Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you have a wonderful holiday and new year. I decided to hand make our Christmas cards this year instead of the photo card that we usually do. I wasn't planning on sending a card and then at the last minute (Dec 12) I decided to make a card. I thought I'd share a little of the process.
The processs:
1. I designed a simple prototype of the card and then got the go ahead from the family.
2. The family posed for a quick photo in the back yard in the first snow storm we had. They all agreed to wear Santa hats. A big feat! Nicholas and Chris posed so I could get everything ready on the tripod.
3. I had the photos printed 2 up on a 5x7 print (Costco) and then hand cut in half.
Photo size is 2 x 5.5. Overnight printing is the best.
4. I printed the card messaging on my home ink jet printer. Each sheet of Crumb Cake card stock needed to be fed manually (front and back). I was able to fit 3 cards on one sheet of 8.5 x 11 card stock.
5. I trimmed all the cards down to size: 3.25 x 6.5
6. I sewed quick zig zag stitch across the bottom of each card and trimmed off the excess strings.
7. Then I mounted the photos to the card.
8. I stamped HO HO HO (from Labels to Love) in Basic Black ink on Whisper White card stock and then trimmed to size (roughly .5 x 1"). I used my crop-a-dile to punch a hole in the top of each tag. I was able to punch 10 tags at a time.
9. Last I wrapped red and white baker's twine around the card and tied on the HO HO HO tag.
A few cards ended up with a few silver rhinestones added but I was worried about mailing issues so I eliminated those on most of the cards that I mailed.
There you go ... MAKING Merry. Below are a few of our photos out takes. Merry Christmas!