Everyone on HSN Craft Day was making slimline cards. Those are cards designed to fit in a business size envelope. I am all for not having to make an envelope! And I thought for my first Christmas card I would promote USASOA who sends holiday cards to troops overseas. I will tell you where to send them at the end of this tutorial.
This is a very simple card to make. I wanted a card beginner level for the first holiday card. And it fits in a normal size business envelope.
You will need:
- Heavy 2 sided cardstock for the base
- Various Cardstock scraps
- Pen
- Glue
- Download File
Paper Selection For the Holiday Card For Troops
I did this card in traditional Christmas colors. The base card needs to be heavier paper (110 lb. wt.) and two sided, but the other papers can be any weight. Everything is pretty thin so patterns wouldn’t work but foiled or glitter cardstock would.
Cutting the Holiday Card for Troops
Cut the card base and the Cricut will do the writing. I used a silver gel pen. Did you know that you can use any pen in your Cricut? You can see the trick here. I used an Access font called DTC Fluffy Socks. Don’t you just love that name?
The embellishments are all very thin and especially the tree is not easily removed from the mat. Be careful not to tear it.
Assembling the Holiday Card For Troops
This one is real easy to make. Start by re-creasing the fold line. Then you will want to attach the tree to the front. The Merry Christmas goes above it so be sure to leave room. And glue the Merry Christmas.
I prefer Art Glitter Glue because of the tip. It adds glue in very thin lines so you can be very precise. And it takes a few minutes to set so you can move whatever you are gluing a little. And it drys clear on everything but acetate, which I need sometimes, because I am messy.
Next, open the card and place the three candy canes above the text. The reindeer scenes are slanted towards each other and under the text. if you put a candy cane over the fold like I did, fold the card carefully and crease the candy cane.
And your Holiday Card for Troops is done! See wasn’t that easy? It fits into an standard business envelope for mailing.
Where and How To Send Your Cards
I got this idea because I make every card at least three times. That generates a LOT of cards. Last year I took them to the VA to be distributed to soldiers. They were so glad to have them and gave me the address for USASOA to send more.
USASOA does have some requirements. Please do not put the cards in envelopes. They don’t need them. USASOA starts taking cards in September or October so you have plenty of time to make them but they need to get them by December and the earlier the better. They cannot take requests for specific service people to get the cards, but distribute them to all branches of the service. Here is a link to their website.
The address to send the cards to is:
USASOA. Christmas Cards For Our Troops
714 Farmington Road West
Accokeek, Maryland 20607
Let’s let our brave service people know that we applaud and appreciate their sacrifice.
What pen did you use for the white lettering? Do you sign the cards? Cards for Soldiers always needs cards for every holiday and occasion. Instructions are on their FB page.
I used the Uniball silver pen to do the lettering