One of the benefits to having a small family is that my Christmas shopping list is not nearly as insane as some other people I know. Every year the only people I always buy for are my parents and my Grandmother (despite this I still haven't completed this year's shopping). Since this gives me a bit more free time I decide to make an extra special effort with these people and make them their own personalised cards.
This Christmas marks the third year I've been making Christmas cards so it's not a very lengthy tradition. It started when a then co-worker who is a really big Christmas person said he loved handmade touches. He had previously showed me a picture of how he had creatively decorated his window that year in time for festivities and I re-created it on a card. I also didn't want the other member of our team to be left out so I crafted him up one too. Turns out I enjoyed it and made my family cards too. And thus a tradition was born.
Said co-worker has moved on since then so this year its my mum, dad, grandmother and BFF who are receiving a Morag-made card, and I spent most of last night putting them together. I still have a few finishing touches to add and I'm only showing a quick glance in the photo above of my Gran's card as the chance of her reading my blog are the same as her chances of actually getting home internet. My parents occasionally stop by and my BFF 'reads every post' (hello!) so I'll need to keep pictures of their's privately tucked away until Christmas Day.
I'm by no means a professional crafter and these are purely for the personal touch. Therefore, I don't have that much of a tutorial. My general advice would be to just have fun with it. Practice drawing on spare sheets of paper first. Have an idea of what you'll do before you shop. I shop in the two art stores on Glasgow's Queen Street (including the new Cass Art). Have a look on Etsy for inspiration but remember to never directly copy. A pack that contains a glue pen and loose glitter is the best. UHU is better than Prit Stick. Remember what kind of card that person would want to receive, rather than what you would want to give them. I also bought a 'make your own stamps' kit this year and it was harder than I thought but I got my desired result (in the end).
And remember to find a sensible place in your home and put down newspapers like you do in primary school. Because my bedsheets and carpet now have fake snow and glitter on them.
Do you ever make your own cards, Christmas or otherwise?
Morag x
P.S. You catch a glance of previous cards in this post and this post.
