Handcrafted Christmas Cards

Starting in late October every year, I design a card and handcraft 100+ for family and friends for Christmas. I have done this for over 30 years, and each year the card is unique. I get inspiration from a verse, song or poem. Then I consider how to express that idea graphically, and what materials and tools to use. These have included card stock, rice paper, tissue paper, vellum, wrapping paper, thread, glitter, copper flashing, brads, stickers, rubber stamps, paper punches, and watercolors.

This card uses hand cut paper hands and an embossed heart.
The hands open and close to reveal the heart.

Verse: "Jesus shared the very being of God, yet he did not consider equality with God
something to be grasped. So far from that, he emptied himself taking the very nature
of a servant and became as we are in a human form that all could see." Phillipians 2:6-7

This card was fun to create. It uses a cut flap that reveals a surprise

when the card opens. I used decorative edged scissors, rice paper,

wire star garland, and gold gouache to create the angel.

Verse: "Into this silent night as we make our weary way we know not where, just when the night becomes its darkest and we cannot see the path, just then... is when the angels rush in, their hands full of stars." Ann Weems

To create these cards I printed a pattern of hearts in line art on a blank

watercolor sheet, then turned the sheet over and used watercolor dyes,

salt and rubbing alcohol to create texture. The hearts were easy to cut out, since the pattern was printed on the back of the sheet.

Verse: "The love that we have always known, our constant joy and endless light,

now to the loveless world be shown, now break upon its deathly night.

Into one song compress the love that rules the universe above!

Sing love, sing love, sing God is love!" Jaroslav J. Vajda

This pop-up blooming flower was created using folded tissue paper and double stick tape. The verse was printed on vellum and attached to pale pink cardstock.

Verse: "Lo, how a rose e'er blooming from tender stem hath sprung!
Of Jesse's lineage coming as men of old have sung.
It came a floweret bright, amid the cold of winter when half spent was the night.
This flower, whose fragrance tender with sweetness fills the air,

Dispels with glorious splendor the darkness everywhere.
True man yet very God, from sin and death he saves us and lightens every load."
Theodore Baker

I wanted to do something special for the year 2000, so I created this booklet
to send "Quotes and Musings from Christmas Past". Using vellum to create accordion folds with pockets, I added small slips of paper with quotes from
previous cards and letters sent out over the years. The front and back covers
were made from heavy card stock and parchment paper, and the booklet
was tied with a ribbon that was attached to the card.

The text reminds me of an uphill climb, so I used decorative scissors
and paper punches to create the effect.

Verse: "Lead me from death to life, from falsehood to truth.

Lead me from despair to hope, from fear to trust.

Lead me from hate to love, from war to peace.

Let peace fill our heart, our world our universe."

Satish Kumar

The small star ornament is seen when the card is folded, and also surprisingly at the end with the card unfolded. This card required careful cutting with an x-acto knife to achieve the perfectly aligned stars.

Verse: Star-Giving

"What I'd really like to give you for Christmas is a star....

Brilliance in a package,

something you could keep in the pocket of your jeans

or in the pocket of your being.

Something to take out in times of darkness,

something that would never snuff out nor tarnish,

something you could hold in your hand,

something for wonderment,

something for pondering,

something that would remind you of what Christmas has always meant:

God's Advent Light into the darkness of this world.

But stars are only God's for giving,

and I must be content to give you words and wishes and packages without stars.

But I can wish you life as radiant as the Star

that announced the Christ Child's coming,

and as filled with awe as the shepherds who stood beneath its light.

And I can pass on to you the love

that has been given to me,

ignited countless times by others

who have knelt in Bethlehem's light.

Perhaps, if you ask, God will give you a star."

Ann Weems

I used silver-flecked blue cardstock that came in 30" x 36" sheets to create the base for these cards. The larger size gave me room to play with folds and shapes. This card also used a preprinted die cut shape, snowflake brads and silver snowflakes.

Verse: "See amid the winter’s snow,

Born for us on earth below,

He who built the starry skies,

Lo, within a manger lies.

Sacred Infant, all divine,

What a tender love was thine,

Thus to come from highest bliss

Down to such a world as this."

Edward Caswall

The gift box was a preprinted die cut. I cut the top off the box and then attached the strip of "gifts", so when you pulled up on the box lid the gifts came out of the box. The strip was hidden behind the card by a back piece that included an easel for the card to stand, and instructions for the recipient to "open the box".

Verse: "Silently, how silently the wondrous gift is given.
So God imparts to human hearts the blessings of His heaven."

Philip Brooks

I was inspired at a Messiah sing-along by the lyrics on this card.
This angel was cut and assembled by hand. I used vellum and an
old sewing tool to make the dotted lines on her wings.

Verse: "Arise, shine, for thy light has come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee." Isaiah 60:1

Using copper flashing, I created stars that I embossed with a rubberstamp and embossing powder. I attached the stars with sequins and brads.

Verse: “Stars are for those who lift their eyes.

We stand on a cloudless night, and look up at a million stars so distant and so bright.

I wonder if that shiny night, the night of Jesus’ birth, the stars sang with the angels above the sleeping earth.

If stormy clouds should hide the stars, no fearful thought is mine.

Far beyond all earthly storms the heavenly stars still shine.”

Melcena Burns Denny

I love our planet, and wanted to feature it in a card. This earth turns on a thread suspended in the circle, so when the card is opened, the disk spins. The opposite side has a burst surrounded by the phrase "Peace on Earth".

Verse: "Welcome to earth, thou noble guest,

through whom this troubled world is blest!

This little child, of lowly birth,

shall be the joy of all the earth.

His cradle is but now a stall,

Yet He brings joy and peace to all.

There ye shall find the infant laid

by whom the heavens and earth were made.

This is the Christ, our God and Lord,

who in all need shall aid afford.

The angel hosts rejoice in bliss

To chant a glad New Year like this!"

Martin Luther, translated by Catherine Winkworth

This luminaria is 3-sided, and was sent preassembled in a box with a
battery-operated tea light. The paper was preprinted with the silver foil snowflake border and I used paper punches to create the cut work at the top of the card.

Verse: "O Lord support us all the day long, until the shadows lengthen and the evening comes,

and the busy world is hushed, and the fever of life is over, and our work is done.

Then in thy mercy grant us a safe lodging, and a holy rest, and peace at the last. Amen."

A Prayer at Night from the book of Common Prayer 1928

Handcrafted Christmas Cards

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Handcrafted Christmas Cards

Designed and handcrafted Christmas cards. Personal project done every year for over 30 years.

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