Making Christmas Cards from your Adult Coloring Pages

When I first drew the designs for the Christmas Collection, I thought I would be using them on a tablecloth I wanted to paint for the Christmas table. I may still do that, but in the meantime I simply had to put some color to those pictures that were simply begging for Christmas cheer. I made up my mind to print them slightly smaller than the original designs and use them on Christmas cards. I use the same basic idea for all four cards and will walk you through the steps for only one of them. In the meantime, here is a preview of what you can expect from the blog.

Once you have downloaded the designs, you can change your printer settings to print two designs on a page. That is what I have done, basically reducing them to slightly smaller than A5 each.

The snowman is possibly the trickiest of the designs to color as such a big percentage of the design should remain white. I used Derwent Coloursoft pencils for most of the colors, but will draw your attention to it when I used something else. Using the Blue pencil, I color only a small space right next to the outline of the snowman, creating the impression of coldness, while still retaining the whiteness of the snow.

I contrast the hat and scarf with a vibrant Scarlet to capture the true colors of Christmas. Do not forget to color his tongue as well.

The carrot nose was colored with Blood Orange.

I made his buttons, the pupils in the eyes, and the inside of the mouth Black.

I gave the snowman some Deep Red cheeks as the warmth there will make him seem even friendlier. I then colored his eyes Prussian Blue.

Still wanting to capture the colors of Christmas, I used Mineral Green on the accent points of the hat and scarf. I found this color among the Derwent Studio Pencils.

I once again used the Prussian Blue, but this time to color the snow and icicles hanging from the wooden posts. I use the same technique as with the snowman. Using a different shade of blue, simply makes it easier for the eye to identify the different aspects of the picture.

The majority of the wooden posts are colored in Brown, with only the parts that are in the shade being colored in Dark Brown. I pretended my light came from the left and therefore the right sides of the posts are shaded darker.

There is no rule that says you can not alter a design. I wanted to fill up the white space behind the snowman. I did not want to add color as I wanted to create the impression of snow in the background. That is why I opted to rather draw in some snowflakes with a Black Posca Marker. Small circles will do just fine to create the illusion of snowflakes.

With the coloring done, I could now turn my attention to making the cards. I used a pair of scissors to cut right next to the black frame around the pictures, wanting to retain this frame.

I then found some brightly colored cardstock to serve as base for the card.  I folded this over, leaving the bottom only 1 cm larger than the top.

I used double-sided tape to stick the design onto the front of the card.

I then cut a length of ribbon the same height as the card and put a line of Tombow glue on it.

I stuck the ribbon on the extra length of the bottom of the card.

The only thing left to do was to find the right words for the card (or to print them) and to stick it in place. This is a very simple and basic card design. I keep Christmas cards simple as I usually have a lot to make. I sure you do too. A great idea is to color the designs of your choice and to then scan and print the colored designs. That should shorten the time spent on making the cards considerably.

A tip for coloring the Christmas tree: When you color the branches, I suggest you simply draw lines similar to the ones the branches are made of, using your coloring pencil/pen, instead of coloring it a solid color.

Tip for coloring the Nativity Scene: I used a Faber-Castell's Polychromos pencil in Gold to get the vibrant golden star.

Tip for Santa Clause: The string of holly can be erased before printing, using a program dedicated to working with pictures. You can also cut it and print it out to use inside the card as a spacer.

The designs for the Christmas Collection can be downloaded in digital format from APrettyTalent.com.
For more crafty ideas and great products, visit APrettyTalent.com.
Remember to keep nurturing your TALENT for making PRETTY things.
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