Every year around the start of November I drag out the same battered shoebox of stamps and cardstock, put on a cheesy holiday playlist, and start making Christmas cards at my kitchen table. It has become one of my favorite parts of the season, more than the shopping, definitely more than the wrapping. There is something about handing someone a card you actually made that a store-bought one never quite pulls off.
If you have been thinking about making your own cards this year but don’t know where to start, this is your nudge. I’ve pulled together the ideas I come back to every December, sorted roughly from “I’ve never made a card in my life” all the way up to “I own three die-cutting machines and I’m not sorry.” Grab a coffee and let’s find your kind of card.
What I Keep on the Table All Season
You can make every card on this list with a surprisingly short supply list. These five are the ones I reach for over and over, and they cover the beginner designs and the fancier ones alike:
- Pre-scored A2 card blanks with envelopes – Skipping the cut-and-score step is the single biggest time-saver for a big batch. Buy the ones that come with envelopes so you are not hunting for those in December.
- Scoring board and bone folder – If you would rather fold your own, this gives you a crisp, sharp crease instead of the soft rounded fold you get from a fingernail.
- Metallic gold and silver cardstock – A few sheets go a long way. Cut a small word or shape from this and it does the heavy lifting on an otherwise plain card.
- Acrylic stamp block set – Nobody tells beginners they need these, and then their clear stamps sit unused in the packet. A few sizes covers everything.
- Foam mounting squares – Two dollars, and they are the difference between a flat card and one with actual dimension. I go through packs of these every season.
Start Here If You’ve Never Made a Card
You genuinely do not need much. A pack of nice cardstock, something to cut it straight, and one good adhesive will get you a stack of cards in an afternoon. If you want the full beginner rundown before you buy anything, our card making for beginners guide walks through the absolute basics without overwhelming you.
Looking for card making supplies? Browse our monthly kits - each one includes coordinated papers, stamps, and embellishments perfect for handmade cards.
The trick for total beginners is to keep the design stupidly simple. A single tree shape on a cream background. One word in the center. A row of three tiny ornaments. Simple reads as elegant when the paper and the folds are clean, and it saves you from fussing over a busy layout that fights you the whole way.
Simple Cardstock Cut-Out Cards
This is the lowest-effort, highest-payoff category, and honestly some of my favorite cards live here. You take two colors of cardstock, cut a simple festive shape from one, and layer it onto the other. A white tree on forest green. A gold star on deep navy. A little brown reindeer silhouette on kraft.
If you have a cutting machine you can knock out dozens of these in minutes, but plain scissors and a steady hand work fine too. Add a bit of dimension with foam mounting squares under the shape so it lifts off the card and casts a soft shadow. That one two-dollar trick is the difference between “flat kid’s craft” and “oh, you made this?”
For a whole gallery of layout ideas you can borrow, our card making ideas page has designs you can adapt to any holiday.
Classic Stamped Christmas Cards
Stamping is where a lot of people fall in love with card making, and for good reason. One good stamp set plus a few ink colors gives you endless cards. A Christmas stamp set with a mix of sentiments and images (trees, holly, “Merry Christmas,” a little snowman) is the workhorse of the season.
Pair it with a couple of ink pads in classic red, green, and a warm gray, and you can stamp a repeating pattern for a background, a single focal image, or a hand-lettered-looking sentiment. Stamp the same image in a grid across the front for a modern look, or one big image centered for something clean and traditional. If stamping is totally new to you, our how to make greeting cards walkthrough covers inking and pressing so your images come out crisp.
Heat-Embossed Cards That Look Expensive
If you want the “wait, you made this?” reaction, heat embossing is the move. You stamp with a sticky embossing ink, dust the wet ink with embossing powder, shake off the extra, and hit it with a heat tool until it melts into a raised, glossy, foil-like finish. Gold embossing on a dark card is peak Christmas.
