12 Ideas For Personalised Christmas Cards & Ecards

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Hand Made Greetings For A Covid Christmas

This year’s Covid Christmas will likely look very different for those that celebrate the season. Whatever happens and however it looks, you can still keep in touch with family and friends, and making your own Christmas cards is one way of spreading some festive cheer. Whether you’re a fan of Xmas crafts or not, there are plenty of simple ways to jazz up your cards to make your recipient smile. If you’re chronically ill and low on energy, you can always personalise a store bought card.

Here are 12 tips for creating beautiful physical cards & virtual greetings ecards this Christmas. 

1. Idea Generation

If you’re doing one design for multiple recipients, let your imagination and creativity run wild. If you’re customising a design for a specific person, then give some thought as to what they might like. Contemporary or traditional? Sweet or straightforward? Streamlined or homely? Classic or cartoon? If you think it might raise a much-needed chuckle, consider comedy or novelty designs. 

Get some inspiration online, where you’ll find a wealth of images to spark your creative juices. Pinterest or general Google searches are good places to start. 

2. Pop-Up Surprises

If you’re feeling creative, have a go at a pop-up card. It’s more straightforward than it sounds to make, especially if you keep the design simple. Surprise your recipient with a pop-up Christmas tree or bauble as they open their card to put a smile on their face.

3. Experiment With Pens

If you’re making your own card or just writing inside a pre-bought one, try experimenting with the types of pens you’re using. Skip the biro and try colourful felt tips, block letter with some Sharpies or try your hand at some calligraphy. It’s a simple way to jazz things up, which is great if you’re low on time or energy.

4. Bring It To Life With Photo Cards

Photos give any card a personal touch, and you can save money by making your own. Upload your photo to the front of the card, or make a collage if you’ve got a few pics you want to make use of. Add some Christmas detailing like ivy, bells or Christmas tree icons to decorate around the image(s).

5. Stick It

Adding some small stickers is another low-energy option for home made DIY cards or store-bought cards. You can purchase stickers fairly cheaply, and they needn’t be Christmas themed. If you can’t get any, you can make some yourself or print some small icons off Canva to use as stickers.

These can go inside your card or on the envelope, just to provide a sweet, thoughtful touch. I tend to add a small shiny sticker or two to the back of an envelope after sticking it down.

6. Create For Free With Canva

Canva is a fantastic resource for creativity and many, myself included, use it for blogging. It’s free to sign up and use. There’s also a Pro version, which provides access to a far greater number of features for a monthly fee.

There are numerous pre-made templates for an array of projects, so you can pick a greetings card template and get the basics done for you. From there, you can upload photos and personalise your card, select from free (or purchasable) icons and pictures like trees, wreaths, stars and candy canes, and add your own text. You can of course start from a blank page if you wish, giving you the full freedom of choice for how you want your card to look. 

The card can be downloaded in different formats (such as Jpeg) to send as an eCard or to be printed. If you’re taking the printable route, fold a piece of card in half and stick your square or rectangular one-page Canva design on the front. You can add pages to your Canva design if you want to develop a full card, allowing you to write your inside message on the next page.

7. Have Fun With Fonts

I’m a sucker for fonts and the unique effects they can bring to any design. The abundance of styles means that your choices are potentially limitless, especially when going digital. Have some fun and play around with various fonts in different colours and sizes, bringing new life to your creations with just a click of a button.

Although the default fonts available in your computer’s word document software or on the free version of Canva will always be rather limited, there are oodles of options elsewhere. Check out Font Bundles for a super range of styles, with plenty of freebie fonts to choose from. You’ll be spoilt for choice with pages of beautiful, distinctive, quirky and stunning fonts, and you can download as many as you want. 

All you need to do is click to download the font you’ve got your eye on, and a zipped folder will be delivered to your computer. Unzip it and you’ll find the font, plus some helpful information on how to use it. 

You can use FontBundles fonts with your own software or upload them to Canva. To use the latter, you’ll need a Canva Pro account. If you’re new to Canva, you might be offered a free month as a trial, so it’s always worth having a look whether you’re eligible. If not, treat yourself to a month of Pro for access to heaps of new photos and features, which could great timing for all the creations you can make throughout Christmas and New Year. 

With Canva Pro, you can upload the fonts you select from FontBundles and use them on any of your designs. Go to your brand kit page and to the bottom right you’ll find the button to upload your font. You’ll never have a boring design ever again with so many funky fonts!

8. Insert Festivity Here

There’s something special about getting physical post, especially in the age of the Internet as the thrill of seeing the postie come to the letterbox becomes increasingly rare. Add a handwritten or typed letter to your card to turn your greeting into a casual chat, letting your recipient know any updates you have, asking how they are, and showing that you care.

You could also use Canva or your computer software to create an entertaining insert rather than a card itself. You could make a photo collage to pop inside your card, a page of festive jokes, or a funny meme to make your recipient laugh. Play around with icons, borders and fonts to make your design eye-catching. 

9. Let’s Get 3D Physical

Love getting hands on with crafting? Give your physical card another dimension with felt, glitter, dyes, stamps, ribbons and buttons. You could also use paper cutting techniques to make up a 3D image, like a Christmas tree or wrapped present. A card can be taken from simple to extraordinary with just a few extras, so you don’t need to go over the top or even spend much (if any) money. Attending to the details shows you’ve put time and care into your mini masterpiece, which will be a priceless gift in itself.

10. Gift Card Holder

Take your card a step further by making it into a gift card holder. If you want to gift your recipient a store card, like for Amazon or a supermarket so they can treat themselves or put the voucher towards something they need, then you can develop this into your greeting card design. Double up the card you wish to use for the front page and cut the second layer on top a little shorter to act as a pocket for the gift voucher to sit in. 

11. Your Art On Display

If you enjoy making art, whether it’s by hand or digital, then you could add this to your card. It’s more straightforward if it’s digital art and already on your computer, but if it’s on a piece of paper then try scanning it in or taking a photograph then uploading it to your card design. Don’t forget to sign your masterpiece! 

A great way for children to get involved is with adding fingerprints or hand prints to the design, which is a very literal & unique way of personalising your card.

12. A Cute Cutout Keepsake

Give your recipient something to cherish, at least for this Christmas. A cutout keepsake is a sweet, novel token that can be built into your card. You can have it on the front part of the card, where the recipient just pops out the keepsake or detaches it from some sticky tape. Alternatively, it could be included separately inside the card. It can be any shape and designed for a range of purposes.

For example, try a tree ornament by attaching piece of string on top of the design, create a cutout with a safety pin on the back so the recipient can wear it as a badge, transform the design into a sticker if you have some adhesive vinyl, or make your recipient a personalised bookmark.

Will you be sending Christmas cards this Christmas?

Caz  ♥

[ This is a sponsored post & advertisement feature written by myself. The opinions expressed here are my own ]