Handmade holiday greetings

If you’re like us, receiving a steady stream of envelopes in the mail in December (and not a bill among them!) is up there with the first snowfall and watching the same sappy movies time after time. And while some people are fine with e-mail or a phone call, there are those who appreciate that little something extra during the holidays. So this season, we asked design editor Ann Marie Favot to show us how to add a handmade element to cards for those special someones, using simple ideas and easy techniques.

Snowflake ornament card (shown above)
DIFFICULTY LEVEL: intermediate

You ’ll need:

• Pencil
• Scissors
• Coloured card stock
• Glue stick
• Thin ribbon
• Hot glue gun
• Decorative buttons

* Click here to download the card template. (download instructions below)

1. Lightly draw and cut out an ornament shape on coloured card stock. Use a glue stick to glue it to the front of the card. Lightly draw and cut out
a small cap for the ornament and glue it in place.

2. Cut thin strips of ribbon to decorate the ornament and use a hot glue gun to glue the decorative buttons in place.

Holiday lights card
DIFFICULTY LEVEL: expert

You ’ll need:

• Pencil
• Sewing needle and various coloured thread

* Click here to download the card template. (download instructions below)

1. Draw a twisting line with tiny bulbs on the card to look like a row of holiday lights. Keep bulbs very small so that you can fill them completely with the coloured thread.

2. Stitch along the twisting line with black thread, evenly spacing the stitches. Use coloured thread to stitch inside the bulb outlines in a zigzag pattern to resemble coloured lights. Evenly space the holes so that the ‘lights’ don’t fall out.

Instructions for downloading:

1. Click on the link below—it will open in a new window.

2. Wait for the picture to load, then...

For Windows users, right click on the image and click on "Save As" to save to your computer. Then open and print!

For Mac users, control click on the image and save to your Pictures folder or wherever else you usually store images. Then open and print!