A lot of people are beginning to think about buying Christmas cards, and who knows, one or two people have probably already bought them. But why not make your own? Here are one million ideas to get you started - 10 ideas for materials, 10 for tools to use, 10 for subjects, 10 for colours, 10 for sizes and shapes and 10 for messages, making a total of one million combinations in all.

10 unusual materials to use as part of your Christmas cards
Bubble wrap
Leaves or other things found in the garden
Material (cloth etc)
Pictures cut out of magazines or junk mail
Pasta (dry) or something else from the kitchen cupboard
Extra pieces of card to make pop-up cards
Clear acetate
Tin foil
Sand and glue
Supermarket carrier bags with Christmas messages on

10 useful tools or stationery items you could use to make Christmas cards
Unusual coloured pens
Scissors with wavy edges
A can of spray paint and templates
Tub of glitter
Punches
Stamps (with ink)
Permanent acetate pens
A photocopier
Computer
Paint brush

10 possible subjects for your Christmas cards
Nativity scene
Star
Shepherds on a hillside and / or angels
Kings / wise men with or without camels
Father Christmas
Christmas tree
Snowy scene with or without snowman
Robin
Bells, holly, candles or combination of these
Something entirely unrelated or abstract

10 colours that you could use for the basic card bit of your Christmas cards
(Assuming you use card at all of course)
White
Black
Dark blue
Green
Glossy red
Yellow
Orange
Glittery purple
Pale church noticesheet blue
Clear

10 possible sizes or shapes for your Christmas card
A5 folded in half
Gift tag size
Square
Tiny (stamp size)
Round
Long and thin
Tall and thin
The shape of the stable or other element of the picture
Massive (eg A2 folded in half)
Three dimensional

10 messages that you could use inside your Christmas card
Happy Christmas
Merry Christmas
Seasons Greetings
A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year
A Happy Christmas and a Merry New Year
Joyeux Noel (or other greeting in your own language)
Yuletide felicitations
No message
Long hand crafted message tailored to the individual
Have a cool Yule

Go on - have a go! I’m aware that some readers use charity Christmas cards, but that needn’t stop you - you could always make a small donation to the charity as well.

If you like the idea of making your own cards but really think your artistic skills might not be up to the job then the previous post ‘Using CartoonChurch.com images for your own Christmas cards‘ might be of interest.