October is gone, November is here, it’s getting dark earlier (for those of us in the Northern hemisphere), it’s getting cold…. it’s also getting closer to more of those holidays that call for gathering together and gifts. For us, the gatherings will not be so full of people, that’s one of the disadvantages (or some might call it an advantage) of living far from family. But with the various delivery options available to us, the gifts part is still a big part of the holidays.
Choosing to voluntarily live a more simple life, we have had to make adjustments about how and what we spend, the holidays are no exception. For us, we have never been big gift givers, oh over the years when we felt more financially stable, we would give more gifts, but for the most part, money wasn’t readily available for things like that. But homemade gifts are always a good fallback and who doesn’t appreciate a homemade gift?
If this is something you are considering, then NOW is the time to start, you don’t want to be in the position I have been in before, 1 week from Christmas and nary a homemade gift is ready, the insanity ensues after that.
One of the things I enjoy making are my own Christmas cards, even if I don’t get anything else made, those are one of the easiest and least expensive things to create. The cool thing is you don’t have to be an artist to make your own cards. Last year I made 20 something cards, yes I waited until the last minute to do it, this year I will make even more cards and have grand plans to start early (like NOW).
Making your own cards can be as simple as buying a pack of 8.5×11 cardstock in white
, you fold them in half and create your card on one side and write something nice on the inside. You can go all out and do the whole scrapbooking thing with the stamps-cutouts-fancy paper, I personally never got into that, I just keep it simple and quick. Starting sooner rather than later is also a good thing, nothing stifles creativity than having a deadline that is impossible to hit.
Here are a few of the cards I created last year, you can see more of them on my doodling blog. Feel free to use my designs for your inspiration, but please draw them yourself, they aren’t hard to do and it will be much more satisfying if you create them yourself :)
If you don’t feel creative enough to draw your own designs, then go online and do a Google search for Christmas scenes, or winter scenes, try to pick out simple scenes, line art is always good. You need not copy these works, but use them for inspiration, you aren’t creating museum quality pieces, just a little something from your heart and hands.
I like adding color to my cards, you can use inexpensive markers, crayons, colored pens, watercolor, it’s up to you how far you wish to go. Play around with it first, don’t worry about making mistakes, after all, it’s only a piece of paper.
I’d love to hear about and even see your work is you choose to do this, what other homemade gifts do you do? Let me know in the comments below, I love being inspired by what other people do.
Here are a few Google searches that will help get you started
Christmas scenes line art
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