Day 4 of the 12 Days of Christmas!!

Today, let's make some cards! Handmade Christmas cards are the best. They let your family and friends know that you care to make the very best, and they probably tell a little about you, too. Get your children involved, too, and not just in the holiday photo that goes in the card. Let them help you make the family cards or cards of their own to give to their friends and teachers. Help them exercise that right side of their brain!

If you've never made your own cards before, there are tons of websites out there that will give you ideas! Just Google handmade Christmas cards and see what comes up. It will take you hours or days to look at them all, there will be so many. If you don't have the time to do that right now, here are a few ideas for you.

If you have children old enough to draw, have them draw you a Christmas picture. Give them some guidance as to what to draw, and then let their imaginations take over. Scan it into your computer, size it, and print it on white cardstock. Be sure to give them credit on the back of the card for being the artist. Everybody loves kids drawings, and they will all love these cards.

For little kids that can't draw yet, you can use a coloring book picture and let them color it, or use die-cuts and let them glue them on the cards. You can also recycle last year's cards by letting them cut out the pictures and gluing them onto cardstock. Use glitter glue to decorate them a little, and you can add other embellishments like little tiny bells, pom-poms, rick-rack, chipboard letters and shapes....anything you can think, you can do.

Or you can start totally from scratch.Here is a card I recieved from my neice a few years back that I have hung onto because it is so cute! And she incorproated a newsletter-type feel without the newsletter! The greeting is on the front with the cutest little ribbon tree ever, and the inside is devoted to giving just highlights of the year for each family member. Its a great way to keep everyone informed about what's happening in your life without the long and sometimes boring newsletter. You can print your own photos right from your computer or take them to Wal*Mart or someplace like that and have them printed. You can even do it online! Order your prints online and pick them up the next time you go to Wal*Mart. How easy is that?



HAVE INK....WILL STAMP! Are you a stamper? Then I probably don't have to tell YOU how much fun it is to make your own cards. But if you're new to stamping, you don't know what you're missing! It is so much fun and there are so many different techniques to explore. Again, you can Google to get ideas. But, you can start with just one stamp or stamp set and one or two stamp pads and create beautiful cards. Try a cute Snowman. All you need is white and pale blue cardstock, a light blue stamp pad, and a few things like scissors and glue. Stamp the snowman on the white cardstock with the light blue ink, cut him out, glue him to the blue cardstock that's been cut to the size of your cards, add a sentiment, and Voila! You have a Christmas card! You can get a lot more fancy as you learn more.
In the eyes of children we find the joy of Christmas. In their hearts we find its meaning. 'Night, Gramma G.