We made an executive decision this Christmas, amongst family, to buy no cards. I feel like a bit of a Scrooge but every year, they stand on my cabinet and then get dumped in the recycling. There’s that constant list I have to get through; do I just buy a family one? Or do I buy brother and nephew? Nanny or Great Nanny? The dog? My daughter’s stuffed unicorn? The list can be huge and with everything else I have to do each year, cards will be one less thing. I’m not even sure if my daughter will be doing them this year due to her school regulations. It’s a sad time and this will change in the future. However, I don’t think I will be starting to buy cards again. However, this doesn’t mean I won’t be making any cards this year. I knew my Mum would be a bit miffed without a card from the girls, even if my brother-in-law didn’t care!! And I had a great idea with some of my scrapbooking supplies and bullet journalling kit – Christmas Scrapbook Style Cards!
This could be a great activity for the girls and produce cards for family, that they would want to actually keep!
Christmas Scrapbook Style Cards
I love to scrapbook. It is part of my blog name of course but like most things, after having 3 kids, I don’t have a lot of time anymore. However, I do have a lot of kit that me and the girls love to dip into now and then. So I thought it was perfect to use to make some cards.
I also bought some mini photos when I was bullet journalling earlier in the year from Inkifi. They are small sized and really cute! Perfect for small cards. Scrapbooking always uses photographs and base the designs around it. I think the photo element will work so well on a card too, as so many online designs now, like Moonpig, do similar.
I do have some co-ordinated scrapbooking kit from when I was subscribing to a kit from the States. Included is usually card, stickers, die-cuts and alphabet letters.
However you can get all sorts of things like this from Hobbycraft and The Range. Craftie Charlie is also another great website for card making and scrapbooking kit.
The cards are pretty easy to make when you get going.
Equipment Needed
– Mini Photos
– Plain coloured Cardstock. You can see this above
– Scissors and glue. I actually have a guillotine from my scrapping days and this is great for smooth, accurate cuts. Have to be very careful around the kids though!
– Christmas stickers
– Christmas themed cardstock
– Glitter (if you dare)
– Alphabet letter stickers
– Anything else! I had some Christmas paper clips in my kit. I have used buttons when scrapbooking, little wooden veneers, sticky dots, ribbon. The list is really endless, so worth browsing when picking your kit.
Method – Christmas Scrapbook Style Cards
Now with the kids, I tried to give them a little direction but ultimately they were going to do what they wanted. My eldest is 7 and she has done some scrapbooking with me before but my 4 year old was left to do what she wanted! And that’s fine but I had to sit on my hands to not interfere with her designs!!
I started by cutting some pink cardstock (12×12) into a smaller strip to be folded over to make a card. The size of the card is up to you. I went for a smaller almost square-like card shape. My eldest picked a more standard size. All depends on how much decorating you want to do! I used my guillotine for this.
Once you have cut the card, simply fold over. You may want to do this, as my girls trying to this, was a bit of a disaster!!
Layering up
With scrapbooking the trick is layering up your card, stickers and alphabet stickers.
I decided to mount my small photo on some card to make it stand out more and this is something I would do when making my scrapbooking pages. My eldest didn’t want to do this and I didn’t bother trying to make the 4 year old!
You then start to layer up your cardstock. You may use strips of cards, or shapes. You can see this below.
You can then stick your photo down and start adding your details.
I used a paper clip and a “Merry” die-cut (baseball some card especially cut out in a certain shape).
It was then a case of adding “christmas” using alphabet stickers and some other Christmas-themed stickers I had in my kit.
My eldest did the same inside her card too
This was my end result!
My eldest then got the glitter out and roped her sister in!!
However, I think their cards came out really well and I think my family will love them.
The girls really had fun with making their cards and it was so easy to do!
I love being able to get my scrapbooking kit out with the girls and making these cards will be lovely to give to family members. I think will need to make some more for the rest of the family!!
You don’t need lots of expensive craft equipment, as simple Christmas stickers and card works really well.
Happy Christmas crafting!
