As Christmas gets closer we start to think of Christmas card ideas and you want to make your own Christmas cards for your friends and family.

Here I have made a fun handmade Christmas card design that most competent card makers should not  have any problems making.

Using Christmas striped paper I drew out the shape of candy canes. You will need to do this three times and make sure one of them is inverted and facing the wrong way.

Cut out the candy canes using sharp scissors so the edges are neat and tidy.

I decided to use red paper for the base of the Christmas card because it is a traditional Christmas colour and also corresponds with the paper used for the candy canes. After folding the A4 card in half I used a ‘Fiskars circle cutter’ to cut a large circle in the centre of the card.

One good thing about a Fiskars cutter is that you can use the template to make sure the circle is in the middle and the circle is cut with no jagged edges.

I then cut a piece of green card slightly smaller than the red base card.

Again you will need to cut the same size circle into the green card.

You can then attach the green card to the red card using strong double sided tape or alternatively you can use sticky dots.

Use double sided tape to arrange the candy canes together, making sure one of  the canes faces the other way.

Once the candy canes have been secured together use a small piece of red ribbon to make a bow.

Place an eyelet near the top of the candy canes and thread some string or cotton through the hole so that it free hangs from the Christmas card.

Next place the candy canes in the centre of the card and attach really strong tape to the cotton on the back of the card to hold them in place.

I used some peel off stickers to finish the Christmas card off, and coloured the stickers in using sakura pens because they  have a sparkly look to them and are really nice to colour with.

I placed peel off stickers with a merry Christmas mesage all around the edge of the circle.

I think this subtle Christmas message around the circle gives this Christmas card idea a real Christmas feel.

When you make your own Christmas cards you could hang anything you want in the middle, presents, a Christmas tree, a star or whatever takes your fancy.