I am really excited about today’s post. It combines two things I adore: cardmaking and Harry Potter. I have used a few products from some of my favourite companies too, which just makes the whole thing even more fun. These cards are relatively easy to make. However, some of these products might be hard to source so you may have to get a little creative if you wanted to create your own. With the same products, I made a small variety of different cards. I really wanted to try and find a few different ways to do this, so the process was not repetitive. So, without further ado, for the fifteen day of Blogmas, let me present to you my Harry Potter Christmas Cards!
DIY Harry Potter Christmas Cards and how to make them:
This is the selection that I came up with in the end. Making them was really fun so hopefully, you’ll feel inspired to make your own too! Without further ado, let’s just jump right into making them. Whilst I focused on Harry Potter Christmas Cards, you can easily tailor these instructions for any other fandom that you’re a fan of! Just find the correct character images, draw your own or use appropriately themed sentiments!
Gather your products:
I started by gathering a bunch of supplies. For this, I knew I wanted cute Harry Potter images, perhaps something for the background and some puns. I also picked up some watercolours, because I love watercolours. As I was looking through my stash, I found a few different stamps that I could manipulate to look like Harry Potter characters. For Harry, for example, you could draw a pair of round glasses onto a boy character and resemble him. If they have a scarf, you can colour them in house colours. However, I found a few stamp sets from Sweet Stamp Shop in my stash that do all of the hard work for me. These are pretty old, however, so they seem to have retired most of the sets by now. They do still have a stamp set with a Dumbledore and a Fawkes on it, however.
If you don’t have stamps, perhaps you can find some line arts on the internet or draw some yourself. Even simple images would work. A pair of round glasses and a lightning bolt scar would give off the same message.
Since I wanted to tie the holidays with the theme, I also made a list of sentiments that I wanted to use. In most cases, they were puns.
For Harry, I had: “Harry Holidays” or “Have yourself a Harry little Christmas”. Ron’s was “It’s the most ronderful time of the year” or “Hope you have a ronderful time”. I couldn’t think of anything for Hermione – unless it was “Granger things” and I’m not sure Stranger Things + Christmas really go! So for her card, I opted for a generic sentiment “Merry Christmas muggle”. You can also use “Merry Christmas to my favourite muggle” if you prefer. Lastly, I also used Luna. For her, I opted to use quote that I love instead of a sentiment – “Don’t worry, you’re just as sane as I am.”
Assembling the cards:
Step 1: Prep the images
I started off by gathering the images. In my case, it was stamping them out and colouring them in with watercolour paints. For this, I always use Versafine Onyx Black ink as it doesn’t smudge with water. I painted the characters with a couple sets of Jane Davenport watercolours: the Bright Palette and the Neutral Palette. I love the “Apple” red in the neutral palette as it’s a nice strong red. Perfect for the Gryffindor coloured scarves that I wanted to add. Most of the colours I used were from the neutral palette, in fact. I picked a couple of additional colours for Luna from the bright palette as I had it anyway.
Specific products I used:
- Stamp sets – Sweet Stamp Shop (discontinued, unfortunately)
- Stamp ink – Versafine Onyx Black
- Watercolour Paper – Daler Rowney Aquafine Smooth paper
- Watercolour Paints – Jane Davenport Neutral and Bright Palette
Once the images had dried, I fussy cut them with a thin white border. You can cut them closer to avoid this or fill out the extra white with a black pen. I wanted them to pop from the background so included them on purpose. If you’re using pre-coloured clip art then you can just print them off and cut them down to size!
Step 2: Prep the backgrounds
For this, I opted for three different backgrounds. The first is the easiest, by far. A couple of the cards are plain backgrounds, on green or kraft coloured cardstock. You can easily throw in some red card, glitter paper or metallics for a festive look. The second background utilities some Harry Potter themed wrapping paper that I found in my room. This specific wrapping paper features a marauder’s map style artwork, which I love. In the past few weeks, I have seen a ton of different Harry Potter themed wrapping paper in stores so I am sure you can find something similar if you wanted. Alternatively, you can find printables of designs that you like online. Some of these are free, whilst others might charge. Just look around!
Lastly, the third backgrounds I used were the watercoloured pieces. I grabbed some of the same watercolour paper and painted out the backgrounds. In my opinion, the easiest way to do this is to put the water down on the page first, then drop some colours onto it and let them merge. For this, I used a few greens and reds that I liked from the Jane Davenport colours. To get the festive look, I wanted to add some metallics to it. This is where my Prima Marketing Metallic Accents watercolour set comes in. I adore using these metallics in this way. I used three different metallics from the set – a glittery red, a shiny green and a beautiful gold. These were added onto the panel, once it had dried a little.
Just to try something different, I drew a little scar and glasses icon onto one of the backgrounds to see if I could make a simple card out of it.
Specific products I used:
- Kraft card – Neenah Desert Storm
- Green card – unknown / general cheap card
- White card for base – Hobbycraft
- Watercolour Paper – Daler Rowney Aquafine Smooth paper
- Regular Watercolour Paints – Jane Davenport Neutral and Bright Palette
- Metallic Watercolour Paints – Prima Marketing Metallic Accents
Step 3: Add the extra details (optional)
This step is completely optional. You can cut down the backgrounds to size and just move on to step four. However, I love the ‘stitched’ look these cards have. For this, I used my Sizzix Big Shot diecutting machine and one of the die cuts from the Simon Says Stamp ‘Stitched Rectangles’ die sets. It’s probably my most used die, to be honest. It cuts down the panels to the perfect size for me, and adds this beautiful stitched edging to it. The end result is pretty subtle but I really like the results. It’s worth the extra time for me. I added this die to almost all of the cards, in the end. You can get similar style dies from a lot of companies but this is the one I have and I love the results!
If you don’t have a diecutting machine, you can cut the panels down to size yourself. You can also add the stitched line effect with a papercutting knife, if you have one. It’s not necessary, though.
Specific products I used:
- Diecutting Machine – Sizzix Big Shot
- Dies – Simon Says Stamp Stitched Rectangles
Step 4: Assemble together
Once everything has dried and is ready to go, assemble the cards together. I chose to handwrite the sentiments I wanted directly onto the front – or the inside – of the card. You can type them up and print them off, if you prefer. If you have a typewriter then that would be a lovely way to add the sentiments! I, sadly, do not own one. You can also use a label maker, alphabet stamps or anything else you already own.
One thing to note: If you are writing onto the watercoloured pieces, make sure your pen does not feather and bleed on it. Test a piece out before you write on the real thing. I used the Pental pointliner for mine and it seemed to be okay. Some of the lettering, I did with a calligraphy nib and Manuscript Chinese Black Ink. As I was worried about this ink feathering on the watercoloured pieces, I mostly used this on the green and kraft coloured cardstock. I also used it on a piece of kraft sticker paper, that I stuck over the marauder’s background to add a sentiment that stood out a bit from the busy background.
I mounted the final panels onto white cardstock. In some of these, I opted to add the sentiment on the inside of the card instead. To adhere everything together, I am a big fan of double sided tape as I find it easier and less messy than glue!
Specific products I used:
- Pen – Pental Pointliner 0.5
- Calligraphy Ink – Manuscript Chinese Black Ink
- Double sided tape – Hobbycraft
And there you have it!
Write your messages in, stick them in envelopes, voila you’re done! I hope you enjoy these DIY Harry Potter Christmas Cards as much as I do. If you do make some yourself, please do show me! I would love to see everyone’s results.
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