Quick and Simple Christmas Cards

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A simple Christmas card design that I have returned to again and again is to create your own Christmas tree stamp from a kitchen sponge. It can easily be stamped onto card using cheap paints and decorated in many ways, depending on how much time you have or if the kids want to help.

Get all of your supplies ready; green paint, kitchen sponge, old plate or meat tray, newspaper and your blank cards, already folded in half. An old towel or paper towel to clean up any spills is always a good idea.

Cut out a tree shape out of your sponge. If you feel you are artistically challenged, simply cut out a long triangle, with a small square at the bottom. You can always make it more intricate if you are feeling particularly inspired.

Let’s get the kids involved – put the green paint onto the old plate and squish the sponge into it. Do a few test stamps first onto the newspaper, until you get a clear print across the whole shape. Line it up with the blank card, checking it will open the right way, and press the sponge down gently. Then lift it straight up and move onto the next card.

Check each print to see if you need to add more paint. Take care when moving the newly printed cards. Leave them to dry. Check your hands often to see if you are getting too much paint on them – take a break to wash hands to prevent smudgy prints on your lovely cards.

When the cards are dry it is time to decorate them. See what you have on hand – some sparkly stickers or stars? Some glitter glue? Any small bits of paper you have kept, just in case?

A simplest way to decorate your tree is to use an ordinary office holepunch (empty out the office waste first) and punch coloured paper or old magazines, creating lots of coloured circles. Remove them from the holepunch base and stick using a glue stick them onto your trees to look like Christmas baubles.