!”

But my mom insisted.

“Homemade cards are thoughtful. It’s a nice thing to do. I made homemade cards until I was in my 20s!”

20s?! That was sooooo olddddd. We laughed at the idea of my mom, in her 20s, making homemade Christmas cards during the holidays.

Well, here I am in my early 20s, still making homemade cards during the holidays…and actually enjoying it now. When I went away to college, I started missing doing arts and crafts. I suppose when you don’t have time to do little creative DIY things, you start to miss it. It’s relaxing. And I enjoy making things with my hands. It’s rare for me these days.

Some years I go all out and do nice cards. With a busier schedule, sometimes I keep it super simple. This year, most of my cards were pretty simple.

I found a couple leftover sheets of scrapbook paper in our family’s arts and crafts box and pulled those out. I grabbed a few spools of ribbon, one shiny gold spool and one ball of twine, and laid it all out. What can I make?

I went with a couple simple designs, some Christmas/Holiday trees, baubles, and pennants. I think simple designs without too much going on can look really clean and pretty.

Then I wanted to do a couple jazzed up Christmas cards so I took out a few more sheets of colored construction paper and went to town.  

I have to say, the last one is my favorite. How cute is that little fireplace? But I try to make a different card for each person at my house on Christmas day so that nobody gets the same thing. That means I make 5 cards (at least) every year. So I usually turn to some easy to execute ideas that still have a nice homemade vibe.

I hope these cards give you some inspiration if you’re planning on making your own holiday cards.

Do you enjoy receiving homemade cards or would you prefer a store bought one? Let me know if my mom was right in the comments! 🙂

Ashley