For the past several years I have wanted to make Christmas cards for my loved ones, but I just never seem to be able to actually get around to making them. For the past several years I have also been slightly obsessed with hand-lettering. I have never been big on doodling, but when I do doodle, it is usually working on my hand-lettering skills. My sketchbook has a number of practice hand-lettering sketches. If you put Christmas cards and hand-lettering together, then this is what you get:
Now, although I am a kind-of art major, I don’t have any formal training in hand-lettering of any sort, even calligraphy. So if I can do these, so can anyone that has a bit of artistic ability. Please note that these did take me a very long time to make and I would not want to make them in bulk. I needed five cards, which was about all I could have handled. You could, however, scan the originals and then print them onto other cards if you wanted to make a lot.
I simply looked up hand-lettered Christmas cards on Pinterest, and used those as my inspiration. The designs are copied, not my own (just to clarify).
Some of the designs were much simpler, others were more complex (and harder to do). I drew a basic outline first in pencil (very lightly), then went over the outline and filled in/bulked up as needed to copy the originals. I used a SharpiePen, but any super-fine-tip marker/pen should work- I would recommend the kind found at art stores.
Although it was time-consuming and made my thumb go numb for a couple of hours (I don’t know why it did that, but it’s fine now!), it was fun and I am really pleased with the results.
My personal favorites are the first and last ones pictured here. So, if you’re looking for a super-special card, these are your ticket!
**Throughout the month of December I will be sharing Christmas-y things. You can check out my previous Christmas-related posts by clicking on the links below:
A Christmas Tradition: Cutting Down the Christmas Tree
DIY Hand-Decorated Ceramic Mugs
