Make Your Own Holiday Cards

Tis the season to be sending cards to one and all. How many of you design your own?

Fabric post cards? Cutouts? Painted designs? Multi-dimensional? Pop-up? I'd love to see what you're sending out this year.

Just email me a photo and I'll post it here.

If you're still looking for ideas. Here are a few that I found at a cute website PointclickHome.

I thought of this quirky, subversive stitcher bunch as soon as I saw this card. An ostrich with a candy cane in his mouth? What says Christmas any more than that? If you're a knitter -- an alpaca of course!

Then at the other end of the spectrum -- the more traditional birds in trees inspired by a combination of the family tree, O Tannenbaum, and Pennsylvania Dutch style. I found this one charming and may be just right for my family whose roots do head in that Germanic direction. Not just a holiday card, I suspect. Birthdays and all kinds of greetings could be fit under this charming tree -- as in this case 'Happy Winter.'

Christmas cards are especially dear to us since we're so far away from friends and family. Of course holiday greetings via email are just as warmly welcomed. But there is something special about finding letters and cards in the mailbox.

A scrapbooking friend makes the most delightful cards and I am in awe of her collection of stamps and do-dads and embellishments and paper cutter and paper and ideas. My fingers are itching to create something personal this year.

Another idea -- multi-dimensional or maybe pop-up. That sounds like it might take some math, so I'm not too sure about them. But the samples here might give you a couple ideas on how to make your own. Well, not that you really need any ideas.

And then there is just the cute, simple, adorable that plays off of well remembered Christmas traditions and themes such as the 12 days of Christmas -- the partridge in a pear tree. Or the eight lights of Chanukah? The menorah, so traditional -- well, maybe something a bit less traditional.... The eight match sticks?

Simple or embellished, glittery or embossed, inked or painted, beaded or appliqued or just a plain "Happy Holidays" -- they all convey the thought that we're thinking of one another during this holiday season. Now, get out the glue sticks, the Misty-Fuse, the scraps and odd bits you've picked up throughout the year and indulge your creative side once more.

And as this last card suggests, Have a Merry EVERYTHING!

Here's a snowy little man made by a Subversive Stitcher -- Chris Wheeler!

I make and trade Fabric Postcards. I have my own group on yahoo. You can read more about me and my blog, website and postcard group at my web site.

I decided a long time ago that these cards are tiny works of art and why should I go to the store to buy a card for the recipient to look at it for a few days and throw away. With these fabric cards you can keep them forever and display as art. If anyone is interested in more information on the cards and trading in our swaps please feel free to contact me. -- Chris Wheeler,

PO Box 170,  Locust Fork, AL 35097or at http://www.chriswheelerquilts.com/

Subversive Stitcher --

Pamela Allen

Pamela makes quite an assortment of cards. She offers samples of a few of her cards sent through the years.

She wrote "What FUN! I started the tradition years ago of making my own. And boy! With a family of 15 grandchildren that has added up to alot of cards over the years." She added that the last one features all the "family" elves.

You can see more of Pamela's work by clicking on her name listed under guest blog in the right column.

Subversive Stitcher -- Betyann Shaver

This is my Christmas postcard for this year.

This woven basket is on black/brown batik with silk ribbon, cotton floss and beads.

Betyann has a thoughtful and beautiful quilt on her blog site that she made for the Alzheimer Priority project.





Subversive Stitcher -- Kit Robinson
Here are a few of the Christmas cards I have made in the past few years. I make several of more or less the same design and send them out to friends and family. Check out my website. See below for information about how Kit made these cards.

The tree postcard was a picture from my imagination, and the others were cut out from Christmas and other fabrics and made into small abstracts. All of the cards were constructed with fabric pieces backed with Wonder Under and fused to a base fabric which had been prepared with Shirt Tailor fusible interfacing (a relatively heavy interfacing from Pellon). They were then made into a sandwich consisting of the top, Warm and White batting, and a muslin or other plain colored fabric backing and quilted with lots of sparkly threads. Finally, a light colored mottled batik was fused to the back to cover up the quilting, the edges were satin stitched with metallic threads and a personal message was written to the recipient with a fabric pen. Although I have used paints in some of my postcards, these particular postcards were not painted.

Subversive Stitcher: Kathleen Connors

Thanks very much for all the information, ideas and links that you share on your blog. I'm a quilter, and thoroughly enjoy learning about quilters and all needlework creators. And thank you for your call to share our handmade cards with you.

I've enclosed photos of two greeting cards that I've made. The first uses the Iris Folding technique, with fabric instead of paper. There are detailed instructions for Iris Folding available online, including how to draw a pattern for any design. It's great fun to do and can be taught to children.

The second card is an original needleturned applique winter scene, matted and mounted on a 5" x 7" blank card.

Small framed fabric landscapes, which I design as I cut the fabrics for the landscape, are a favorite of mine to make.

Subversive Stitcher: Norma Schlager
Here are the cards that I made this year.  I don't know why they were so hard to photograph, but they were.  The inserts are embossed velvet that I did.  I used two different stamps, one for friends, one for family.

Subversive Stitcher: Jane Stricker

For ten years, I have made cards using the faces of my grandchildren on computer drawn backgrounds. Here's one from this year and one from 6 years ago.

See how they have grown!