I have a unique opportunity this year within the Christmas card realm. Since I just got married in July, I can use a wedding photo in lieu of having a family photo taken, and I already have everyone’s current address. I also have a surplus of card-making supplies left over from wedding invitations. It would almost be a sin to not do Christmas cards.

It all started when one of my friends sent me these two Christmas cards which reminded her of my wedding invitations.

click on images for source

They do look just my style, I thought to myself. Crap, now I’m obsessed. But they were $2 a pop! I knew I’d have to find a DIY version that I would feasibly have energy to do after a year of wedding crafting. I have been pinning ideas up a storm.

Let’s start with phrasing. I’m pretty sold on something to the affect of Married & Bright. I’ll have to go cliche with the phrase every other year (heck, I’ll probably just say Merry Christmas), so might as well live. it. up.

In terms of design, I’m sure many other newlywed brides out there have some type of specialty paper or craft supply left over. I have a whole pack of unopened velum paper and a few dozen velum envelopes left over from the wedding. So, I did a search on velum Christmas cards. Perhaps I could overlay the velum in front of a wedding photo with my Married & Bright phrase printed on it?

Now on to content. If you know me, you’ll know that more is more, and I have a hard time letting go of a good idea. I want to do it all, and all at once. I also like to provide useful content to people (hence, the blog). In my searches, I ran across an infographic that acts as a Christmas newsletter, and looked for as many examples as I could find.

Neat, huh? Totes fridge-worthy.

I’m not sure I can do velum AND photo AND infographic, so I might have to save the infographic for another year … maybe when my life is more interesting – ha! But I am feeling inspired to come up with a list of Top 5 Highlights of 2013 – and freebie #1, we got married! This would go on the inside of the card in a simple, bulleted format (the best format of all time, for all reasons).

Another idea I liked is the semi-homemade photo card. I won’t always have leftover wedding supplies, and will likely want to order a bulk photo card from Costco at some point. I love how this blogger zhushed up her photo cards with a downloadable graphic and some ribbon. Here is the original:

Post-zhush:

and look, velum!

I don’t get to start working on these until Tristan and I are done with thank you cards, but sure am excited! I will be sure to share some final shots of the completed card.

What other killer Christmas card ideas are out there? Send me your links! I will have hopefully several decades to try out many different ideas.

Next on my list: the newlywed ornament!

-t&T