Make your own Christmas Cards!

‘Tis the season to make Christmas cards…. fa, la, la, la, la…. la, la, la, la!

Hi everyone! I’ve been seeing tons of beautiful Christmas cards just ready and waiting to be personalized with your holiday photos and I thought I’d show you some of my favourite ones! Now, if you’ve never used these before then you might be wondering how to turn these digital png files into ready to mail Christmas cards. So first I’ll give you a little info to help you get started before you decide on which card set to purchase.

First you will need to add your photo(s) to the card of your choice. I’ve written an article for Blissfully Domestic with links to many tutorials on how to do this with a quickpage, which is exactly what the products I’ve shown and linked to below are. Head on over there and read a tutorial or two on how to add your photo(s). Then once you’ve finished with that, come on back and check out some of the printing options I’ve found.

Okay, on to the printing options. You can print the cards on regular photo paper with a mat finish and glue them onto blank cards that are ready to be used for making your own cards. You can find these in the scrapbooking or card making section of stores like Walmart, or or your local scrapbooking store. Or you can use a printing service. Here are couple companies that I’ve found but have not tested myself (as I print on photo paper and finish hybrid style myself). Check out the prices, shipping and printing options to find the one that you think will work best for you.

• Staples (for those who live in Canada) has a Greeting Card option that you can use to upload your own greeting card, you can personalize the inside greeting and they can be purchased in multiples of 12.
• VistaPrint has many country options so that you can order from them wether you live in Canada, USA, Australia, Europe or anywhere else! They have several card options that allow you to Upload Your Own Design (you just have to scroll down to the bottom to see this option). They’re prices seem very reasonable and you can order 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 100 cards… whatever meets your needs!

And now it’s time for you to choose you’re card design! There are tons out there to choose from, but here are some previews of some quick-cards that I’ve found! Just drop in your photo, and you’re ready to print! Click on the images to be taken to where the sets can be purchased!

I hope that this article has helped you if you were trying to decide wether or not to create your own cards this year. I love making my own as I find it gives a much more personal touch than the store bought cards that never seem to say just the right thing. Have a happy scrappy day everyone!  

Hybrid Card making – Getting Started

Hello my wonderful and crafty readers! This month’s hybrid scrapping project is one that is super easy for anyone considering hybrid to get their feet wet with(just try not to get them wet with glue ok?). I am talking about hybrid card-making!

This is where I actually got my start with hybrid, it’s super easy, it can be cheap (I print a lot of my digital parts on mat photo paper at Walmart, it costs me only $0.19 for every 4×6″ print.) and I’m always needing cards! Birthday, Thank you, New Baby, Wedding, Just to say Hello…. the list of cards needed on a regular basis is long. And I got tired of not being able to find just the right card at the stores, they were all too mushy or too corny or just too blah. So now I make my own cards, just the way I like them to be. And you can too! Below you will find a link to my quick and easy tutorial, posted at DigiScrapChat this month, as well as links to challenges, templates and beautiful inspiring card designs… just what you need to get you started! Ready? Set? Hybrid!

Definition:

A hybrid card is one that combines digital and traditional scrapbooking supplies &/or methods of scrapping. Personally I like to start digitally, print then finish the card design by cutting/pasting the digital parts to a blank card base and adding a few traditional elements such as ribbon, flowers, brads, buttons and rubons.

Tutorial:

Hybrid Card Tutorial - by me over at DigiScrapChat!

Challenges:

• The Sweet Shoppe has a challenge called 52 Card Pick Up where you get weekly instructions on the latest challenge’s card requirements (Size, theme, colour & element). This challenge qualifies for Sweet Rewards (their points system that earns you %off coupons to the store!). You can find the old challenges (great for inspiration) in the forum, and the new challenges are posted on the blog!
• I also found a newly started challenge at Digital Freebies’ blog, they give you a card theme and a chance to win a GC to their store too!
• Gotta Pixel has a monthly card making challenge too, it get’s updated on the 22nd of every month!
• And I also found that Designs In Digital has started a monthly hybrid card challenge! (They’ve also started up a new Challenge Points System to earn points redeemable for cash in the store!)
• This last one isn’t a challenge but is definitely worth a mention. Di Hickman shares a card sketch/template every Wednesday on her blog, it’s a great way to get some inspiration and motivation!

Products:

Here are some card templates to help you get started with your hybrid card making. Be sure to search the stores where these are located to find more, I only chose a few to give you an example of what’s out there. The links to find the templates are listed below the images.

ROW 1: 1- Snail Mailers #5 by Bree Clarkson 2- Quick Cards Set 2 by April Staker 3- Quick Cards (Set 14) Christmas by Tara Sroka

ROW 2: 4- Love, Jessica – Card Templates by Chrissy W. 5- Greetings! Pack #2 by Duchess Designs 6- Christmas Photo Card Templates – Set 2 by Designs by Shelle

ROW 3: 7- FotoKardz Templates No. 02 by Anna Aspnes 8- Kim Hill’s Holiday Card Templates 9- Birth Announcement Templates #01 by Mega-Doodle Inspired

Inspiration:

(click on the links below the images for a closer look and for credit info!)

ROW 1: 1- Friendship Mango Sorbet 2- Tri-fold Card 3- DinoMite Birthday Card

ROW 2: 4- All-Occasion card with envelope 5- Happy Hybrid Birthday 6- Fall Blessings

ROW 3: 7- Friends Forever Card 8- {Hybrid Card} Owl 9- Hybrid Happy Birthday Card

ROW 4: 10- Happy Birthday Card 11- {Hybrid} Thanks 12- Tweet Tweet – You’re Sweet!

Hybrid Hookup – Trick or Treat bags!

Welcome everyone to another monthly 2 part hybrid special! This month I’m going to show you not one, not two, but three different trick or treat bags that I made… I’ll tell you all about how I made them (at DigiScrapChat), and link you up to some more tutorials, some templates and pre-made products so you can make your own (Below)! Sound good? Great!

So here are photos of my trick or treat bags, to find out how I made them check out the corresponding article at DigiScrapChat!

Tutorials:

• Halloween Treat Bag Tutorial
• Hump Day Hybrid – Getting ready for Halloween
• Altered Paint Can (sticky tape version) Tutorial
• Altered Paint Can ( mod podge version) Tutorial

Treat Bag Topper Products: