Make Your Own 1950s Style Retro Christmas Cards

Homemade retro Christmas cards are fun to make, and can save money over store bought cards, as well as being far more personal. If you insert your tongue firmly in your cheek, you can make your own homemade 1950's style cards that would make Lucy or Wally Cleaver proud. Whether you're a scrapbooker or like tinkering with desktop publishing programs there's a homemade retro Christmas card you can make yourself.

1950's Christmas Card Styles

Before you begin making your own holiday cards, gather some design ideas. For inspiration, Emotions Cards has a gallery with images of retro Christmas cards including a few from the 1950s. Many 1950s Christmas cards feature simplistic designs with strong use of borders. Other designs are quite busy and intricate, with Norman Rockwell-inspired pictures. A number of 1950s holiday cards feature cutesy cartoons. As you plan to make your own homemade retro Christmas cards, decide what style appeals the most to you.

Desktop Publisher 1950's Style Christmas Card

First, suggestions for making your own printable retro Christmas card using a desktop publisher program. Pick a vintage style image from your available Christmas clip art. The sample here features Santa's sleigh in a silhouette against the moon, in black, yellow and light blue. Place that in the lower center of your design. Create a rectangular base and fill in with a complementary color. This creates the strong frame effect that many 1950s Christmas cards have.

Choose a retro script font for your holiday message, as most Christmas cards in the 1950s used script fonts. Good retro fonts found in Microsoft office include Magneto, Brush Script Standard or MT, Harlow Solid Italic, or Script MT Bold. For a popping effect the sample card uses a white font against the dark blue background. Your homemade retro Christmas card is ready to print.

Scrapbooker's 1950's Retro Christmas Card

Second, a homemade retro card for scrap book fans. Choose a vintage image, here a cute cartoon Santa head with a 1950s feel. Create a double frame base with a solid and print. Here, a narrow green border and a wider striped border create a strong retro feel. Both stripes and plaid are good choices for a 1950s look.

Accentuate the corners of the frame with holly cutouts. Print or stamp your Christmas message in a coordinating color, once again using a 1950s style script. The multiple paper layers add style and handmade grace to your homemade card.

Vintage Photo 1950's Christmas Card

Finally, for those who love to tweak photos, hints for creating a homemade retro photo Christmas card. These types of holiday cards are trendy and fun for those with a cynical sense of humor. Either find a vintage photo or snap a photo of the family dressed up in their 1950s style best. Using a program such as Adobe Photoshop convert the picture, if color, to black and white. Add a callout banner and funny caption. These retro photo holiday cards are especially funny if you're able to find old family pictures from the 1950s.

"Christmas Card History", emotionscards.com