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I designed myself some festive cards and you can buy them, too

Every year, in early November, a vicious cycle begins anew:

I start to see Christmas cards appearing everywhere and think, “I should design my own Christmas cards.” So I sketch out something rough in Figma, I email my printer to ask about interesting card stock, I dabble a bit more with a proper design, and then… nothing. The design sits there unfinished and the card-giving season comes and goes, with us inevitably buying a few lame multipacks of shop-bought cards to send out to friends and family. Rinse and repeat. Year after year after year.

But not in 2022, my friends! I’m happy to announce that I have at last managed to break this vicious cycle, and finally designed myself some cards for the festive season. Next month, I’ll start sending them out, and I’m also putting some up for sale, too.

A photo of Elliot’s festive cards.

The really exciting thing about these cards is that they’re made entirely from recycled coffee cups, and I figured I’d make a thing of it, so there it is, right on the cover: no trees were harmed! The stock itself is GF Smith Extract Khaki, and, like all GF Smith papers, it feels really nice. And it smells great, too — although sadly not of coffee.

As with many of my side projects, this was also a great opportunity to experiment with type: this time, the variable versions of Ohno’s Degular (recently implemented on this site) and Arrow Type’s Kyrios — a type pairing that might raise a few eyebrows. But hey, I’ve seen your Christmas playlists with Carol of the Bells sitting next to Last Christmas. Let’s go with it. The patterns come courtesy of Nathan Covert’s Shapes & Patterns Figma file. The cards were printed by Ripe Digital in Bath.

A photo of Elliot’s festive cards.

Although I decided to create these cards for my own benefit, and to send out to my own friends and family, I figured I’d order a few extra, just in case anyone else wants to do the same. So I’ve thrown together a quick page on Gumroad where you can purchase them in packs of 4. I’ve tried to keep shipping options pretty simple, but if you have any questions, please feel free to get in touch.

A photo of Elliot’s festive cards.

Oh, and the cards are left blank on the inside for your own message (black Sharpies will work great for writing, but white Posca pens will be even better), and each pack comes with with 4 blank envelopes.