Christmas is one of the most colorful and festive times of year for families all over the world, and one of the most popular ways that families stay connected during the holiday season is sending Christmas cards. Christmas cards carry special holiday greetings to the ones you love, whether they are across the world or just next door. It is easy enough to go out and purchase a Christmas card at your local store, but if you want to send a special card that is a bit out of the ordinary, or has that extra touch of caring, designing your own personal card can be just the thing. Once it arrives at its destination, your personal card will most likely make the recipient feel very special. Here are five tips for designing a great Christmas card, and some ideas on how to begin creating it.

1. Styles, fonts and colors: A good place to start is simple paper or card stock, but if you want a bit of a head start on the design you can find a greeting card template on your home computer. Make sure that you have a few ideas in mind already like colors, pictures, graphics, logos and other things as well. For the text portion of the card you can choose to hand write your message or use your computer to choose different styles of fonts. You can use these ideas and images to create a magnificent card that will not only be pleasing to the eye but the heart as well.

2. Family photos: A family photo can be a great addition to a personalized Christmas card. There are several greeting card templates with space for you to add your personal family photo as part of the card. A family photo can be a great way to complete the design of the card. Usually the left inside of any card is left blank. However, adding a full sized photo to this side of the card can make it stand out with a personal touch.

3. Shapes, textures and sizes: Take the time to choose some different colored cards. You do not have to go with the traditional white card. You can pick all different kinds of colors for your card, like red, green, gold, and the rest of the colors related to the Christmas season. You can also choose different shapes for your card as well. You can choose a shape of a tree, bell, Santa Claus, or any number of others. Texture is also a great addition to any card. Glitter, raised designs and letters, ribbons and beads can be really nice (and easy!) additions to your Christmas card. If you do not have these items to add you can also use a heavy construction paper to create the look of ribbons and then a bit of simple glitter can make the card really stand out.

4. Materials: Be sure to have all of your materials that you need on hand. You will need to have all of your paper products like card stock paper, scissors, colored pencils, glue and the like. If you are doing your card on your computer then you should be able to create everything there and simply add additional touches by hand after printing it.

5. Mailing or E-mailing?: If you are creating your card with a template on your computer you can easily e-mail it to all of your recipients. However, if you are doing the card by hand, and need multiple copies, you can take your custom care to a print shop for duplication. You can always add glitter, ribbons and other special touches to all of the cards before you mail them out.

You do not have to spend a lot on materials to make a card. If you already have some basic crafts supplies like colored paper, colored pens or pencils, beads, glue, and ribbons and office items like a ruler, tape and scissors, then you can are ready to start creating your own cards. If you do not have beads and ribbons, that is okay. You could use the colored papers to make some lookalikes! The most important ingredient, of course, is a vivid imagination of what you want to create. Be creative. You can do it all by hand, all by computer, or a little of both. Whatever you do, it will be original, and much appreciated by the fortunate family and loved ones who receive it from you!