Ever thought of using photos of your family, fabulous holiday scenes or interesting animals to make a Christmas card. Just follow the simple guidelines to create your very own cheap and cheerful Christmas cards.
Use Your Own Pictures
These days almost everyone owns a camera. We all produce photos that we often wonder what to do with. Well they can be used to decorate Christmas cards. It's a 'dare I say' cheap and cost effective way to send out a stack of messages to friends and family. All it takes is:
white card paper
6 x 4 photos, preferably with a border
glue, or paste
a soft cloth
envelopes
What Pictures to Use
The happier the better. Let your family be playful, make sure you are in the photo and have a friend snap away. Your will be pleasantly surprised at the shots you may get. If you know your family or friends love animals take animal shots, likewise have plenty of scenery images or photos of flowers. The fun will be in choosing what picture to send to each of the special people in your life and your friends and family will enjoy receiving them.
Setting Up
Buy suitable card paper, or you can purchase cards already scored and folded. Select the images you want to use and have them developed (the cost is small for a 6 x 4" print. Get the prints with a border as you will have to cut the border off.
Once you have your developed photos use a guillotine to slice of enough of the border to make the photo sit nicely centred on the card. Using a glue stick run around the edges of the back of the print, then turn the print gently over and place evenly on the card. Then using a soft cloth gently but firmly wipe the whole card to ensure that there are no air bubbles trapped underneath. You'll get the hang of it quickly, although it may pay to do a few sample ones first.
Once the pictures have been placed on the card set the card aside to dry. For beginners this is best left overnight. Make sure you don't leave cards sitting on top of each other as they can sometimes get stuck to each other.
Other Ideas
I have taken picture of my home town and then using Photoshop written Merry Christmas over the image. You will have to know how to use Photoshop to do this one. I have also photographed a series of Christmas decorations, they looked great when made into cards. Of course another top idea is to take picture of Santa as he goes about spreading Christmas cheer. Never get stuck for inspiration.
Once the cards are finished you can write your Christmas message inside, then its just a case of popping the card into an envelope and posting. It's as simple as that.
Parania Wilson - Parania attained her degree with a double major in welfare and sociology then spent a number of years in welfare working in Mental Health, ...