It sounds fussy and it takes about three tries to get the hang of, but the payoff is huge. You’ll want a basic embossing powder and heat tool set to start, plus that sticky ink. We have a whole heat embossing guide that covers the technique step by step, including how to stop the powder sticking where you don’t want it (the classic beginner headache).
Gold, silver, and white powders on kraft or navy cardstock make some of the most giftable cards you can produce at home. These are the ones people keep on the mantel.
Die-Cut and Layered Cards
Once you’ve caught the bug, dies open up a whole new level. A cutting machine plus a set of Christmas dies lets you cut crisp, intricate shapes – snowflakes, layered trees, script “Joy” and “Noel” words, delicate borders – that would be nearly impossible with scissors.
The magic of dies is layering. Cut the same snowflake in three sizes and stack them. Cut a word in gold foil cardstock and pop it over a stamped background. Build a little scene with a die-cut hill, a few trees, and a scattering of tiny stars. If you’re shopping for a machine or building out your die stash, our card making supplies page lays out what’s worth the money and what you can skip.
Layered die-cut cards photograph beautifully too, which matters if you like to share your makes online.
Watercolor and Painted Cards
For a softer, artsier feel, reach for paint. You do not need to be an artist. Some of the prettiest watercolor Christmas cards are just loose, imperfect washes – a blurry evergreen, a wash of blue with white splatter for snow, a simple wreath of green dabs with tiny red dots for berries.
A small watercolor paint set and some heavier watercolor cardstock is all you need. Let the water do the work and lean into the wobbliness. Loose and handmade is the whole charm here, and it’s oddly relaxing to make a batch of these with a cup of tea while it snows outside. Pair a painted panel with a stamped or die-cut sentiment for a card that looks like it came from a boutique.
Rustic Kraft and Twine Cards
If your taste runs cozy and natural rather than shiny and bright, kraft cardstock is your friend. That warm brown paper base makes red, cream, and green pop, and it instantly reads as handmade-farmhouse.
Wrap a bit of bakers twine across the front, tie a tiny bow, add a stamped or die-cut tag, and you’ve got a card with real texture. A sprig of faux greenery, a button “ornament,” or a strip of buffalo-check paper leans right into the rustic look. These are forgiving, fast, and they always look intentional even when you’re improvising.
Cards Kids Can Help Make
If you’ve got little ones, roll them into the assembly line. Fingerprint lights on a painted string, potato-stamped trees, cotton-ball snowmen, handprint reindeer – these are the cards grandparents genuinely cherish. Keep the supplies washable and the expectations loose. Perfect is not the goal; the wonky charm is the entire point, and it takes the pressure off you too.
Supplies That Make a Big Batch Actually Doable
Here’s the reality nobody warns you about: making one card is a delight, and making forty for your whole list is a slog if you’re not set up right. A few things save the season.
Set up an assembly line rather than finishing one card at a time. Cut all your bases first, stamp all your images, then glue everything in one pass. Keep a stack of A2 envelopes on hand so you’re not scrambling for those at the end (this is always the thing I forget). A reliable tape runner adhesive beats a glue stick for speed and won’t wrinkle your layers. And a decent paper trimmer makes cutting bases to size fast and square instead of a scissor-and-ruler ordeal.
Pick one or two designs and repeat them across the batch. You’ll get faster with each card, they’ll look like a cohesive set, and you won’t burn out three cards in.
If you would rather not piece a supply list together yourself, here are the card-making tools and materials I actually keep on my table through the holiday batch:
Give It a Try This Year
You don’t have to pick the fanciest idea on this list. Start with the layered cardstock cut-outs or a simple stamped design, make five, and see how it feels. My guess is you’ll get that little hit of pride handing the first one over, and next year you’ll be the person dragging out a shoebox in November with a cheesy playlist on.
Whatever you make, homemade beats store-bought every single time, wonky edges and all. Happy crafting, and merry making.
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Every month we put together a box of coordinated papers, embellishments, and supplies that all work together. Open the box, start creating. It's that simple.