Hi folks, the countdown is on, I have presents to wrap (in some cases buy!), cookies to bake, a house to clean…then my husband asks “Do you have any more Christmas cards left?”
Never fear the Frugal Crafter is here! Here is a way to make quick handmade cards and envelopes! The envelope is made in Design Studio (free version here) and the George cartridge and cut with my little cricut. You can get one invitation size (half a sheet of 8.5×11 cardstock folded in half) envelope out of a 6″x12″ piece of paper. This pattern leaves very little waste and the best thing is you can use up all of the leftover paper from those seasonal stacks! *Note I did not make a SCAL version because everyone with scal has at least the trail version of DS and if you have the personal Cricut (the one that cuts 6″x12″) you can cut this file for free. Also the cutting area in Design studio is 1/4″ larger and you need that extra room to make this envelope work. That said you can download my .cut file here. When folding the envelope, fold the bottom flap up and the sides over it then place the bottom fold over the side flaps and glue. Place your card in the envelope and fold the top flap down. You will have 1/2 ” overlap to work with so this is best for flat cards (not thick embellished ones.)
The cards were fun to make. I took two of my son’s drawings, scanned and reduced them so two would fit on a sheet of 8.5×11″ cardstock, printed them and cut the sheets in half. Fold them and you are done.
Here is a quick teacher gift. I downloaded the vintage clip art from Vintage Image Craft, they have lots of good holiday projects there too BTW if you need a last minute gift. I took a 3″x7″ strip of red vellum and accordion folded it and stapled it in the middle then spread out the pleats and glued them on with hot glue. I added buttons with the glue as well. You can grab the printable pattern or SVG file and instructions here.
More holiday crafts/freebies and such tomorrow! Happy Crafting!