My Small Christmas Collection

Yesterday my printer was installed. This printer was the very best we could afford and I am hoping it will save money in the long run. I was so incredibly excited to have this printer, I worked late into the night creating and printing my small Christmas collection. This was so cool! I can’t tell you how much I enjoy every single part of the creative process.

My Christmas Collection Robin Design

It was my mum who specifically asked me to paint a robin for her and perhaps turn it into a Christmas card. I’m not keen to paint to a brief. It may be that I am averse to being told what to do, or it maybe that I don’t feel I have the skill to simply paint someone else’s vision.

However, my mum knows this about me and told me to just paint whenever I felt like it and that she had no expectations (LOL!). So, I did just that. I painted when I felt like it…I kept it very simple and intentionally left the right hand side clear so that I could personalise the cards, should a customer want a card for a specific person, but also to add ‘Merry Christmas’. Also, the space is handy for the tags, to add the recipient’s name as well as the giver’s.

I showed you my journal page yesterday. I’ll leave a picture here:

It will be this design which I will turn into the following products (these are just mock ups as I play around with ideas and may not be the actual products which end up in my shop) 😊

Greeting Cards

I’ve printed a couple of blank ones, which a customer can personalise or add a message to themselves. I added a slightly wonky ‘Merry Christmas’ to show what a hand written one might look like. It will probably look better with digitally added text, so I’ll spend some time over the weekend playing around.

I haven’t decided whether I will sell these as singles or packs of ten. I may do both!

Present Tags

The present tags I made were just a single smaller version of the Christmas Card:

This can be attached to the present using string and tape or left as they are and stuck on a present using glue.

I will probably sell these in packs of five and possibly with the matching wrapping paper.

Wrapping Paper

Using Canva, I created some A4 wrapping paper. I wanted to print it out on a smaller scale to see how the pattern worked out. My fandabidozi printer can print A3 so if I decide to sell my own wrapping paper, it will be A3 size not A4. This was the pattern I designed:

And used to wrap a small present:

I will sell these as a pack of two folded A3 pages, folded with a belly band. I’ll also look into places which might be able to print A2 size as this is the usual size of the wrapping paper sheets sold on Etsy.

Here are all the above products together:

I still have work to do on the wrapping paper because you can see it has lost quality and definition in the wrap compared to the tags and the card. I’m not sure why…

Other Products I’d Like to Add to my Christmas Collection

Stickers

I will be making two different stickers. One will be a present tag which I’ll print on sticker paper (so you won’t need glue) and also just as a fun sticker in different sizes, which I’ll sell in packs of five. I’ve not tried making these yet and might very well need to ask a manufacturer to make them up for me until I can afford a Cricut machine.

Bookmarks

These were a sort of after thought. I’ve not created any book marks yet, but thought these might make an inexpensive stocking filler. Right now, I am printing them on 350grm card but I think I might look at even thicker than that. I may laminate them. This is the one product that I need to play about with, having never done them before. I’ll probably offer the book marks with or without tassels. And I’ll also give the option of square or curved corners.

Obviously, I only made these last night and are just mock ups. They are not in my Etsy shop at the moment but I will be adding them next week. Please do keep an eye out for them!