A Season of Heartcrafted Giving Part 1: Christmas Cards for Seniors

 

Hi everyone,

Welcome to the first in a special series of posts sharing a project that has been very close to my heart over the last few months. This spring, I set myself a quiet goal to create a collection of handmade greeting cards for the Homemade Cards for Seniors Card Drive. This project holds a deeply personal meaning for me, as it honours the living memory of my late Mum, who passed away in June last year at age 94, and whose own nursing home was brightened by this exact volunteer organisation. Crafting these has been a beautiful, restorative journey—completed entirely at my own gentle pace, using some of my absolute favourite independent brands of cardmaking supplies. Over the next few weeks, I’m looking forward to sharing these designs with you, beginning today with a few favourite layouts that brought me so much peace and creative joy to assemble.

So far, I have made 40 Christmas Cards and hope to make some more.

The idea behind this volunteer organisation it is that you make cards that will be donated to senior members in our community:  Meals on Wheels programs, retirement villages, nursing homes, aged care facilities, hospitals and government hostels.

They have four themes a year:  Easter, Thinking of You, Birthday and Christmas.

You can make as many cards as you want - even just one is fine.  And there has already been over 150,000 cards donated over the last two years.  Isn't that incredible?!

You can find more information at the Homemade Cards for Seniors Facebook Page HERE.  There is an email address listed there so you can contact them to find out your nearest collection point.

So today I am sharing Part 1 of the cards I have made.

These Shaker Cards came in a kit by Queen & Co. (USA) called Happy Holly Days which I bought many years ago and it is a great kit because it comes with stamps, dies, designer paper, pre-cut foam, pre-cut acetate, glitter cardstock and the shaker elements.  It looks complicated but because it's a kit, the process is so much quicker.  I thought it would be fun for someone to have an interactive card that they can shake.

I did make multiples of each style of shaker and it was really fun.  

I used lots of Retired Designer Papers instead of what was in the kit and opted to use Glitter Paper/Cardstock from my stash instead of what was in the kit so that it matched the papers.  

For these first two cards, the designer papers are by My Mind's Eye - Sugar Plum which was released 2016.  The Green Glitter Paper is by American Crafts.  I used shaker elements from the kit as well as some matching ones from my stash.

Both the sentiments are by Uniquely Creative from one of their cut-a-part sheets and were popped up on scraps of White Cardstock.  I added tiny Red Molossi Rhinestones to the 2nd card.  The cuff on the stocking was first diecut from White Cardstock then a second time from White Felt which I glued together.  This made it easier to glue onto the top of the stocking as I was afraid some glue would ooze onto the acetate if I just glued on the felt.

The cardstock is by Kaisercraft - Rose.

The shiny Red Star on the cuff is a from a roll of star ribbon that I have had for ages which I simply trimmed off and glued on using Tombow Mono Multi Glue.

Here is my 3rd card that I made using Kaisercraft Designer Papers called O'Christmas Tree which was released last year:

I thought the papers with the Gingerbread Man were such a perfect match to the main image.  The Dark Green Cardstock and Brown Cardstock is from my stash.

The sentiment is again from Uniquely Creative.

The white icing on the Gingerbread Man was done using dies that came with the Queen & Co. Kit and were glued on using Art Glitter Glue.

And now here is my 4th card:

This card also uses the O'Christmas Tree Designer Papers on the card base - and the papers underneath the tree are by Pebbles - Merry Little Christmas which was released in 2019.  I thought the tree paper was a great match to the main image.  I used some additional Green Shaker Elements from my stash.

The sentiment is from the Queen & Co. Kit and was stamped using Versafine Onyx Black Ink then diecut using a Lawn Fawn Everyday Sentiment Banners Die.  Even though I have had this die set for years, it is still readily available.  I added a tiny Red Molossi Rhinestone to each end, then popped the sentiment up on scraps of White Cardstock.

The star on the top of the tree was diecut from Gold Glitter Cardstock.

This card was the first one that I made before I realised how much quicker it would be to just use the Uniquely Creative Christmas Sentiment Sheets instead.  It sure made it faster because I was doing multiples of each assembly-line style.

Card Recipes

Cards #1 and #2:

Stamps and Ink:  None

Designer Paper:  My Mind's Eye Sugarplum 6 x 6 inch Pad (2016)

Accessories:  Queen & Co. Happy Holly Days Kit, Big Shot, American Crafts Cricket (Green) Glitter Paper, Scraps of White Cardstock, Kaisercraft Rose Cardstock, Uniquely Creative White Card Base, White Felt, Red Star Ribbon, Tombow Mono Multi Glue, Art Glitter Glue, Red Molossi Rhinestones, Green Shaker Elements (stash), Uniquely Creative Sentiment Sheet & matching Die

Card #3:

Stamps and Ink:  None

Designer Paper:  Kaisercraft O'Christmas Tree (2025)

Accessories:  Queen & Co. Happy Holly Days Kit, Big Shot, Tombow Mono Multi Glue, Art Glitter Glue, Cardstock - Scraps of White + Brown + Dark Green, Uniquely Creative White Card Base, Uniquely Creative Sentiment Sheet & matching Die 

Card #4:

Stamps:  Sentiment from Queen & Co. Kit

Ink:  Versafine Onyx Black

Designer Paper:  Kaisercraft O'Christmas Tree (2025)

Accessories:  Queen & Co. Happy Holly Days Kit, Big Shot, Tombow Mono Multi Glue, Art Glitter Glue, Green Shaker Elements (stash), Green + Gold Glitter Cardstock, Cardstock - Scraps of White + Forest, Uniquely Creative White Card Base

Dies:  Star, Lawn Fawn Everyday Sentiment Banners LF1139