Step-by-step Christmas card tutorial and free embroidery pattern download
Now it’s this time of the year when our mind is occupied with the Christmas hustle and bustle. We put up the tree, turn on the lights, bake cookies, and wrap the gifts…
During this holiday marathon, we sometimes forget that showing a little attention is more important than all the expensive gifts and all the glitter.
Sending a handwritten holiday greeting card is a perfect way to show your friends or family how much you care. And you can create it with your hands! This simple step-by-step tutorial will help you to make a handmade greeting card with your embroidery that would be a precious sign of your attention.
“To write is human, to receive a letter: Divine!”
Susan Lendroth
Did I convince you? If yes, let’s get to work!
For this project, you will need the following:
For embroidery:
- Christmas tree embroidery pattern. Sign up for my newsletter and download the Christmas Tree pdf pattern for free.
- Embroidery fabric, floss, hoop, needle, and scissors. You will find the DMC embroidery floss color codes in the pattern download. You can choose one of the three color pallets for this project.
For cardmaking:
- Folded blank greetings card 13,5 x 13,5 cm (5,3 x 5,3 inches). I have used precut one, but you can definitely make it yourself from heavy paper (240 gsm would be perfect)
- Pencil
- Ruler
- Paper glue

Embroider the Christmas Tree
Print the Christmas card tutorial pattern you downloaded from the material list and transfer the design to your chosen fabric.
Now embroider a colorful Christmas Tree with the Blanket stitch.
Start with the lowest row. Then, add the rows of the blanket stitch moving up.


Make a card
On the paper card, mark the shape of the embroidery you want to attach, leaving the edges – 0,5 cm (0.2 inches). For example, if your embroidery is 10 x 10 cm – you should mark a square of 9 x 9 cm centered on the card.
Apply the paper glue inside the shape you have drawn. Do not go out of the lines, as the glue may leave glitter signs.
Attach the embroidery on the card. Start from the center and gently slide the fabric with your finger toward the edges. This way, no wrinkles will form, and all the embroidery is attached evenly.
As we left 0,5 cm edges without the glue, you will need to secure the corners of the embroidery. Apply some glue directly on the corner of the fabric and press it to the paper card. Repeat it with all the corners.
Leave it to dry for 20 min.

Your card is ready! Send some love!
Write a lovely personal message inside and hurry out to the post office!
I am an expat, and it’s not so easy to meet up with my family for Christmas every year. For this reason, I send traditional paper Christmas greeting cards via snail mail yearly. I make about twenty of them and send them out to my family and friends at the beginning of December. Believe me, they do not go unnoticed!

What’s next?
If you are interested in creating more handmade gifts for this Christmas – check out these tutorials and patterns:
- Handmade Christmas decorations. Detailed step-by-step guide and free pdf pattern download
- Embroidered zipper pouch tutorial
- Keychain making tutorial with free pdf pattern
N.B. Some of the links may take you to the EasyToMake designs blog. This is my older hand embroidery blog. While I’m dedicating all of my energy to the Practical Embroidery blog, the previous version still has a lot of great content!