How To Make A Cat Christmas Card

You can make cat Christmas cards for your friends and family this Christmas season. If you are on a tight budget and enjoy making things by hand, then giving people cards with images you drew yourself is definitely the way to go!  Even if you can afford to give your loved one an elaborate Christmas gift, I can guarantee and handmade card will only make it that much more special. My affinity for cats has transformed into a new tradition where I have drawn cats on my Christmas cards every single year since 2007, so I am wondering if I will continue this tradition next Christmas or not.  My sister suggested that maybe next year I draw a picture of a tree or a snowy image from the San Bernardino Mountains, but I may just stick with my new ritual of drawing cat images for my Christmas card.  I always scan the original sketch and keep that for my portfolio, and then I use photo editing software to make the colors look a bit more vibrant on my printed out cards.  I suggest using heavy duty card stock for making your cards as this material holds up with with printing and fold the cards.  You can purchase card stock at most major stores, crafting stores, or even online.

For this drawing I recycled a sheet of paper by drawing on the blank side of a used sheet of printer paper, which would just be thrown out unless I used it for my art work.  This practice makes me feel good about creating new works of art because not only am I sharing my artistic inspiration with the world, but I am helping to keep a little bit of junk out of the land fills.  Watch how my cat drawing comes to life in the sequential photos below.

I enjoy using colored pencils to add hue to my drawings, and the light color of the pencils can always be enhanced when I later scan my pictures.  Usually I save the original copy of my drawing, and print out the scan version for my cards.  I have drawn directly on many cards, but that is only for special ones.

I use photo editing software to my make completed cat card image more vibrant and to write a Christmas message on the front of the card.  Also, I like to check my printer to make sure I have enough ink before printing out the cards.  I use a ruler and a knife to score my cards down the middle, and then I fold each one in half.  My cards are now ready to write personalized messages on the inside of each one.  Merry Christmas and happy card making to you!

Below are a couple of different versions I made of my Christmas cat card.  One has a black cursive font, and the other has a red print font.  I think I prefer the red font as it seems a bit more Christmasy to me.