Holiday greetings with all the trimmings

Hands-on time: Less than two hours to make a dozen cards.
Skill: Easy.

Each November, I like to kick off the holiday season by making my own holiday greeting cards. It has become a ritual that I enjoy tremendously. It gets me in a creative holiday mood. Making greeting cards is a personal way to express yourself and send heartfelt holiday wishes.

Greeting cards are fun to make because they combine different types of craft forms like stamping, embossing, writing, drawing, decoupage and photography. They can be artistically crafted using treasured photos, a variety of colourful acid-free paper products and embellishments. Only a minimal amount of skill and materials are required to begin. Cards can be enhanced with stickers, decorative punches, picture corners, eyelets, charming ornaments, assorted papers cut with decorative edged scissors or simply hand ripped. Your finished cards can range from simple to sophisticated, with a stylish theme such as retro, modern, antique, art-deco, exotic, shabby chic, whimsical or Victorian.

Start by going through remnants from previous holidays, such as papers, ribbons and assorted tiny treasures to rediscover and recycle into unique keepsake cards. Each year, I like to treat myself to a couple of new tools of the trade, to combine with my findings.

For a simple and yet elegant card, cut a basic tree shape using double-faced film adhesive. Place it on a card and apply tiny beads. Paint a snowman using a decorative snow medium, glue shaped sequence and add a background scene with a multi-coloured pencil.

You can also make several cards using recycled greeting cards, trimmed with decorative scissors, embellished with hand-ripped papers. Add white rub-on lettering and then decorate with a gold pen. I used a leaf design stamp to make a poinsettia grouping design and embellished the centres with beads.

I ornamented other cards with glitter, copper foil embossed shapes, mesh, snowflake cut-outs and punches. Decorative letters were used to spell the words "Joy" and "Peace".

Making a tree ornament and placing it on a card is also a great way to decorate holiday greetings you can send to loved ones. Putting paper snowflakes and glitter snow into a clear envelop applied to the front of a card with a picture of the kids is ideal to send to those who don't have snow for the holidays.

To use photos

Simply choose your favourite digital photos from the ones you have gathered over the last year. Print your photos onto acid-free photo paper in the size needed. Pictures can also be printed onto specially formulated canvas and vellum papers. To preserve the appearance of your pictures and greeting cards protect them with a light coat of Preserve-It by Krylon.

Decorative paper cards

For the base, start with acid-free card stock or pre-packaged blank greeting cards. There are so many scrumptious colours and themes to choose from. Many of the paper products come in mix-and-match colour assortments which are reversible. Some are textured or patterned, while others are transparent.

Cutting tools

The latest cutting tools really make cutting simple. A steel ruler, an X-acto knife and a cutting mat are the basic and most essential cutting tools to own. Paper cutters are great to achieve straight precision cuts. To cut papers and photos into different shapes use a template with various designs. Try making fun pop-up windows. Decorative-edged scissors are ideal to cut bands and borders. Circular rotary scissors cut perfect circles in just seconds. Decorative punches are wonderful novelty tools that punch out silhouette shapes.

Putting it all together

For a dynamic layout, try placing the pictures in interesting positions, such as on a slant. Place all your items on the cards and once you are pleased with the composition, you're ready to fasten everything into place.

Adhesives

There are different types of glues for different surfaces. The basics are glue sticks, white glue, glue gun and rubber glue. Metal glue is used to bond metal decorative items to paper surfaces. Foam double-faced adhesives provide three-dimensional effects. Glue dots and adhesive sheets are easy to use and require no drying time. Double-faced tape, especially the Terrifically Tacky brand (my favourite) is very practical and can be applied to a variety of surfaces. It's great for gluing tiny beads.

Finishing touches

The finishing details truly add style and colour to cards. Ribbons, fun yarns and raffia are great for accent bows or to attach accessories. Specialty gel pens and metallic markers add interesting effects.

Personalized wishes and text can be applied to a card easily with rub-on lettering and letter stickers available in a variety of font styles and colours. Metal letters make stunning card headings. Rubber stamping words and letters also produce great results.

Decorating to showcase the greeting cards you receive can make quite an elegant statement in a front hall or foyer. I like to display cards on an old louvered door panel that I revamped. Cards can trim the edges of a mirror, a wire wreath, or for a modern look, simply pin them to a painted canvas and display it in a key area of your home.