The art of homemade Christmas cards

CEBU, Philippines - In this digital age, almost everything is done with just a click of the finger. This is most so in the area of interpersonal communication. Even holiday greetings have already become mostly electronic.

Because it is now so easy to exchange personal regards - via various online media - the communication is less sentimental. Both parties tend to question each other's sincerity, thinking that one remembers the other simply because their names are in the "phonebooks" or "mailing lists" of their respective gadgets. It seems that the meaning of an act is inversely proportionate with the degree of ease in doing it.

It is rare nowadays that an actual Christmas card, for example, is sent. Thus, when one receives a Christmas card these days, it is sure to be treasured. More so if the card is the sender's own creation, something made by his own hands.

Back in the days when technology had not yet overtaken human effort, people loved to make their own greeting cards. Handmade cards were once a popular art-and-craft form. Senders had much fun doing it - and recipients were always blown away as they got one.

Making Christmas cards is not rocket science. The cards are easy enough to make in bulk or pretty enough to design for just a few special people. These are really valuable, because they represent their makers' time and effort - and carry the best intentions, of course. 

Here are ideas, from www.bhg.com, for handmade Christmas cards.

Christmas Tree Card with Buttons. Dress up a plain white card in minutes with patterned paper cut into a half-Christmas tree shape. Adorn the tree with color-coordinating buttons adhered with small amounts of glue, and finish with a star sticker on the top of the tree.

Colorful Christmas Trees Card. Create this pretty Christmas tree scene for your holiday card with scrapbook paper. Fold an 8 ½- by 5 ½-inch piece of white cardstock in half to make the card. Cut a wavy line from a 2-inch strip of blue or teal scrapbook paper; adhere to the top of the card. Cut 4 to 6 triangles each from green and blue scrapbook paper as shown; adhere to the card in three rows, leaving a space at the right of the second row for the larger tree.

In the empty space in the second row, hot-glue a tiny twig to the card. Cut a large triangle from a piece of patterned paper; adhere to the card using a crafts foam dot so that it lines up with the twig to make a 3-D Christmas tree. Finish the large Christmas tree by attaching sequins to the scrapbook paper and sticking on a glittery star for the tree topper.

Felt Santa Claus Christmas Card. This fun felt Santa Claus is a merry way to send good tidings at Christmas. Using patterns, cut the pieces for Santa's beard and hat from red, green, pink, dark gray, and white felt. Cut a 5 ½-inch circle from peach cardstock and glue to a same size piece of white cardstock - you'll write your Christmas greeting on the back. Starting with Santa's beard, glue on the white pieces of felt in layered rows, starting at the bottom of the card. Add the mustache, mouth, cheeks, and eyes.

Cut two 5-inch strips each from red, green, and pink felt. Braid together to form the two strings in Santa's hat, adhering each to the card about 2 inches from the bottom. Next, cut the middle part of the hat from green felt and attach each side to the card atop the braided felt. Cut the felt stripes from a pattern in your own mix of colors, and adhere to the card. Add a festive sprig of felt holly with berries on top of Santa's hat to finish the card.

Holly Jolly Christmas Card. Decorate a folded off-white piece of cardstock with a few buttons, green cardstock leaves, and a stitched trim. Personalize the card with a handwritten greeting. To make the leaves shine, coat cardstock with dimensional adhesive, let dry, and cut out the leaf shapes.

Homemade Christmas Bird Card. These sweet and festive birds will bring the gladdest of tidings with this easy-to-make set of cards. Referring to the photo, cut out bird shapes from scraps of green and red cardstock. Use a ¼-inch circle punch to punch out hat pom-poms from white cardstock and eyes from black cardstock for the birds. Cut out hat shapes from red and green cardstock, hatbands from white cardstock, and wing shapes from patterned cardstock.

Fold 4 ¼- by 5 ½-inch pieces of white cardstock in half. Lightly draw bird legs on the front of each card with a pencil; draw over pencil lines with a black ink pen.

Cut out beak shapes from black cardstock; glue the flat end to the back of each bird body. Stick a bird to the front of each card using small amounts of glue. Glue hatband and pom-pom to hat; set hat aside. Machine-stitch the wing to body, and then the body to the card front. Glue the hat in place.

Recycled Magazine Christmas Card. Send a unique Christmas card made from a collage of recycled magazine pages to a few special people this year. Fold an 8 ½ by 5 ½-inch piece of white cardstock in half to make the card. Look through a few magazine issues to find photos and words you want to highlight. Cut images into strips to fit the card and stick them as desired. (Alternate black-and-white with color strips for a cool effect.) Dress up the envelope by cutting a single photo to fit the envelope's opening.

Bow-Tied Christmas Card. A diamond-shape piece of patterned paper stamped with a short-and-sweet greeting and topped with a bow pops against the vibrant background of this holiday card, a piece of cardstock folded in half. Give the patterned-paper mat a solid cardstock border for a polished finish.

Musical Greeting Card. This card will jingle all the way to the mailbox. Simple grosgrain ribbon frames a neat square of layered handmade papers. To complete the look, arrange and glue miniature bells in a wreath shape and top with a tidy grosgrain ribbon bow.