Think Crafts Blog – Craft Ideas and Projects – CreateForLess

By Recycled Crafts Contributor, Anitra from the blog “Coffee Pot People”.

I make the same resolution every year: Next year I’ll send out hand-made, personalized Christmas cards. This year marks the second time I’ve been able to follow through on that, and I’d like to share my easy-peasy personalized card idea with you. It comes courtesy of a new love: Paper punches!

To make your cards, you’ll need:

• A 1″ (2.5 cm) circle punch
• Appropriate Christmas/Holiday cards
• Photos of your children, family, etc. Wallet-size are great for this.

First a word about the cards: The ones you’ll see here are either bought at the thrift store, or retrieved from the dozens I’ve saved from past years. As you see, there are many designs just waiting to be personalized, and if you also save the cards others send you, their fronts make great postcards! They’re easier on our Earth, take less postage, and reduce the compulsion to write long greetings. (That one always gets me—there’s so much white area inside most cards, I feel guilty just signing our names!)

What you’re looking for in a card is a design that either has circles, or where circles would look natural. We’re going to use the circle punch because it’s basic but versatile.

For my first card, I chose one with three snowmen:

As  you can see, that very simple circle punch can be useful, indeed.

Next, a reindeer with decorated antlers. Why shouldn’t family members be the ornaments?

So far, all the cards have been flat, but that simple circle perfectly fits a bottle cap:

Be aware, though, that you’ll want to put a little foam rubber or bubble wrap over the bottle cap, and that anything that isn’t flat will require extra postage. It’s worth it though, for those Very Special People on your card list!

One last example that uses the circle punch, a tag punch, and a lacy edge punch, visual proof that punches can be addictive, especially if you noticed the scalloped circle and flower in the very first photo!