Homemade Christmas Cards
Finding the right Christmas cards to send can be time consuming, frustrating and costly.
You can spend hours searching through catalogues or walking round stores trying to find that perfect card.
But there is another way.
A way that is fun and cheap.
Make your own Christmas cards.
All the family can get involved and your friends will receive a card that was made specially for them.
If you own a digital camera you can use your own photographs for making the cards.
Try to remember to take your camera with you whenever you go out.
Keep an eye out for potential scenes to use on your cards.
Once Autumn comes look out for holly bushes with red berries, or Christmas trees growing in a garden.
Bright frosty mornings are a wonderful opportunity to take photos of frost on riverside banks, or hanging from plants or trees.
If you are lucky enough to get a snowy day, rush out with your camera to take photos for your cards.
It isn't necessary to take photos in the snow or ice.
A photo of your favourite pet, or favourite view can become a beautiful Christmas card.
Think about the recipient.
Do they have a special hobby or interest or a favourite place that would make a lovely subject for a card? Autumn berries and leaves can also make lovely subjects.
Once you have taken your photos you can edit them using your favourite photo manipulation software.
Often a good photograph will need little or no editing.
Sometimes you might want to use part of a photo or zoom in on the subject and remove the surrounding part of the photo.
You might like to use more sophisticated editing techniques to enhance your photos.
Turn them into sepia or black and white for a period touch, or blur the edges to give a softer appearance.
The only limitaion is your imagination.
Print your photos onto card.
You can buy ready cut card with matching envelopes or you can use a sheet of card and cut it with a cutter.
Commonly used formats for cards are A5 and A6.
With A5 you just need a sheet of A4 card.
Print your picture onto one half of the paper and them fold it down the middle to make an A5 size card.
If you decide to make an A6 size card you will fit two cards onto an A4 sheet of paper.
If you use ready cut cards you might choose plain ones or ones with an embossed border to frame your picture.
Whether you choose precut cards or a sheet of card, always print your work in draft format onto a plain piece of paper to make sure the placing of the photo is correct.
You don't want to waste precious sheets of card.
When you've printed the card you can use homemade or bought embellishments to give each card an individual touch.
Most stationery and craft shops sell a range of embellishments or you can purchase them from the many online suppliers of craft supplies.
You can spend hours searching through catalogues or walking round stores trying to find that perfect card.
But there is another way.
A way that is fun and cheap.
Make your own Christmas cards.
All the family can get involved and your friends will receive a card that was made specially for them.
If you own a digital camera you can use your own photographs for making the cards.
Try to remember to take your camera with you whenever you go out.
Keep an eye out for potential scenes to use on your cards.
Once Autumn comes look out for holly bushes with red berries, or Christmas trees growing in a garden.
Bright frosty mornings are a wonderful opportunity to take photos of frost on riverside banks, or hanging from plants or trees.
If you are lucky enough to get a snowy day, rush out with your camera to take photos for your cards.
It isn't necessary to take photos in the snow or ice.
A photo of your favourite pet, or favourite view can become a beautiful Christmas card.
Think about the recipient.
Do they have a special hobby or interest or a favourite place that would make a lovely subject for a card? Autumn berries and leaves can also make lovely subjects.
Once you have taken your photos you can edit them using your favourite photo manipulation software.
Often a good photograph will need little or no editing.
Sometimes you might want to use part of a photo or zoom in on the subject and remove the surrounding part of the photo.
You might like to use more sophisticated editing techniques to enhance your photos.
Turn them into sepia or black and white for a period touch, or blur the edges to give a softer appearance.
The only limitaion is your imagination.
Print your photos onto card.
You can buy ready cut card with matching envelopes or you can use a sheet of card and cut it with a cutter.
Commonly used formats for cards are A5 and A6.
With A5 you just need a sheet of A4 card.
Print your picture onto one half of the paper and them fold it down the middle to make an A5 size card.
If you decide to make an A6 size card you will fit two cards onto an A4 sheet of paper.
If you use ready cut cards you might choose plain ones or ones with an embossed border to frame your picture.
Whether you choose precut cards or a sheet of card, always print your work in draft format onto a plain piece of paper to make sure the placing of the photo is correct.
You don't want to waste precious sheets of card.
When you've printed the card you can use homemade or bought embellishments to give each card an individual touch.
Most stationery and craft shops sell a range of embellishments or you can purchase them from the many online suppliers of craft supplies.
