Thursday, October 20, 2011

Christmas Cards - Have a Plan!

Yesterday, I shared a post about starting your Christmas cards, with the focus on Getting Inspired. I hope that today you feel inspired, but not overwhelmed, and as a result, excited about starting to create for this special time of the year.

The inspiration is a vital first step, but I believe it's followed closely by having a plan you can follow! Without a plan, all you have is a great idea to this year make your own Christmas cards, and I'd love it if this is the year you can make that goal happen!

Tomorrow I will talk a little bit about planning the design of your card(s), but today I thought it'd be a good idea to think about how many designs you might need or want. If you have a lot of names on your Christmas Card List, then I'd suggest one to three designs (depending on your level of expertise and how much time you have to make the cards). If your list is fairly short, you have the time and are feeling very creative, you may be able to get away with creating individual cards for everyone. A couple of years ago, a friend asked me to do make his Christmas cards for him. I said that I would, and had a design for him, which he liked, but he wanted the name of the person he was giving the card to on the front of the card. Because he had a short list (less than 20ppl), I was able to do this for him. The basic design was the same, so the only element on the card that changed, was the stamped name on the front. This was more time consuming than if I'd just stamped the one Christmas greeting on the front of the card, but it's still do-able. Or, you can choose to create a brand new design for each person you'll be giving a card to. If you choose to do this, make sure you have all the supplies you need first!

With just one design that you love, you simplify the task of creating Christmas cards. When choosing your design, keep in mind how readily you can purchase supplies both in the beginning, and later if you run out and need more. For example, buying patterned paper in a pack is great for colour co-ordinating, but if you use a quarter of a sheet on one card, and the pack only has two pages of that pattern, you'll only be able to make 8 cards.

No comments:

Post a Comment