Christmas Cards 2016

One of my favorite cards I get to send all year is CHRISTMAS CARDS. Honestly, these days its one of the few I actually make time for anymore. I used to be really awesome about sending my girlfriends little pieces of snail mail with updates and love notes about how I miss them (to my girls- I still miss you and love you!) So when the end of the year comes around I get excited to make these guys. This year we kept it pretty casual and I handlettered "Cheers friends! Love the Paulsons" across the front of a photo of us from Colorado this past summer. I had the "Cheers friends" done in ROSE GOLD FOIL and everything else was digitally printed. I printed a small handlettered message on the back as well to add more of a personal touch. 

I finished these bad boys off with some navy envelopes and white brush lettering. We recently received a few Christmas card envelopes that had been ripped open and the card removed (I know, crazy right?) so I added some festive washi tape to the flap of the envelope. (No, I don't actually think it will keep people from ripping open the envelope but MAYYYBEE they will think twice about it!?) Still have a handful of these down on my counter to address and send but wanted to share them now as Christmas is just a week away now! 

Cheers! 

DIY Gift Card Holders

Hi Friends! With the last week before Christmas upon us I wanted to sneak a little blog post before you get sucked away into the holiday craziness. First, I wanted to send a genuine thank you to those of you who have supported my little holiday pop-up shop this season. As the holiday comes to a close the shop will close too, and as sad as I am to no longer get to handletter Christmas goods, I'm really excited about some fun things I have planned this upcoming year. I'll be doing a reflections post about this first year starting out and talk about where I want to take this little side hustle in 2016 in an upcoming blog post, so be on the look out for that! But seriously, whether you made a purchase this season or sent me kind words, a genuine, full-hearted thank you because it meant the world to me.

Whether you've been crazy busy or just tend to procrastinate (maybe a little of both!?) you probably have some last minute shopping to squeeze in this week. I know I do, and I also know that a handful of those gifts are going to be gift cards. Don't judge me- some people are just hard to shop for! Even though a gift card is not the most personable gift out there, I'm adding a little personal touch to mine with these DIY handlettered gift card holders. NOW, if you're on my newsletter subscription, you got these handlettered designs for FREE in today's newsletter. If you are not on the newsletter, I'm sorry. You should be. Sign up in the sidebar. But you'll get the cut out template for free to get creative with! It's super easy, took me less than 5 minutes and all you need is paper and glue. 

STEP 1: Download and PRINT this file. I printed this on cardstock.

STEP 2: CUT it out & FOLD the tabs (shown below)

STEP 3: GLUE the tabs. You should be applying glue onto TWO tabs then folding the tabs closed to make a little pocket. 

STEP 4: Allow the glue to dry and insert gift card. I also added a little washi tape to one of mine and a piece of gold glitter paper on the inside of one for a little extra flair! Get creative and I'd love to see what you guys come up with! 

BOOM. Done!