Straight from the heart: Homemade holiday cards

Get excited over this year's holiday season with a DIY approach to seasons greetings and holiday cheer. In lieu of store-bought Christmas cards, share the holiday spirit by crafting holiday cards using recycled materials and crafty embellishments.

In lieu of store-bought Christmas cards, share the Christmas, Hanukkah or Kwanzaa spirit by crafting holiday cards using recycled materials and crafty embellishments. Your family can also use homemade holiday card projects as a way to spend extra, festive time together during the most special time of year. Play your favorite Christmas carols, pour some hot cocoa and create unique holiday cards with any of the following ideas: Customized Family Holiday Cards Turn your seasons greetings and Christmas cards into a creative and memorable family event. Design your own customized photographic holiday photo cards using an online personalization service that offers a wide range of styles and options. Personalized cards are friendly and familial holiday greetings that can also serve as decorative accents for your friends and family. Use online and print design stores that offer holiday design ideas for with price ranges. During the customization process, you can choose among a variety of shapes and colors for a card's greeting and banner. Include a personal message such as, "Happy Holidays! From the Johnson family" or "Wishing you a very merry Christmas! Love Meg and Joe." Styles range from elegant and hand-drawn to vintage and rustic — each created by professional independent designers from all over the world. Once you select the style, you can further personalize the card by choosing from any of the following options: Format: Flat, folded, Story, Yearline™, Minibook™ or Postcard Paper: Signature, Premium 100 percent recycled paper, Pearlescent paper or TripleThick™ Paper Orientation: Portrait, Landscape or Square Use one of your favorite pictures from a vacation getaway or create a collage using two, three or more professionally taken photos. Visit www.ppa.com or www.photographypros.com to find a local professional photographer for your family's themed seasonal and holiday photos. Original Crafty Card Ideas Bird and Branch Card HGTV.com features a charming bird and branch idea for a sophisticated and eye-catching handmade holiday card. With a vintage bird cutout, pinecone and glitter, you can design a festive one-of-a-kind creation for a special loved one. Materials include: Blank white card Red scrapbook paper White card stock Pinecone Scissors, pencil, ruler and craft glue Bird graphic Red and silver glitter Computer and printing capabilities Steps Include: Choose a bird graphic from www.vintageprintable.com or cut one from a seasonal calendar, greeting card or paper plate. Paste the red paper onto the card as a background and glue the bird graphic onto the red paper. To make a branch, break the pinecone into small pieces. Glue the pieces into a branch onto the card. Create the branch so that it looks like the bird is perched upon it. Print a holiday greeting in an elegant font from your computer. Glue the greeting as a circular template beside the bird. Add glitter around the greeting and along the card's border to complete the beautiful, whimsical card. Paint Sample Cards and Tags Paint sample cards are an inexpensive and original holiday card idea that is simple and festive. Lifestyle blogger Kate Albrecht of Mr.Kate.com creates DIY holiday cards made of paint chip samples in various holiday colors. Mr. Kate suggest collecting "some free paint chip samples from your local paint or hardware store." Arrange the colored paint samples into a Christmas tree or a modern design on recycled brown paper. Accent the tree design with a large red ribbon tied into a bow. Accent square green, red and gold paint samples with colorful gemstones in the corners. Paint sample cards also serve as creative Christmas tags and gift labels. Shape the paint chip samples into a gift tag by cutting a 45 degree angle at the top of the sample. Use a festive hole punch, such as a Christmas tree or star, to punch a holiday design into a color block. Punch a hole in one corner of the tag, string stylish ribbon through and tie to a gift. Embroidery Cards Embroider your favorite holiday emblems into a card for friends and family as a meaningful, homemade season greeting. Use colored thread and a needle to sew the thread into a card just like you would with fabric. Ideas for what to sew are unlimited. A Christmas tree, ringing bells, the Star of David, a menorah, African baskets and harvest symbols are fun holiday ideas for Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa celebrations. Outline the shape that you're going to embroider in light pencil and write a personal message on the inside. Budget-friendly Recycled Cards Kid-Friendly DIY Cards If you have a slew of old holiday cards from last year, recycle materials from old cards into original holiday cards for this upcoming season. With a variety of supplies and crafty embellishments, your family can turn the burden of sending Christmas cards into a fun and creative project. Make one-of-a-kind Christmas cards by using funky or scalloped scissors to cut the images from old cards and gluing the images into a design on construction paper. Have kids adorn cards with the following embellishments: Glitter sticks Ribbons Snowflake or star sequins Crystal and colorful rhinestones Made-over Tags & Boxes Homemade holiday tags add creativity and a personal touch to holiday gifts. MarthaStewart.com suggests snipping the designs from old Christmas cards and gluing the designs to store-bought tags or stock paper. Cut stock paper into various shapes and punch holes into the paper so that festive ribbons can be tied through and attached to presents. Recycled Christmas card designs and materials can also decoratively enhance plain gift bags and boxes. Make over a gift box with old holiday cards, and you can save on time and money by forgoing wrapping paper. Add decorative layers to the box by mixing and matching patterns, colors and images. MarthaStewart.com's homemade gift box ideas feature festive patterns, such as snowflakes or green stripes and accents such as a dreidel or a stocking.