How to Make Your Own Christmas Photo Cards

Learn how to make your own Christmas photo cards using PicMonkey, so you can send Christmas greetings without busting your budget.  

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One of my favorites parts of the Christmas season is Christmas cards. I enjoy sending them and I love receiving them!  

The photo websites have some beautiful options when it comes to Christmas photo cards, but have you seen the prices?  Many of them are gorgeous, but prices can be around $1.50 per card (and that’s if you order at least 200!). If you order a more normal quantity, then you’re looking at $2.50 per card. Good grief!

Between the costs to purchase a designed card and the expense of stamps, I’ve had to find ways to reduce the cost of sending photo cards. There is just no way I had that much money to spend on a card.  It is possible to score some good deals on cards with Groupon or other daily deal sites, but if you miss out on them, then you’re not left with many options.

I had to start thinking outside the box.  Thanks to Pinterest, I realized that it’s fairly simple to make Christmas photo card yourself.  I created my very first card last year and I don’t think it was too bad for the first time!

I had so much fun learning last year that I created another one this year. I’m excited to share how you can make your own in case you are looking for an affordable way to send a photo Christmas card.  I promise, it’s not hard and it is totally free!

How to Make Your Own Christmas Photo Cards

Before You Get Started

Before we jump right into the tutorial, it’s helpful to get some inspiration. Take a look at Pinterest or even some of the photo card websites to get some ideas.  Jot down any phrases or greetings that you like or any designs that catch your eye.

Second, select your photograph. The picture doesn’t have to be perfect just yet, but decide what photo you would like to use. Now, it’s time to get started!

Step 1: Open up PicMonkey

Open up picmonkey.com in your browser. You do not need to create an account to do this. There are some paid features (that will be called ‘Royale’) that are available, but this tutorial will be using only free features.

UPDATE TO POST: You will need to sign up for a 7-day free trial to use PicMonkey. Make sure to cancel after the 7 days if you don’t want to be charged.

Click ‘Edit’ at the top of the page and then upload the photo you have selected to use.

Step 2:  Select the size of your photo card

Click ‘Crop’ under the ‘Basic Edits’ menu (first icon on the top left side of the screen).

Select the size you want for your final card to be from the options on the dropdown (I am making mine into a 4×6 photo card).  Move the crop box around to the area you want and hit ‘Apply’.

Step 3: Edit your photo

Now that you have selected the photo and size of your card, it’s time to do some basic editing to improve the quality of your photo.  Do this under the ‘Basic Edits’ menu.

Click ‘Exposure’ under the ‘Basic Edits’ menu. Click ‘Auto Adjust’ to do some automatic adjustments to the photo.

{Before}

Make any further tweaks using the brightness, highlights, shadows, and contrast sliders. (I made quite a few adjustments to the brightness since we looked very washed out in the original image). Once your image looks how you want it, hit ‘Apply’.

{After}

Click ‘Colors’ under the ‘Basic Edits’ menu. Adjust the saturation and temperature using the sliders until you like it, then hit ‘Apply’.

Click ‘Sharpen’ under the ‘Basic Edits’ menu. Adjust the sharpness and clarity using the sliders until you like it, then hit ‘Apply’.

Step 4: Add your Christmas-y fun!

Now that you have your photo looking great, it’s time to have fun creating your design!  This is where you can play with it and try different things until you design something that you love.  PicMonkey allows you to layer all sorts of things over your image to create the look you would like. This is essentially what you will be doing to create your design.

You will find all the wintery and Christmas features under the ‘Themes’ menu (it’s the snowflake icon on the left side of the screen and 8th from the top) under ‘Santaland’ or ‘Winterland’.

Select ‘Winterland’.

Under Effects, click on ‘Frost’. Adjust the size, intensity, color, and fade of your frost until you like it, then hit ‘Apply’. (I left mine with the standard settings).

Under Overlays, click on ‘Flakery’. Select the snowflakes you’d like to use. I prefer to select 3 or so and use them all throughout the card. Once you’ve chosen a snowflake, adjust the color, fade, and size of the snowflakes. I kept mine all white, but I adjusted the fade and size so that there was variety.

Move the snowflakes around the card (I kept mine on the edge of the card near the corners) until you are satisfied with their placement.

Step 5: Add in simple text

Now it’s time to add in your text. This is where your preliminary research will come in handy. That inspiration will give you some ideas of what greetings or phrases you might want to include.

You can add any simple text under the ‘Text’ menu (it’s the Tt icon on the left side of the page and 4th from the top). Select the font of your choice and ‘add text’.  A box will appear where you can type in your text. You can adjust the color, fade, and size using the popup box on the screen.

You can move the text box wherever you wish. I prefer to create a different box for each new font. It gives me more freedom to move them each around as I would like. (I used ‘Great Vibes’ and ‘Tall Dark and Handsome’ for text at the top).

Step 6: Add any text boxes (if desired)

If the image doesn’t have a good place to leave simple text, sometimes I like to create my own text box so that the text will stand out more. You can add a text box under the ‘Overlays’ menu (it’s the butterfly icon on the left side of the page and 5th from the top).

Click ‘Geometric’ and then select the rectangle. Adjust the color, size, and fade of your rectangle. Move the text box wherever you wish on the card.

You can then add your text to the text box using step 4. Note: you will need to create the text box first and then layer the back text over it. (I used ‘Sacramento’ and ‘Special Elite’ for the text in the box).

Step 7: Save photo

Click ‘Save’ at the top of the screen. Give the file a name and update dimensions if needed (I changed mine to 1800 x 1200 which is what is recommended for a 4×6 photo). Click ‘Save to my Computer’.

Step 8: Print your photo

Once you have your photo design completed, print this out as a photo print at your favorite photo printing company.  Some of my favorites are Target*, Walmart, and Shutterfly*.  Even though Shutterfly is not local, they allow you to print to a local drug store!

These photo prints will not come with envelopes since they are not technically cards, so you will have to purchase them separately.  Even with the added cost of the envelopes, you’ll still be saving in the end.

One of the reasons I choose the 4×6 photo is because they are cheaper to print. You may want to check prices on other size prints and see how they compare in price before you make your decision on the size card you want.

So there you have it! I have found PicMonkey to be very user friendly and you will get better the more you use it.  I hope you enjoyed learning how to make Christmas photo cards.  There are so many fun ways to customize and use different overlays, so have fun making it your own!

If you want some more Christmas inspiration, be sure to follow me over on Pinterest.  Check out my Christmas Pinterest board where I pin all sorts of Christmas articles.  There are some other great ideas and tutorials for Christmas photo cards included!

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Would you ever consider making your own Christmas photo cards?

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