Christmas cards have always been one of the best parts of Christmas for me. I love the designs, the wording, the connection with people you maybe don’t hear from very often. They often feature subjects like birds, deer, squirrels, hares and rabbits, foliage and winter flowers, snowy country scenes and scenes with illuminated windows and street lights which are basically a load of my favourite things in a picture!
I’ve often made my own to send to friends and family. However, this is the first time I’ve made some to sell that involve the same level of detail, effort and time that I would put in for my own. So, I thought I’d run through the process for this year’s cards with you so you can see! You can purchase the finished products here, and there’s also the option to have me write the card and envelope for you too, and send it on for you.
So, the first step was to draft some designs in my book. (I’m not going to show you all of those as my rough sketches are properly rough!!) The second was to carve some rubber stamps into leaf shapes. I bought rubber blocks and used a craft knife and lino tools. Cue some more drawing, drafting etc to get the leaf shape right, before I carved the stamp, but still, I had to carve the ivy leaf again as the veins didn’t look right on the first one.
I tried out a few ways of using the stamps to create the wreath in my drafting book. I tried out the spacing of the wreath and the wording on an A5 rectangle to get it in the right place, and made a note of the measurements in my book for all the future cards.
Then, I pencilled the layout on the folded A4 card, stamped the wreath on, and used the dip pen to write “Season’s Greetings” on the guidelines. When the ink was dry I cut around the centre of the wreath with a craft knife to make a gap in the card.
The next stage was to make an origami peace dove, so I folded one out of a piece of pretty patterned origami paper, and attached a thread through the back with a darning needle. Then I tied the dove to the card.
I realised that when you took the dove off the card to hang on a Christmas tree, the card was left with a big gap, so then after a bit of tweaking I drew the outline of the dove in gold ink on a piece of paper vellum, and glued that on the back. It’s nice when the light shows though…kind of glowy.
Then envelopes – some people don’t have so much time so I thought I’d offer the opportunity for me to write and send the card for you – so why not offer a “proper job” with a wax seal, a bit of hand drawing and calligraphy!
So there you are…the tale of how a Christmas card is made!
The cards are available to buy here. And here for a personalised version.
