December crafts

A while back, I came across some owl calendars (if you're a regular, you probably remember me talking about them) and thinking they were super cool, wanted to use the free printable for something. And behold, they became our card/party favor at our Christmas party.

The first step was to design the cover. I'm not sure if I found the red bows first and then came up with the idea to have them be part of the cover or thought it would be cool to have the bows and then sought them out, but in any case...I bought the red bows from the dollar store and began designing the cover. I wanted the card to have a worthwhile message/wish for people for the holidays and the new year and figured it was most appropriate to tie in something about wisdom because of the owls (maybe cheesy but hey). I found the passage in Colossians to be most appropriate.

In iWorks Pages I set up the page to print accordingly, leaving enough space for the bow. Then off to printing and cutting (so thankful for my paper cutter!) Then, punched a hole on the top of the front page, inserted bow, and taped it on the back to secure it.

Then after printing and cutting the calendar sheets, I paper clipped the months (in order of course) with a white paper clip to the cover page.

It was fun, multi-dimensional, and I hope useful for the recipients of the card.

Cost breakdown of project:

Nice paper - $5 (50 sheets)

Printing ink - $7 (cartridge refill at Costco)

Bow - $1 for pack of 20 at the Dollar Store

Total - $13 for 15 awesome calendar Christmas cards

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For David this Christmas, I made him a special card (with custom wrapping paper out of a paper bag and scraps from our wedding invitations circa 2009).

David also got me an Anthropologie gift card (yay!) and it came with this cool box. I definitely see this turning into a project soon...

Of course, my paper crafts will never compare to the awesome people made out of paper crafts made in Russia. Check them out here (scroll about half way down the page).