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And don't stop at personalized Christmas cards, either. Create customized
- thank-you notes,
- Christmas dinner party invites,
- menu cards,
- or gift tags for your Christmas presents!
The free custom Christmas card design on this page has four elements:
- a folded card
- a ‘clasp’/gift tag
- a paper insert
- a ‘seal’ for the back of the envelope.
The basic idea is to print your Christmas greetings on a sheet of letter paper, fold & insert that into a card, and use a gift tag like a ‘peg’ to close the card. You put repositionable glue under the front flap so the card can be opened without destroying the clasp (sounds complicated, but when you see the instructions it’s very simple).So, how do you turn this idea into your personalized Christmas card?
Your Own Custom Christmas Cards
For example, instead of an insert with a Christmas greeting (click here for some Christmas quotes), you could write a friends-&-family newsletter with a special, personal paragraph added at the top for each recipient.
The most fun way, though, of turning the design into a personalized Christmas card is by playing around with the clasp.
Customize the Clasp
If you're downloading my design, customize it by writing the recipient’s initial into the red star (with a fancy pen).
But why not cut clasps out of colored card and add your own pictures? Here are a few ideas for the types of images that will work as cut-outs:
* A picture of your home at Christmas - use a lovely detail, like the wreath on the door, or the snow on your porch chairs, or a detail of your Christmas tree.* A photo of outdoor Christmas decorations - at your home, or down the high street. Here, too, details look much more interesting and work better than a tiny photo of the whole decoration, house, or street.
* A color photocopy of a (kids’) Christmas drawing.
* Kids’ handwriting - have one of the little ones in your family write “Merry” and “Christmas” with color crayons. Cut the words out, arrange one above the other and reduce in size with a color photocopier.
* You could take the idea of a personalized Christmas card even further, and give each recipient an individual picture on the clasp.
* If you’re creating custom thank-you notes, use a fun picture of the person sending the thanks.
* If you’re making menu cards, you could fix a menu insert to the inside of the card with the clasp, or with a ‘seal’ of your choice (there's a picture of that at the top of this page).
I’m really interested to see what your personalized Christmas cards will look like! So do let me know, and send a picture, too!
How to Make the Card
If you want to use my design to create your custom Christmas cards, you’ll need:
- blank, colored cards (matching envelopes optional)
- access to a good inkjet color printer
- Matte inkjet photo paper (at least 170g/sq. m.)
- Regular A4 (office/business quality) printer paper for the inserts
- Scissors or a craft knife and a self-healing cutting mat
- a (metal) ruler
- repositionable glue and
- permanent glue.
Download the instructions (below) and use the design ‘as is’, or adapt it to your needs and tastes (you may need materials that aren’t on the list above).
To Download …
… you will need Adobe Reader (the latest version is recommended) installed on your computer in order to open and print the instruction (1) and the Christmas card elements (2 & 3). You can get Adobe Reader here (a new window will open so you can download it without leaving this page).
If you want to open the files in your browser window, just click on the links. However, if you want to download the files to view later, then right-click on the links and choose "Save Target As" or "Save File As." Then select where you want to save the file on your hard drive.
Once you have saved the file, locate where you saved it, and double click to open.
In order to print, open the downloaded file, and select the "Print" option from the menu. For best results, print the seals/clasps on a color printer where you can specify paper quality (‘matte photo paper’) and print quality (choose the highest possible print quality).
Right-click to download the
Instructions (1) here.
Right-click to download the
Seals (2) here.
And right-click to download the Clasp/Gift Tag (3) sheet here.
One word of caution:
This is a copyrighted Christmas card design, and you cannot sell it, or any products you make from it. You are, however, welcome to use it for as many of your own, personalized Christmas cards as you like.
If you’re the crafting kind, you might also be interested in some of the articles below:
Christmas paper crafts: lovely, inexpensive holiday craft gifts that are easy to send in the post
Old-fashioned (and easy-to-make) Christmas tree crafts
How to make Christmas tree balls
A decorating idea for your Christmas table
Christmas decorating with a flavor
Christmas ideas with candles
Christmas quotes - what to do with them, and where to find more
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