Homemade Christmas Cards

Last year, I had extended the offer to make homemade Christmas cards on Facebook to those who were interested. After a much bigger response than I had anticipated I began doing 88 handmade cards each with a different design. I drew images on each one. While hating myself the whole time I was making them, seeing how much everyone enjoyed receiving the cards gave me that warm fuzzy Christmas feeling. I loved seeing pictures of people enjoying their own card. After all everyone loves getting mail, and everyone likes to feel special.

The Process

This year I have been fascinated with branching out to new techniques. I've always been intrigued by printing methods so I decided to delve into the world of stamps and block printing. So here are some work in progress shots of what I was doing. 

First, I drew out my designs, then traced them onto tracing paper. From there I would poke holes in the design with a pin onto the rubber. Once I could see the holes I re-drew the design and figured out which parts would remain.

The hardest part was remembering what had to stay for the image to be complete. I originally thought the designs I drew would be too complex to carve because it was difficult for me to do the little details.

Then I took a roller with ink and went over the design, pressed them to the card. It was difficult finding a place to grip it; pressing down enough to get the images to show up with the right amount of detail.

Overall I'm ecstatic with how these turned out and I hope everyone who receives them enjoys them and the amount of love and work that went into them. 

Here is a 30 second video of the process of one of the designs. The actual amount of time it took me was about an hour.

Each with a customizable dialogue box, this was my first design I attempted.

All of the cards lined up to dry

Once I had repeated this process enough times then it just became a game of coloring. Deciding what I wanted and where, leaving dialogue boxes so each could have a unique thought. I hope everyone who received a card truly cherishes them.

Just a few of my favorites after they had color added. The final look was worth all the hassle!

Thanks for looking! Happy Holidays!!!

-MARMS