I have gone all out and made almost all my Christmas card ideas a reality this year! There are lots of options for you to choose from and a brand new product which I don’t believe you will find anywhere else - so if you have children who are school aged, look out for that! You can find all And Hope Designs’ Christmas cards and decorations here, but I thought I’d tell you a little bit about each of the Christmas card options in this blog post as well.
A couple of 2020 best sellers are making a return this year, including my Christmas heart card.
Christmas Heart card.
This square card design has the same idea as a few of my other cards - a heart filled with objects on a theme. The theme for this is obviously Christmas, with Jesus in a manger right at the centre, because he is the reason for Christmas. All the other things we love, while great and enjoyable, are just trimmings around the main thing - so this card keeps the focus where it needs to be, firmly on Jesus.
Edinburgh street Christmas card.
The other card that is back for 2021 is my Edinburgh “Happy Christmas” card. The O Holy Night version is also back but I have rewritten it so it is not identical to last years. It is, is my opinion, slightly improved! Both of these cards feature a watercolour illustration of Circus Lane in the Stockbridge part of Edinburgh.
I painted the street from a photograph I took of it, with St Stephen’s church in the background, and have added some festive items such as a light dusting of snow, some decorated Christmas trees, some wreaths on doors and a lovely cosy glow coming from windows. The sky in the illustration is a deep dark blue and is dotted with lots of twinkling stars.
This is an in progress picture of the illustration and painting of Circus Lane in Stockbridge. And below are the two final designs.
Now on to completely new for 2021 Christmas card designs!
Nissan Figaro - driving home for Christmas Christmas card.
We got some new neighbours this year and they have a little Nissan Figaro car, which reminded me of a photo Sara Tasker (Of Me & Orla fame) posted on her Instagram last year of her Nissan Figaro with a Chrismas tree on the roof. I decided to paint it, and here it is. I hope you love it!
Hope is here charity Christmas card for tearfund.
This next card is a special one, because all the profits from the sales of this card are going directly to Tearfund. The words Hope is here refer both to Jesus coming to earth and bringing the greatest Hope of all, but also the help that tearfund bring to those living in the poorest of countries brings them some hope of a better life and a future. So here it is - it comes in sets of 4, 8 and 12 and they are printed on to luxury card, like all the cards above.
Belfast Big Fish Christmas card.
This next card might be one specially for you if you live in Northern Ireland. Featuring the salmon of knowledge, this card is printed on to lightly textured card making the watercolour illustration stand out. The Big Fish is wearing a Christmas wreath around its neck (do fish have necks?!) making it a festive Belfast landmark!
Carol lyrics Christmas cards.
And finally, this set of two cards is the last in the traditional Christmas cards I have to show you this year. These are printed on to smooth card, unlike the others, which are all printed on to textured card. The smooth card works better with the deep navy blue, and the lettering is much easier to read like this. These cards come in sets, and you get equal quantities of each design. They both have Christmas carol lyrics written in calligraphy on them - words from O Holy Night and O Come All Ye Faithful which are two of my very favourite Christmas carols.
All cards are available in sets of 4, 8 and 12 cards. The Christmas carol ones will have 2 of each, 4 of each and 6 of each design in the packs.
Christian Christmas cards for teachers and classmates.
This next Christmas item is so special to me as it is something I woke in the middle of the night with the idea for back in March!
The idea came from my own frustration in finding nice and even remotely Christian Christmas cards for the classmates of my children. Each year, we have handed out cards with snowmen, Santa and reindeer. Which is fine, but I really wanted something a bit more in keeping with what a Christmas is really all about, but still child friendly and fun.
Introducing the nativity characters Christmas cards for classmates and teachers.
Each pack contains 30 classmate A7 smooth Christmas cards with envelopes - 10 of each of 3 characters - a sheep, a donkey and a star (because I LOVE the concept of a child dressing up as a star, and it is my favourite costume that I see in supermarkets!).
The pack also contains 1, 2, 3 or 4 teacher/ teaching assistant cards which are printed on to luxury lightly textured card.
The teacher cards have the whole nativity cast illustrated on them, including the sheep, donkey and star, but also Mary, Joseph, wise men and of course Jesus.
These are also personalised with the name(s) of your child’s teacher(s) which you just need to enter in the messages or notes section at checkout, and I will hand letter them to match the “happy Christmas” which is written in beautiful calligraphy at the top of each card.
Each of the three chidren’s Christmas cards and the teacher Christmas cards all have Luke 2:11 written on the back, sharing the gospel and celebrating the real reason for Christmas.
