Making Your Own Family Christmas Card

It is one thing to go to the store and buy an impersonal Christmas card however no matter how expensive or heartfelt it is this is exactly the kind of card that quickly ends up in the garbage bin. This is because simply buying a greeting card in a store does not seem very sincere or intimate to others. A photo Christmas card however conveys the message that you have spent some money and gone to a little more effort to impress the person that is receiving your holiday greeting.

Thanks to advances in digital photography and computer photography sending a family photo is no longer a big deal. Digital cameras allow you to take the photograph immediately and retake any photographs that don't turn out well. Real film is rarely used anymore to create a photo card so they are quite cheap to have created professionally or to create yourself. Making your own family photo christmas card is especially a snap thanks to simple design programs (both online and that you can buy) that allow you to attach a photo to your own design and print it right off of your computer. That is yet another thing that technology has saved us all from recently – the time, anxiety and expense of waiting for ages for a printed photo christmas card set to come back from the printer's.

There is no right way to create a christmas photo for your card. In this day and age the more creative and more casual the card is, the more fashionable it is. The design of the photo Christmas card has come a long way since the family had to line up all in arrow dressed in their Sunday best. Nowadays you are more likely to see a photo Christmas card where the whole family is dressed up as Santa, or performing an activity that has little to do with Christmas such as waterskiing. In fact nowadays, the less the card has to do with the Christian form of holiday greeting, the more politically correct it is. The traditional sight of snow and Santa and references to the Christ Child may be left out of the card's message altogether.

It is quite easy to create your own cards. Many people creating do-it-yourself photo Christmas cards get inspiration from scrapbooking ideas or simply by looking around on the Internet and graphics and different fonts. The idea is to keep the project as simple as possible. Most beginning designers make the mistake of biting off more than they can chew and then abandon their do-it-yourself photo Christmas card when it proves to be too difficult to complete.

If designing your own card is beyond you, then you can always farm out the creation of your photo Christmas card to a professional who can make sure it is designed and printed properly for you.

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Christmas Crafts for You and the Kids

If you like Christmas crafts there is no shortage of directions for how-to projects both on and online. On the internet you will find do it yourself projects for every type of Christmas craft imaginable. Women's magazines are also full of ideas for Christmas crafts at this time of the year.

If you are stuck for inspiration as to what types of Christmas crafts you could make this year here are some ideas –

Try baking your own shortbread cookies, decorating them with colored icing and decorative silver balls and stringing them on shiny ribbon or fish line. One good shortbread recipe can provide you with scores of cheap and creative looking cookie Christmas tree decorations. You can cut the shapes of common Christmas motifs out of dough with a knife or you can buy shapes like Christmas trees, Christmas balls, snowmen and angels as cookie cutters from a store. Perhaps the easiest shape to make out of shortbread is the Christmas ball. Simply cut the ball shape out of the dough with the rim of a glass and lavishly decorate it with candy glitter.

You can also make your own Christmas tree garlands. This is one of those ancient Christmas crafts that can be a group activity for you and your family. Simply stringing popcorn on a string makes very attractive garlands. You can also try stringing nuts or cranberries for an unusual effect. Garlands can also be made out of gold or aluminum foil that is cut up and twisted in loops that hook into each other.

It is also fun to make your own Christmas tree decorations. These types of Christmas crafts can be made from almost anything including Styrofoam, play dough, cooking' crystals and ribbons. One clever idea is to buy a box of plain glass balls and then make patterns with glue on their sides. The idea is that you then roll them in glitter to create a sparkling yet merry pattern.

If you are really ambitious you can also try making your own Christmas candles. One of the simplest ways is to buy sheets of beeswax and then roll them up to create unique one of a kind candle centerpieces. You can also melt wax in a double boiler and make your own candles. There are commercial scents such as pine and cinnamon available on the market that is specifically created for making these types of Christmas crafts smell nice. You can also buy candle molds in the shapes of popular holiday motifs such as evergreen trees, snowmen and stars.

Sitting around with your family to make xmas crafts together, even it if it is as simple as handmade Christmas cards is a great way to strengthen your loving bonds with each other at holiday time.

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