Snow Globe Christmas Card: A Cute & Unique DIY Holiday Greeting!

Snow Globe Christmas Card: A Cute & Unique DIY Holiday Greeting!

I’ve shared several DIY Christmas cards over the years. There was that time I turned my son into a Rudolph ornament…

…and last year, I sent out these whimsical family portrait cards.

This year, I wanted to use a REAL photo of my boys, and after spending some time thinking of an idea, it came to me…PUT THEM IN A SNOW GLOBE.

That’d be cute, right? Only problem is, we live in Alabama and a decent snow fall that covers the ground happens about once every five years. So our snow would have to be digital. 

Luckily, I found the perfect shortcut to make this momma’s Christmas wish a reality!

Supplies

• Snow Globe Mockup
  • UPDATE: It looks like the specific mockup creator I used is no longer available…whomp, whomp. However, you can find some similar ones here and here.
• Photoshop CC
• Glossy photo paper
• Printer
• Silhouette Studio (optional)
• Silhouette Cameo (optional…scissors will work just fine too)
• Envelopes

The Snow Globe Mockup

I was able to knock out these snow globe Christmas cards in no time at all thanks to this snow globe mockup…no sense in recreating the wheel, err, snow globe, ya know?

It’s inexpensive, very user-friendly, and easily customizable so you can get the look that you’re after with just a few clicks and edits.

Just add your photo, tweak some layers, and BAM! Instant snow globe cuteness.

Here are a couple different snow globe mockups since the one I used is no longer available:

Creating Our Snow Globe Christmas Card

The first step in these DIY Christmas cards was getting a decent photo of my boys…and this was honestly the hardest part of the whole project.

With kids and cameras, you just never know…

After putting them in their matching Christmas jammies (yes, we’re that kind of family), we set them up on our bed since it gets good natural light.

Then, my husband and I started acting like fools, jumping around and cheering while I snapped, snapped, snapped away, just hoping I’d caught a cute shot.

And I did. :) Here’s the shot straight out of the camera. As you can see, no professional photography skills required for this DIY!

{Oh, please ignore the still-wrapped lampshade in the background…we’re currently in the middle of a makeover of our master bedroom, and I’m still waiting for the new lamp bases to arrive.}  ;)

So, after downloading and unzipping the Snow Globe Mockup, this is what it looks like when opened in Photoshop.

All the layers are neatly arranged and described, which makes for quick and easy editing (a Christmas miracle!).

The mockup also comes with a handy (albeit very basic) help guide that tells you how to edit the different layers, just in case you’re like me and not a Photoshop pro.

After removing the background from my original photo (including that crazy lampshade), I enhanced the remaining photo a bit, then added it as a new layer in the snow globe mockup.

From there, I tweaked the other layers to my liking, then added a couple text layers for our holiday greeting.

And if you’re interested in the fun and funky font that I used, you can find it here.

Cutting Out the Snow Globe Christmas Cards

Now that my design was complete, it was time to print!

I decided to use my beloved Silhouette Cameo and its Print & Cut feature (learn more about it here) to cut out these cards since it would provide nice, smooth edges, but scissors would certainly work just fine too.

Therefore, I imported my design into Silhouette Studio and was able to fit two on an 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper.

Once printed on glossy photo paper, I loaded it onto a cutting mat then into my Silhouette Cameo and got to cutting!

Our Final Snow Globe Christmas Card!

Here’s how our final snow globe Christmas cards turned out!

I think they are just too stinkin’ cute, unique, and oh so festive. You definitely won’t find these in Hallmark!

The best part is, thanks to the Snow Globe Mockup, I was able to knock these out in an afternoon, including taking the actual photo.

No stress Christmas cards FTW!