Malmberg Christmas Cards From Start to Finish
Posted by Brenna Malmberg
Merry Christmas from Cole & Brenna!
Can you believe it? Only seven day until Christmas. Personally, we are ready for this wonderful holiday: gifts bought, crafts complete, plane tickets purchased and Christmas cards sent. And let me share the last one with you.
I enjoy creating a custom card for us, and this year I put my new calligraphy and hand lettering skills to use. I posted my "Joy, Peace & Happiness" background at the start of the month, and that was a glimpse at our Christmas card. It started with a brainstorming session. Then, I moved on to the actual sketching process. I used some grid paper, a pencil and my giant eraser to do the job. I am not too speedy at sketching things, but eventually, I drew letters that I was pleased with. They "Joy, Peace & Happiness" letters are a mix of lettering, swirls and calligraphy. My holly berries and leaves are, well, pretty simple because when it comes to drawing, simple is my skill set.
Once I had completed the letters, I inked them with a felt tip pen. I did this so I could photography the artwork. The black letter stand out enough against the paper that I can do a little Photoshop magic to break it down to just the letters I needed from the page. Basically, I don't really know how to trace super well and didn't feel confident enough to redraw it on something without grid lines. Thankfully, the wonder that Photoshop is saved me.
Check out these two images below from my Instagram account to see the sketching and inking steps.
After those steps, I photographed it like I mentioned above. From there, I used a mix of Illustrator, Photoshop and InDesign to create the final product: white, green and red letters on a black, textured background.
To go along with our cards, Cole I snapped pictures over by the law school. When you only need two good pictures, it's a pretty quick process. Find a spot. Have Cole model from that spot. Adjust the camera settings. Set up the tripod. Turn on the timer. Click. Run. Smile. Walk back to check the photo, and repeat the process until you get what you are looking for. We've done this a time or two, so we are getting pretty good at it.
It's tricky to run from the camera and strike this pose.
The UVA law school is a pretty place for photos.
We finished off the card with a rhyming poem about the year. Honestly, we aren't good at rhyming poetry. It took us a long time.
With cards ordered, I started to plan the crafty card accents. These include envelope lines, washi tape, winter stamps, festive ink and green sparkles (Sorry not sorry if those green sequins got everywhere. Funfetti mail should be a thing.)
For envelope lines, you just have to trace and cut a lot. My eyes were opened to the idea of liners and how to do them via this blog from The Postman's Knock. It's a pretty simple process. Once I measured one, I cut it out of card stock and then traced it on my holiday scrap book paper. Then I used a glue stick to attach them inside my envelopes. I had to come back later and correct a few that didn't get stuck down all the way, but I did all this while watching Netflix, so like I said, it's pretty easy.
I lined each envelope with holiday scrapbooking paper.
I bought a whole pack of different designs.
I created our Christmas cards with my own hand lettering.
For the calligraphy, I made a ton of guide lines in pencil, sketched out the names, had Cole double-check my work and then started the calligraphy process. I invested in green iridescent ink. I'd never seen it before I put my nib to paper, but it was totally worth every drop. It's beautiful. Plus, I still have half a bottle left after all my Christmas cards. It will make more appearances in the future. Once each envelope had dried (I let them sit overnight), I erased all my pencil lines. It creates a mess of eraser shavings on my desk, which I now wish I owned a small desk vacuum. I don't really have much more to say on the calligraphy front other than it took a lot of time, but it was totally worth it.
Next, I stuff cards in all the envelopes, dropped in a few pieces of green sequin and sealed them shut. USPS offered some cute winter stamps that matched, so I went with them. Alongside the stamps, I used "Merry Christmas" washi tape. Depending on the address and the space I had to work with, I decorated the outside of the envelope.
I think this long post reflects how long these really took me. Overall, I am thrilled with how they came out. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. What did you do for your Christmas card? I'd love to hear about it. But enough talk, enjoy these images of my cards and calligraphy. From me to you, have a merry Christmas!
Christmas cards were the perfect opportunity for me to practice my calligraphy.
Looks like my family all got cards.
Pictures don't do the iridescent green ink justice.
What a perfect place to photograph my Christmas cards.
Janice
And they were beautiful ... what fun to get 2 in our mailbox! Loved it ... and knew they were made with much time and love!! You are so creative! Looking forward to seeing you when you are back... I hope! :)