How to Make Holiday Cards with Your Children

Creating homemade cards for holidays and special occasions can be a fun crafting project to do with your children. Making your own cards doesn’t need to be difficult or expensive. Read on to find out how to make holiday cards with your kids!

All cards start with paper. You can get basic white card stock at any office supply store, or you can visit a craft store for speciality card stocks and scrapbooking papers. You can also use art papers, like watercolor paper or mixed media paper, if you’d like to paint or draw on your card.

It’s easy to dress up plain card stock with a smaller piece of decorative paper attached to the front or inside, so you don’t need to buy a lot of paper to start with. Most craft stores sell individual sheets of 12"x12" decorative scrapbooking paper and colored card stock. You can also find textured card stock and even glitter card stock for special cards!

Most craft stores have a variety of supplies for card making, including stickers, die cuts, and brads. Stickers are available in a variety of themes and styles, including 3D stickers and sparkly stickers. You can further enhance your handmade cards by adding ribbon or brads. Brads can be used to hold items such as die cuts on the card without the use of an adhesive.

Stamps are another valuable card making tool, but not absolutely necessary. It’s easy to go overboard buying lots of cute stamps, but it’s best just to stick with one or two at first. Young children usually love stamps, but have poor handwriting compared to adults. Look for stamps with messages like "Happy Birthday" or "Merry Christmas" so younger children can stamp the cards instead of writing on them.

You will also need basic crafting supplies like glue sticks and scissors. You may want additional materials like markers, glitter, ribbons, and decorative tape, too.

If you don’t want to hunt all around the store assembling supplies, look for a card making kit. Card kits typically come with card blanks, envelopes, and various embellishments. Card kits aren’t always available, but are usually easy to find around holidays like Christmas and Valentine’s Day.

When it comes time to make your card, the easiest way to make the base is by cutting a piece of cardstock in half. Fold each piece in half again to create a basic card shape.

If you want to get more creative, you can make a shaped card. This is easy when you trace around a template! For example, you can use a heart template to make a homemade Valentine or a Christmas tree outline to create a unique holiday card.

To add decorative paper, cut a slightly smaller piece for the front or inside of the card and fasten it in place. You can glue it, or punch holes and tie it in place with ribbon or affix it with brads.

You can also cut multiple smaller shapes, like small hearts, and glue them in place. This is especially cute when you use glitter cardstock or a special pattered paper.

When it comes to decorating your card, your imagination is the only limit! Stamps and die cuts are an easy place to start, but you or your child may enjoy drawing or painting a picture, instead.

Making cards with your children is fun and the cards you create will be cherished by family members. Grand parents are usually especially happy to get a handmade card from a cherished grandchild! Making your own cards doesn’t need to be difficult or expensive. Grab some supplies and get started today!

Natasha is a certified high school history teacher and blogger at The Artisan Life where she shares her love of crafting and gratitude.