DIY Felt Christmas Cards
If you ever met me in real life there’s one thing you’d learn about me really quickly. I rarely – if ever – wear anything in bright colours or patterns. In fact there was a quote that my friend posted this week on her Instagram feed that read “I’ll stop wearing black when they make a darker color”.
That’s me.
So I found it pretty ironic that when I was making my header collage for my Facebook page, that it was this giant, vibrant, happy, cheerful montage of insanely colourful projects I had done over the past year. I stared at it and the potential project photos for it and thought “This is me? What the hell is going on?”
I had a rainbow party, colourful stripes and bright vivid shades of everything. And our accent colour in our home is red. I painted the back of my front door red yet there’s still a 50/50 chance you could get me to wear a red tank top on Canada Day.
Why am I telling you this story? Because the Christmas cards I just made for this year are like the anti-thesis of my wardrobe and personality. Ask any of my long time friends. Bright and cheerful are not adjectives usually used to describe me. Loud, pragmatic and wears a lot of shades. That works. The only thing that’s colourful is possibly my language.
I am sure there is a very good psychological explanation to this enigma. Or maybe I just live vicariously through (read: prefer to defer the attention) to my crafts and home decor projects. I’m going with that one.
But I must say, out of all the crafts I do all year round, Christmas cards are my absolute favourite craft of the year so I really go all out for them. In which case I am so not apologizing for these no matter how bright they are.
Here’s what’s going out in the mail this week:
For all the contemporary Christmas colour loving people.
And for all you classic Christmas colour loving people.
So here’s how this went down.
First I gathered up a billion sheets of felt.
After I decided on my colour schemes I went to town with several ideas of different patterns and themes.
Here are some tips if you’d like to make some for yourself.
TIP # 1
When you’re doing multiples of the same pattern card, make one really good stencil (so to speak) then just lay the strips or shapes over new pieces of felt and trim to match. Way easier than doing each card individually.
TIP #2
Always, always, ALWAYS lay out your pattern on your card before you glue it on to make sure it fits.
I just use a simple glue stick to glue the felt on.
No really. I put the glue directly on the back of the felt shapes and attach them onto the card stock. Nothing fancy required.
TIP # 3
For anything with letters do the following:
1) Buy the good thick felt or you will wind up cursing the not so stiff felt when you’re cutting out the letters.
2) Trace your letters (unless you’re super at free hand cutting) backwards. Because you want your pencil marks on the backside not the front.
3) Use nail clipper scissors with a rounded tip to help cut the insides of the letters more easily.
4) Or you can just skip the above and buy felt stickers.
TIP # 4
Cookie cutters make excellent stencils!
And you’re done!
Now that they’re done, I still have to go get my photos printed to put inside of them. If they’re fashionably late, they’re still made with love!
And a crafting injury after spending hours hunched over my kitchen table making them which led to a pulled muscle in my lower back. Probably a first.
Happy card making!
They turned out great! What a lovely surprise for your family and friends!
I think they’re at a point where they expect them b/c I’ve been doing it for years. Now if only the cost of stamps would go down. It’s crazy how much it all adds up once you’re done!
These are wonderful cards and I want to make some for next year. I bet my son would be thrilled to help out as well. Thanks for sharing this great idea.
My older daughter made her own versions for her teachers when I was making these. They’re really easy for kids to do!
You are one crafty lady! Your cards turned out great. I’d love to find one of those in the mailbox!
This is probably the craft I look forward to the most all year. This may be my last with the cost of stamps going up to $1 next year. There’s a good chance these are being hand delivered this year.
I vaguely remember a time when I enjoyed sending loved ones personal greetings.
In the battle of Christmas-blog-post-insanity and getting out some Christmas cards… The Christmas cards lost out.
Yours look great. Very cozy.
I think a lot of people feel this way. We’ve gotten 1 card this year so far and I am uncharacteristically late in sending mine out. Did I mention that the cost per envelope is going up to $1 next year? There go Christmas cards.
I was never one for keeping cards received for any occasion until you started sending your home made ones. I have all the ones you’ve made since Layla was born. Love every one of them.
Love these Alex… And love your writing even more – you’re my laugh-out-loud blog therapy, and though you don’t know it, I am your unpaid British publicist. Your comment about shades/swearing made me accidentally snort my very nice mouthful of Shiraz but I will forgive you even as I examine the stain removal instructions for my top. (It’s late in the evening here, I should add; I’m not cheerfully clinking glasses in the middle of the afternoon…)
I read this on my phone in the middle of a long lineup and I swear to you the people around me must have thought I was crazy b/c I busted out laughing. So that’s why my UK audience has grown eh? Ok your cheque is in the mail for Kate’s Creative PR.
Those are adorable! Totally worth the crafting injury I think! In the crafting world, that’s probably a badge of honour! I also have a real problem getting past the black in my wardrobe – I try and try to convince myself to buy a colour, but I just can’t. Maybe we need to get a support group together.
I have colourful items. I just need to be in a specific mood to wear them. I am very tall so the last thing I need to do is draw extra attention to myself in public. Wearing insane hues of anything will do that. We don’t need a support group, we need an I Love Wearing Shades fanclub!!
Your cards are SO pretty!! I really liked the blue & grey ones, just beautiful!!
These are FAB!! Thats a whole lot of felt cutting, but the results paid off, they are too cute, and no special tools required so anyone can make them!
These are lovely! I especially love the Christmas lights. My new year’s resolution is gonna be to stop buying black and start buying clothes with colors and patterns. I think I say that every year though…
I will live vicariously through you Jen!!
These are awesome!!! I love the Christmas lights. Your picture taking skills are kick-ass too… can I say ass on a blog?
You can say kick ass on here all you’d like! I swear like a sailor. These photos – I could write a post alone on what it’s really like to take pics for a blog when you live in a home in the suburbs and don’t have thousands of dollars for a lighting studio and photography gear.
Super cute! I think the ornaments are my fav.
These are just some kind of wonderful! I’m bookmarking this idea for next year – or maybe for random birthday cards. I think my daughter would love participating. Nice work!
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These are adorable!
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